How to Sharpen a Knife With a Grinder

In the old days they used a treadle wheel grinder to sharpen knives. If you feel like you'd like to give this procedure a try using a modern electric grinder, here are some tips on how to sharpen knives properly using this method.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Arrange your knives in the order in which you will be sharpening them. Since short knives are the hardest to sharpen, place them the farthest away from the grinder. This will give you experience sharpening the longer, closer knives first, and you will find the shorter one's easier to work with later, after you get some practice.

2. Pick up your first knife by the handle and move the entire knife blade across the grinding wheel while holding the blade at a sharp angle to the wheel. If you imagine a very narrow "X," you'll be right on target. The first time you do this, from either direction, is just for practice. This will show you exactly how you will need to position your blade to the wheel in order to get the best contact angle for sharpening your blade. You will sharpen each blade on each side. You just want to add an edge to each blade, so light, steady pressure is best.

3. Carefully follow the moves you just practiced by bringing your longest knife blade into contact with the moving wheel while you slowly and lightly move the blade along the wheel, pulling it towards you while you keep a very shallow blade angle in constant contact with the wheel. Make sure you only keep a very slight pressure against the wheel--you want to sharpen the blade, not grind it down. Do this along each side of the knife blade, keeping the same angle on both sides.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have trouble keeping constant contact while sharpening, try using a brace to rest your hand on while you apply pressure and guide the blade.