Sharpening Your Knives Incorrectly Can Damage Their Blades. Here’s How to Do It Right

Sharpening Your Knives the Right Way

Understand Your Knife First

· Know your knife’s material, shape, and angle before sharpening.

· High-carbon steel is easier to sharpen than stainless steel but needs more frequent maintenance.

· Blade grind and edge types matter:

o Most kitchen knives have a flat or V-edge grind.

o Sharpening at the wrong angle can ruin a knife’s intended function.

Choose the Right Sharpener

· Electric sharpeners with built-in guides (like the Chef’sChoice 1520) are the safest and easiest.

· Manual tools and whetstones require more skill; handheld sharpeners can cause pressure issues.

· Avoid rolling sharpeners—they're tricky and inconsistent.

Technique Matters

· Apply consistent pressure from heel to tip.

· Use the felt-tip marker trick to ensure even sharpening.

· Burr formation is normal—remove it using strops or repeat sharpening on both sides.

Routine Maintenance

· Use a ceramic honing rod regularly between deep sharpening sessions.

· Don’t leave knives in the sink; clean and dry them promptly.

· Store safely using a knife block, magnetic rack, or blade shield.

Call in the Pros When Needed

· For serrated or intricately designed knives, professional sharpening is best.

· Costs average $5 per blade, and services can be found in kitchen stores or farmers markets.

[ABS News Service/17.07.2025]

A dull kitchen knife won’t do you or your cooking any favors.

Not only is keeping your knives sharp in the best interest of your fingertips, but it can also make slicing, dicing, and chopping much easier. A razor-sharp blade can seamlessly glide through the paper-thin skin of a tomato without leaving behind frayed, jagged edges. It allows for precise, clean cuts. And when you don’t have to spend as much time prepping ingredients, you can get to cooking much more quickly and efficiently.

But sharpening knives can be tricky, and if you do it incorrectly, your knives could be left in worse shape than before. We spoke with knife experts to learn their best sharpening tips, so you can restore your knives to their former glory.

Understand your knife

Before you sharpen your knife, it’s important to know its material, its unique shape, and the angle in which to sharpen it.

The material determines how often you have to sharpen a knife, the difficulty of the task, and what type of sharpener you should use.

Chelsea Miller, a knife forger whose knives have been used in the dining rooms of Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, explained, “Carbon steel or high-carbon steel knives are generally easier to sharpen at home, whereas stainless steel knives — the most common manufactured type — are more difficult to sharpen freehand.” (Freehand sharpening is when you sharpen a blade without a guided system and instead use something like a whetstone or a manual, handheld sharpener. These methods usually don’t offer the ability to adjust the angle.)

High-carbon steel knives contain a higher carbon content than stainless steel, which generally makes them harder, stronger, and easier to achieve a keener edge than stainless steel knives. High-carbon steel knives are also easier to sharpen than stainless steel ones; it takes less effort to remove metal during sharpening due to its iron-carbide-rich composition. But they may require more routine maintenance since they’re also less wear-resistant and can develop patina over time.

And then there’s high-carbon stainless steel, which we recommend in our guide to the best knife sets. It combines the best aspects of high-carbon steel and stainless steel in one, so it’s strong, able to hold an edge well, and less prone to rusting, but it’s typically pricier. You can expect to have to sharpen it less frequently than a high-carbon steel blade.

Once you know the blade’s material and how often you need to sharpen it, you can move on to determining the blade’s shape and angle, so you can ensure the knife maintains its unique qualities to perform its intended job after it’s sharpened.

There are two key blade factors to consider before you start sharpening: its grind (the cross-sectional shape) and edge (the shape of the cutting surface, or the bevel).

The most common kitchen blade grind is flat ground; that means the blade, generally speaking, tapers from the spine to the edge, and the cross-section forms a V- or a wedge-like shape, much like our budget-pick chef’s knife, the Victorinox Swiss Classic Chef’s Knife. (For a true full-flat grind knife, opt for a Japanese gyuto knife, like our runner-up chef’s knife, the Tojiro F-808, which has a much thinner V-shaped blade than that of Western-style chef’s knives.)

Another popular grind is hollow ground, a blade with a concave edge that, depending on the knife, can start on the edge and slope all the way up to the spine. This isn’t as popular among kitchen knives, but is common among pocket knives, like our top pick, the CRKT Drifter.

The most common cutting edges among kitchen knives are typically V-edge (symmetrical edge bevels that form a “V” shape) and compound beveled edge (a V-edge featuring multiple-edge bevels, like double bevels, which enhance cutting performance), such as the Tojiro F-808. Western knives usually have double bevels, meaning both sides of the blade angle towards the center. While many Japanese knives typically feature a single bevel, where one side of the blade is angled and the other remains flat, double-bevel variations are available as well, like the F-808.

