#ANTIQUE CHOPPER KNIFE HOW TO#

The main concern here is just to avoid cutting yourself. My dad uses a sponge with some dish soap and wipes down each side of the blade and handle.

Just like you would with a whetstone or honing rod, be mindful of the angles you're holding and pushing the knife with. My dad HAS a sharpening stone, and still prefers to use a plate sometimes because it's so easy to grab and use. If you don't have a sharpening stone, you can also use the rough bottom of a ceramic plate or cup as a surface to sharpen your knife against.

This isn't to say that paper doesn't work as a sharpness test (it's also very fun to do), but if you're a knife, it's a test that's very easy to pass.Īnd practically speaking, as long as you’re careful, it’s a lot easier to use your nail than it is to find a piece of paper, especially if you’re a busy chef in a restaurant like my dad.

Fingernail: knife catches on a nail at 0.7 micron edge (considered a working edge).

Paper: knife starts tearing paper at 1 micron edge (considered dull).

I came across a very informative chart that quantifies 'sharpness' with actual measurements, and the minimum sharpness it takes to perform certain tests. However, this is actually pretty easy to do even with a fairly dull knife, whereas that same dull knife will glide across your fingernail. You’ve probably seen people testing out their knives by slicing paper. My dad uses his fingernails (like a boss), which was a little jarring to watch at first, but it actually is one of the most convenient and effective ways to test sharpness. How do you test the sharpness of your knife? When my dad used to work as a chef, he'd use the whetstone every two days, and he'd use his honing rod multiple times a day. How often do you need to sharpen a knife?Īt home, my dad sharpens his knives with a whetstone 3 to 4 times a year. Whatever angle you're going with, try to hold your knife at the same angle throughout the entire motion.

Take the width of the knife, divide it by 3 or 4, and lift it up by that distance.

#ANTIQUE CHOPPER KNIFE HOW TO#

To estimate this, Kenji López-Alt has a wonderful explanation of this in his video on how to sharpen a knife: My dad sharpens his knife based on intuition, but a great starting point is to go with a 15-20 angle. How do you know what angle to sharpen your knife at? With a one-sided bevel, slices of meat or vegetable will naturally fall out of the way, which helps my dad be more efficient when cutting lots of stuff (he used to cut 40-50 pounds of meat every day). This is a lot more clear in the video, but if you're holding the knife, the 'palm' side of the knife is sharpened flat, and the 'fingernail' side of the knife is sharpened at a slant. This means that one side of the knife is sharpened at a 15-20 angle, and the other side is sharpened parallel to the stone. My dad prefers to sharpen his knife with a one-sided bevel. If your knife is dull, you always sharpen first, hone second. It does remove SOME material, but not nearly as much as running your knife against a whetstone. It's more of a polish that maintains sharpness.

Honing is like giving your knife some braces.

Sharpening means that you're actually removing a relatively significant amount of material from the blade to produce a new sharp edge.

Your knife's effectiveness depends on these teeth to be both: You can imagine the blade of every knife as having tiny microscopic teeth (like the huge teeth of a serrated knife). A sufficiently sharp knife leaves cells intact and eyes dry. When cutting an onion, if your knife is dull, you will damage the onion's cell structure and release a chemical called 'lachrymatory factor', which makes you cry. Simply due to the law of averages, a sharper knife leads to fewer cuts, which lowers the chance of injury.Īlso, you'll cry less. It’s counterintuitive, but a sharper knife actually causes fewer injuries. Notably, he doesn't use any sort of electronic or machine sharpener, which would quickly ruin the blade. There are three primary tools my dad uses to sharpen his knives at home and at the restaurant: Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the exact brand and model online, but it's made of stainless steel. My dad's particular cleaver was made in Jiangmen / Kongmoon, a city in Guangdong Province which is famed for its high quality knives.

Antique chopper knife