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Carving knife care

Overview

rusty knife
You might wonder how to take care of your carving knife. I will show you an easy method to sharpen the carving knife with sandpaper. Of course, you can sharpen it with a knife sharpener or a whetstone.

What you will need

supplies
  • Carving knife
  • Waterproof flat board (glass sheet, plastic cutting board etc.)
  • Waterproof work table e.g. vinyl tablecloth
  • Wet/dry sandpaper of 3 kinds of 1500-2000 grit (ultra fine sandpaper for finishing and polishing)
  • Water
* There are multiple standards of grit measure. If grit measure system is different in your country, refer to this page.

How to sharpen a carving knife?

1. Place a piece of sandpaper on a flat board, then wet the sandpaper with a little water to cool down the blade and provide lubrication to reduce friction. Diagonally put the cutting edge on the sandpaper (slightly raise the spine).
step 1
2. Push the blade toward the knife spine with a light pressure. Repeat it about 20 times to sharpen the cutting edge.
step 2
3. Flip over the blade and repeat with the other side. Wet the sandpaper with a little water again. At the end, wipe off all the remaining water with a clean cloth.
Tip: Apply some oil to the blade to keep it from rusting if you don’t use for a long time.
step 3

References and Resources