FOR THE HOUSEWIFE

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10353, 27 September 1926, Page 7

FOR THE HOUSEWIFE

SH A 1 {PEN ING KNIVES. According to an expert, ignorance of the right method ui sharpening a knife accounts for the comparatively short life of much domestic cutlery. The proper way to sharpen a knife, ho adds, is to rub it carefully on a proper oil-stone, hone, or steel. Lay ihe knife blade almost flat, and, beginning at the heel or haft end o»f the blade, take a long sweep across the stone, maintaining equal pressureon the blade all the way until every fraction of the cutting edge has passed over the stone. Then, turning the knife blade over, reverse the procedure, beginning at the point. This ensures keeping the cutting edge straight, wears the blade to an equal width all the way on, and puts on a, itting edge which will last twice as long a.s if any other method were used. If, in the haste to get on a cutting edge, the knife is hold at too great an angle from the sharpening stone the blade only touches the stone at the extreme edge. A sharp edge is quickly obtained, but the actual result is to wear the knife blade thin at the edge whilst the other parts of the blade retain their thickness. The cutting edge soon wears off, avid after one or two- repetitions of the process the blade is so thick that it is impossible to get an edge without grinding, and the life of the knife is considerably shortened by these fiequent grindings.