Thank you for correctly telling people this is a honing steel, not a knife sharpener like a lot of RU-vid folks misrepresent. However, this is ATK so I expect nothing less :-)
The whole purpose is to change your knife so that it cuts better. Most prople call this making it sharper. Whether it's done by shaving bits of metal off, or making the edge straighter, it's still sharper.
Another thing you can do to help is fold up a damp towel on the cutting board and place the tip of the steel on the cloth. This helps prevent the steel from shifting around while you hone the knife blade, enabling you to keep a correct angle and pressure easier and longer.
Yeah... thats not how we were taught in culinary school lmao. I went to Le Cordon Bleu btw,did the patisserie and baking side but we still had to learn basic knife skills and basic french cuisine as part of the degree program. Where did you go for schooling?? Im insanely curious since Le Cordon Bleu doesn't exist in the states anymore so Im not super keen to what other programs are available these days.
In what culinary school teaches like that has anyone asked a smith ? what steel is the knife what steel is the Honer we can go on all day you will never use it right with a tiny nub denting a cutting board
It’s always best to do one pass on each side instead of more than one pass. The burr of your edge gets pushed to one side and then you correcting it is way harder
I struggled with this for decades, but finally learned this method a few years ago. Finding the right angle is a challenge, too, but there's a certain way it "feels" when the knife is at the best angle. Once you get that feel, honing your knife blades becomes child's play.
My grandpa used to be a butcher and I thought whenever he did this it was a quick and easy way to sharpen the blade before cutting. I asked my dad why I’d never seen him do it and he was like “are you kidding me? I don’t have the skill to use one of those. Not like your grandpa.” He then explained the nuances of sharpening and honing knives and why my grandpa made it look so casual
I personally like doing this reverse so I’m dragging the blade backwards to what she is doing. This pulls the rolled and bent tiny parts of the blade back into alignment like a comb almost. Then, I run the knife the “normal” way. This trims off the frail bits of metal that were combed up much faster and I tent to get a better edge. To each is own though
I was told there's a difference in the ground in pattern on the honing blade, so drawing the knife towards you would be different than pushing the blade away from the handle. Towards the handle being correct. The process was shown on microscopic level, where the knife edge looked like a saw blade. A dull knife had the saw teeth bent in odd directions and the honing blade just lines them up straight. Barbers do the same thing with their straight razors and a leather strop, yes strop.
The recommendation you're suggesting doesn't actually improve pressure or angle because these elements are controlled by your arm not as much as the rod. However, the method you're suggesting is safer for new people. Respectfully.
Honing the edge of a knife is a skill that takes time and practice. Run the blade over the steel then check it's sharpness with a piece of paper. If you're doing it right, it will cut the paper with little effort, if you're doing it wrong, it won't cut the paper. If it won't cut the paper, adjust the angle of the blade and do it again. With enough practice, you'll figure out the angle and it will become like second nature.
If you’re a perfectionist or struggling, look for an angle guide for the steel. The Wedgek NX2 is a great option. Getting the right angle each time is especially important if your steel is a ceramic rod or diamond-coated. I’ve been freehand sharpening for over eight years. But you can get a screaming sharp edge on even a really dull knife without prior knowledge by doing this with a ceramic or diamond rod and then finishing on an ordinary steel. I taught a few people, and they never needed me to sharpen their knives again, minus two blades that they accidentally smashed into bone. It’s a great skill to have, and angle guides are there for you if you want to jump a few steps forward and guarantee yourself professional results. Keep your knives sharp and avoid having to send them off or take them in every few months. Extend that to a yearly touchup or whenever there’s too much damage for you to get out with a diamond rod.
@@cheryllewis3059So abrasive rods, even 400-600 grit diamond ones, aren’t for sharpening? I think our definition of sharpening is different, or you didn't thoroughly read my OP.
She’s like my smart aunt that went away to college and comes back home because she loves you but her true passion is working with particle accelerators. She explains something simple that you’ve been doing wrong your entire life, but it’s okay auntie Lan will teach you and not make you feel dumb that you didn’t know.
I have seen this exact method few yers back I’m thankful I take good care of my knives, no dishwasher,don’t use the blade side to scrape up small foods to transfer to the skillet, I use a magnetic bar for easy access to get the right knife. My knives are quality, I’m taking care of them, I love a good sharp knife. Great Video
Ok ma’am, amazing videos but I have to ask, where do you get your tops from?? This is not the first video where you have a super cute blouse and I can’t find that kind of style anywhere..
@@chandlerwitt5694 how do you know I'm damaging my knives? I have been honing my knives for over 10 years at this point, and yes, in the beginning I made more harm than good to my knives, but I think I've got the hang of it nowadays;)
@@chandlerwitt5694A honing rod cannot damage a knife. The only metal it removes is defects in the edge. The rod is just a gentle way to remove burrs and slightly shift your knife edge back or forth until it’s straight. Everything a honing rod does, can be undone by using it on the other side of your knife.
