How To Sharpen Kitchen Knives at Home

A good set of knives is key to making cooking enjoyable and efficient. Keeping them sharp is absolutely crucial! Dull knives not only make your prep work harder, but they can also be more dangerous, since you’re more likely to cut yourself when using a blunt edge.

The good news? Sharpening your knives at home is a breeze with an electric knife sharpener! In this post, I’ll walk you through some easy steps to help you sharpen your knives like a pro.

Sharpening your knives at home is a fantastic option—it’s simple and super effective! Plus, you can handle it all on your own without needing to track down a professional, which let’s face it, most of us tend to put off. In fact, many people I’ve spoken with admit they’ve never actually sharpened their knives!

Now, I know that using a whetstone can seem a bit intimidating. It requires some skill, like knowing the right angle to hold the knife. I watched my Dad and grandpas sharpen knives with a professional whetstone growing up and it was fascinating.

Here’s the good news: electric knife sharpeners take all the guesswork out of the process! They make sharpening your knives easy and approachable. With just a few simple steps, you can give your knives the care they need and ensure they’re sharp and ready for your next cooking project. So why not give it a try? You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes! Prepping your food with a sharp knife is a game changer. If you’re eager to level up your knife skills and chop and slice like a pro, be sure to check out this blog post and video all about Knife Skills for Home Cooks. You’ll love it!

Sharpening vs Honing

If you’ve watched any cooking shows, you’ve probably seen professional chefs with their honing steels before they start working. It looks very impressive for sure! A honing steel is a long, cylindrical rod that is made of hard steel. It’s designed to realign and straighten the knife’s edge without taking away much material.

By running the blade along the steel at the right angle, you can give your knife a little “tune-up” to keep it sharper between full sharpenings. While this method helps maintain that fresh edge on your knives, it doesn’t actually sharpen them.

How Do Electric Knife Sharpeners Work?

When professionals sharpen knives using a whetstone, they run the knife at an angle over the whetstone and take off thin layer of metal off the knife blade, which sharpens it, removes the dull edge and realigns it to make it razor sharp again.

An electric knife sharpener is a fantastic option because it’s a simple and effective option to sharpen your knives like a pro! This handy gadgets uses a motorized mechanism to grind and sharpen your knife blades right at home.

Here’s how it works: when you insert your knife into the sharpener, the spinning abrasive surface makes contact with the metal, removing tiny amounts of material to restore the sharp, precise edge. It gradually hones and refines the blade, smoothing out any nicks, dents, or uneven spots.

Just a few passes through the sharpener can turn even the dullest knife into a razor-sharp tool, making your food prep tasks a breeze. Personally, I really appreciate the convenience of my electric knife sharpener—it makes maintaining my knives so easy!

My Knife Sharpener

I have used the Chef’s Choice Knife Sharpener for more than a decade and am really happy with the results. It makes sharpening knives so easy, my knives are really sharp and it doesn’t damage the blade.

It utilizes patented diamond abrasives to sharpen edges faster and easier and has a 3 stage sharpening process. Stages 1 and 2 hone and sharpen the edge of the blade and the third stage polishes the edge for perfect finish.

Chef’s Choice Electric Knife Sharpener *(affiliate link)

Be careful which knife sharpener you use. Some of them will ruin your knives.

This is why it’s so important to use a good quality knife sharpener. Be especially aware of the knife sharpeners that you place on the counter and then manually run the knife through the “sharpener”. It often scrapes the metal and is too abrasive, leaving gouges and nicks in the blade.

Watch the Video of How to Sharpen Knives With an Electric Sharpener

This post and video are NOT sponsored. We bought both the knives and the knife sharpener and recommend them based on personal experience. *Some of the links are affiliate links.

How To Sharpen Knives With an Electric Sharpener

1. Run your knife through each stage of the electric knife sharpener all the way through.
   • Don’t push too hard, but also make sure to run the whole edge of the blade through the machine. I pass through the same amount of times on each side.
2. Then, move on to stage two and repeat.
   • The machine will automatically guide the knife through each stage, you just have to lightly hold on to it and follow it.
   • Look at the blade closely to make sure it looks smooth and realigned. You shouldn’t see nicks and gouges.
   • Test the blade and see if it is sharp enough. The paper test is so fun to do 😀.
3. Lastly, pass the knife blade through stage 3. This is the final polishing stage.
4. Before you start using the sharpened knives to cut food, wash them to get rid of any metal shavings. That’s it! Your knives are ready to be used.

Frequently Asked Questions