How To Sharpen A Knife In Real Time | Knife Sharpening For Beginners
How to sharpen a knife in real time. I talk about how to sharpen a knife and my process as I am doing it. LINKS TO THINGS IN VIDEO⬇️
(Affiliated links, NOT sponsored, bought everything with my own money, see full disclosure below)
Knife sharpening stone I am using in this video⬇️
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Review for that stone
• I Maybe Found a Unicor...
Cheap stone I recommend $20⬇️
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Review for that stone⬇️
• S SATC Diamond Sharpen...
How to make a strop video⬇️ (strop in video)
• What Does a Strop Actu...
Strop compound⬇️
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Knife in video (HIGHLY recommend )⬇️
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Video on holding an angle⬇️
• How To Sharpen A Knife...
Video on why burr removal is so important ⬇️ How to make an edge last LONGER • You're Sharpening Your...
Best first CHEAP sharpening stone (buy this stone first)⬇️
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USA made amzn.to/47MGxJc
Best SECOND stone to buy⬇️
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If unavailable ⬇️
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Third stone⬇️
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Polishing stone⬇️
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Good strop compound⬇️
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Don’t buy a strop, buy this instead ⬇️
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My favorite knife as of NOW⬇️
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These are Amazon affiliated links.
As an amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Personal statement⬇️
As an affiliate, I earn commissions from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.
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I bought everything in this video with my own money, and am free to link to anything I want.
Recommendations, comments, and criticisms, are based on personal experience with products.
At this time, (time of video upload, subject to change) I am NOT sponsored by any company.
Thanks
Chapters:
00:00 INTRO
00:43 The stone I am using
01:12 The Strop I am using
01:44 Starting the sharpening process
02:00 The secrete angle rule SEE ATTACHED VIDEO FOR MORE
04:09 When to change sides
07:04 Feeling for a burr
07:54 Why I recommend a COARSE sharpening stone for everyone!
08:57 CLOSE UP of the burr under microscope
09:25 Burr minimization technique
10:43 CLOSE UP of what burr minimization does
10:56 STROPPING
12:08 The steel you use matters for burr removal
13:26 The paper test is not a sharpness test
14:34 Why I like coarse grit edges
16:31 CLOSE UP of the finished shaving edge
17:37 Minimum for hair whittling edges quick chat
Check the description for further video resources on techniques mentioned in this video. Happy Easter everyone! Heres the stone used in this video⬇ amzn.to/3J6aE45 Disclosure⬇ Affiliated link As an amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I bought everything in this video with my own money and am free to link to anything I want.
Thank You for the tip when Stropping with a "spongy" piece of leather, I was using too much pressure and rounding over my Apex. Great Content, thank you Also, I do hope you're feeling better and on the mend.
you promised a realtime vid and you delivered thank you
They sell cheap laser angle finders on Amazon. Would like to see you use one on a finished sharpening job. It really shows how clean and accurate you get the angle. (Edit: it will also reveal if you are convexing the edge)
The paper test can be a sharpness test. The less sound it makes the sharper the knife. The sound your paper makes you're probably in a 250-300 gram range. Just guessing lol. Why don't you do the wire cut test and laser test. If you can get one to 50 grams on a larger knife it would be impressive. 😊
Since I m sharpening my kitchen knives the way you teach, I want to cut lot of stuff when I cook to "test" my knives 🤣
You should do one of these with a longer knife. Sharpening a pocket knife is great for beginners, but it would be awesome to see if you do it differently for a longer knife
Seconded! I've bought this very Sharpal stone because of the glowing review on this channel and I too would love to get guidance and tips on how to sharpen kitchen knives.
Yes I have large filleting breaking scimitars butcher type knives that are 10-14 inches and want to improve my tech on the sharpal
Yeah I've specifically still got questions about how to deal with the curve towards the tip of many kitchen knives (don't know the proper terminology sorry).
Yes a curved knive tutorial would be great. You need to change your angle when you get to the curve, and I always struggle with that. Edit: I guess you don't call it changing the angle.
