The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 61

most high-quality forged blades) useless. Second,
eventhebestmodelsprovideonlyanadequateedge.
If you don’t mind replacing your knives every few
years and are happy with the edge an electric
sharpenergivesyou,thisisanoption.Butthereare
muchbetterchoices.
Method 2:Take It to a Professional. Provided you
haveagoodknifesharpenernearbyandarewilling
topaytohavetheserviceperformed,thisisagood
option.Butifyousharpenyourbladesadozenorso
times a year, as I do, this can get quite expensive.
Andallbutthebestprosuseagrindingstone,which
willtakeawaymuchmorematerialthanisnecessary
fromyourblade,reducingitslifespan.Wanttoforge
astrongerrelationshipwithyourblade?Choosethe
nextoption.
Method3:UseaSharpeningStone.Thebestmethod
byfar.Notonlywillitgiveyouthebestedge,butit
will also remove the least amount of material.
Additionally—and I’m not kidding about the
importance of this one—the act of sharpening your
ownknifewillhelpyoucreateamuchstrongerbond
with your blade, and a knife that is treated
respectfully will behave much better. You won’t
believe the difference a sharp knife can makes in
yourcooking.
Stones are designed to either be lubricated with
oilorwithwater.Ipreferwaterstones.


ShoppingandMaintenance

Whenbuyingawaterstone,lookforalargeone,at
least2½ inches wide and 8 inches long and an inch
thick. Stones come in various grit sizes, ranging
from around 100 up to 10,000+. The lower the
number,thecoarserthegrit,andthemorematerial
it will take off your knife. The higher the grit, the
sharpertheedgeyouwillget,butthemorestrokesit
willtaketogetyouthere.
I recommend keeping two stones in your kit: one
with a medium grit (around 800 or so) to perform
majorsharpening jobs and one with a fine grit (at
least2,000)totunetheedgetoarazor-sharpfinish.
For real pros, a stone with an ultrafine grit (8,000
and above) will leave a mirror-like finish on your
blade, but most cooks won’t notice the difference in
termsofcuttingability.Ifyouonlyhavethebudget
orspaceforasinglestone,I’drecommendonewith
a grit between 1,000 and 1,200. Two-sided stones
are also available (coarse and fine grit), but these
are usually of inferior quality.You will also need a
stonefixertorepairanyunevennessinthesurfaceof
yoursharpeningstones.I’veyettogofartherdown
the rabbit hole to purchase a stone-fixer fixer. Both
stones and fixers are available through
Amazon.com.
Carefullydryyourstoneaftereachuse,andstore
it wrapped in a kitchen towel in a dry, grease-free
environment. Oil can soak into the porous material,
ruining its sharpening ability (and your chances of