Every knife lover wants a sharp knife. It is so frustrating to go to a friends’ house, help with the cooking and you end up crushing the tomatoes because all the knives he has are dull. Evidently he doesn’t sharpen often enough. But do you? What is the recommended sharpening frequency?
You see TV chefs and maybe your butcher “sharpen” with a honing rod almost every other cut. Maybe you should start to do the same? They are professionals after all. But isn’t that too much, won’t you grind through your blade in less than a year and end up with a toothpick?
What dulls a blade?
Mostly neglect, and bad habits. For instance, using your trusty vegetable knife or filleting knife for cutting through a joint, or insisting on a bone with it. We’re sometimes cutting a hard-skinned fruit or vegetable like gourds; carving pumpkins; cutting through fish scales, fins, and bones.
Grit on vegetables skin is actually the most damaging. These small grains of sand come from the dirt the vegetables were grown on and they are incredibly hard. They will act like very light sandpaper on your knife edge but in random directions. Over time this dulls the edge.
We already discussed how your cutting surface could affect the edge (here). After all, the blade spends more time on the cutting surface than on the soft item we want to cut. But there are other gestures we do every day that have the same if not worse effects. For instance, where do you store your knives? I used to throw them all in a drawer. However, doing so means the edges rub against the back of other knives or even worse, against other edges.
Now I’ve moved to a hybrid storage system: my very good knives are rolled up in leather and only see the sun when I’m really taking the time to do some high-level cooking for my wife and I (high-level cooking, who am I kidding?) and I don’t let her use them. My good quality but affordable sharp knives (call them average) are in a wooden block for us both to use but with care. Lastly, I still have a bunch of kitchen knives of all sorts and sizes stashed in my drawers, those I don’t care much about. Actually, I don’t think I intend to ever sharpen them.
Recommended Sharpening Frequency
Since I used to work as a bartender in a restaurant, I went back to the place and asked the chef and a few cooks what they thought about sharpening. They told me that if you take good care of your knives (knife block, avoid dropping them, cutting surface, not throwing them down in the dishwasher,…) a sharpening frequency of about 4 times a year is probably enough. However, they insisted on frequent honing rod like this one:
Kitchen knives
So for kitchen knives, the ones that get regular use, I now use a sharpening frequency of about 3-5 times a year on a good quality stone. I hone them about every week on a knife iron tough, or when I need a clean cut on a beautiful roast. My high-quality knives get sharpened a lot less as they see a lot less abuse.
Hunting knives
I have a higher sharpening frequency for my hunting knives. They have a thicker grind than kitchen knives so their edge lasts longer, but I run them on a lot more bones as well. I’m also less careful with those. They’ll cut near hooves and horns, I pop joints with them. Their life is tough! So I don’t even bother with honing (altough it would definitely not hurt). With my hunting knives I drop straight to the water stone or diamond stones. I probably do that only 3-5 times a year as well, but since they get used a lot less it actually equates to a higher sharpening frequency.
Outdoors, camping and survival knives
The outdoor knives I take camping, get even more abuse. Cutting cordage, sometimes chopping small logs, and even opening a tin can or two. Those get sharpened before every trip and sometimes during the trip to stay on the edge.
EDC pocket knives
Now for my everyday pocket knife, I like it to be super sharp all the time. So my sharpening frequency is probably a bit overboard as I almost sharpen them once a month. I could probably get away with sharpening it just as much as kitchen knives. However, with those, I’m a bit of a show-off. I like the edge almost razor-sharp! On some of them, I go as far as stropping on an old leather belt with some jewelers’ rouge for that lovely mirror finish. I sharpen them monthly.