Why You Should Sharpen Your Knives Manually?

Why You Should Sharpen Your Knives Manually By Sharp Pebble

Your knives will require regular sharpening if they are to last for an appreciable period of time. That said, it might be tempting to reach out for an electric knife sharpener but trust us there are plenty of reasons why should choose a manual knife sharpener over an electric one.      

Today, we will discuss what factors you must consider while choosing the type of sharpener for your knives.

Electric sharpeners aren’t kind to your knives: We’re not suggesting that electric knife sharpeners should be chucked out of the window. They do save time and of course, are easier to work with, especially if you’re not adept at manually sharpening your blades.

However, as a rule of thumb, you should avoid running a quality knife through an electric sharpener because it can be rough on the blade. They tend to strip the blade of a lot more metal than needed. This can drastically shorten the lifespan of your knives. It’s best to limit electric sharpening to cheaper knives.   

Consider your knife’s use: Depending on how you mainly use your knives, an electric sharpener can be more of an inconvenience than a blessing. If you’re outdoorsy and carry your knives with you then an electric sharpener won’t do because most likely you won’t have access to electricity. So it makes more sense to bring along a manual knife sharpener for your picnics or hunting trips.

Manual sharpeners ensure a precise sharpening job: One of the biggest advantages of manual knife sharpeners is the degree of control that they allow while you sharpen your blades. The ability to choose the precise sharpening angle is crucial for ensuring an optimal sharpening. For instance, a hunting knife will require a sharpening angle that is quite different than what you need for a chef’s knife.

Manual sharpeners are convenient: To start off, you don’t need to plug in a manual sharpener. All you need is a knife and a few minutes of your time. Secondly, they’re travel-friendly. You can easily carry compact manual knife sharpeners and they’ll be quite handy for your next hunting trip.

Manual sharpeners are easy on your pocket: Yup, that’s correct! Even a quality manual knife sharpener will be quite a bit cheaper than a basic electric knife sharpening system. Moreover, electric sharpeners add an extra layer of cost and responsibility in that if they malfunction than you’ll to spend quite a bit extra to get them fixed.

Manual sharpening is fun! It might seem cumbersome at first but trust us; we’ve seen many people come around on manual knife sharpening after getting a hang of it. It’s a very handy skill to learn that you can enjoy and maybe even pass onto your kids.

Here’s to sharp knives and great food!

Team Sharp Pebble                    


3 comments

  • your message (thank you by the way) mentions different blade angles for different knife types. I don’t recall any previous information describing this.

    Could you explain please ?

    patrick leadbeater
  • Donate your electric knife sharpener to the goodwill

    Walter lowe
  • Thank you for the tip

    James Albright

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