Knife Sharpening Process

1. Prep: Grab a dish towel or wood cutting board to act as your stable sharpening surface and some damp paper towels to wipe away any metal shavings that are created in the sharpening process.
2. Honing: See our Honing Steel's instructions for getting your knife's edge aligned. Once a blade is aligned in the honing process, you can begin the process of sharpening the edge to get that razor-sharp edge you're looking for.
3. Coarse Sharpening: Place the sharpener flat on a dry sufrace, give it a wiggle to make sure it will stay still as you drag the knife through it. Start on the "Coarse" channel side of the sharpener, with the gray colored tungsten steel blades. Use your non-dominant hand to hold the sharpener still and down against the surface of your cutting board or dish towel. Draw the knife blade slowly and evenly through the sharpener from the base of the blade to the tip, putting a little downward pressure on the blade. Take care not to cut yourself or scratch your tabletop as you draw the knife out of the sharpener. If the blade is sticking in the sharpener, use less downward pressure or repeat the honing of Step #2 to get the edge in better alignment. Repeat drawing the knife through the Coarse side of the sharpener two or more times, depending on how dull the knife was to begin with.
4. Move over to the "Fine" channel and draw the knife through that side 3 or more times until the blade feels sharp. If after about 5 times through the "Fine" channel the blade is still not sharp, go back and start over with step #3, as the blade may need more coarse work before the fine ceramic touch-up can be effectoive. This process will become easier for you, the more they do it. The first time you use the sharpener on a well used blade, you may need to draw the blade through the "Coarse" channel 5 to 7 times to get the edge back. The sharpener removes some of the metal from the blade to sharpen it, unlike the hoing steal that simply straightens the metal to bring back the edge of the blade.
5. Cleaning: Use a damp paper towel to wipe off your now-sharp blade thoroughly to remove any metal shavings.  Dry the knife and set it aside.  Discard the paper towel and any metal shavings it contains and enjoy your now-sharp knife.