How to Hone a Knife | CRATEX Abrasives

The knife blade consists of many microscopic teeth that become bent and knocked out of alignment with ordinary use. Every time you use a knife, the bits of the edge will become curled over, so the knife won't cut efficiently any more.

To solve this problem and push the edge back into alignment (straighten it), you'll perform knife honing. Honing will make the blade true again and bring back its proper cutting abilities.

Since this correction doesn't include material removal, honing won't sharpen the knife, but the knife will seem sharper as the blade will be in proper position. This will reduce friction and make your blade more efficient.

Honing should be performed often, some recommend a couple of times a week, and some even before each use, but that depends on the type of knife and application. For example, a kitchen knife is usually honed before or after each use, but can even be honed during heavy use, such as by butchers. In any case, you'll be the one to detect the exact time you knife needs honing as you'll be able to detect the decline in its performance.

 

Honing Steel: A Honing Tool

Just about any abrasive can be used to make a honing stone, but the most commonly used abrasives are silicon carbide, diamond, corundum and boron nitride. Among these abrasives, most commonly encountered in honing stones are silicon carbide and corundum, but the choice will depend on the type of the workpiece. For example, extremely hard materials will require superabrasives. Sometimes it can get confusing, as people often say "honing steel" when they refer to ceramic rods.

A standard honing steel looks like a rod of steel sitting on top of a handle, however, the rods can be made of steel, ceramic or diamond-coated steel and can be round, oval or flat and up to a foot long.

The steel and ceramic honing tools can have ridges along the length, and these ridges are responsible for guiding the blade back into alignment as you draw the knife over. The ridges may wear out over time. Even when they do, the honing steel will still serve its purpose.

The surface of diamond steels is smooth and embedded with diamond particles. These particles will shave off a thin layer of the blade, so they are not suitable for daily honing. What they can do is significantly extend the working life of the knife before sharpening is needed again.

Tip:When making a purchase, look for heavy models that are at least 9 inches long, as these will provide more control.

The steels have been traditionally more common in the West, particularly in situations where knives are heavily used, such as butchering. It eventually steered the manufacturers to produce blades that have lower levels of hardness and lower brittleness. On the other hand, harder knives are preferred in East Asia where waterstones are preferred as honing tools.

 

Easy 5-Step Honing Guide

Although honing a knife is really easy and should be a mellow task, a lot of people are doing it wrong by winging the knife around the honing steel like throwing around Nunchucks.

They probably think the harder they press the blade onto the honing steel or the faster their moves, the better the results will be, which is wrong.

By doing this they will probably cause damage to the knife. Honing is all about control and getting the right angle.

To help you hone your knives like a Zen master knife-honing pro, CRATEX came up with an easy 5-step honing guide.

Step 1: Grab a Rag

The rag is not necessary but is recommendable as it provides more stability and prevents you from damaging the surface. You'll take a wet rag and place it on the counter. Then you'll place the tip of the honing steel on the rag, hold it straight up and down with one hand and anchor it.

Step 2: Start at the Heel

Hold the knife with the other hand at about 15-20-degree angle. Many might be worried about how much a 20-degree angle is, but don't over think it. First of all, we said "about". You know how much 90-degrees is, now reduce that by half and then reduce that by half. And then just a bit more. It should look like you are about to slice a really really thin slice of your honing steel.

A neat trick is to take a matchbook and press the flat side against the steel and then lay the knife against the matchbook. That's the angle that you are looking for!

Step 3: Draw the Knife Down

Now, just let the knife fall down the steel from the heel to the tip of the blade in an arching motion. It should all be one smooth, easy movement. Make sure you use the full length of the steel and pull across the entire length of the knife with a constant angle.

While you are drawing, you are not pushing but applying a light pressure. More like letting the gravity do its work. You should start with a bit more pressure in the beginning and lighten it more and more until the very last stroke.

A net trick for determining the pressure is to take a baking scale, grab the knife by the handle, press the blade on top of the scale and press down until you hit 4 to 6 pounds a pressure. This would be a good zone for honing your knife on a regular basis.

Step 4: Repeat on the Other Side

After you are done with one side of the knife, repeat on the other. Make sure you do equal number of passes on each side, usually about 5-10 times per side depending on how dull you knife is.

Step 5: Wipe the Residue Off

After you are done, carefully wipe the blade off to remove any residue that might have remained.

 

Bonus: Advanced Knife Honing with Honing Steel

The advanced method doesn't require you to hold the tip of the honing steel down on the counter, but you'll hold it out horizontally with your non-knife hand. This method is much faster but doesn't provide much control, so it's not suitable for honing beginners.

You'll also start by placing the heel of the blade on the steel base. Next, you'll draw the knife all the way heel to tip and down the steel while maintaining 15-20-degree angle.

You can go 5 times on one side and 5 on the other and then gradually do fewer and fewer strokes on each side until you're down to one stoke on each side.