How to Sharpen a Knife

Disclaimer: Sharpening a knife can be a dangerous task if not done properly. Knife sharpening should always take place in a well-lit environment, on a stable surface, and by a responsible sober adult. PremiumKnives.com will be in no way held responsible or liable for damage done to person, knives, or other personal property while sharpening your knives. Always follow the manufacturer instructions that come with your knife before sharpening any knife.

Arkansas Style Oil Hone
X-style Sharpener Use
Triangle or Stick Sharpener Use
Professional Sharpening Systems
The final step to achieve a Razor Sharp edge

Arkansas Style Water or Oil Hones - How to sharpen a knife using an Arkansas Hone.

1. Choosing a hone lubricant - Arkansas hones can be used with either water or oil, however once oil has been applied to a hone it can never be used as a water hone. We recommend water simply because it is far less messy and always readily available as a lubricant for the hone. If you choose to use oil as the hone lubricant, use hone oil or standard lightweight household oil like Marvel Oil or 4in1 oil.
2. Place sharpener on a flat and stable surface and saturate the hone with water or oil (see step 1) until the hone does not soak up any more lubricant.
3. To maintain the sharpening angle and match the factory edge angle, place thumb or index finger on top spine of blade and use your thumb or index finger as the angle guide as shown in the diagram below.
4. Starting with either the heel or tip of the knife, carefully draw the blade back towards you in a smooth slicing motion all the way through to the end of the blade using your finger or thumb as a guide. At this point one side of your knife's factory grind edge should have been in contact with the sharpener from the end (where you are holding it) to the tip of the blade.
5. Know repeat Step 3 on the other side of the sharpener with the other side of the blade. Continue this, alternating from side to side approximately 10 to 15 times until the knifes edge has been restored.
6. To test the sharpness of your knife, carefully hold a piece of paper vertically and draw the edge of your knife blade down across the edge of the paper, a sharp knife should make a nice clean cut, not a tear.
7. Store your hone in a safe place where is will not become chipped or broken and it should last for years to come.
8. For that final razor sharp edge, see The Strop Method of Polishing

To sharpen a straight edge knife using a X-style pull though sharpener follow these instructions. If you are using a ceramic tri-sided or ceramic stick sharpener, click here, to be taken to those instructions.

1. Place sharpener on a flat and stable surface.
2. Place the heel of the blade at the top of the first ceramic rod, holding the knife at about a 15-degree angle to the sharpener. Draw the blade back towards you in quick slicing motion all the way through to the end of the blade. At this point one side of your knife should have been in contact with the sharpener from the end (where you are holding it) to the tip of the blade.
3. Know repeat Step 2 on the other side of the sharpener with the other side of the blade. Continue this, alternating from side to side approximately 10 to 15 times until the knifes edge has been restored.
4. To test the sharpness of your knife, carefully hold a piece of paper vertically and draw the edge of your knife blade down across the edge of the paper, a sharp knife should make a nice clean cut, not a tear.

If you are sharpening a serrated blade, please use the following instructions:

1. If you are using the X-style pull through sharpener, carefully remove both ceramic rods from the X position and snap into the side-by-side position.
2. Place the bevel side of the serrated blade against the ceramic rods (now in side-by-side position). Use the slant edge on your knife as the angle guide. Carefully slide the serration down the ceramic rods.
3. Repeat Step 2 for each individual serration on you knife.

Sharpening fish hooks:

1. Use the parallel ceramic rods (see Step 1 above to set this up).
2. Place the point of your fishhook between the two rods. Slide the point of the fishhook up and down 8 -10 times to restore the point.
3. This method can also be used for metal pointed darts or anything else that you may have that needs a sharpened point.

Cleaning your ceramic rods:

After frequent use the ceramic rods on your sharpener will become a dark gray. This is perfectly normal and is the result of the metal left on the sharpener from your knife blades. When this occurs, ceramic rods must be cleaned to retain their sharpening ability.

1. Carefully, remove all ceramic rods from your sharpener.
2. Rub the rods with a sharpener-cleaning block or an ordinary kitchen sink cleaner such as Comet and rinse clean to remove all metal deposits.

To sharpen a knife using a ceramic tri-sided or ceramic stick sharpener use the following instructions:

To sharpen a straight edged knife;

1. Stand the sharpener on a flat, stable surface. Use the beveled surfaces on the end caps (if using a sharpener without beveled end caps, hold knife at 15 degree angle) to positions the sharpening rod at the correct angle.
2. Hold the sharpener by the bead chain end cap, with the flat side of the ceramic rod facing up.
3. Place blade on ceramic rod and draw downwards.
4. Repeat Step 3 slowly and carefully, 15-20 times for each side of the blade.

To sharpen a serrated knife;

1. Stand the sharpener on a flat, stable surface. Use the beveled surfaces on the end caps (if using a sharpener without beveled end caps, hold knife at 15 degree angle) to positions the sharpening rod at the correct angle.
2. Hold the sharpener by the bead chain end cap, with the flat side of the ceramic rod facing up.
3. Place blade serration on the corner of the ceramic rod and draw downward.
4. Repeat Step 3 for each individual blade serration.

