I was sharpening my knives wrong for a solid year and didn't know it

I was working on a big batch of pork shoulders last week and my main boning knife just kept tearing instead of slicing. My coworker, Mark, watched me for a minute and asked to see my sharpening stone. I showed him my 1000-grit stone and he just shook his head. He pointed out I was holding the blade at a 30-degree angle the whole time, which is way too steep for that steel. He showed me how to find the factory bevel and match it, which was closer to 20 degrees. The difference was instant. Has anyone else had a sharpening angle wake-up call like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy_garcia1626d ago

Honestly that seems like such a small difference to matter... 30 degrees, 20 degrees, it's all just numbers. A sharp knife is a sharp knife, right? My cheap kitchen knives get the old pull-through sharpener and they cut stuff just fine. People get way too into the details sometimes, like it's a science project instead of just cutting food.

robert6425d ago

Totally agree! I've got this one knife my grandma gave me that's probably 40 years old and I just run it through one of those grocery store sharpeners a few times a year. Cuts tomatoes, bread, whatever just fine. Sometimes I think people get caught up in the perfect angle or the fancy stones and forget the whole point is to make dinner. If it slices without sawing, you're good in my book.