Showerthought: You can fix a broken knife edge with a ceramic coffee mug

I was prepping herbs at 6am before service and my chef knife was dragging through basil like a butter knife, I was just about to pull out the honing rod when the sous chef grabbed my mug off the counter and ran the blade along the unglazed rim a few times. It came back sharp enough to slice a tomato paper thin and I felt like an idiot for never knowing that trick after 8 years in kitchens. Anyone else have a weird quick fix that saved a shift?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_young19d ago

Oh yeah my buddy was working a brunch shift and his knife was worthless on tomatoes, someone told him to try the bottom of a ceramic coffee mug. He said it worked better than a sharpener, got through a whole case of heirloom tomatoes without swapping blades after that one quick fix. He used a mug with that rough unfinished ring on the bottom, not the glazed part, couple passes and it was like new. He still keeps a beater mug in his kit just for that purpose, calls it his emergency steel.

ryan_gibson8419d ago

Does anyone actually test if the unglazed ring on a mug is abrasive enough to damage the blade over time? I'd be curious if that quick fix is slowly microchipping the edge versus what a proper steel does.