A sharp knife is really important to cut sushi perfectly and smoothly. If you don’t have a sharp knife, cutting sushi can be a very difficult task to do. If you use these knives regularly, blade teeth become dull and cut sushi badly. To cut smoothly, you have to keep your sushi knife sharp regularly.
But the thing is that many of us don’t know how to sharpen a sushi knife. As a result, we got ourselves injured while sharpening in the wrong way and also ruin the shape of the knife.
How To Sharpen Sushi Knife?
There are many ways, or you can say steps, that will make your knife sharper than new. In this article, I will give full info about how to sharpen two-sided and one-sided sushi knives.
Follow the instructions and steps I give, and then you will see you can sharpen sushi knife-like professionals.
Safety note: While sharpening, make sure that your hand has a great grip on the knife, and that you keep the whetstone on a sticky surface.
Choose & Prepare Whetstone.
First of all, you have to choose whetstone. Whetstone comes in three types: the Arato, shiage, and nakato. These are mostly the same. You can pick one of them and then choose grit. I recommend you choose the F1000 to F3000 low grit for the sharpening knife and the F5000 to F10000 high grid for the polishing knife
Then prepare the whetstone; take water in the bowl and put the whetstone in the bowl. Keep that in the bowl for 10-15 minutes. After that, make sure no bubbles appear on the whetstone body, which means whetstone absorbs water how much is needed.
Then it would be best if you flattened the whetstone with a flattening stone. Neither sharpening on the unflattering surface can ruin the knife’s structure or teeth. Take a pencil and draw grid lines on the whetstone and start rubbing.
Rub froth and back with some pressure until the pencil marks disappear. When the pencil line disappears, that means you are ready to sharpen your sushi knife.
Sharpening Style
Secondly, take the low-grit whetstone first and place it on a surface where it doesn’t slip or put something non-slippery under the whetstone. Then grab the knife tightly with your right hand and place the thumb on the flat surface of the knife. Also, place the left-hand index and middle finger on the head side of the knife surface.
After that, start pushing back and forth gently on the Whetstone surface and use water drops on the whetstone. It would be best if you angled the knife while pushing for better sharpness. I recommend you angle the knife 12-15degree.
You can also angle it in Japanese and Western knives. The Japanese style angle is 15-17 degrees, and the western-style angle is 15-20degrees. With a perfect angle, move the blade’s one side for about 10 minutes and move the other side of the blade for about 10 minutes.
While sharpening does not wipe off the grinding residue, it actually helps to sharpen the knife well. After sharpening on the low grid, use the high grid for polishing the sushi knife. Do the same things or the process that you did in the second step!
After Sharpening Do Polishing
After sharpening and polishing, clean the sushi knife with hot water or put it in hot water. Clean the whetstone also.
Then taste the sushi knife that is sharp enough for cutting sushi. You can try random things such as on paper, tomato, or shave off your arms hair to check the sharpness.
Do the same process for the one-sided knife. You just have to keep in mind that you do not sharpen the flat side of the one-sided knife’s blade. Just sharpen the sharp part of the knife on the whetstone.
Note: Sharpening on the one-sided knife’s flat side can damage the sharpness and can ruin the knife’s shape and teeth.
Take Care Of The Whetstone.
Whetstone is the most important thing, or you can say a mandatory thing for sharpening knives. So, not taking care of this stone can ruin your knife’s shape.
Do the things that I say, first, do not over-soaked the whetstone, it could fragile and decrease the stone’s quality. Secondly, do not put whetstone on a cardboard box, try to keep it in an air-circulate place or normal temperature of the room. The best thing you can do is keep the stone in a dry towel.
The third thing you can do is on heavy use or normal usage; you have to clean the stone and dry it properly. In this way, you can sharpen a knife on a whetstone with its full potential and can use a whetstone for a long time.
How To Get Sharpen For a Long Time
Those who use sushi knives for most of their day should sharpen the knife two times a week. But most chefs sharpen their knives once a week.
After getting sharpened for a long time, after using or cutting something, try to clean the mess from the knife, and the best thing you can do is clean the knife with hot water and use a dry towel to keep it dry.
In this way, your knife will cut better than when it was new.
Which Knife Is Easier To Sharpen?
Ans: I think the plain carbon steel knives are quite easier to sharpen. However, if not taken care of regularly, the carbon steel knife will rust quickly. But this material is well durable and stays sharper than others.
In this way, Japanese knives are easier to sharpen because they use high-carbon steel on their maximum knives.
What Can Damage Your Blade?
Ans: Sharpening at a high and low angle, bumpy surface of the whetstone, and over-sharpening can damage your blade.
To reduce the damage of the blade, sharp the blade at a 12-15degree angle, use a flat wet surface, and do not sharpen your knife regularly.
Is There Any Knife That Barely Needs Sharpening?
Ans: It’s tough to find a knife that doesn’t need to be sharpened. But a KNASA Chef knife can be used for a long time and cuts better than new without sharpening. Because its teeth get sharpened automatically while using or cutting.
Why Do Knives Not Stay Sharp?
Ans: As a result of daily use or normal usage, the blade’s teeth began to erode and erupt, and at a tile, the blade became dull. Also, blades don’t automatically recover this loss and lose sharpness. That’s why knives do not stay sharp.
Conclusion
After reading this, I know you may think sharpening a sushi knife is an easy task; I agree it’s easy, but if you do not follow the steps correctly, your knife’s teeth can be much duller, and you can lose their shape.
Also, take care of both your hand’s fingers and don’t lose your grip on the knife while sharpening. Neither can it injure your fingers. I hope you understand the steps and thank you for reading.
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As a home cook, I am working in the kitchen niche since 2001.
Writing a blog is one of my hobbies. Cooking is my passion and I love to experiment with spices. I hope you will get benefitted after reading my article.
