We acquired five knifes and block via a tesco promotion a couple of years ago.
They feel reasonable quality, quite heavy but aren’t, and really haven’t been, very sharp.
I’m no expert on knifes and had a go with an easy sharp sharpener but that seemed to remove quite a lot of metal.
So, the question is, are these just cheap knifes and will never sharpen, or will they sharpen reasonably well with the right kit and practice. If the latter, what’s the easiest way to get a decent edge?

And how do you sharpen a serrated bread knife?

If you can face going to ikea, their Aspekt sharpener is dirt cheap and foolproof. Ours keeps our TK Max knife set, sharp as a – erm…. well – a knife.

Not used it on the bread knife though. Not because I didn’t think it would work just haven’t tried it.

My cheap -ish knives sharpen up pretty nicely – just take it slow and don’t use too much pressure.
I use the non-glazed ring on the base of a mug to shapen mine… (I’d use a proper steel if they were fancy knives)

We’ve got the ikea Aspekt sharpener mentioned above ^^, its ok for taking the rounded shoulder off the edge then finish off with a few strokes on a steel .

Money well spent. My parents have one that’s over forty years old and still doing the job.

I’ve kept a couple of ok knives bought from TK Maxx going using an Ebay version of that Ikea one. They’ve lasted 3 years so far and can’t see any reason to change knives or the sharpener. Not something I feel the urge to spend “manly” money on, to be honest. They cut, they sharpen.
I don’t have a beard.

You can buy those Aspekt sharpener lookalike at TK Maxx too … 🙂

Does anyone else find that they can only sharpen their cheap knives? As in £10 a set kind of cheap, not STW cheap. I’m guessing it’s the softer steel, but for the life of me, any more expensive knives I have just won’t sharpen no matter what sharpener I try.

To be fair, I know absolutely nothing about sharpening knives.

I’ve got a cheap knife and I’ve never been able to get a decent edge on it. I drives me crazy, in fact I think in gonna chuck it

Ray Mears will show you the way to make them sharp enough to shave your arms. Might need a Land Rover for that final polish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX3Xz5khXnw

A decent steel will return a good edge but if totally rounded then a wet stone is the answer.
Cheap knife = cheap steel ,so soft no edge retention.

Diamond steels make a lovely job too,still got mine from butchery days .

Just had my knives sharpened at a local shop for a few fxxx alls. Holy smoke they are sharp now.

Luckily non of the guests noticed my thumbnail in with the stir fry garlic.

One of these keeps my cheap kitchen knives sharp.

Don’t need a bread knife if your main one is sharp enough. I get by with two good knives, chopping and paring, sharpen them at home on a stone but if you don’t fancy learning, just get them done in a shop, as above it costs buttons and good ones stay sharp for ages with the odd rub on the steel.

Learn to use a whetstone, it’s really satisfying. A steel is nice for keeping your knives sharp.

A cheap knife is good to learn sharpening as the steel is usually pretty soft.

I took mine to a local butcher, you could shave with them now (and he didn’t charge me a penny).

Even a cheap knife will take a good edge; it’s keeping it that makes the difference. A large, cheap diamond ‘stone’, or a couple, a coarse and an extra-fine to establish a good bevel, then a piece of leather like an old belt to strop on to polish the edge and remove the ‘wire’ that forms along the edge. Takes practice, but once you get a feel for it it’s not difficult.
I’ve got an axe I found in the shed, very blunt and rusty, I can now take shavings off a piece of wood you can see through, and shave my arm with, done with a cheap 2nd cut file, two large diamond stones and a double-sided leather strop with coarse and fine compound on either side to polish.
In fact I’ve got three axes I can shave my arm with.

This is the axe as I found it:

This is it now, and a butter spreader I carved out of green beech with only the axe:

Just needs a little work, is all… 😀