I’ve been teaching knife skills classes for the past 14 years. For the first twelve
years, I had no luck teaching students how to hone. They just couldn’t get the angle
right and if you don’t use the correct angle, honing causes more harm than good. So what
happened in the last 2 years? I discovered Wedgek angle guides. This product has completely
revolutionized honing for home cooks. Since I’ve started using it in my classes, I’ve
been able to teach 90% of my students to hone in about 5 minutes. And today I want to show
you what it is and how to use it.
First of all let’s talk about the difference between sharpening and honing. Sharpening
is removing enough metal to get a new edge. That’s something you do very rarely. I sharpen
roughly every 4 to 6 months. Most home cooks only need to do it once a year and unless
working with knives is your hobby, you should pay someone to do it for you. Honing is realigning
existing edge. That’s something that needs to be done daily. It’s like flossing and
Wedgek makes 2 combos. One comes with a steel rod and the other with a ceramic rod. I don’t
do steel rods, so I haven’t tested that one. I find ceramic rods way more effective.
Ceramic is a lot harder than steel and it removes teeny-tiny amount of metal from your
knife. Yes, that’s miniscule sharpening, not just honing. But miniscule. This will
not eat your knife away like an aggressive electric machine, but it will stretch the
You have insane angle flexibility with this system. Pretty much all the other systems
give you 1 angle. It’s either 20 degrees or 15 degrees. To get even 2 or 3 angle options
you usually have to pay a lot. Chef’s choice and Worksharp systems with angle adjustment
sell for close to $200. The orange cones give you 4 different angles and the new rod and
blue cone combo gives you 12 different angles. You want your Miyabe done at 12? Shun at 14?
Misen at 15? and Wusthof at 20? No problem. This is a very compact system. I am fully
aware of all the other sharpening systems like Lansky and Spiderco. They all require
set up. They are clunky. Wedgek requires no set up. I pull it out of my drawer and 15
seconds later I am done. The price for this is unbeatable. The rod
and cone combo is only $30. What I used to recommend to my students was this $40 Messermeister
rod and the $10 Wedgek orange cones. Wedgek combo ends up costing $20 less, so what’s
not to love?
Put on the cone that’s appropriate for your knife. For me it’s 15 degrees. That’s
the cone I keep on my rod. Line up your knife with the cone and swipe down with the lightest
possible pressure. Don’t press too hard or you’ll push the burr back and forth.
Alternate right and left sides. All it takes is about 3 swipes per side.
I think that honing is much more effective if you spend 10 to 15 minutes learning to
do it with a mirror opposite you or a buddy to make sure you are not wobbling or changing
your angle through your stroke. Everyone is wobbly in the beginning, but after a few minutes
you’ll get it. I suggest you stay on one side until you are good at it and then work
on the other side until you are good at that. Though in real life, you alternate on every
stroke.
The time to start honing is on day 1 after buying or sharpening a knife. If you try honing
3 months after you got a new edge, it’s not likely to help. Most people don’t put
any love or care into their knives. And that’s a shame because with just a little effort,
your knives can be this sharp.
By the way, I have a whole Knife Skills playlist where I cover everything you ever wanted to
know about knives, cutting boards, etc. I even cover sharpening on the stone for all
you knife enthusiasts. The link’s below.
Here are more thought provoking culinary videos for you to check out and if you are ever in
the Boston area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.