{"id":7238,"date":"2022-04-04T02:22:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T02:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeprime.co.uk\/?p=7238"},"modified":"2023-07-04T13:35:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-04T13:35:24","slug":"how-to-sharpen-a-bread-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeprime.co.uk\/how-to-sharpen-a-bread-knife\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Sharpen a Bread Knife the Right Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sharpening a knife at home is easy, but what about when you have a serrated knife? How does that alter the scenario?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing how to sharpen a bread knife requires more thought than a normal knife. You can even buy kitchen knives<\/a> for the home where you slide them into their cover, and the cover sharpens the knife blade every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While that may have been a great thing, it’s not something that happens with a serrated bread knife. Instead, you need to take a different approach and be aware that it takes longer to sharpen a serrated knife than an ordinary one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem With Bread Knives<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Cutting<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The problem with bread knives is all to do with the blade edge. Of course, this also applies to any quality serrated knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a serrated knife blade, you do not have one single sharp edge<\/strong>. Each tooth must be sharpened, whereas straight-edge knives have a single edge. This means it takes considerably longer, as sharpening steel is not a quick job in the first place, even with sharpening rods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time issue puts people off trying to create those sharp edges. They see it as taking too long, but that’s not always the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tools<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

They are the same for any knife sharpening<\/a> when it comes to tools. Just because it’s a bread knife doesn’t change the tools you would use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the same tool you will use should depend on how you plan on sharpening those serrated knives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Ceramic Sharpening Rod<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first method for sharpening that serrated edge is to use a ceramic sharpening rod<\/strong>. This is a common tool for knife sharpening, but it’s the method you need to use to deal with those serrated blades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tip for Those Serrated Blades<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When sharpening a serrated knife, make sure you manage to choose a sharpening rod that fits<\/strong> into the spaces on the serrated blade. This is key. It will make life significantly quicker and more manageable when you want to sharpen a serrated knife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a sharpening rod that is too thick will mean it cannot get to the bottom of the serrated blade. That will render the actual sharpening useless. When sharpening serrated knives, you must be able to get to the bottom of the space<\/strong> with the sharpening rod. Not having the right tools will mean your knife sharpener<\/a> can only get to work on the blade’s tip, but that’s not the main part of a knife’s serrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we even look at any sharpening rod. They come in different thicknesses, but your bread knife may have a 10 mm gap, so an 8 mm thick sharpening rod won’t touch the sides. Alternatively, a 14 mm thick tool will only hit the side of the blade at the top, and it won’t slide smoothly to the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Ceramic Rods<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"sharpening<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

So if we can presume you have realised the size of the gap in the serrated knife, we can look at sharpening all of those bevelled serrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When sharpening a serrated knife, you only sharpen it on one side<\/strong>. Look at the bread knife to see which side contains the serrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take the sharpening rod, and lay it down on the blade. It would help if you moved the rod up and down<\/strong> on each side of the blade for manual sharpeners. That does mean covering each side of those individual curved serrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don’t just move the sharpening rod and then move along. After a few passes, check the edges and make sure you are hitting the entire edge. It may require you to hold the rod at a slight angle to get the full side of the blade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, repeat this process with every tooth on the serrated blade at the same angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety First<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you want to sharpen a serrated knife, then one helpful tip is to lay the serrated knife on the edge of a table. Make sure the serrated blade is on a flat surface<\/strong>. This can help prevent accidents, and it will also provide you with a greater sense of control over the sharpening process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealing With the Burr of a Serrated Bread Knife<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you sharpen serrated knives, something else happens to the opposite side of the serrated knife blade, which is the creation of a burr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You need to remove the burrs before you can use your new sharpened knife. This burr consists of some of the steel effectively being pushed up into a ridge, and it will affect the way the knife will then operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, don’t worry because removing a burr is easy to do. You can either take your sharpening tool or use a sharpening stone<\/strong>. Then run the tool across the burrs just once. It will remove them with ease. However, it would help if you were more careful because applying too much pressure can scratch the blade. This can be a disaster with cheap knives, as the quality of the high-carbon steel used in the knife won’t be to the same standard as more expensive serrated knives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternatively, the best method to sharpen a serrated bread knife is to take your ceramic rod and run it over the burrs<\/strong>. This will remove them, and it should leave your knife blade looking perfect and without any damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Alternative for Sharpening Serrated Knives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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