Sharpening Knives

A knife that is not sharp is dangerous. It can slip off the food you are cutting and easily cut your fingers. A steel should be part of your knife collection. This long, round object sharpens knives by straightening out the edge. Hold the knife in your dominant hand and the steel in the other, with the steel point pressed into a solid waist-high surface. Hold the knife base at the top of the steel at a 20 degree angle. Slowly draw the knife down the length of the steel, pulling the knife back so the entire blade, from base to tip, moves against the steel, as if you were slicing off pieces of the steel. Repeat on the other side. Do this five or six times, then rinse the knife off and dry immediately. Make sure you sharpen each side the same number of times to retain the knife's balance.

This short little note on knife sharpening was taken from Linda Larsen's Guide to Busy Cooks.