Sharpening systems for working knives — pull-through carbide and ceramic sharpeners, pocket sharpeners, stones and bench kit from Cold Steel, Smiths and Mora.
Getting this right
- Carbide cuts, ceramic hones. Most two-stage pull-throughs have a carbide V-slot that removes metal fast and a ceramic slot that refines what is left. Use the carbide only when the edge is genuinely gone, then finish on the ceramic. Running a knife through the carbide every time will eat the blade.
- Two or three light pulls, not twenty. Pull-throughs work by scraping. More passes is not more edge — it is a thinner knife.
- Match the tool to the job. A skinning knife wants a keen working edge you can restore in the larder in thirty seconds. A mirror polish on a gralloching blade is effort you will lose on the first rib.
- A pocket sharpener belongs in the roe sack. One beast will take the edge off most blades. The folding and pocket patterns exist so you are not finishing the job with a blunt knife.
- Keep the angle consistent. Guided slots do this for you; freehand on a stone does not. If you are learning, start guided.
Related
- Knives
- Knives & sharpeners — the full department
- Larder equipment
