Knife Sharpening

“Knife sharpening is hard.”

“Sharpening is too difficult and time consuming to do at home.”

“Send your knives to a professional sharpener once a year and you will be fine.”

“You have to spend hours hunched over a heavy hone slathered with oil.”

This well-intentioned advice is parroted in cooking schools, Food Network television programs, professional manuals and cookbooks. And it is just plain wrong.

Okay, maybe not so much wrong as misleading.

Knife sharpening is not difficult. It is not shrouded in mystery. With a little knowledge, a little geometry, a couple of tricks and some inexpensive tools, knife sharpening can be fairly easy and extremely rewarding. At the very least it’s a great skill for the toolbox. You’ll come away from this clinic with a better understanding of edges, steel and how to maintain your knives yourself. Or, if you decide to send them out, you’ll know how to make sure you’re getting what you want – and what you pay for.