Kitchen Knife Sharpening using Elliptical Vibration

Abstract

Elliptical vibration of a whetstone was proposed and investigated in this study as a simple method for sharpening kitchen knives in homes. Sharpening tests were conducted using kitchen knives with worn edges. The method satisfies fundamental concepts for kitchen knife sharpening because the whetstone does not leave the cutting edge, and sharpening is performed in the direction from the spine (mine) to the cutting edge (hasaki) along the entire cutting edge of the knife. For comparison, a sharpening test using linear whetstone vibration was also conducted. After sharpening tests with both methods, kitchen knife cutting performance tests were conducted, and the effects of sharpness improvements were compared. Both vibration sharpening methods showed kitchen knife sharpness improvement, but elliptical vibration sharpening exhibited better improvement. Elliptical vibration sharpening tests were conducted using a completely dulled kitchen knife. The results demonstrated that kitchen knife sharpness improved equivalently to the sharpness of the new knife. These results demonstrate that this elliptical vibration method can effectively sharpen kitchen knives.