How To Sharpen Your Kitchen Knives DIY

I always rely on my hubby to sharpen our kitchen knives.  Why?  I thought it was time to learn to do it myself.  This DIY shows you how to sharpen with a sharpening steel (that long metal thing that comes with a knife set).  Now I just need to learn how to grill.  Thanks to About Food for the tutorial.

A sharpening steel is good for two things: One, it smooths out the rough edge on a blade after you sharpen a knife on a whetstone. And two, it helps revive that edge after you’ve been cutting, slicing or chopping for a while.

You’ve probably seen people on TV whipping their knife back and forth on a knife steel at high-speed. And as you might have suspected, yes, they’re just showing off.

There’s no reason to do it that fast, and you might cut yourself if you try.

In fact, the safest way to use a knife steel does not involve having the knife edge facing you at all.

Here’s how to do it:

1. With your left hand (or your right hand if you’re left-handed), hold the sharpening steel point-down, with its tip resting firmly on a dry cutting board — as if it were a large nail you were about to hammer into the board.

Images from About Food.

For the full instructions visit About Food.