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A good cook will always look after their knives. It is also true that a sharp knife is easier to cut with and therefore you are likely to have less accidents with it.

There are many knife sharpeners on the market these days but by far the better design is one that has two stones. It s very difficult to sharpen a knife evenly with only one stone, you will usually end up with one side of the knife more angled than the other.

Types of sharpeners.

Commercial knife sharpeners.
You can get two types of commercial sharpens, manual sharpeners and electric sharpeners. The electric variety get the best results. It is simply two wet stones inside the device that spin around. You place the knife in up to the handle and draw it back towards yourself. This method gives and even result as it sharpens both sides of the knife at the same time.

Manual sharpeners.
These are normally made from roughened steel. Most of them have a cross shape where you place the knife. As in the electric variety, you simply place the knife up to the handle and draw it towards yourself. Be very careful when using these types as I have seen the knife slip through the cross over point and then slip towards the operator. They do sharpen the knife but not as well as an electric sharpener.

Sharpening steel.
A sharpening steel is a metal rod designed for sharpening knives, attache t a handle. The method for sharpening your knife is fairly simple. Hold the knife in one hand and the sharpening steel in the other.
Hold the sharpening steel still and draw the knife across the steel at an angle of 15-25 degrees. Repeat the process until the blade is sharp.

A wet stone.
This is the old fashioned method of sharpening knives. It is quite hard to find wet stones for sale these days but they do give the best sharpening results.

Which ever method you choose, remember safety first. Always hold the knife away from you in case it slips.

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