@@ironfoot1938 I've seen tutorials saying to keep the angle the same and lift the handle side up (torwards the sky) as you get to the curve. Seems to work but I'd like to see OD55 method
When you said “I have no idea what angle that is” I was instantly released from my obsession with the ‘correct’ angle. It was what I imagine an exorcism might be like. Thank you for that.
Happy to see you’re doing well
I can understand when you say these types of videos don't do well views wise, but as someone who is currently learning, I sincerely appreciate this. Cheers, mate! 🍻
You are selling yourself short by a lot of $. You have to fix the fact that you're not getting a cut of the sale of the sharpening stones you're recommending. You're the reason these stones are hard to find. You have built a solid reputation and we trust your referral. You deserve a cut of the big bucks. Good to hear you're healing up well. It is amazing that you can take such a simple topic and turn it into this much good info and entertainment. I am always learning new stuff. That may be because I am a little slow and forget what is said too quickly. Lol. I also hate the phrase “practice makes perfect”, if you practice badly you will only get good at doing things badly.
He gets a commission from a sale if buyers use his links to purchase. (And there’s nothing wrong with that.)
I do get a commission from the sales on Amazon if I recommend something. Luckily almost every type of stone is available on Amazon so that allows me to link to what I recommend. And if i dont like something i can link to an alternative. Im not opposed to sponsorships but they would have to be some I already recommend and use personally 🙂
Hey, just wanted to say thanks. I've got fucked up hands and have spent years (and a decent amount of money) going through all the electric, guided and 'easy' sharpeners. None of which saved my hands or gave a decent edge. Following your guides, I can now make my kitchen knives sharp in minutes. Not only that, they stay that way for so much longer. So thank you! I hope you're feeling better.
Thank you. My hands are not great, rheumatoid arthritis. Your post is inspiring 👍
@@fairgolfer No worries! I have similar and this is definitely the easiest time I've had sharpening knives.
That's the best stone sharpening video I have ever seen! I'm sharing it far and wide!
Wow that's awesome! Glad it helped!
Happy Easter Alex I’m praying for you and hope you have a speedy recovery.
Man you are global treasure. You have made my life full of joy. I sharpen knives for years but you are the reason I’m using diamond plates for corse and medium necessity and Ceramic stones as fine instead of cumbersome messy whetstones. I use only a 10 k Naniwa just before strop only to get mirror bevel faster. Keep it up high 🔪
I'm so glad youtube has these kinds of videos. For years I thought education was the key but I was very wrong. It turns out that all the things I'm lacking knowledge in has nothing to do with education but is in fact is because I don't know the secrets. Don't worry though from now on I'll treat learning things as I should and make sure I keep these things secret ;)
Hey, just wanted to say thank you for your videos. I had gotten a full whetstone set on Black Friday, but after watching your stuff I returned and got a much cheaper diamond set. After watching your technique and your super helpful microscope images, I got a really good idea of what I was looking for in a burr. I'm now slicing paper with some coarse stones, and haven't even gotten a strop yet! Thank you so much for your content.
Hello, I love to cook, and could you make a video of sharpening a chef knife ? Or a butcher knife ? (Curved one) Because I feel the length of these knifes make it harder, I would like to see how you do it. Anyway love your videos, this is the channel that helped me the most with sharpening.
13:25 I totally felt identified with your reaction 😂, that "oh! It's sharp!" look. I kind of know that a surgeon sharp knife is not required for most of my applications (I just like to cook). But I'm also a mechanical engineer, I know one or two things about steel, and I'm also obsessed with sharpness. It is always this sensation of "let's make it sharper, I can make it sharper" I recently found your channel and I have learned so much. My onions don't even know they are being sliced and diced now. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Just want to say thanks from New Zealand. Was spending a lot on "professional" sharpening on our kitchen knives that went dull again really quickly. Splashed out on a diamond stone and a leather strop, watched your videos a few times and took a crack at some of them and even with the first, rookie go at it they're so much better. I will continue to check out your vids and refine my technique, thank you!