Sharpening a knife — especially one designed for a specific task — at the wrong angle can severely alter its performance. “Say you’re using a boning knife whose angle was manufactured for that task, and you start sharpening it to another angle — like one more geared towards cutting vegetables rather than deboning a fish — you can completely change the angle and its performance,” Miller said.

You can generally find the appropriate angle to sharpen a knife via the manufacturer, either on their website or in a booklet provided at the time of purchase. However, if the information is unavailable, Miller recommends following general guidelines based on the shape of your knife. Most standard types of knives — like a chef’s knife or paring knife — share similar angles regardless of the manufacturer.

Miller also recommended examining an edge by carefully holding a knife straight out in front of you, perpendicular to your eyes, and getting a good look straight down the knife’s edge. She said you should analyze from tip to heel and from heel to tip to get a better idea of the adequate sharpening angle.

Choose the best knife sharpener

Once you’ve figured out a knife’s key characteristics, get well acquainted with your sharpening tool of choice. There are tons to choose from — including rolling, electric, manual, and stone versions — and some have much bigger learning curves than others.

Kathleen Squires, author of our knife sharpeners guide, found rolling sharpeners to be extremely finicky. Miller is also not a fan of manual and handheld knife sharpeners. “They can run into a lot of angle and pressure problems,” she explained. For example, whetstones are generally the industry standard, but they require a lot of practice and can be challenging to master.

For an easier, quicker, and safer solution, Kathleen said electric sharpeners are the way to go. In our knife sharpeners guide, she recommends investing in a good-quality electric sharpener with a built-in guide system and diamond abrasives that won’t de-harden a blade. Our top pick, the Chef’sChoice 1520, offers 15-degree and 20-degree sharpening angles suitable for most kitchen knives.

Apply consistent pressure while sharpening

When you’re learning how to sharpen knives at home, Miller recommends starting with a smaller blade, like a paring knife, which is easier to manage than a longer, potentially unwieldy one. But no matter what size knife you’re working with, “You always want to apply the same pressure from the front to the tip, which can be difficult to do with handheld sharpening tools or stones,” Miller said.

Even when using an electric sharpener, applying even pressure is still necessary. “The user manuals [of our picks] offer clear instructions to avoid over-sharpening, coaching users on the number of pulls, on using light downward pressure, and even on how to detect a burr to determine that a knife is sufficiently sharpened,” Kathleen explains in our knife sharpening guide.

As you sharpen a blade and remove small amounts of metal, a burr — or a raised lip that forms while sharpening one side of the blade with a tool like a whetstone — can start to appear. This is normal and will correct itself as you repeat the process on the opposite side, as long as you apply equal pressure both times. Sometimes, you may want to use a leather strop to remove burrs, Miller explained. “It’s almost like scooping ice cream with your knife across leather to help disperse the burr,” she said.

When in doubt of your sharpening evenness, rely on the marker trick. Line the edge of the blade using a felt-tip marker and let it dry. Then, use the marking to help guide your sharpening. If the marker comes off evenly while sharpening, it indicates even, consistent pressure was applied. If you want another test, a well-sharpened knife can effortlessly slice through a tomato, leaving behind clean, even cuts.

Practice routine maintenance between sharpenings

Depending on how often you use a knife, our kitchen experts recommend using honing rods or steels, like the Wirecutter-recommended Idahone Fine Ceramic Sharpening Rod, to maintain the knife’s edge between more in-depth sharpening sessions. Miller does so about once a week, but a weekly cadence might not always be necessary — you don’t want to overdo it. “Get in the practice of examining your blade because it’s not necessary, when it’s not necessary,” she said.

Additionally, you should never leave your knife in the sink. Aside from being dangerous, it can cause the blade to tarnish or get banged up by dishes or utensils. “Always wash and dry it as soon as you finish using it and put it away,” Miller said. “Also, store it away from sharp edges or keep it from bumping up against another item in a drawer.” A knife shield, block, or magnetic rack are great storage solutions.

For more knife maintenance tips, check out our knife care guide, which includes information on choosing the right cutting board to prolong a knife’s lifespan and why you should never, ever put a knife in the dishwasher.

Outsource tougher sharpening jobs

Although sharpening knives at home is doable, Miller said you should rely on the pros when tackling tougher blades with more-intricate designs. One example she mentioned was serrated knives. “They’re pretty advanced, and oftentimes, you actually need a more industrial machine to do that for you, so I’d recommend sending it out to be sharpened.”

Kathleen agrees that outsourcing for more detailed sharpening is a great option. She takes her knives to a pro every six months or so, and it costs her about $5 per blade. You can find professional knife sharpeners at kitchen supply stores, specialty knife shops, hardware stores, or, occasionally, at local farmers markets.

Although some knives need special attention, sharpening knives isn’t as intimidating as it sounds, and following these best practices makes cooking safer for you and your knives.