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SHARPENING

Professional chefs use two tools to keep knives sharp. Left: Slide the entire edge of the blade over a stone (also called a whestone), forming a 20-degree angle between the blade and the stone, keeping the pressure even as you draw the blade across from heel to tip. Repeat on the other side. Right: To realign the edges, which get slightly bent with routine usage, draw the blade along a honling steel at a 20-degree angle.

Electric sharpeners take the guesswork and anxiety out of sharpening knives, since they hold them at the proper angle. The downside: Because the machines grind at high speed, they wear away knife blades quickly and could shorten their life span.

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