Every housewife at least once in her life has come across the fact that her knives in her kitchen are dull, with which she usually cuts bread, butches meat or chops vegetables. Using such knives is not only inconvenient, but also dangerous, because the blade can break off the product and injure you. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically sharpen the tool using special devices. In stores, such devices are presented in a huge assortment, but for some reason they do not suit consumers. In such a situation, a do-it-yourself knife sharpener can be made. Drawings and diagrams for work are, in principle, not difficult to find, but detailed master classes we will give in this article.

What conditions must be observed when sharpening knives?

Do you know how to sharpen knives correctly? In fact, there are a number of rules that can be followed to achieve the perfect result.

The necessary conditions look like this:

• For a long and effective operation of knives when sharpening them, it is necessary to pay maximum attention to the angle between the edges of the blade. During sharpening, it is imperative to restore the initially set angle so that it meets technological standards, allows you to cut products quickly, efficiently, freely.
• You need to pick up optimal angle for each blade. So, for example, a scalpel or razor should have an angle of 10-15 degrees, devices for cutting fruits, bread and vegetables - 15-20 degrees. Knives for working with hard materials need to be sharpened at an angle of 30-40 degrees.
• It is quite difficult to sharpen the blade without a special device. Holding the knife only with your hands, it is difficult to achieve the desired angle of inclination. So it is to facilitate this process that there are sharpeners.

In fact, a do-it-yourself knife is made as easy as shelling pears, because all such devices have simple design and it won't take you a lot of time to create them.

Varieties and manufacture of sharpening stones

Available for sale a large number of stones intended for turning knives, but the most popular of them are the following types:

• Water tools. Working with them necessarily involves the use of water, thereby saving the surface of the stones.
• Oil stone. It is very similar in shape and structure to water, the only difference is that its surface is a little oily.
• Natural stones. They are made from natural materials that have previously undergone industrial processing.
• Artificial instruments. They are made from non-natural components.
• Rubber devices. They are no less common on the market, but it is extremely inconvenient to work with them.

Before making a knife in the form of an abrasive bar, you need to purchase several glass plates with a thickness of 4-5 mm rectangular.

Then make the sharpener according to the scheme:

1. With help double-sided tape stick on the surface of the plates with sandpaper different levels granularity.
2. Tighten the nuts gently to avoid cracking the glass.

Important! During the operation of such a device, water is not used, which is why the abrasive wears out quickly enough.

When sharpening knives with an abrasive bar, avoid too sharp movements, otherwise it will overheat and the blade will lose its beneficial features.

Products for sharpening knives from wooden blocks

It is quite easy to make a sharpener from two abrasive and two wooden blocks, the main thing is that the starting materials are of the same size.

You will need to perform the following actions:

• Sand the wooden blocks thoroughly with sandpaper, remove any burrs.
• Pre-mark the bars, taking into account the required angle of inclination.
• Attach a stone to the resulting line, on both sides wooden block mark its width.
• Make cuts along the markings on the piece of wood.

Important! Make sure that their depth does not exceed 1.5 cm.

• Insert the abrasive stones into the grooves so that they line up with the grooves.
• Bolt the sharpening stones, attach a piece of rubber from the bottom.

Do-it-yourself knife-edge from the mounting corners

Use this master class so that you get a high-quality do-it-yourself knife. You can get the drawings on the Internet.

Tools and materials required for work:

• Metal plates 4 by 11 cm.
• Standard size aluminum corners.
• Metal rods 15 cm long.
• Grinding machine with a vice.
• File.
• A set of bolts and nuts.
• File.

Make a sharpener according to these instructions:

1. Make a marking according to the drawing for the holes in the plates.
2. Drill holes, cut threads.
3. Round off sharp edges and corners with a file.
4. Make holes in the corner according to the diagram.
5. Expand the needle support file with a file.
6. Thread the stud holes.
7. Insert the rods into the outer holes, fix them with nuts.
8. Screw the bolt into the widest hole with the nut pre-screwed onto it.
9. Insert the bolts into the rest of the holes to clamp the knife.
10. Screw the nuts onto the ends of the rods, lay a corner on top to fix the nuts.
11. Assemble a device to hold the sharpening stone from a thin metal rod, a wing nut and two holders.

Important! Such a sharpener can have the widest range of degrees of pressure angle, it is incredibly convenient in terms of use.

Making an electric knife sharpener at home

An electric knife-knife with your own hands is made a little more complicated, because the device itself has a complex design.

Prepare the following materials and devices:

• Vacuum cleaner.
• Washer plan.
• Electrical engine.
• Stanin.
• Fencing.

