So you just took the plunge and bought your first quality knife? Whether it’s a trusty pocket knife for your outdoor excursions or a quality chef’s knife to wield in your kitchen, you will eventually need to sharpen it.
If you are like most people, we’re sure you will be tempted to take your blades to a professional knife sharpener. While it has it merits, but we do believe there are several strong reasons why you should give serious thought to sharpening your own knives.
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Everyone can sharpen a knife – no matter what: Most people believe that you have to be a seasoned sushi chef to be able to sharpen your knives. While there are certain basics that you need to grasp, but the sharpening process, by and large, is quite straight forward and with a bit of patience you can absolutely master it.
Secondly, there are more than one knife sharpening solutions available depending on the time and effort you are willing to put into it. For instance, if you’re a busy parent who has to cook for the family on a daily basis, you can get yourself an electric sharpener. You can sharpen your blades pretty quickly in a few minutes. However, it is important to know that electric sharpeners tend to remove more metal (from the edge) than needed thus shortening the life of your knife.
If you’re more of a purist and like to take your time and appreciate the process, then you can get started with water stones or whetstones. The synthetic variations are quite affordable plus the sharpness and finish you get with a whetstone cannot be matched by other solutions.
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You will never have a blunt knife: You don’t have to be a master chef to understand that there a few things more frustrating than working with a knife, which can barely cut. However, you can change that by learning how to sharpen your own knives. You won’t have to depend on a professional sharpener all the time and you will able to sharpen your blade the moment you feel it is losing its sharpness, saving you lots of time.
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You will save some serious cash: It doesn’t matter if it’s only a dollar; any extra cash is always welcome! You see, if you use your knives quite regularly, you will have to sharpen them quite often too. So if you take your knives to a professional knife every time, that is going to burn quite a hole in your wallet because knife sharpeners will charge you on a per-knife basis. We recommend buying a decent sharpening stone, which will turn out to be a lot cheaper in the long run.
