How Do Most Chefs Sharpen Their Knives?

While I don’t have any actual data on this, I suspect most professional chefs will send their knives off to be sharpened professionally. If they’re doing it themselves, and have knives they care about, they’ll probably be using sharpening stones. If they’re in a commercial kitchen with inexpensive knives, they might use an electric sharpener to quickly restore an edge.

Between sharpenings, chefs are famous for using sharpening steels. Sometimes referred to as honing rods or butcher’s steels. I like the diamond or ceramic abrasive rods. I recommend holding the rod with the tip supported on the countertop. Hold your knife at the correct angle to be sharpened and slowly pull the knife along the rod. You might see chef’s on TV moving very quickly, but slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Repeat on the other side of the knife. So long as your knife isn’t very blunt, about 10 passes on each side should put an edge back on your knife. If it still feels blunt, you can either get your whetstones out or continue making passes with the sharpening rod.