Do the work, clearly following the diagram:

1. Attach Electrical engine right under the bed. In addition, it must be equipped with control buttons for starting and stopping work.
2. Install a plan-washer on the output shaft, cover it with a square guard with pre-cut grooves.
3. Make a hole in the underside of the table to match the size of the vacuum cleaner arm.

Important! The electric motor does not have to be fixed under the base of the washer. You can use a belt drive, which will slightly complicate the design itself.

Almost everyone home master cutting tools are available. Over time, the cutting edges lose their former sharpness, and work with such a product becomes unbearable. There are two options for solving this problem: to give a tool for sharpening and pay a lot of money, or to assemble a device for sharpening knives yourself and sharpen the products with your own hands.

Reasons for dulling the blade

The bluntness of the blade can be explained as follows. During cutting, the blade is exposed to the smallest abrasive particles, be it fruits or vegetables. The cutting edge of the blade gradually wears away and the knife becomes dull. Another reason is keeping the blade at a certain angle when cutting.

On some areas of the blade, the load increases, and increased wear occurs.

There are types of knives that cannot be sharpened on their own due to the embossed blades. Also, knives made of ceramics cannot be sharpened. But, as a rule, the quality of steel in such products is high, and they rarely become blunt. There are some inferior quality knives and they have to be sharpened very often. As practice shows, if the steel is of poor quality, then sharpening will solve the problem for a while, and then the blade will become dull again.

You will need abrasive wheels to sharpen the knives. If it is not possible to purchase ready-made circles, then you can make them yourself using wooden blocks and sandpaper different grain sizes.

The standard sharpening angle is 20 - 30 degrees. It is quite difficult to maintain the angle during sharpening, and therefore it is necessary to make a simple knife sharpener in which it is not necessary to maintain the optimal angle. The basic rule in this process is to maintain a precisely defined constant angle. Strength is not required here. The main thing is that the bar and the blade meet at a certain angle. This is the basic rule of sharpening technique.

Major mistakes

As it might seem at first glance, sharpening is easy, but if you delve deeper into the process itself, you will notice a fairly large number various nuances... Most people make common mistakes when sharpening knives, which leads to uneven sharpening or damage to the knife. Common mistakes when sharpening:

• The cutting edge has not been sharpened... As a result, small burrs form on the sides, which temporarily sharpen the blade, and after a short time with the knife, the blade becomes dull again. To prevent this problem, you should carefully sharpen both edges, and then, as you sharpen, use sandpaper or a wheel of different grain sizes.
• The presence of paint, oil, dirt on the tip... The bottom line is that when turning, fat, dirt, oil and other components are mixed with grinding abrasives and lead to scratches and micro-chips of the blade. After such turning, the blade quickly dulls.
• Pressure plays an important role... It is necessary to remember one simple rule: sharpness does not depend on the applied force, but on the duration of sharpening. Excessive pressure leads to chipping of microparticles from the blade and to poor-quality sharpening.
• Wrong angle selection... The angle can vary - depending on the steel grade and on the purpose of the tool. For household kitchen knives, it is 20 - 25 degrees. For other types of blades that have to withstand heavy loads and work with hard materials, the angle will be 40 degrees.

Guided by simple, but at the same time appropriate rules for sharpening, you can not only save time, but also not spoil the product.

Sharpener "House"

Not a bad tool for sharpening knives. Despite its simple design, the sharpener does its job well. This structure consists of a rectangular bar, the upper edge of which is made in the form gable roof... The angle of inclination of one face is 20 - 25 degrees, which is optimal. The product must be installed with a blade end-to-end against one of the roof ridges, then take an abrasive wheel or a block with emery and move along a horizontal line. This ensures a constant angle of inclination, which leads to an even sharpening of the blade.

There are also complex structures homemade grinding machine. For manufacturing, you will need the following materials:

• A piece of board measuring 500x150x20 mm.
• A threaded metal stud that will guide the bar.
• M8 bolts and nuts and wood screws.
• Retaining nuts or wing nuts.
• Ordinary textolite or plexiglass, which will serve as a substrate for a knife and a kind of movable bed.
• To attach the knife, take Neodymium magnet... A regular one will not work, since its downforce is quite small.

The board must be cleaned, processed, and then made into a rectangle. Another board should be made in a rectangular shape, which will serve as a rack or support. Its height should be such that the slope of the main board is 20 degrees. You can fasten them together with wood screws. Then attach the resulting structure to the workbench or cut out the countertop in advance, to which one of the studs will be attached. After securely attaching the stud to the tabletop, you need to take a 200x100 block and make two holes in it: one for the main stud, on which the movable carriage with a sharpener will be attached, and the other for the stud, which is attached to the tabletop.

