Français 
Italiano 
Español 
Nederlands 
Deutsch Sharpening tools - Maintenance
Sharpening tools to give your knives a second life.
Sharpening tools allow you to maintain or restore the original sharpness of your Opinel knives with easy, regular sharpening. Sharpening stones, sharpening steels, a hand sharpener: so all of these tools can be moved around easily or left at home.
The sharpening stone, sharpening steel and small manual sharpener.
Knives need to be sharpened in order to maintain its cutting properties. Opinel proposes several tools which are known and recognized for their effectiveness. First of all, the sharpening stone, the original sharpening tool, is available in two sizes: 10 cm and 24 cm. Used wet, it is known for its abrasive properties and grain which allows the knife to regain its initial sharpness. The sharpening steel is an equally essential tool that requires a slightly different use. Available in stainless steel and diamond, it features a beechwood handle that is comfortable to hold and a 25 cm bit to straighten the edge of the blade. Finally, Opinel propose the small hand sharpener, easy to use and compact. It features carbide inserts and a self-adjusting angle. All of these sharpening tools allow you to sharpen small pocketknives as well as kitchen knives, table knives, gardening knives...
Knife sharpening: a precise and essential gesture.
Having a sharpening tool in your kitchen is essential, and you need to use it properly to avoid damaging your knives. With the sharpening steels, it is possible to hold them horizontally or vertically. Always with a 20° angle between the blade and the sharpening steel, just follow the cutting edge from the bottom of the blade to the tip. The same movement must be performed 5 to 8 times, on both sides of the blade. With natural stones, you must wet them first, and always at an angle of 20°, the stone laid flat, you just have to follow the cutting edge of the blade by positioning your thumb on the back of the blade. When sharpening the other side of the blade, you put your index finger on the back. Pulling the knife through 5 times on each side is enough. With the small hand sharpener, simply move the knife between the plates, blade tip facing downwards, then blade tip up. Sharpening techniques that are sure to work, and that you can find in more detail on the Opinel & me blog.
