The traditional rectangular-bladed Chinese chef’s knife, cleaver and lightweight ping knife share your own kitchen with the Japanese collection that might include nakiri and usuba knives for cutting and chopping vegetables, and deba and sashimi knives for seafood. 1 thing they all have in common is the requirement for regular sharpening to restore a nice edge to the work-dulled blade. An expert sharpener, expert enough to treasure your prized tools, is a cost you may minimize if you learn to sharpen your Asian knives yourself.

Staying Sharp

Asian knives have either carbon steel or stainless steel blades. Carbon steel takes a finer edge but it rusts easily and might pit in reaction to acidic foods. Stainless steel is sturdier, non-reactive, and retains its edge nearly but not quite in addition to carbon steel. Stainless is a lot more common as a result of its lower maintenance and longer lifespan. That does not mean you can toss it into a drawer. Prevent damage and dull blades from hand-washing knives after use and drying them immediately, storing them in a knife block or plastic sheaths, or demonstrating them near a timber or composite blade-friendly chopping board onto a wall-mounted magnetic strip. Dishwasher cycles can create the steel in a blade to contract and expand, weakening and dulling it faster, so prevent the dishwasher.

Electric Sharpeners

Electric sharpeners are quick and simple, but critics say they eliminate too much edge from a good knife and they don’t provide an acute level of sharpness. If you don’t mind shortening the life span of the knife and can live with a very sharp but not razor-sharp blade, then the electric sharpener may work for you. Asian knives are sharpened at a fractionally reduced blade angle — about 17 degrees compared to 20 — than Western knives, so you do need a sharpener that will adapt Asian knife blade angles. Pull the blade through each of two, three or even more graduated stages slowly, without pressure and in order. Each phase refines the blade more as the machine retains the blade at the right angle, saving you a few guesswork.

Whetstones and Waterstones

Whetstones are artificial or natural fine-grained stones that sharpen blades and need no lubrication, although you can use them with oil or water. Waterstones are Japanese sharpening stones you soak in water and remain wet as you pull the blades across. Both will revive the edge to the cleaver that rallied the Peking duck or the sashimi knife that filleted the raw tuna. Waterstones are extremely effective and less likely to injure a sword. Hand-sharpening on a stone is excellent for Asian knives since you can tailor the angle to fit your own cooking style — fine-tuning for your finicky chef. Whetstones and waterstones are also good for sharpening single-bevel Asian blades, knives designed with one deep beveled edge on only one side.

Classic Waterstone Sharpening

Soak a waterstone and place it on a towel to minimize slipping while you sharpen. Splash the rocks with water through the sharpening so it does not dry out. Hold the knife grip with one hand; place the sword against the rocks at the right angle to the bevel — usually the lower end of 15 to 20 layers — and press the sword to the rocks with a couple of hands of the free hand. Starting at the tip, push the blade along the length of the rocks. Develop your own personality — move the blade in one direction only or rub it back and forth on the rocks; begin the breath at the tip and bend slightly to cease at the hilt end of the sword.

Know Your Knife

Duplicate the strokes against the wet waterstone till you sense a very slight burr along the edge of the entire blade — a burr is a barely discernible bump formed while the edge of this sword thins on one side, causing the steel to curl microscopically. Reverse the blade as well as work the other side, keeping the pressure on your own fingers to remove the burr on the downward stroke against the stone. This gives you a clean, polished knife edge. A blade with only one bevel is sharpened on that side and reversed temporarily to remove the burr and fine-tune the razor-sharp edge. Blade sharpening may be an art form; chefs that rely on their Asian knives deepen their sense for working with each knife as they adjust and revive the blade edge.

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