Now you can start assembling the carriage with the sharpener holder. On the pin that will hold the carriage, you need to make two clips of wood, plexiglass or metal. Drill holes in the clamps, put them on the stud and fix on both sides with nuts. The carriage will rotate freely along its axis.

The next step is to install a neodymium magnet on a previously prepared plate. It needs to be done longitudinal groove- so that the tripod can be moved up and down. Drill a hole in the middle of the bed and insert a bolt and nut, which, in turn, will press the plate. At the end of the plate, you can simply glue a neodymium magnet to hold the knife.

The homemade device is ready to use. It can be used to sharpen chisels and planers.

It should be noted that sharpening is carried out without water, so abrasive paper or a circle will wear out a lot, but this option is quite suitable for sharpening knives and tools at home.

Home knife

If available on the farm, it will facilitate the process, but there is one circumstance. When sharpening on a machine, it is almost impossible to evenly press on the knife. Therefore, you can make a knife sharpener that will guide the blade and provide even pressure. The result is a simple but effective electric sharpener. For its manufacture, you will need the following components:

• Bar.
• Four bolts or four M8 threaded studs.
• Four lambs.
• Self-tapping screws for wood.

A guide is attached opposite the electric grinder, along which the slider will move. The guide itself can be attached to a workbench or a pre-made bed can be made. It must be mobile. To do this, you can cut a longitudinal groove in the bed and fix the tripod with two pins. Then take two bars, drill holes on the sides, insert the studs and tighten them with thumbs on both sides. The next step will be the mount on which the cutting product will lie. This can be done with small pieces of timber that should be attached to the sides of the moving carriage.

After that, you can start sharpening. Set the movable carriage to the required height and clamp it with the lambs. Move the tripod itself to the required distance, securely fix and sharpen the product, moving the knife along the side guides.

LM sharpener

If in the future it is planned to engage in professional sharpening of tools in large quantities, then you can make a sharpener, which is called: Lansky-Metabo. Fixture drawings for sharpening knives with your own hands are as follows:

If the product is clamped in the clamps with the root part, then the sharpening angle will be the greatest. A knife with this angle can be used as a cleaver and processing hard rocks wood. You can also easily sharpen knives from planer... Knife clamps can be made from a corner or wood. The disadvantages of this design are the complexity of assembly and the large number of parts.

If it is not possible to assemble a complex tool for sharpening knives, then you can do with improvised means and make hand sharpeners for knives. A simple sharpener can be made from a corner frame with a whetstone mounted on it.

If the sharpener is supplemented with a sliding carriage, then you do not have to hold the knife at a certain angle, which, in turn, will have a good effect on sharpening the blade. To make a movable carriage, you will need a triangular bar and a magnet. It is best to use a neodymium magnet to pull the knife in and hold it securely. If there is no such magnet, then you can take the components from the HDD (hard disk).

Before you give a knife or other product for sharpening, you should familiarize yourself with the material that will help not only in making a sharpener with your own hands, but also save a certain amount. The main aspect is to gain additional experience, which will come in handy in the future.

If you thought there were self-sharpening knives, this is a myth invented by marketers to sell their products. Any knife will sooner or later become dull. This means that you will have to look for solutions to rectify this situation. Today the editors of the site will tell you what methods and tools you need to use for this and, in general, what to do when your knife is dull.

Read in the article:

Types of devices for sharpening knives

Stone has existed since the earliest days of modern civilization. And almost the same amount of metal. That is why the whetstone became one of the first devices that came to the rescue of a Homo sapiens. A simple, and most importantly accessible tool has been successfully coping with its task for many millennia.

However, in modern world with a grindstone, you can only sharpen a simple hunting knife... In other cases, the quality will be poor. In addition, only soft metals are sharpened with a stone, and if the cutting part of the blade has a hardness higher than 55 HRC, then you cannot sharpen it with improvised means.

Consider the types of devices for sharpening knives. If we talk about what kind of abrasive material is used, then the tools can be made in the form of bars or sharpening stones. By type of drive: manual or electric. Usually in home kitchens you can find a simple machine tool.

And it is this sharpening angle that must be maintained. However, not all household tools are capable of sharpening the knife correctly. And that is why in this article the editors of the site will tell you what options you can use in order to sharpen a knife for certain purposes.

Important! Each type of blade has its own edge angle, and during sharpening it must be held along the entire length of the processed surface of the product.

