How to Hone a Knife

Published on Thursday, October 8, 2009, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

How to Hone a Knife

Taylor Erkkinen, co-owner of the Brooklyn Kitchen, demonstrates proper honing technique and describes how and why it makes a difference to your knife—and, by extension, to you.

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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  • Hmm. Look up honing, and it is defined as sharpening. While honing vs. sharpening is a common distinction people like to make, it is not accurate. The major knife manufacturers sell "sharpening" steels, because this is what they are, not because they don't know the difference.

    22 degrees is a good, generic angle. Some chefs may sharpen their knives at a 12-15 degree angle, but this makes for a...+READ

    Hmm. Look up honing, and it is defined as sharpening. While honing vs. sharpening is a common distinction people like to make, it is not accurate. The major knife manufacturers sell "sharpening" steels, because this is what they are, not because they don't know the difference.

    22 degrees is a good, generic angle. Some chefs may sharpen their knives at a 12-15 degree angle, but this makes for a much more delicate edge. A knife that has been sharpened at a 22 degree angle is going to have a much tougher edge, and this is the angle most manufacturers use. Therefore, steeling at 22 degrees will work just fine for most culinary knives.

    And, btw, many chefs don't have a clue when it comes to knives. I've heard some of the worst advice and information come out of the mouths of chefs. "Stainless steel is the hardest metal, and therefore very difficult to sharpen," and so on. Just silly. This is because they are simply repeating the misinformation they were taught, and haven't bothered to learn about knives on their own, after culinary school.-COLLAPSE

  • hold steel up or down, doesn't matter.

    Most chefs I've asked say hold at about 12-15% angle.

    no more than half dozen passes.

    Use a light touch.

  • The "half of 90, half of 45" tip is one I'd never heard before. Brilliant!