Alex does the best sharpening videos on KZhead, IMO. Simple , straightforward instructions. He backs up the theory of what he's doing by showing us the excellent imagery of the edge. From an ease of use and lack of mess point of view, I sharpen on cheap diamond stones from Temu, with a strop. If anyone wants to learn sharpening, my tip would be to not start on stainless steel kitchen knives, which are relatively difficult to form a burr and need more work because of their length. To learn the basics, pick up a small Opinel knife, the carbon steel one, not the "Inox" which is stainless. The carbon steel forms a burr really easily and the burr comes off easily too. And it takes a really short time to do because the blade is so small. Once you understand the process with the Opinel, you can go to other more difficult knives
I honestly love watching your videos. Iv watched this video 6 times … thanks for showing how it’s done
Well, I appreciate you providing a real-time sharpening video. With the knowledge I was taught, knives were never really “sharp” and wouldn’t maintain the edge. I’m getting better, but still have some bad habits to change. Seeing you doing your things helps improve my skills 💁🏼♂️ thank you for sharing the knowledge. Hope things are headed in a positive direction with your health.
It's amazing when you sharpen your s110v knife to a straight shape.
Yes. This video pretty much sums up all my beginner questions (and answers them). Gonna do some coarse stone practice the next weeks. Thank you so much!
I'm glad to see you still grinding, literally and figuratively. Keep it up!
I recently started watching your videos and just ordered the two sided diamond stone you recommended and the tools I need to make a strop, I went found you when I went looking for a person that could help me find the right tools and proper techniques to sharpen knifes since my cheap kitchen sharpeners where not doing the trick that you for all your help!
You touched on sharpening with only the course stone to have some "teeth". Thinking this may be the best advice ever for us kitchen folk as a bit of tooth really helps. Even if I'm prepared to do all of the polishing, how would a super-duper polished edge benefit a kitchen knife? I think maybe a longer lasting edge, but is that all? Got that SHARPAL stone, very nice. THANK YOU for teaching all of this. Greatly appreciated.
IIRC edge retention also involves the steel of the knife. Then again, he sharpened a 1 dollar kitchen knife and it whittled a 2x4 for hours so maybe it's much ado about nothing.
@@USSMariner Yeah, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of factors that are relevant for edge retention. The type of steel, the quality of the actual bar stock, quality of the heat treatment, the kind of grind, the knife's thickness, the angle it's sharpened at, what level it's sharpened to, the material you're cutting into, etc.; it's insanely complex.
A very polished edge is good for slicing delicate proteins without tearing them. 3000 grit is a sweet spot for most kitchen tasks however
So glad to see your up and about!
So right. Muscle memory and paying attention to what's happening. Still the best macro edge photography on YT!
I heard the word recovering, that’s outstanding and thanks for another outstanding video!
I’m so glad that you made this video because I was really getting frustrated using less coarse grits
Very helpful seeing real time sharpening, much more helpful than the fast forwarded examples in other videos. The sound the knife makes, the hand movement, you can even get a feel for how much pressure is used. Keeping the two bevels matched is a cue I've never thought of, I will try to implement it next time.
Thanks to videos from you and kneeves knives, ive gone from conpletely inconpetent to sharpening up a few knives at a time in a few short minutes. Love these videos
I bought your recommended stone and a strop. I’m doing better than I ever have in my life going very slowly and really keeping the angle constant. The thing that seems to help me the most is using their little included, pyramid shaped angle guide to start the angle and keep it the same each time. Thanks for your videos. They’re the best I’ve seen on simple knife sharpening.
Great to see you making videos! I bought the sharpal from your last video and am awaiting it arrival, very excited, because I bought Norton stones years ago, for way too much money, and they are a giant mess to use. Thank you for your work!
I have the nortons as well. Used them for years but hated the mess. Never again 😂👍
@@OUTDOORS55 I bought the shapton 2000, the sharpal 400-1500, and the cheap China diamond stone so I can leave it in my work bag for field sharpening chisels and such when I’m not home. I can’t wait to try them, and I went back to your video so I could use your link. Thanks brother! I hope all is well!
I really appreciate the detail you put into this and the in-between shots of the edge. Thanks for sharing your experience and stay well!
Nice to see your spirits are higher than last week, great demonstration as always. Best wishes from here in the UK.