Master sharpeners even conduct special master classes on sharpening knives using natural stone. Real natural whetstones cannot be bought in a regular store. Interestingly, before the processing process, it is soaked in water, sometimes with soapy water, and dried after work.

Knife sharpening bars

Knife sharpening bars are one of the most affordable devices for any housewife. They are usually special rectangular bars with special abrasive coating. Such bars are useful for sharpening carpentry tools in the garage, as well as household utensils.

Sharpening stones, depending on the material, can be as natural origin and synthetic. Their wear resistance and the type of grain size depend on this. This means the quality of sharpening. Consider the main types of materials that are used in the manufacture of whetstones:

• natural stones , such as novaculite or Japanese water stone. It is not very easy to work with such a tool. They require certain skills and skill;
• diamond-coated bars... Synthetic, possess high degree wear resistance. Differ affordable price;
• ceramic... Belong to more modern look bars for sharpening. Combines the hardness of a diamond coating with the hardness of a natural stone;
• artificial: fused alumina or carbide... Fast grinding abrasive, different low quality and the same price.

On the other hand, artificial abrasives are much cheaper than their natural counterparts. They are created by mixing diamond powders of different fractions, as well as electrocorundum and carbide.

Important! In this case, the material used for bonding the rock, as well as the percentage of all elements, is of great importance. The stronger and better the composition (this also applies to the particles themselves), the more resistant the grinding abrasive will be.

Ligament variations can be soft type and hard type. In the first case, the crystals are glued strictly to the surface of their base, made of a nickel alloy. In fact, the crystals are located very thin layer on a bar. A soft bond is a chaotic arrangement of bonding and abrasive elements. The second type is less wear-resistant.

Sharpening stones for knives

As we noted earlier, more effective means sharpening knives are natural stones. Their effectiveness has been proven at all stages of sharpening. Artificial analogs, although they are durable and affordable, will not be able to boast of ideal sharpness. Natural whetstones require special care as the most important rule craftsmen - a perfectly flat whetstone surface.

Expert opinion

Tool selection consultant VseInstrumenty.ru LLC

Ask a specialist

“To check the degree of alignment of the stone, use simple method... Moisten the timber and place it on a piece of paper on flat surface... The print will allow you to assess the degree of evenness of the stone ”.

Novaculites, or "Arkansas", "Turkish", "Belgian" stones - natural shale and chalcedony interspersed with the smallest particles of garnet and quartz. Today, both natural stones and their artificial substitutes are used.

Musat for sharpening knives

Musat looks like a file from the side. In any case, it is precisely such a comparison that comes at first glance. The peculiarity of this tool is that its surface is magnetized, which means that metal flour will not fall on you.

Each type of musat is designed for sharpening a certain kind tool, and differs in varying degrees of versatility. So, for example, a round musat weighs a little, but an oval one sharpens better, since its edges provide more Full contact with a processed surface. Quadrangular - more versatile, here you can improve the quality of the required sharpening angle.

Household manual knife sharpeners

Variety of options sharpening knives allows you to select the tool you need. These are both familiar household mini-sharpeners, known to almost everyone, and more specific devices with a polishing wheel. As with more professional, household systems, knife sharpeners can use a moving or stationary abrasive. The sharpening angle in this case depends on the position cutting tool... Hand tools of this type, despite their simplicity and relative cheapness, are laborious to operate.

Household Electric Knife Sharpeners

Electric grinders are more convenient. Working with them saves time. Most often, such driven machines have different modes of operation, which are controlled by switches.

Inside the sharpener there is a grinding disc with an abrasive coating. When electricity is applied, the disc starts to rotate. The grinding wheels are hidden inside the protective cover. Despite the presence of a disk, such machines are quite compact. And the angle of sharpening is regulated by a special spring, which completely eliminates errors in sharpening.

Professional manual knife sharpeners

Professional hand tool a bit like a carpenter's vice. The object of sharpening, in fact, a knife, is clamped with special clamps.

Further, the master, by means of a certain movement, begins sharpening, moving along the abrasive plate The grinding machine itself is set on the stop. It is very important to fix the machine correctly and to avoid slipping of the tool during sharpening.

Such hand-held sharpeners allow the use of different abrasives, there is a possibility of adjusting the sharpening angle in a wide range.

Professional electric knife sharpening machines

The professional tool has a large number of attachments and replaceable discs. The electrocorundum stone and the finishing leather disc rotate at a speed of 90 rpm, and the first is placed in a pan with water. The combination of low speed and constant cooling gives high-quality processing products already at the stage of formation incisal edge.

