Just realized my 12-inch chef knife was dull because I was honing wrong

Was at a Saturday prep session in that little bistro off Granville Street last month. The line cook next to me kept glancing at my knife work and finally just handed me his knife to try. Night and day difference. He asked how I was using my honing steel and I showed him. He laughed and said I was basically bending the edge back and forth instead of actually realigning it. Fixed my angle to 15 degrees and suddenly my knife cuts through tomato skins like butter. Anybody else get a basic knife skill wrong for years and only figure it out from a random coworker?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew9161mo ago

Yeah it's wild how many little things we do wrong for years without realizing it.

ross.river1mo ago

oh man the "bending the edge back and forth" thing hit hard. i did the EXACT same thing for like three years. i'd just scrape the steel hard and fast and thought that's what sharpening was. turns out i was making micro-fractures in the blade and my knife got duller faster. finally a dude at a BBQ competition showed me to use light pressure and a consistent 15 degree angle. now my Wusthof slices through newspaper like it's nothing. felt like a total idiot but hey that's how you learn i guess.