How to Sharpen Cutco Knives with Stones, Sharpener & Honing Rods

Cutco is a reliable name in the American knife industry that comes up with a wide range of high-quality stamped knives.

It offers variations in its knife edges, and its straight-edge knives are widely used in different cutting applications. But like any other kitchen knife, they’re not immune from dulling. So they require periodic sharpening.

Cutco experts and also our kitchen enthusiasts have some opinions and recommendations for sharpening these Cutco knives. And we want you to go through all these so that you don’t mess up with your expensive piece of kitchen cutlery!

In this article, we’ve gathered everything you need to know about how to sharpen cutco knives and maintaining them.

So let’s start!

Which Cutco Knife Needs Sharpening?

The Cutco blades can have one of the two kinds of edges Straight and Double-D (three recessed edges having pointed teeth). You see straight edges in Cutco’s chef knives that are used for precise and clean cuts. The paring knives also have straight edges. On the other hand, all Cutco slicers come with a Double-D edge.

Straight-edge Cutco Knives Need Sharpening

Straight edge Cutcod knives are more prone to become dull, and their sharpening procedure doesn’t require any sophisticated technique.

So you can generally sharpen a straight edge Cutcod knife all by yourself and at the convenience of your home. However, you’ll probably have to send the Double-D edge knife to the company for professional sharpening.

And the good news is Cutco offers free sharpening for a lifetime (something known as Cutco’s Forever Guarantee), but the bad news is you’ve to pay for shipping the knife both ways.

So when you ask how to sharpen Cutco knives, you’re probably referring to the ones with straight edges like its Cutco chef knives or paring knives. In this article, we’ll learn how to sharpen and maintain these Cutco knives.

When Should You Sharpen A Cutco Knife?

As we’ve set up the plot and you know which kind of Cutco knives you can sharp on your own. Now when does it actually needs sharpening?

If you use the knife regularly, you should find your knife’s sharpness compromised. So the general rule of thumb would be to sharpen your knife when it requires a bit more pressure to move through the cutting object.

Another way you can find out whether your Cutco needs sharpening or not is by doing the paper test. For this, you’ve to slice through a paper and see if it cuts through that smoothly. If it doesn’t, sharpening is recommended for your Cutco knife.

How To Sharpen Cutco Knives? 4 Easy Method Explained

There are quite a few ways you can do that. But the recommended method is sharpening the straight-edge Cutco knives using the Cutco Sharpener. We’ll learn about this method first, and we’ll also see some of the other traditional methods for sharpening.

1. Sharpening Cutco Knives with Cutco Sharpener

You’ve to ensure a little TLC for your Cutco chef knives, paring knives, or other straight-edge knives once in a while. Once you figure out the blade has become dull, you can use the Cutco Sharpener to realign the edge and bring the sharpness back.

How Cutco Sharpener Works:

Before moving to the steps to follow sharpening, let’s check out how this sharpener works. The Cutco Cutlery Sharpener is specially designed for straight-edge Cutco knives.

It has got Carbide Inserts set at a 15-degree angle (the angle for straight-edge Cutco knives). So that sharpener can perfectly pair with your knife edge and allow you to hone in both left and right hands.

The sharpener is designed so that you require applying light pressure with several runs and then applying very light pressure with a few more runs to refine the edge.

Steel gets removed from the blade edge to realign that while making the passes through the sharpener. So you’ve to wash the knives after the sharpening process and wipe the workspace using a damp cloth.

Sharpening Guide:

To sharpen your straight-edge Cutco knife with the Cutco cutlery sharpener, you’ve to follow the steps below:

Step 1: Place the Sharpener

First, place your Cutco sharpener in a flat and sturdy place.

Step 2: Hold the Knife Properly

Use one of your hands (mostly the right hand) to hold the knife and use another hand to firmly grip the sharpener handle. Now place the blade’s heel in the center of the sharpener in a way that it should rest in the V-shaped sharpening inserts.

Step 3: Start Sharpening

Keep your Cutco knife perpendicular to the sharpener top. Then angle the knife’s tip down slightly. Now you can start applying slight pressure and pull the knife blade gently towards you, following its contour. Pull it all the way through the sharpening inserts to the knife tip.

Step 4: Repeat for Additional Strokes

Repeat the same process for an additional 5-7 strokes. To finally refine the knife-edge, repeat the action for a couple of more strokes.

Step 5: After Sharpening Tasks

Once you finish sharpening the knife, you’ve to hand wash the knife to remove its steel particles and then dry it well. You can also use a damp paper towel to thoroughly clean the steel filling from your workspace.

Also, remember you can’t put it in the dishwasher as it’s not water-tight. Doing so can lose its sharpening much before it’s anticipated.

Other Methods To Sharpen Cutco Knives:

While it’s highly recommended to sharpen the straight edge Cutco knives using the Cutco sharpener, there are a few other conventional methods you can adopt if you don’t own a Cutco Sharpener. Here we’ll talk about the three of these methods, which include:

• Sharpening with Stones
• Sharpening with Honing Rods
• Sharpening with Knife Steels

Let’s get into the details of these methods below:

2. Sharpening with Stones

This method works the best for routine sharpening and not any kind of major reshaping. Sharpening your Cutco knife with a water stone may not be fast, but it's kind to your fine knife. Let’s find out what you should do to sharpen your Cutco knife using this method.

