Sharpening trial and error

I recently learned a new sharpening technique and immediately changed my approach to give it a try. What I did was sharpening the knife in parallel to the stone, then at right angles, and so on. The midpoint of these movements is the classic 45° angle, which is considered the foundation of knife sharpening. I experimented with more extreme angles as well.

Today, I tested this on a Gyuto knife, and I kept saying ‘Ah, I see!’ over and over again—it was pretty exciting! I feel like I now understand the significance of sharpening at 45° even more.

When explaining knife sharpening to someone who doesn’t really know how to use a knife, 45° is the perfect angle to start with. I’m not a fan of getting too caught up in specific numbers, but it seems like sharpening at around 35° feels just right.

It’s kind of late to realize this, but I think explaining these details could actually change the way I sharpen knives. I’ll keep digging into it and report back with more findings!

• 2012-04-03