Professional machines are distinguished by their versatility. Usually this is an apparatus with a massive abrasive disc. Such tools allow you to sharpen not only knives, but also locksmith tools, for example, planers and chisels. And at the final stages of work, they provide the blade with a razor sharpness.

How to sharpen a knife correctly

However, before starting the blade sharpening process, it is important to understand the sharpening technology. And the basics.

Optimal sharpening angles and sharpness for kitchen knives

There are dozens of types of knives for different purposes: kitchen knives, metal knives. In general, the sharpness of the blade depends on the shape of the blade. And she, in turn, must correlate with certain clear correspondences of the relationship between blade and blade. Consider correct angles sharpening of various tools.

For your information! Some types of knives can be so sharp that they can cut through metal. The sharpest of them are blades with a sharpening angle of 50 ° - such versions, with a certain steel grade, can cut nails.

How to sharpen a knife at home with a bar

This process is simple, but rather painstaking. Try without sharpening experience this process meaningless. Usually craftsmen use two whetstones with different abrasive densities - coarse and fine.

Advice! Make sure the blade is wet. Special oils or sharpening lubricants can be used.

The next step is to choose a sharpening angle. Here we focus on the table above and take the range from and to. Remember, the smaller the sharpening angle, the faster the knife will become dull. It will be difficult for a beginner to maintain the same angle. In order to successfully complete this stage, it is important to hold the knife with both hands.

Place the blade gently on the blade, lower the corner to the sharpening surface and start working. We start work on a coarse-grained bar, and then, when the edge grinding stage begins, we continue with a fine abrasive.

How to sharpen a knife with musat at home

Sharpening is carried out on weight. The blade is held along the entire length of the instrument, usually several such "passes" are enough.

The sharpening process with musat is quite simple. The tool is placed in one hand, the knife in the other.

How to sharpen a knife correctly on an electric grinder

The sharpening process is practically the same as sharpening by hand... The only difference is that in this case it is not the blade that is wetted, but the grinding disc itself. Most often, a special tray is used to cool the disk. And the whole process is automatic.

Typical mistakes when sharpening knives with your own hands

Everyone knows that it is better to prevent mistakes than to correct them later. That is why the editors of the site have prepared a list of the most common mistakes beginners make when sharpening knives:

1. Incorrectly maintained level of sharpening angle.
2. Re-sharpening the blade. It occurs when excessive pressure is applied to the sharpener with the blade, because of which it can be damaged or even crack.
3. Sharpening of an unprepared tool or a worn grinding wheel.
4. The use of musat at all stages of work.
5. As we remember, musat is used for debugging cutting edge... Using a fine grit abrasive.

It is important to consider all these subtleties already at the stage of organizing work. For information on how to sharpen a knife with a bar correctly, see this video.

DIY making a knife sharpening machine

Buying a ready-made knife sharpening machine is not always necessary. For household needs, you can do it yourself. It doesn't matter if it is mechanical or electric machine you will create - be guided, as mentioned earlier, on already existing diagrams and drawings.

What tools are needed for making do-it-yourself knife-cutters

For the manufacture of the simplest machine we need: an ordinary block of chipboard, you can use elements of old cabinet furniture. Prepare for work: a metal rod, a small piece of sheet steel 1 mm thick, several screws for fastening the structure, any abrasive material, a jigsaw and a screwdriver.

DIY step-by-step instructions for making a grinding machine

Consider assembling the simplest knife with your own hands from scrap materials.

Illustration	Description of action
	As we can see, the base here is quite simple - an ordinary 65 × 25 mm chipboard board
	Block for fixing the base. Don't forget to sand it.
	We mark the places of fastenings.
	We fix the bent pin at a certain angle. Guide angle from 65 to 70 °
	We cut out the pressure plate from fiberglass. We mark the places of fasteners for the countersunk bolts.
	We fix the plate on the base. Press down with a hex wrench.
	We grind a plate from the same material to fix the guide.
	We press the structure using a regular lamb.
	We grind an ordinary steel bar, attach a handle from an old file to it. Length 57 cm.
	From the plumbing clamp we take the angle fasteners for the grindstone. We also use a bunny with a clamping screw for its further fixation.
	Sharpening stones can be made from a regular piece of laminate. We cut it into strips 2.5 cm wide, 20 cm long.Next, we glue the sandpaper on double sided tape and you can work!

So, our grinder is ready to go. We hope that our story will be useful to you. You can use them to make the simplest sharpening knives.

To perform their function, knives must always be sharp. Any housewife, using a knife to cut food, knows how quickly it becomes dull.

