How to Sharpen a Knife on a Ceramic Cup

Most coffee mugs have an unglazed ring on the bottom that is great for sharpening knives.

Keeping your knives sharp is an important part of maintaining your kitchen utensils, as sharp knives cut more smoothly and are generally easy to use. While you can always take your knives in for a professional sharpening or pick up a sharpening stone, it is much more cost effective to use a simple coffee mug. Ceramic cups are perfect for sharpening kitchen knives and can provide an easy and cheap method to keep your tools in order.

Things You'll Need

• Ceramic coffee mug

Instructions

1. Locate a ceramic coffee mug in your cupboard. The ideal mug will be relatively clean with an unglazed ring at its base.

2. Hold the edge of your knife to the ceramic ring at a 20-degree angle. This is the ideal angle for achieving a super-sharp blade.

3. Rub the edge of the knife in a small circle on the ring of the glass. If done correctly, you will see the ring turn black, meaning steel is leaving the surface of the knife.

4. Repeat this process along the entire length of the blade, then flip the knife and sharpen the other side.

5. Apply lighter and lighter pressure with each successive pass to sharpen the blade to a very fine edge.

References

• Daily Fix: Sharpen Knives with Ceramic Cups
• Backwoods Home: Coffee Mug Knife Sharpener