Pizza cutters lose their sharpness quickly because they are not designed to be that sharp in the first place. After a few uses, this useful accessory loses its luster.
Of course, a knife can be used to cut a pizza, but a pizza cutter is simply the best way to cut pizza. During various points in the topping, a knife may end up facing friction, forcing the blade to wear out or crush the pizza.
Keep in mind that different types of pizza cutters are made from different materials and may or may not be sharpenable. The wheel mechanism makes it more difficult to stabilize. So, in this article, we’ll go over how to sharpen a pizza cutter to improve your pizza-slicing skill.
Why Does A Pizza Cutter Get Dull?
1. Low-Quality Material
Most pizza cutters, particularly inexpensive ones, are made of low-quality materials that prevent them from remaining sharp when used. They are not intended to be long-lasting and have poor edge retention. As a result, a pizza cutter made of steel is the best option.
2. Poor Storage
Another reason could be improper blade storage and chipping off of the blade. The pizza cutter should not be stored in the same drawer as other kitchen tools. The blade is frequently damaged when it collides with other cutlery or kitchen accessories. It wears down the blade, resulting in poor slicing performance and possibly rendering this tool useless.
3. Incorrect Usage
Another possible cause is incorrectly using your cutter. It is not really a good idea to slice your pizzas on rough surfaces like stone or plastic. To help maintain your blade’s edge, we suggest to use a wooden platform.
How To Sharpen A Pizza Cutter Wheel?
If your pizza wheel is worn out, slicing your pizza may be a bother. So, let’s look at some methods for regaining the edge on your pizza cutter.
1. Whetstone
A whetstone is a tool that is used to sharpen metal and knives. It is a flat rectangular stone with varying grits depending on how fine the stone is. Soak the whetstone in water for 15 minutes to sharpen your pizza blade.
After that, position it on a flat surface at the desired angle and begin grinding your pizza cutter wheel. All you have to do is ensure that you grind all of the edges around the wheel. Because of its round shape, it is not the best way to sharpen a pizza cutter wheel.
2. Puck Sharpener
The puck sharpener is an alternative to the traditional whetstone. A puck sharpener is a little simpler to use than a whetstone to hone a pizza wheel. These are essentially puck-shaped sharpening stones. Due to their hockey-like puck shape, they are easier to hold and glide. It’s a fantastic design. It’s a nice option for sharpening.
To begin, hold the puck at an angle to the blade’s surface. Then, start moving the stone puck back and forth across the blade’s edge. You can have them razor-sharp in a matter of minutes. It’s a simple procedure. However, keep your fingers out of the way when sharpening pizza wheels, as this is an easy mistake to make. It is recommended that you wear protective gloves if you have them.
The puck sharpener is similar to the conventional whetstone mentioned earlier. The only difference is that puck sharpeners are portable. Even though it is not the best tool for sharpening your pizza cutter, the puck sharpener is said to perform better than the whetstone.
3. Belt Grinder
The belt grinder is one method for sharpening a pizza cutter. It is a power finishing machine for metal objects.
Turn on the belt grinder and position the pizza wheel at an angle to the moving belt to sharpen it. You can prevent the wheel from spinning as fast as the belt by applying pressure to it with your finger. It makes the pizza wheel spin slower, resulting in a consistent grind around the spinning blade. However, take care not to injure your finger on the moving belt or rotating blade.
A belt grinder is an excellent choice because it is relatively simple to use, but you must be cautious due to the moving belt and spinning edge. A belt grinder is also quite large and costly to purchase. So it’s not so helpful in purchasing one solely to sharpen your pizza cutters.
4. Pizza Cutter Sharpener
Simply by its name, this tool had no choice but to make our list. Pizza cutter sharpeners are needed to maintain the sharpness of pizza wheels with minimal effort. With this device, you won’t have to be concerned about clustered toppings or unevenly cut slices.
The cutter sharpener is extremely simple to use and nearly impossible to make a mistake with it. It’s as simple as rolling the pizza wheel across the sharpener! After that, your pizza cutter will be as good as new. Every time you want to use it, you can sharpen it.
Cutter sharpeners function in the same way that knife sharpeners do. Still, they are built specifically for the rotating blade of a pizza wheel.
How To Sharpen A Pizza Cutter Blade?
If you find yourself with a pizza cutter blade that has lost its edge, these methods will help you regain it.
1. Knife Sharpener
You can sharpen a pizza cutter with a draw-through knife sharpener. A knife sharpener is more effective for sharpening a pizza blade than a pizza wheel. Simply place your fingertips on the flat side of the wheel to stabilize it and keep it from turning as you pull it through the sharpener. Repeat with a slight rotation. Continue doing so until you’ve completed a full circle of the wheel.
2. Whetstone
Soak the whetstone in water for 15 minutes before sharpening your pizza blade, then remove it from the water and polish the edge to the desired angle. If you’ve ever sharpened a knife on a whetstone, sharpening a pizza blade is a breeze.
Suppose you are unable to sharpen your pizza cutter yourself. In that case, you can take it to a professional who sharpens knives or other metal objects.
3. Honing Rod
Although a honing rod is not strictly for sharpening, I believe it is worth mentioning. Honing is the technique of reshaping the edge. The honing of the pizza cutter wheel bends the edge of the wheel, making it thinner.
Even though using a honing rod on a pizza blade is a little more tricky than on a knife, it’s still important to maintain your edge sharp on a regular basis.
Conclusion
A pizza cutter sharpener is the best way to sharpen a pizza wheel. It’s not perfect, but it does an excellent job of sharpening the edge and will restore your pizza cutter to like-new condition.
Meanwhile, there are numerous methods for sharpening a pizza cutter. Choose the option that is most comfortable for you. With all these, I hope you found this article useful!