Can make a sharpening from wooden blocks... You will need 4 blocks of the same size: 2 - wooden, and 2 - abrasive. The wood is sanded, removing all burrs with sandpaper. Markings are applied to them depending on the desired angle, a grindstone is applied to them and its width is fixed. On the markings, cuts are made with a depth of 1.5 cm. Abrasive bars are inserted into the grooves and fixed with bolts.

Consider the action of the clamping device. The knife is fixed and remains motionless, while the stone makes forward movements. It forms a straight cutting edge on the knife edge at the desired angle. To make the blade perfectly sharp, you need to change the sharpening stones successively. It must be remembered that the stones must move strictly perpendicular to the area that is being sharpened.

Chisels and planer knives can be sharpened at home. It is necessary to make an elementary device where the sharpening angle will be fixed. Sharpening is carried out strictly on sanding paper.

Simple knife grinder

To make it, you need two pairs of slats and a bar. The slats are interconnected by means of adjustable screws, a bar is installed between them. The structure must be stable, it is undesirable to move it on the working table. To better secure the block, you need to provide support strips that can be positioned between the wooden components.

It's easy to do it yourself. You need to prepare the right tool.

Such a machine has disadvantages:

• it is not always possible to control the sharpening angle, especially if you work for a long time;
• the design is unstable, one more fixation unit is needed;
• you need to regularly tighten the screws so that the position of the bar does not change.

Sharpening planer knives

it difficult process, for the implementation of which certain knowledge and skills are required. It is difficult to find a planer knife sharpener on the market. Many people do this with ordinary sharpeners. It is recommended for this case to purchase a modern low-speed sharpener, which is equipped with water cooling.

To do planer knife sharp, you need to find a flat and unrefined stone that is applied in this area. A water stone is perfect.

You can sharpen such a knife in any car workshop that has a knife sharpening tool. For an additional fee, any blade will be sharpened using a special machine.

There are two types of knife sharpening: one-sided and two-sided. The working methods will differ from each other. This must be taken into account.

When choosing a quality block, you need to take a stone with a medium grain.

Knives that have special coatings for the cutting edges do not need to be sharpened. They are made of extra hard alloys that protect the blade from wear.

A sharpener with a special cutting edge in the form of teeth should not be tried in the usual way. For such a blade, you need to use laser control, which is not in an ordinary apartment.

Wash blades often hot water it is impossible, since this makes their blades dull faster.

To sharpen the blade quickly not having at hand special device, use a regular ceramic mug. Its bottom usually has a rough rim not covered with glaze - it can be used instead of stone. The method is suitable for auxiliary sharpening.

Some villages still practice method of sharpening blades on the foundation... For its manufacture, a cement-sand mortar was used, therefore the surface of the foundation has a granular surface. Of course, this method cannot be called acceptable for residents of apartment buildings, but this is a pretty good option.

Conclusion

Every house must have a knife sharpening device. A simple model of a knife sharpening device can be made by hand.

Let it be the most simple model but if you do it yourself, your blades will never dull.

The myth of supposedly self-sharpening knives quickly broke up…. About everyday life. This is not surprising, the laws of physics, there are laws of physics, against them, so to speak, even marketers are powerless. If knives are not sharpened in the house, if you remember the famous bard, there is nothing good. Today, the editors of the site will help solve the problem of dull blades and tell you how and with what you can properly sharpen a knife at home. We will introduce our readers to different types tools for sharpening knives, we will tell you about their effectiveness, and also teach you how to make a simple sharpener at home.

Read in the article

Types of devices for sharpening knives

A sharpening stone for sharpening knives is probably the very first device of this type. A simple, and, most importantly, affordable tool has been successfully coping with its task for many millennia.

Until now, the classification of machine tools depends on this once uncontested grindstone. By sight abrasive material may be:

• bars;
• sharpening stones.

By drive type:

• manual;
• electrically driven.

At the place of use:

• homemade;
• professional.

However, in the modern world, only a simple hunting knife can be sharpened with a grindstone. In other cases, the quality will be poor. In addition, only soft metals are sharpened with a stone, if the cutting part of the blade has a hardness higher than 55 HRC, you cannot sharpen it with improvised means.

Important! Each blade type has a different edge angle. And during sharpening, it must be held along the entire length of the processed surface of the product.

Several types of modern whetstones are still in use today. An example of this natural stones- Japanese water stone (we showed it in the photo above) or American "Arkansas". Master sharpeners even conduct special master classes on sharpening knives using natural stone. Interestingly, before the processing process, it is soaked in water, sometimes with soapy water, and dried after work. The whole process resembles a sacrament for initiates. Therefore, it should not be surprising that these rocks are too expensive, and artificial abrasive surfaces are used in most sharpening devices.

