Sharpening Knives

Blunt knives are useless and dangerous. Steels are great and make a great sound but really just maintain sharpness rather than sharpen so you get to a certain point and that's it. The ones with the wheels take off too much metal.

I use a whetstone whenever the skin of a tomato starts to resist slightly. I use a japanese one which is two stones stuck together. The #1000 stone does most of the work and then the finer #3000 finishes the edge. They're not hard to use, just soak for 10 minutes and then rub the knife back and forward at a 30 degree angle - moving the knife across and back to get and even edge, and then flip it over and repeat. Do the same with the #3000 side to finish.

I asked the old guy at the knife shop I bought it from in Kappabashi how long until it's sharp and he told me "until it's sharp". True.