Different Types of Knife Sharpening Kits: Which is Right for You?

If you work in the meat industry, maintain sharp knives, as they are an essential tool. A blunt knife or poor knife edge can greatly impact the food quality and safety of your product, as well as your efficiency and productivity. 

That’s why you need a reliable and effective knife kit for sharpening, if you are in a position where the cuts must be precise and fast then quality blades need quality sharpeners to keep the momentum and workflow going. 

In this article, we’ll take a look and mention a few different blades and also sharpening options that compliment each other and tell you the reason why you need to choose carefully, so let’s go!

What to Consider When Buying Knife Sharpening Kits

However, prior to getting the different kinds of knife sharpening kits, you should think about the factors that should be taken into consideration when you choose a knife sharpening kit for your meat processing business. 

The meat industry accounts for a plethora of tools, all with unique features to ensure diversity in cuts to keep production flow moving. 

Boning Knives and Cleavers

For instance, a boning knife with a flexible blade of a thin type requires a precise, gentle sharpening. Unlike a really fine cutting edge, a cleaver tends to be a thick blade that requires coarse and aggressive sharpening. It is essential to select a sharpening kit that can accommodate a number of elastic and precise sharpening tools for your knives.

How Frequently and Intensely Should You Sharpen? 

The frequency and extent of knife usage can influence the time you sharpen your knives. Sometimes, you must repeat the sharpening more often and more intensely. 

Let’s think of a situation in which you frequently use your knives for long hours. In this scenario, you will have to use a sharpening kit every week or even every day as well, and you must choose the one that has a good, tough sharpening kit. 

Imagine, for example, that your knives have a very limited, or not very intense, use. However, it could be that you only need to hone them every month or every few months and feel that simpler and less costly knife-sharpening kits could possibly do the job

Knife Sharening Kits – Budget and Availability Are Essential. 

Do not forget that you also ought to decide how much money you are ready to spend on a sharpening unit and how accessible it is to find and get one of these. 

Mostly, the rule of thumb is that the higher the number of features in the kit, the higher also the price. The more complicated the assembly, the more expensive it is. 

Due to the fact that each business no matter what part of the chain they are in, even down to the chef in the restaurant – the end game, still requires their knives to be in tip-top shape, so you have a lot of competition for the best knife sharpening kits out there. 

What is the spectrum of sharpening kits for knives?

We have now addressed the things that you should keep in mind when shopping for knife sharpening kits; let’s move on to the types of knife sharpening kits that you can find on the market. 

Some of the types are:

• Whetstones. Sharpening kits are probably the earliest that were used in this field, and they are still popular even today. They are simply flat stones. However, each stone can be rounded, and therefore, they can be used to sharpen the edges of stone knives.

Wet the whetstone with water or oil to make an oilstone and then hold the knife at the angle as shown; then use straight and even move off the stone.

Depending on the number of grits on your whetstone, from coarse to fine, you will have to change your angles and style to get the required sharpness.

Whetstones are very cheap because they can be purchased from any store that sells kitchen utensils, and all of them are perfect for sharpening all knives.

Yet, be careful when buying them from a high street store, these are usually cheap stones for cheap kitchen knives, not for industrial use.

• Electric sharpeners. Electric sharpeners are the most modern and convenient of tools suited for sharpening knives. Such devices are tools that pivot around a slot with abrasive wheels or belts that automatically turn in the intended direction, sharpening a knife.

Plugin the electric sharpener, switch it on and insert your knife into the notch upright and with the required degree of pressure. The electric sharpener will need to keep up, and whatever settings you choose, the sharpness level will be just right. The electric sharpeners are quick and super easy to operate and can sharpen a variety of knives.

• Manual sharpeners. Manual sharpeners occupy the middle ground in the wheel of chaos between whetstones and electric sharpeners. They are machines with one slot or two slots; both of them contain abrasive material – either steel, ceramic or diamonds. 

If you are using a manual sharpener, you have to support the knife in one hand while holding the sharpener in the other and then simply push the knife through the slot in a straight line.

Sharpening the knife to the angle of your choosing and the pressure you apply would give you a sharper blade. There are certainly relatively inexpensive and easy-to-locate manual sharpeners, and in all likelihood, they can sharpen any type of knife. On the one hand, there is no correct sharpening angle and frequency with hand-held sharpeners; the results could vary in precision and consistency. 

SUMMARY

There is nothing worse than having a dull and blunt knife, whether it be in an abattoir, butchery, commercial kitchen or all the way down to the steak knife on your dining table.  Knife sharpening kits can often be overlooked, but when you speak to the top professionals, make no mistake, they will tell you the importance of overall care for your knives and sharpening plays a pivotal role not only in production and output but also in the longevity you can then expect from quality knives. Good Luck!