I started about a month ago. I got a cheap set for my bday and bought the sharpal a couple of weeks ago and a good strop and have learnt tons from your videos. I'm getting good results whilst still learning. Great to see you posting and by far the best content I have seen. Thank you.
Hey Alex. Thanks for the video. So glad to see you doing what you do best. You are a great teacher.
Great vid! So good to see you back! Gettings from Brazil!
Happy Easter 👍😁🥰 God Bless 🙏😇❤️🇺🇸
Great to see you are feeling better Alex💪keep the great videos coming!! Thoughts and prayers and stay sharp 👍
Good to hear you are well. You have helped me to understand knives better. Love your videos and hope total recovery for you. Love your vids💪🏼❤️
SUPER useful!! Thank for continuing to teach us how to hand sharpen! And showing us how it really is simple once you have the basics down. Going slow as you're learning is so important, to me anyway. Hoping for your continued healing!
I got into knife sharpening because of your amazing videos. Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for the tutorial!! Outstanding information. Hopefully I’m able to apply your teaching.
Truly a fantastic teacher.
Yeah!!! Another Alex video. Hope you continue to heal.
The sharpening master at it again! 🙏
You are hands down the best. You are ridiculously humble which adds to your relatability as well as how you (whether intended or not) instill in the viewer a feeling of confidence that they can become a great freehand sharpener. It's been a couple years for me personally and while I can't always get every knife I sharpen hair whittling sharp, thanks to your videos and a Lot of practice there's no knife in any steel (with proper heat treatment) that takes me longer than a couple minutes to get an edge that's hair popping sharp. Thank You
Glad youre working with your hands boss!
I bought the Sharpal based on your review of it, and have been extremely pleased with how my plane irons have turned out. Thanks! This video is going to prep me for getting all my kitchen knives sharpened well. Again thanks!
Thanks my friend! This could be a boring video but was great, very honest, direct and informative. Congrats
Yes. These are super helpful!
You have helped demystify this incredibly. Awesome work!
Took your advice. Waiting for the Sharpal to arrive. Can't wait to finally learn how to properly sharpen a knife. God bless you.
Glad to see your feeling better, all of your videos are most informative and entertaining, on a final note I purchased the Sharpal stone after your previous review & I'm very happy with it, cheers, 😎👍👍
I’m pretty decent with any guided sharpener but freehand has been calling out to me and this has been very helpful.
Amazing macros of the apex! That takes some time and effort fot sure but I guess this helps beginners to get a better understanding of whats going on during the sharpening process.
First of all . HAPPY EASTER, hope youre doing well! Great video! Thanks bud❤
The strop is the key to happiness when sharpening…thanks Alex for the quick tutorial! Cheers from Nova Scotia..MikeR.
You do the best videos. Clear, concise, and thorough, with an occasional touch of comedy. Thanks for the great views.
Great video for people who want to learn using stones as many use Lansky and the others rather than stones and want to learn .
Good to see you are getting better and recovering; please take care of your health. Cheers, & thanks for the video
HAPPY EASTER GOD BLESS, hopefully you are doing well or getting through your issues.
Thanks bro! You as well!
Hope your health is soon as sharp as your edges! Another great video, watching from Finland. And with your help all my puukkos are razor sharp!
Glad you're on the mend!
thanks to your videos buying a 150-600grit oil stone was a game changer, thanks for teaching me about how sharp you can get from a low grit stone.
I watched the whole thing mainly because you said that these types of videos do poorly. Also, i really like the short blade example since many guides focus on full chef knives. This is good stuff. Thanks for this :)
Helpful insight. I hope you'll get better. Loved your last piece of advice. Practicing often shortly has been great to me.
Thank you very much for this video. Really helped clear a couple of questions.
Really appreciate these types of videos!
I love these real time sharpening videos. I consider myself to be a pretty ok hand sharpener, and it's all pretty much because of you. When I first started sharpening, I had no idea. But a few years of watching your videos and practicing, I'm a lot better than I was! Thanks Alex!
Right on👊
Thank you for the content & sharing knowledge.
I can watch those all day, this is my asmr
Im so glad to see your videos in my feed again
Nice ive been waiting for a video like this. Didnt disappoint, thanks a bunch
Thanks for the video Alex. Happy Easter.
