What does it mean if there are no knives in the house?

For the heroine of the famous song by Oleg Mityaev, not sharpened knives are an occasion to invite a neighbor to visit. But for most housewives, they are like an endless toothache: they crumple, rather than cut products, make you put more effort and cause irritation. To avoid this, it will be useful to know how to sharpen a knife at home simply and quickly, even if there was no sharpening stone in the household.



How to sharpen a knife General rules for sharpening knives

1. To sharpen a knife is only half the battle, and the thing is to do it so that the sharpness of the blade remains for a long time. The sharpness of the blade determines the angle of sharpening. The smaller it is, the easier the knife cuts products. The more, the longer it stays sharp.
   
   
   
   Therefore, it is important to find a compromise that is around 45 degrees for conventional kitchen knives.
   
   
   
   
   
   So, the knife should be placed at an angle of 22.5 degrees to the sharpening bar. And to withstand such an angle will help folded four sheet of paper.
   
   
2. Rinse the stone with water, set it on a stable base, such as a cutting board.
3. Hold the knife with one hand by the handle, the other by the blade and drive smoothly along the sharpening stone at the selected angle. Each side of the blade should be held on the stone 40-50 times until the cutting edge appears.
   
   
   
4. During operation, metal dust will appear on the blade, which must be washed off from time to time.
5. You can remove the burrs that have appeared by repeating the procedure on a stone with less graininess or using it to fine-tune musat (this tool is often found in sets of knives and looks like a round file).
   
   
   

When there is no sharpening stone, you have to use what is. In our case, this is a normal ceramic plate.



It must be turned upside down and smooth movements, which we have already described above, to drive a knife on the protruding rim. More details on how to do this can be seen in the video.



The main thing is that it does not have major defects and chips. In field conditions, you can sharpen a knife against a flat stone. Or sharpen one blade against another, driving them 15 minutes apart.

How do you know if the knives are ready?

In kitchen conditions, the sharpness of knives is most often checked on tomatoes. A well sharpened knife does not slide across the skin and cuts off a thin slice of vegetable with almost no effort. While I was writing, I tried all my knives. Tomatoes are hardened without problems, but soft ones are already crumpled. We need to sharpen.