Mugs are essential items in the home. Today we will learn how to use existing tools at home or prepare a piece of sandpaper to sharpen our knives!
1. Lay sandpaper out flat, or place a mug upside down. If you're using sandpaper to sharpen your knife, pick the finest grit sandpaper you can and tape it flat on top of a cutting board or work table (or any surface you wouldn't mind damaging with your blade). You can also use a mug: start by placing it upside down so that its coarse bottom is right-side up.
- If you want to sharpen your knife without any fancy equipment, a mug can serve as a surprisingly effective sharpening tool in a pinch. The ceramic material of a mug is a material coarse enough to get good results.
- In fact, some honing rods even use ceramic material to keep a blade honed in between sharpenings!
- You can also lay your sandpaper down atop a mousepad, which will prevent it from slipping.
2. Sweep each blade edge across the grit 20 times at a 20° angle. Grind against the gritty bottom of the ceramic mug, or against your sandpaper. Be sure to hone each edge of the blade to ensure it sharpens evenly. Grind with the blade facing away from you, as if you’re trying to slice into the mug or sandpaper.
3. Do a few more sweeps, alternating between sides of the blade. Take one side of the blade and run it across the mug or sandpaper, then turn the blade around and hit the opposite side. Repeat this pattern several times.
