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then watch your fingers . . .

There’s nothing worse than a blunt knife . . . well actually, come to think of it there are plenty of things . . . but in this instance let’s think about trying to do some slicing and dicing in the kitchen. When you’re trying to slice and dice your way towards a scrummy meal, there’s nothing worse than a blunt knife (is that better?)  Of course, you don’t have to put up with squashing and toiling, you could simply sharpen your knife!

How do you do that?

Well, I’ll tell you. There are actually a few techniques (you’ll see a couple of them ably demonstrated in a minute). Does anybody even have a “steel” any more. I remember my Grandfather (God rest his soul) many years ago going through his Sunday lunchtime ritual and sharpening the knife on a steel with great gusto before attacking the poor slab of beef . . . give him his due his knife was so sharp that he could slice it paper thin meaning there was enough left over for Monday!  My poor Dad (who didn’t seem to have the same steel technique somehow) often resorted to rubbing his knife on the edge of the kitchen step (outside!!!!), it seemed to do a good job but he never quite acquired the same razor sharpness as Grandfather did somehow.

Knife Sharpening – A Dying Skill

Actually, come to think of it there’s no wonder that the ancient art of knife sharpening died out somewhere between the 1970′s and the end of the 1980′s. Do you remember that marvelous invention – the electric carving knife. What a great idea, only problem was (apart from leaving a whole generation with no knife sharpening skills whatsoever) it more shredded the joint of meat than carved it. You could end up with a whole pile of meat crumbs next to your mashed potato . . . not really the effect you were hoping for.

Some countries take the issue of knife sharpening so seriously that people make an entire career of it. I’ve been told that in parts of Europe (and probably other places too) the knife sharpener still cycles around the villages playing a little tune for all of the villagers to come out and sharpen their knifes on his wheel!  Some of these entrepreneurs have been so successful that they now have the sharpening wheel in the boot of a small car . . . how’s that for progress?

Alright, enough waffle, take a look at this video to learn how to hone your knife sharpening skills . . . and mind your fingers, especially when you’re doing the washing up!