Step 1: Get the Right Water Stone

Get a wooden-based water stone in the range of 800x to 1200x since it should remove the steel at a good rate while leaving a fair amount of teeth on the edge. A 1000x stone with size dimensions of 0.5’’ x 2.5’’ x 7’’ could be a perfect one in this case.

Step 2: Choose Right Bevel Angle

For straight-edge Cutco knives, bevel angles of 15° is the right option. You can easily create bevels at 15°.

Step 3: Raise the Back and Take Cuts

Now you raise the back of your knife just about 0.125’’ off the stone and start taking slicing cuts on the water stone. Do it in one direction first and then the other. While doing so, choose a motion that you’re comfortable with and which you can easily repeat.

Step 4: Repeat with Consistency

5 to 7 consistent runs and then a few slow runs could realign the edge back to its previous state.

3. Sharpening with Honing Rods

Using ceramic rods to hone your Cutco knife could be a good option to consider. While Cutco knives are recommended to hone at a 15° angle, these rods come at a 22.5° angle, and sharpening your knife at this angle should rapidly thicken your blade.

To use the rod, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Place Things Right

Take a cutting board and place a folded rag on it. Place your rod upright, having the tip on the towel. So your knife will stay in place when you press it against it.

Step 2: Set the Knife to a Perfect Angle

Now you’ve to set the knife to its suited angle. For Cutco knives, it’s 15-degree.

Step 3: Honing Time

Slowly drag the knife edge along with the rod from the knife heel to its tip using a downward cutting/slicing motion. Turn to the other side and repeat the motion about 10 to 20 times. Alternate sides after every slicing motion.

4. Sharpening With Knife or Honing Steels

We’ve seen how you can sharpen your Cutco knife with ceramic rods. Now let’s see how a knife with steel can help you do it in an even better way. It’s actually a steel rod with many fine longitudinal serrations.

When you drag the knife against the rod, the blade touches the serration tips and gets smoothened by substantial pressure. It reforms the steel next to the edge to create a sharp edge.

But to successfully complete the sharpening, you’ve to find a good quality knife steel rod and also know how to use it in the right way. We can help you with the sharpening procedure here. Check out the step-by-step guide below.

Step 1: Hone at the Correct Angle

Always hone your knife at the correct angle. For a straight-edge Cutco knife, the right angle is 15-degree, so set it accordingly.

Hold the honing steel handle using the non-dominant hand and place the knife tip down onto the cutting board.

Now carefully place your knife heel against the honing steel top at the desired 15-degree angle.

Step 2: Honing Time

After setting up your knife at the right angle, draw the knife down all the way through your honing steel rod with light pressure. Then pull across the entire length of the blade until the knife and honing steel tip meet together.

Step 3: Continue with Both Sides

Now repeat the process with both sides using gentle and consistent strokes. Do it until both sides of the blade is completely honed. It should take you about 3 to 5 strokes on each side.

Finally, check the knife edge by cutting through a piece of paper.

What Causes a Cutco Knife to Go Dull?

Like all other knives, your Cutco knife, especially the straight-edge ones, can dull over time. But you can follow some tips and tricks to extend the time needed for resharpening.

You may think it’s the type of food that’s causing your Cutco knife to go dull, but it may not be the case. So what can dull the sharp edge of your knife?

We’ll find out these causes here so that you can avoid them to keep your knife’s efficiency at its peak and enjoy cutting with smooth edge knives.

• Always use a proper cutting board and don’t use ceramic, glass, or countertops as cutting boards. These surfaces are harder and can dull your blade quickly.
• Your straight-edge Cutco knife needs periodic honing, so sharpen it from time to time as a part of regular maintenance. So it won’t be dull when you need it.
• Store knives in sheath, trays, or woodblocks to protect their edges. Never store them loosely in the drawer. It’s both dangerous and can damage the knife edges quickly to cause dullness.
• Use your knives only for what they’re intended. Don’t use them to cut anything that’s unsuitable, and also be aware of using them as a hammer or screwdriver.
• Although Cutco knives are dishwasher-safe, it’s highly recommended for handwashing. The knives can tangle in a dishwasher resulting in dulling.
• Never use the sharp side or cutting side of your Cutco knife to scrape food from the cutting board. Otherwise, it can hurt the edge and make it go dull.

Tips to Maintain the Sharpness of a Cutco Knife

We’ve got some more tips to help you maintain the sharpness of your Cutco knife.

• Follow every tip discussed above to avoid doing things that can make your knife go dull.
• There’s a wide variety of Cutco knives available out there. So make sure to use the right one for the right job, such as using the boning knife to butcher a lamb's shoulder and using the paring knife to peel the skin off.
• Always keep your knives clean and dry after every use.
• Sharpen your knife with proper concentration, and make sure to keep the angle consistent while sharpening.
• You can use a fine grit stone to polish the knife edge and also the leather strop to finish honing, as it can help you achieve the finest knife edge possible.
• Don’t go hard while chopping with your knife, as it’s not intended to be used like this.

Conclusion

To finish it off, all we can say is straight edge Cutco knives need a little bit of TLC, and we’re sure you don’t mind this. Keeping its performance in mind, you definitely want to follow all the Do’s and Don’ts regarding its sharpening procedure.

So we’ve made sure you learn everything in this article to sharpen cutco serrated knives successfully. Like Cutco experts, we also recommend you to use the Cutco sharpener for the best sharpening results. But if you can’t manage one, you can go for other methods as well.

But make sure you’re mindful while using and sharpening your knife and remember, a sharp knife is safer than a dull one. Not to forget, a sharp knife can ensure the kitchen experience you desire!