Knife sharpening bars

These are artificially cut abrasive coated sticks that are suitable for manual sharpening both carpentry and locksmith tools, and for kitchen knives.

Bars, depending on the material from which they are made, can be of different degrees of wear resistance and grain size. Consider the main types of materials that are used in the manufacture of whetstones:

1. Natural stones, such as novaculite or Japanese water stone. It is not very easy to work with such a tool. They require certain skills and skill.
2. Diamond(diamond-coated) - can be different shapes and graininess. Wear resistant. Affordable price.
3. Ceramic... Refers to a more modern type of sharpening bars. Combines the hardness of a diamond coating with the hardness of a natural stone.
4. Artificial: fused alumina or carbide. Fast grinding abrasive, of low quality and the same price.

Artificial abrasives are created by mixing diamond powders of different fractions, as well as electrocorundum and carbide.

Important! In this case, the material used for bonding the rock, as well as the percentage of all elements, is of great importance. The stronger and better the composition (this also applies to the particles themselves), the more resistant the grinding abrasive will be.

Moreover, there are two types of bundle of elements - galvanic and soft bundle. In the first case, the crystals are glued strictly to the surface of their base, made of a nickel alloy. In fact, the crystals are located in a very thin layer on the bar. A soft bond is a chaotic arrangement of bonding and abrasive elements. The second type is less wear-resistant.

Sharpening stones for knives

If we talk in more detail about sharpening stones, you need to talk about the main varieties used in such tools, this will help you understand the process in detail and understand how to sharpen the knife correctly. But before talking about them, one cannot fail to mention the stages of sharpening, which in this context will play a decisive role in the description different materials and machine tools.

Stage	Description	Illustration
Sharpening	Restoring a blunt edge without adjusting the sharpening angle.
Debugging	Edge grinding with fine grain abrasives.
Edit	Polishing bevels and cutting edges with a ceramic pencil, GOI paste or on a leather belt.
Resharpening (deep sharpening)	Full restoration of the desired sharpening angle, geometry of the blade profile and elimination of chips on the edge. Most often, this work is carried out on special machines.

Let's move on to a description of the main options for sharpening stones.

Japanese water stones

They are used equally effectively at all stages of sharpening. There are artificial analogs (ceramic-based), but professionals use original, natural materials. The stones require special care, because the most important rule of the master is the perfectly flat surface of the whetstone.

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“To check the level of the stone's evenness, use a simple method. Moisten a piece of wood and place it on a piece of paper on a flat surface. The print will allow you to assess the degree of evenness of the stone. "

Novaculites, or "Arkansas", "Turkish", "Belgian" stones - natural shale and chalcedony interspersed with the smallest particles of garnet and quartz. Today, both natural stones and their artificial substitutes are used.

Important! The stones only work in combination with a special oil lubricant. The extraordinary and unique structure of stones allows them to be used on different stages processing.

Musat for sharpening knives

Musat is a kind of file, most often installed vertically. The peculiarity of this tool is that its surface is magnetized, which means that metal flour will not fall on you.

Musats come in different shapes: round, faceted, flat with beveled edges.

Each variation has its merits. So, for example, a round musat weighs a little, but an oval one sharpens better, since its edges provide more complete contact with the processed surface. Quadrangular - more versatile, here you can improve the quality of the required sharpening angle.

Household manual knife sharpeners

You can talk for hours about the options and varieties of hand-held lathes used in everyday life. These are both familiar household mini-sharpeners, known to almost everyone, and more specific devices with a polishing wheel.

The easiest way to work with mini-sharpeners that control the progress of the instrument. In this case, the degree of sharpening depends on the effort that the person makes.

Household Electric Knife Sharpeners

Electric grinders are more convenient. Working with them saves time. Most often, such driven machines have different modes of operation, which are controlled by switches.

Typically, such machines are compact, safe, simple and reliable, since all grinding wheels hidden inside the case. In this case, the sharpening angle is regulated by a special spring, which completely eliminates sharpening errors.

Professional manual knife sharpeners

Professional hand tools are a bit like a carpentry vise. The object of sharpening, in fact, a knife, is clamped with special clamps.

The grinder itself is installed on the stop. It is very important to fix the machine correctly and to avoid slipping of the tool during sharpening.