Love the Sharpal, Thanks for the recommendation. I took the time to scrape the foam out of the inside (was a pain in the butt to do) but cut a nice piece of leather to replace it that I can take out and lay on the block to strop with. Give a nice all in one kit.
One of your best videos!!!
Glad to see you are recovering
This is the video I needed. Thank you!
Great tutorial! Thank you and happy Easter to you and your family! 🙋🏼♂️
Another excellent instructional video!
Love it. Thank you!
Perfect basics, thx!
A great, inexpensive knife to both own and practice sharpening with is an Opinel. Either the carbon or stainless blade, or both!
that edge is just beautiful, holy
I'm waiting for a mirror edge long format video. Stones used, fatigue, little adjustments while sharpening between the lower and higher grits. I'm two Amazon affiliate links in. Give me something to show off to my friends this summer with a mirror edge santoku.
Thank you so much for teaching me how to sharpen! I've tried so many methods and setups. Yours is the simplest and the way you present it is really comprehensive! Plus you address some issues (like the fact that some steels de-burr fairly easily while others need more work) that really frustrated me. I hope you get better and wish you the best!!
Thanks for this - really helpful.
i like your professional attitude a lot. you and ryky taught me so much stuff about freehand sharpening.
Great video. Thanks for always putting out useful informative content. Glad to see you’re doing alright.
Thank you for teaching me how to use a whetstone. I bought the Kalolary 400/1000 you also recommended and have seen immediate results from your technique.
Happy Easter Alex glad you’re on the mend. Thanks for your great content i really trust your judgement & advice. I’m a complete novice & bought the same Sharpal to start learning the skills required & even though I’m making the usual rookie mistakes my blades are sharper than they have ever been without using a strop. Onwards & upwards. Thanks again bud. 👍
This is a really good video and thank you for doing this. Big thumbs UP.
First thank you for sharing your knowledge it has revolutionised how I now sharpen my blades. I'm a carver/whittler take your pick and have been recommending you to people since I found you 12 months ago. As you probably know carvers hardly ever use a stone on the blade unless it's damaged but we strop our blades to get the edge back. What's happening to our edge that it comes back so quickly by stropping. I'm now using diamond paste which is so much better than the other stopping crayons. Hope your health is improving each day, thanks again.
Happy Easter! And I hope you are continuing to get healed! Enjoyed the video.👍🏻
Dittos on the longer knife. Right now I am mainly wanting to get all of the kitchen knives sharp and some of them are 12 inches long. Sharpened one this evening and did it in two or three sections. Worked beautifully. It’s taken me about a month to get good at this, but the video you did here tied up a lot of loose ends. Or I should say, helped me sharpen my skills lol. Thanks again
Keep doing these... love them
I've gotten pretty proficient at sharpening now, but I remember very well how frustrating all this was when I first started. Videos like this really helped me a lot! I appreciate people like you who took the time to make content like this to help people like me to become better at this. Once you get that muscle memory, and the ability to just feel the feedback to the point you know you're on the right angle it's really not very hard to get a scary sharp edge, but until you reach that point, it can be extremely frustrating to try and sharpen your knives, and cause many of us to invest a ton of money on fixed angle systems. Nothing against them, they obviously work, but the good ones are very expensive, and they take longer to sharpen a knife than freehand does. I went that route for awhile, but thankfully I was determined to learn freehand, so kept practicing on my cheap budget knives until I finally got the hang of it. Now my KME system sits collecting dust.
ALWAYS helpful! 👍🍻
I'm not even a beginner sharpener, and your descriptions of good form (rule of thumb, index finger, etc) are perfect descriptions of how to set up. I use a guided system because I've always struggled with freehand consistency, but these are helpful for me. Can you do a future video about any specific tips for full reprofiling?
Bought the sharpal (sharp-all, sharp-pal??) on your recomendation. Will now use your technique. Thanks for this.
Thank you, this is very helpful! I did use your link to purchase that diamond stone you have in the video. I've just been a little bit resistant to start learning, but I feel like this Video has encouraged me to start. Really hope you can stay positive, and get back to 100% healthy soon