@@chandlerwitt5694 As long as it cuts well, the blade is fine. Most people do much worse to their blades in use and cleaning than they’ll ever manage with a honing steel.
Some steels, especially if it came with the knife, have the metal guard width set so that when you place your edge on the steel and lean the blade against the guard that gives you the correct honing angle for your knife.
this is wrong and makes absolutely no sense, the angle will depend on how far up the blade you lean the knife against the guard. you could technically hold the knife (nearly) perpendicular to the rod and still touch the guard edge with the blade of your knife.
At the cattle disassembly plant I worked at in my youth, we drew the blade away from the handle of the steel. But in the "heat of the battle" we didn't have time to find a flat surface. Do it enough times and you'll get the hang of it.
I have the Shun honing rod and it has an angle reference on the hilt, basically a chamfer that you rest the blade against to get 15 degrees or whatever it is.
For left handed people, you can actually do everything backwards by holding the knife still and honing and truing the blade by moving the steel not the knife and controlling the angle that way. This allows for even pressure and full movements from base to tip, especially when hitting a flat spot or nick in the blade.
I sharpen knives a decent amount and I can barely do it. Then with my nice let sharpened knives my family think they iron chef and go warp speed w the honing rod 😕
@@citizenatlrge The ribbed ones do remove material and work best with the hard brittle knives, typical the Japanese ones. The older non ribbed rods do redress a deformed knife edge back straight. That works only for the softer non brittle typical German, French and English knives. I have no idea what steel types the Americans use?
I used a honing rod or steel as we call it for years and very good they are , but their main down fall is that slowly,slowly you will hollow your knives, I use diamond plates now in the attempt to keep the blade shape true.
It doesnt really matter up or down, it takes light pressure to realign the edge. It is true there is a higher chance you didnt get the correct angle for the knife edge You might even accidentally strike your knife edge directly perpendicular or really close to it to the steel
I like the idea of the steel being vertical against a board and even a folded towel on the board, but if not vertical against the board, stroking away, as the steel is held out away from you. Never made sense to stroke towards yourself with the cutting edge.
Honestly just get a Horl2 it has a honing disk... And a magnetic alignment block... Takes you a couple of seconds and you know the angle is right. It's not cheap but also not as expensive as some other sharpeners but it works fantastic and for home cooks is probably the best bang for buck means to keep knives sharp
You know how my parents get their knives sharpened? I come visit. There's some practice involved in honing but it's far less than the practice involved in learning how to properly sharpen high quality blades. That's why high end knife sets coming with honing steel. It's much easier to learn to do and much harder to mess up.
ah ya you can do it that way too, but in any case do not touch the steel part of a sharpening steel with your fingers. the salt and grease from your fingers damages its cutting edges. ceramic isnt sensitive that way but steel is
It's taken me YEARS to be able to do that effectively. It was the only way i ever saw so i just kept practicing. Pretty good at it now, but yes, it's very easy to mess it up
As a chef I use the magnetic HORL sharpener. The knife sticks onto the bock with magnets at a 20° angle and all you have to do is run a roller on the knife which sharpens it.
Pro tip: Practice on a dull knife, use a practice rod or grid rod (grid rods are hard af to find tho since they never really took off but they really help you learn to hone) I have been sharpening knifes for years on end as a chef and honing is one of the EASIEST skills to master if you get taught properly... Its not even about the angle there but about the propper Rod (which is STRAIGHT unlike in this demonstration, the tip will just set you off balance ruining your honing experience) understanding what a honing rod is... (A honing rod is for straightening the edge, not for direct sharpening...) and learning all the methods, from pushing it into a towel in a 90° angle and running the blade down to going free style like Gordon Ramsey (he has a great tutorial on that, watch it) I also absolutely recommend to learn how to make knifes if you really want to be good at it because making your own set really changes how you view your knifes...
Ceramic rods have worked better for me than steel. Especially the black ceramic ones that have two different grits. I maintain regularly and can't remember the last time I used a sharpening stone.
As a normal person who cooks home or for someone who cooks as a job? Because the pressure applied by someone that uses knives to cut professionally (makes money from) is way different, I’m telling from my experience, so who is your target?
Aye it is. Sorta thing that looks easier than it. I wonder if the people whining about it have tried Of course it's not complicated, its simple. But easy and hard, are not the same thing as simple and complex. The angle does have to be about an exact 45 degrees (through the entire stroke)which is tough not only because the metal can be heavy and awkward, but you have to rub it in a rough manner because of the way the grain lies (so it skids and sticks rather than glides effortlessly as it seems). But you have to do an even pressure, and you're compelled to do it fast around people to look like the pros . But yeah, try it once before you knock it, you'd be surprised how tough and stupid you look trying to hone a knife. Plus you have to hold one steady with your non-dominant hand if not using her method. Mostly it's getting the angle right.
