'Tis the time of year when having a good sharp set of knives can make the holiday turkey and ham carving an easy task. Having a sharp skinning knife for field dressing a deer is essential for making the task speedy and clean. If your house is like mine, there is a drawer full of kitchen knives that need serious work on the correct sharpening tools. Here are a few tips to make you a hero in your house by providing that batch of knives with a razor edge.

One of the best tips I know of, is no matter which technique you use, take a felt marker, and cover the sides of the very edge of the blade. As you sharpen, you can see any missed spots making a more uniformed edge.

Knowing and understanding the correct angles needed for the knife use is important so that the edge surface is maximized for the cutting job. We sell several sharpeners that have either fixed-angle slots or alignment tools to keep that angle consistent on each use. If you opt for a flat stone or a sharpening steel tool be consistent as possible with knife strokes. Remember you are removing steel on each pass so go slowly and make close inspections of sharpening progressions because you can’t add the metal back. Honing a knife does not actually sharpen the blade but it straightens and causes the realignment of the edge.

In review, use correct angles for the blade type, be consistent all the way through the strokes, ensure the entire blade is stroked and lastly don’t get in a hurry.