Over time, with use, your knives will grow dull. Sharpening knives is a basic and important skill for any cook or knife user to know. The necessary tools are minimal, and it can save you money and make your cooking quicker and easier. It's not a difficult process, but if done improperly you can damage your knives, so it's important to know the proper technique. Before you start, make sure you know what type of knife you own, as some knives (certain Japanese knives, for instance) are sharpened differently than most knives.
Lay down the towel on a solid, flat counter. Ideally the counter should be just above waist height so that your arms won't get tired. A kitchen counter should work fine. Make sure your work surface won't be damaged if it comes into contact with mineral oil.
2
Lay down your sharpening stone. Your stone should have a rougher and a smoother side. You'll start on the rough side, so put it face up on your towel.
Some higher-end stones have a third, intermediate side.
3
Whet the surface of the stone with mineral oil. Smooth the oil into the surface of the stone, spreading it evenly.
4
With the stone at a "T" to your body, hold the surface of the knife at a 30-degree angle to the surface of the stone. The blade should be pointed away from you.
5
Rest the wide base of the knife against the stone and push forward. As you sharpen, turn the knife away from you so the stone hits the entire curved surface of the blade evenly. You should be pushing the blade edge-first, but you don't want to grind the edge straight-on.
Make one pass, then flip the blade and make another pass. You want the edge to sharpen evenly on both sides. Repeat this process.
6
After about 10 passes, feel the knife edge (carefully!). Make sure the blade is sharpening evenly, and adjust your stroke to match.
You'll have to judge when the knife is sharp enough to move to the smoother side of the stone, but 10 to 20 passes on each knife side is a normal range.
7
Repeat the steps above on the smooth side of the stone. If your stone has a third side, sharpen your knife on each of the three sides in order of roughest to smoothest. Focus on making even motions. You will have to be the judge of when your knife is ready for action. When you're done, rinse the knife off and start cooking.
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