I do the traditional method, but I do multiple passes one side before doing the same number of multiple passes on the other side. Easier to not mess up the angle
And this summarizes the whole problem in manual sharpening for the home cook- maintaining the proper blade angle. I’m sure the demonstrator can do it in her sleep; I fought manual sharpening for years and I can’t. My solution in one word: Lansky.
When I worked in restaurants the chefs would put the knife point-down in the board and run the sharpening steel down the blade. Same principle but safer IMO.
That's one of the ways I teach my apprentices as well. The other is to run the steel up the blade towards the tip of the knife, the reverse of the classic way. I always teach my apprentices to never bring a knife towards your body. You never know if someone might bump you or you slip. Then it's an emergency room trip.
It does sharpen the knife by realigning the cutting edge. What it doesn’t do is grind a new cutting edge. There are 2 methods to sharpen - aligning and edging.
That's a great way but I find it even more easier and enjoyable too later steel horizontal and then do trailing knife strokes like using a knife on the shopping stone, the vertical rod method just is not ergonomic or enjoyable.
Also for the newer knife handlers go backwards on the draw. Pulling the knife away from you, get the angle down and pressure first, plus you won't chunk your edge and you'll still get a return on the sharpness. With time and experience flip the direction the knife is going to hone it like this video is showing. I still draw the knife bakwards to this day
love this omg thank hou! and thank youtube and or google for designing my device to where ya learned that i was specifically interested in sharpening a knife with a honer lol who knew this is what i had!
I thought "honing" was like, bringing the edge of the steel straight again? If that's the case, wouldn't you want the honing steel to be pulled away from the cutting edge rather than pushing into it? Not sure how else to describe the question
I got that ton of practice working at an old-school butcher shop, where 90% of the butchering happened in-house in the back of the store. It's been about 30 years, but now it's a fun little flex when I'm cooking for friends or family.
I actually did this for a couple months and it really helped. But since I switched techniques to leaving the honing rod pointing away and upwards I can't go back. It's wayyy less awkward once you get accustomed to the appropriate angle.
Try stroking the knife heel first. Crazy, but then you are trying to unfold the micro thin blade edge, so should you push it the direction it is folded, or push the folded edge back to where it should be? For me, in practice it works way better to stroke heel first.
This is so trippy/freaky. My chef at school taught us this the exact same way. He spent more time explaining, but he said practically the exact same things in the same order lmao. I thought this was a dream, and this was a different version of my memory.
I've never understood why the knife is drawn towards the hand in these videos. Looks like a trip to the ER to me. It works fine for me when I draw it away. Am I missing something?
Correct, however, once you train your muscle memory, this can and will turn into a rapid fire process with excellent results. Good restaurants have their knives professionally sharpened fairly regularly, and honing after so many cuts will keep your edge longer.
I always draw the edge away from the honing steel which i know is meant to be wrong but it really really works well. And the last few draw I do with super gentle pressure until the blade sings then I know I have a really sharp blade. It doesn’t really sharpen though, just refines the edge again
Draw whichever way is comfortable for you. It doesn't matter as long as you know where your angles are. I work in slaughter and people use their steels in different ways.
"You may not be applying even pressure and not at an appropriate angle, so turn it in a different orientation and apply even pressure at the correct angle." Gee thanks.
Or you can judge angle by resistance from the blade to the steal. If it’s too easy it’s not effective if it’s to rough it removes too much. Plus the sound it makes is dead give away.
I spent 20 years as a butcher & slaughter factory worker. And the table method is used if you don't have a steel glove on. Incase you uver shoot the handle. But in a factory where you only have 20 seconds to do the job & 2 seconds until the line muves the next carcass infront of you. You just about have a chance to steel your blade. So you learn very quickly to do it the first way she held it.
Nah, I'm not trying to remove any material; just trying to unfold the edge. You're going in the wrong direction. The direction would be correct if you were trying to re profile the edge using stones or diamond.
Wait...accurate and not self absorbed content on youtube...nothing smug...no clickbait or political messages...just good knowledge... I must be dreaming. Well done!
tbh, i find putting the steel upside down kinda dangerous, so i always just hold it the usual way, but rather than just doing both sides alternately, cause i find that often imba due to all the reasons she mentioned. i will always do one side first then do another side so i make sure angle and pressure always gg.
The only way to learn to use a honing steel like an experienced chef is by spending a lot of time fucking up blades and resharpening them. It's just more evidence that most people should probably use cheaper knives.
