A Guide on How to Sharpen a Knife at Home

Is there anything worse than going to use an EDC knife, a survival knife, or a hunting knife only to realize that it’s a lot duller than you remember it being the last time you used it? If you actually use the knife, it’s going to happen at some point. The good news is you can avoid this by learning how to sharpen a knife at home. Even if you don’t understand how to sharpen a knife correctly at first, it shouldn’t take long to get the hang of it with this guide.

Step 1: Obtain a Knife-Sharpening Stone

You will have many options when deciding how to sharpen a knife at home. You can use everything from an official knife sharpener to a piece of sandpaper and an old mousepad to take good care of it. However, using a knife-sharpening stone typically produces the best results.

Before sharpening your knife at home for the first time, shop for a knife-sharpening stone. Your options include cheap synthetic stones, high-end water stones, and all types of stones in between.

Step 2: Submerge a Knife-Sharpening Stone in Water

Once you pick out a knife-sharpening stone, prepare it to sharpen your knife by submerging it in water. Soaking the stone in water will make it more effective at removing metal shavings from your knife. You should also keep a small container of water nearby as you learn how to sharpen a hunting knife or other type of knife. Rinse the stone occasionally to prevent it from drying out.

Step 3: Use a Permanent Marker to Color a Knife’s Bevel

It isn’t always easy to see a knife’s bevel when sharpening it. Coloring it with a permanent marker will make it simpler to see your knife’s edge as it comes in contact with a stone. It will also enable you to sharpen a knife without going too shallow or deep.

Step 4: Look for the Right Angle to Sharpen a Knife’s Blade

The most important part of this whole process is landing at the right angle to sharpen a knife’s blade. If you don’t find and maintain a consistent angle, you might not get a knife as sharp as you want — and you may also risk damaging its blade. Practice this part on an old knife until you figure out how to sharpen a knife at home without making critical mistakes.

Here is how to look for the right angle to sharpen a knife’s blade:

1. Place a knife in your hand, hold its handle close to the blade with its edge facing you, and rest it on top of your knife-sharpening stone.
2. Put the fingers on your other hand on the back of your knife’s blade and rest them on the stone.
3. Lift a knife’s spine off the stone until it’s at about a 20-degree angle.
4. Move a knife’s blade back and forth across the stone slowly.
5. Inspect the marker on a knife’s blade to see how much has worn off, and adjust the angle until the entire blade passes over the stone.

Step 5: Raise a Burr on Each Side of a Knife’s Blade

Once you locate the right angle to sharpen a knife’s blade, move it back and forth across a knife-sharpening stone. Continue doing this until you raise a burr. A burr is a tiny metal ridge that forms on the opposite side of a knife’s blade when it’s sharpened. You will feel a burr when you move a finger perpendicularly across a blade.

You will know a knife’s blade is sharpened when you raise a burr that spans its length. This will let you know it’s time to turn the blade over and sharpen the other side.

Step 6: Refine a Knife’s Blade to Finish Sharpening It

After you raise burrs on each side of a knife’s blade, you will almost be finished with your first foray into learning how to sharpen a knife at home. Before wrapping up, refine a knife’s blade by making 10 to 20 more passes on each side.

Step 7: Test a Knife Blade’s Sharpness

The last thing you should do when sharpening a knife at home is to test it to ensure it’s sharp enough. Use your knife to slice a piece of paper. If the paper slices smoothly, your knife’s blade will be back in business.

Knowing How to Sharpen a Knife Correctly Is Important

Discovering how to sharpen a blade at home might take time. If you aren’t successful at first, keep at it and see positive results soon enough.

Architect Knives offers quality, easy-to-sharpen knife blades. We also carry an assortment of other knife-related accessories. Contact us if you have questions about anything in our extensive inventory!