HOW TO SHARPEN YOUR GLOBAL KNIVES
There are a few ways to sharpen your Global knives. It is important to remember that sharpening your blade is wearing away tiny flecks of metal dust, and thus your chopping surface and knife need to be wiped with a wet cloth to remove any metal dust, so it does not go into your food. In this blog post we explore 3 different sharpening options namely using a cermamic water sharpener, steel or whetstone.
The easiest way to sharpen your knife is with a MinoSharp pull through ceramic water sharper. If you are new to knife sharpening, we suggest you start with one of these. Place a large wooden chopping board on a damp cloth on your counter and place your ceramic water sharpener in the centre. Open the sharpener cover and fill the wheel compartment with water. Hold the sharpener in place by the handle with your less dominant hand. Using your dominant hand, first start with the heel of your blade on the sharpener wheel and pull through until the tip of the blade comes out. Then you can push the blade from the tip to the heel of your knife +- 7 times through the course grit white wheel, then repeat on the finer grit pink wheel. Make each move in one swift motion and ensure that the shape of the blade is followed with equal pressure throughout.
Find your preferred MinoSharp ceramic water sharpeners at the official Global Knives South Africa webstore.
Then there is the option of using a steel. A steel does not technically sharpen the blade so much as re-align the blade, straightening the minuscule wayward jagged edges that cutting accrues. None the less, this still has the effect of making your blade feel sharper and easier to cut with. Your steel needs to be at least as long as your blade. Global has ceramic and diamond steels, ceramic steels will wear less of your blade away at a time, and a diamond steel has a fine coarse but will wear slightly more of your blade away at once. Which you use is often just a matter of preference, but you can check with your Global sales consultant which would suit your knife and cooking habits better. The easiest way to use a steel on a Global Knife is by placing the steel, tip down on a wooden board, which is kept in place by a wet cloth underneath. If using a diamond steel, it has an oval shape and not a round one. You want the top of the oval to face forward, and the bottom of the oval to face towards you. You will then hone your knife against the right and left sides of the oval, without twisting the diamond steel. Hold the handle of the steel with your less dominant hand. The main role of this hand is to keep a firm grip on your steel so that it does not move. Take your knife in your dominant hand and place the beginning (heel) of your blade against the top of the steel.
You want to hold the knife at exactly a 15° angle to the steel. That is if the handle side of your steel was 0°, your knife blade should be touching the steel with the back of your blade at a 15° angle from the steel. Then, keeping the same degree throughout the whole process, slowly drag your blade, from the heel to the tip, using consistent pressure. As you drag your knife downwards you will pull towards yourself, so that beginning of the blade is sharpened on the top of the steel, moving down so that the tip of your knife is sharpened near the end of your steel. You will need to do the same to your blade on the opposite side of the steel. This does take practice, but there is a clue to your success in the sound that the blade and steel make. We call it the “sing” of the blade. When you sharpen your knife on a steel at the correct angle it will make a musical note, almost like a high-pitched chime that will ring out slightly. When you are doing it wrong it will sound more like a dull garbage disposal. You may have seen chefs using their steels in marvellous and miraculous fashions, sharpening into their hands in the middle of the air with all the grace of metallurgy gods, do not try imitating them, it is a safety hazard. Stick to your knife on your steel, on your, board, on your cloth on your counter. And slowly does it, the faster you go the more you will hear your unfriendly garbage disposal groan coming from your very unhappy knife.
You can get your own Global steel at the webstore.
The final and most effective way to sharpen your knife is with a whetstone, you can read how to sharpen your knife with a whetstone here and you can purchase one here. Even with all these fantastic sharpeners, we recommend getting your knives professionally sharpened at least once a year for the optimum health and longevity of your Global knives.