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“If you do not have the skills to work with this tool, it is better to use automatic sharpeners. In addition, such a machine cannot be assembled without certain knowledge. "

Professional electric knife sharpening machines

Professional machines are distinguished by their versatility. Usually this is an apparatus with a massive abrasive disc. Such tools allow you to sharpen not only knives, but also locksmith tools, for example, planers and chisels.

The combination of low speed and constant cooling results in high-quality processing of products already at the stage of forming the incisal edge. And at the final stages of work, they provide the blade with a razor sharpness. The professional tool has a large number of attachments and replaceable discs. Moreover, the clamp, where the blade is fixed, can freely move along the support in the horizontal direction. Moreover, you can adjust the sharpening angle.

How to sharpen a knife correctly

For high-quality sharpening of the machine, experience and certain knowledge are needed. Let's start with the basics.

Optimal sharpening angles and sharpness for kitchen knives

It's no secret that there are a lot of knives for different materials. A good housewife has her own knife for vegetables and meat. Let's take a look at the correct sharpening angles for different tools.

Tool type	Sharpening angle
Razor and medical scalpel	10-50 °
Professional for chefs	20-25 °
Universal	25-30 °
For complex jobs	25-30 °
Cutlery kitchen utensils	55-60 °
For fillet	15-20 °
Home universal	30-35 °
Boning and butchering	25-30 °
Professional for fish	25 °
Professional for vegetables	35 °
Hunting and "Swiss" (sharp)	30-35 °
Hunting and "Swiss", blunt-resistant	40-45 °

For your information! The sharpest knives blades with a sharpening angle of 50 ° are considered, such versions with a certain steel grade can cut nails. When sharpening knives, you can vary the angle at your discretion within the named range.

In general, the sharpness of the blade depends on the shape of the blade. And she, in turn, must correlate with certain clear correspondences of the relationship between blade and blade.

How to sharpen a knife at home with a bar

The process is simple, but rather painstaking. It is pointless to try this process without sharpening experience. Usually craftsmen use two whetstones with different abrasive densities - coarse and fine.

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“The blade of the knife must be wet. You can use special oils or sharpening lubricants. "

The next step is to choose a sharpening angle. Here we focus on the table above and take the range from and to. Remember, the smaller the sharpening angle, the faster the knife will become dull. It will be difficult for a beginner to maintain the same angle. In order to successfully complete this stage, it is important to hold the knife with both hands.

We start work on a coarse-grained bar, and then, when the edge grinding stage begins, with a fine abrasive

How to sharpen a knife with musat at home

Sharpening is carried out on weight. The blade is held along the entire length of the instrument, usually several such "passes" are enough.

To prevent the blade from slipping, the musat is equipped with a special stopper or guard, which does not allow the blade to injure the hand.

How to sharpen a knife correctly on an electric grinder

The sharpening process practically does not differ from sharpening by hand. The only difference is that in this case it is not the blade that is wetted, but the grinding disc itself. This usually happens automatically, as in the machines we talked about above.

Typical mistakes when sharpening knives with your own hands

Everyone knows that it is better to prevent mistakes than to correct them later. That is why the editors of the site have prepared a list of the most common mistakes beginners make when sharpening knives:

1. Incorrectly maintained level of sharpening angle.
2. Re-sharpening the blade. It occurs when excessive pressure is applied to the sharpener with the blade, because of which it can be damaged or even crack.
3. Sharpening of an unprepared tool or a worn grinding wheel.
4. The use of musat at all stages of work. As we remember, musat is used to refine the cutting edge.
5. Using a fine grit abrasive.

It is important to consider all these subtleties already at the stage of organizing work. For information on how to sharpen a knife with a bar correctly, see this video.

DIY making a knife sharpening machine

Buying a ready-made knife sharpening machine is not always necessary. For household needs, you can do it yourself. It doesn't matter whether you create a mechanical or electrical machine, be guided, as mentioned earlier, by already existing diagrams and drawings.

What tools are needed for making do-it-yourself knife-cutters

For the manufacture of the simplest machine we need:

1. A piece of chipboard 10-12 mm thick. Can be used from old cabinetry.
2. Wooden block.
3. Metal rod M8 or M6.
4. Sheet steel 1 mm thick.
5. Fastening screws or nuts with washers to match the diameter of the stud to be used.
6. Abrasive material.
7. Hacksaw for metal or jigsaw
8. Screwdriver.

DIY step-by-step instructions for making a grinding machine

Consider assembling the simplest knife with your own hands from scrap materials.

Illustration	Description of action
	As we can see, the base here is quite simple - a few chipboard boards. Size - 37 × 12 cm. Pressing board - 30 × 8 cm.When lifting - something about 7 cm.