In most of Africa, the traditional way of sharpening knives is by making use of a stone. Here we will not be talking about just any stone available naturally but a sharpening stone.
The sharpening stone can be made out of either a synthetic or natural material and can be used on the knife dry, with lubricants such as water, oil or other substances.
The sharpening stone is also referred to as the whetstones (which helps to make the blade if the knife sharp and clean).
The sharpening stones usually vary in texture and they could either be fine textured, medium textured or coarse textured.
The following are the steps to follow when you want to sharpen your knife and make it smoother (having a sharp end, allowing for easy slicing of materials).
The steps to follow are:
Have a proper Knife examination: Whenever you want to make a knife smooth and easy to use, the first thing you should do is to check your knife if it is too blunt, still manageable or not.
This examination will help to determine the successive things that follow as per sharpening of the blades.
The type of stone required for sharpening a stone that has a blunt end will be different from that used for grinding a moderately sharp knife.
You should also consider the time of using your knife if it is Dalton or occasionally.
Choose the type of stone for use: Here you will be able to choose a stone that us either synthetic or natural, depending on your choice.
You will also choose a stone of your choice, either to be used alone or with the oil or when wet (due to the presence of water).
There are different types of stones with varying characteristics, a diamond stone appears to be the most durable but costly and the others like the oil stones, or wet stones can serve a similar purpose.
A wet stone is usually the softest of the stones, and it is usually effortless to use. The oil stone, on the other hand, can appear very messy and very hard to clean whenever used for sharpening of knives.
The grit of stone for use should be selected: Whenever you plan on sharpening your knife, the contact the knife makes with the blade of the knife is usually very essential.
The grit if the stone can vary from soft, medium and coarse and therefore it should adequately choose.
Prepare for sharpening of the knives: You should always determine the type of stone that you want to use for sharpening of the blades.
A third of stone chosen should be dependent on the degree of the bluntness of the knife. The kitchen knife should be placed at an angle of about 20 degrees to allow for the proper sharpening of the blades.
Whenever you want to use a wet stone, you should make sure that the stone is soaked in water for about forty-five minutes and place in a cloth before use.
If you are using an oil stone, then you should add oil to the surface and cover it well before use. Make sure the oil is not too small neither should it be too much.
Sharpening the knife: When sharpening the knives: make sure that the knife is placed at an angle of 20 degrees above the sharpening level.
The knives should be run over, both sides with the stones so that there is a general and overall smoothing of the knives blade.