To sharpen fishhooks or points;

1. Stand the sharpener on a flat, stable surface. Use the beveled surfaces on the end caps (if using a sharpener without beveled end caps, hold knife at 15 degree angle) to positions the sharpening rod at the correct angle.
2. Hold the sharpener by the bead chain end cap, with the flat side of the ceramic rod facing up.
3. Place tip of dart, fishing hook, awl, or other pointed end into the groove and carefully slide tip up and down.
4. Repeat Step 3, 15-20 times until tip is sharpened.

Professional Sharpening Systems

Our Professional Knife Sharpening Systems from Lanksy and Gatco take the guess work out of producing a razor sharp knife edge on your cutlery. One of the biggest mistakes in knife sharpening is not maintaining the same angle throughout the sharpening process. These Professional Knife Sharpening Systems eliminate this potential problem and also make the sharpening process faster and safer through the use of a clamp and guide rod system. Various Hone materials and grits are available as sets or individually to customize your sharpening system for your needs. PremiumKnives.com best selling sharpening system is the Deluxe Sharpening System from Lansky.

Professional Sharpening System Components from Lansky and Gatco.
(see above diagram)

1. Multi-angle knife clamp take the guess work out of maintaining a set angle during the entire sharpening process. The Multi-angle knife clamp's "Guide Holes" maintain a uniform sharpening angle when sharpening both sides of the blade and when switching from one stone grit to another.
2. The guide rod slides through the guide holes and holds the hone at the same plane during the sharpening process. Simply select the sharpening angle
3. Convenient thumb screw adjustment provides secure and exact blade positioning.
4. Patented color-coded sharpening hones are ergonomically designed for comfort and finger protection
5. Ambidextrous design provides easy use for both right and left handed individuals.
6. Specially formulated honing oil keeps the hone from becoming clogged with metal particles during sharpening.
7. Custom molded storage/carrying case holds all system components
8. Complete easy to follow instructions are included with each sharpening system.

How to use a Professional Sharpening System

Please note: Follow the manufacturers recommendations on the assembly and use of the sharpening system. Following are our suggestions on using a Professional Sharpening System.

The first sharpening session of a new knife -
What angle guide do I use?
It is very likely that the angle of the blade's edge and the hone angle will not match perfectly. It is your choice as to whether to establish the new knife edge angle at a higher or lower degree angle. A higher degree angle (i.e. 20 degrees) will produce a longer lasting, more durable edge however the edge will ultimately be less sharp than a lower degree angle (i.e. 17 degrees). Most people tend to favor establishing the edge of a new knife at a lower degree angle(i.e. 17 degrees).

The first time your sharpen a knife with a Sharpening System you must establish the new edge angle. We highly recommend using one of the fast cutting Lansky Extra Course 120 grit LDHXC Diamond Hones. This diamond hone can greatly reduce the time required to establish the edge of hard Tool Steels such as ATS-34, CPM-154, D-2,...etc and extremely dull knives.

Once the blade angle is established, ongoing maintenance of the blade's edge can be easily facilitated by using the set sharpening angle you have selected for that knife.

The final step to achieve a Razor Sharp edge

Achieving a razor edge on your cutlery has never been easier, with easy-to-use Sharpening Systems from Lansky and Gatco and the availability of polishing hones and strops.

The secret to a razor sharp edge is a combination of several factors: quality of the steel, edge angle, maintaining the edge angle through the entire sharpening process, and final polishing of the edge.

Sharpening System Systems Method of Final Polishing
Sharpening systems aid in establishing and maintaining the edge angle and provide a variety of sharpening hone grits to choose from. Lansky now has available the new 2000 grit Sapphire Polishing Hone, which polishes an already sharp edge to a razor edge and can be easily added to any sharpening system or can be used by itself. We have had much success with this new polishing hone from Lansky.

The Strop Method of Polishing
Manufacturers use a method similar of Strop Polishing to produce the factory razor sharp edges. Factories use hard buffing wheels with rouge or buffing compound. You can accomplish the same goal with one of our leather strops.

A leather strop should be used after you have finalized the sharpening of the knife's edge. If you have a strop that you use for a straight razor do not use this strop for your knives as the curved knife edge will deform the flat shape of the strop and will make the strop ineffective for Razor realignment.

We recommend a simple nonlinen backed strop such as the Jemico J30 18 inch strop with J55 strop paste. Apply an inexpensive white, red or brown jeweler's rouge (available at any hardware store) evenly on the rough side of the strop and apply the J55 non-abrasive conditioning strop paste on the smooth side of the strop.

Place the strop on a hard surface or attach one end of the strop to a solid object and hold the strop very straight and flat. Starting with the rough side of the strop with the jeweler's rouge, match the angle of the blade edge and strop and move the knife (spine first, edge last) back and forth on the strop. Never roll the knife on its edge when changing directions, always change directions by rolling the knife over on its spine. Continue until the knife's edge is polished, then repeat the same motions on the smooth side of the leather.