Now that you are serious about homemade pizza and have invested in all of the essential pizza tools like a pizza peel, pizza cutter, pizza oven, and pizza stone, you need to know how to take care of your tools.
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And one tool that needs a bit more care than the others is your pizza cutter. Pizza cutters, like other knives, get dull with continued use. So you need to know how to sharpen a pizza cutter to make sure your pizza cutter has a long life.
Why You Need to Know How To Sharpen a Pizza Cutter
There are a few things that make your pizza cutter get dull over time. One is just obvious regular usage but also how you use it and on what type of surface you use it. Pizza cutters work best on wood or plastic.
Both materials are soft enough to take the pressure without dulling the knife too much. Since pizza cutters, at least the traditional ones, are round, they are evenly used, so the entire blade needs to be sharpened.
One of the worst things and most damaging things you can do to your pizza cutter is to use it on your pizza peel or stone. Metal pizza peels and ceramic pizza stones are extremely hard surfaces and can dull and, in some cases, ruin your pizza cutter.
Another way pizza cutters become dull is because they aren’t stored properly. Many people just throw their pizza cutter in the utensil drawer with their garlic press, vegetable peeler, and other assorted kitchen tools.
The cutter gets banged around, especially if you are like us and have a lot of kitchen tools piled into one drawer. The pizza cutter gets tossed around and rubs up against other tools losing its sharp edge.
You should treat your pizza cutter like you would a knife and have a special place for it and even a special cover for your pizza cutter.
Types of Pizza Cutters
The best way to sharpen your pizza cutter depends on the type of pizza cutter you have at home. There are two different styles of pizza cutters; the first is the round wheel pizza cutter which is the traditional cutter. And the other is a mezzaluna blade that is like a half-moon shape (mezzaluna) means half-moon in Italian.
Unfortunately, not all pizza wheels can be sharpened. If you have a plastic or porcelain cutter, these are not tools you can sharpen.
Metal pizza wheel cutters and mezzaluna cutters can be sharpened, but you will need a different technique for each. A mezzaluna blade is more like a traditional knife, so it is easier to sharpen.
Four Ways to Sharpen a Pizza Cutter
Pizza Cutter Sharpener
This sharpening tool is the best option to sharpen your wheel pizza cutter. You just roll the blade through, and it sharpens all sides. It is small, inexpensive, and easy to use. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to find. Your best option is to look in a specialty kitchen store.
A knife sharpener which is similar, works too. But since the wheel is round, you will need to hold it in place and do all the sides, so it may take a little time and some steady hands to get the wheel sharpened.
Whetstone
A whetstone is a special tool for sharpening knives and metal. It is flat with ridges for sharpening. You have to soak the whetstone in water for twenty minutes, and then it’s ready to sharpen. This is good for mezzaluna blades, but it’s a bit tricky to use for a pizza wheel cutter.
Puck Sharpener
The puck sharpener is another option. A puck sharpener is somewhat easier to use on a pizza wheel cutter than a whetstone. This hockey puck-shaped sharpening stone allows for an easier grip and glide when sharpening.
But that said, be careful. We recommend wearing protective gloves because safety comes first.
Belt Grinder
If you happen to already have a belt grinder, then you can use that to sharpen your pizza cutter. The belt grinder is a power finishing machine for metal objects. It is quite large and expensive, so you definitely don’t want to go out and buy this just for sharpening your pizza cutter.
But if you have one or have a friend that has one, they work really well to sharpen both types of pizza cutters. Again safety comes first; if you are new to using this have someone experienced help you because how are you going to make pizza if you cut off your fingers?
The last option is to invest in a pizza cutter with replaceable blades. This way, you don’t have to worry about sharpening the cutter, and you can just replace the blade as necessary.
This is a good choice for someone that doesn’t have the tools or just doesn’t want to sharpen the blade. The replaceable blades are fairly inexpensive and easy to use.
Other Ways to Use a Pizza Cutter
A pizza cutter is not a one-trick pony. It has other uses beyond slicing up a piping hot pizza. We like our kitchen utensils to have more than one purpose, and we love that pizza cutters can be used in other creative ways like:
- Chop salad
- Cube ham for salads
- Cut dough and PlayDoh
- Halve grapes or cherry tomatoes
- Cut herbs
- Shred cabbage for tacos or coleslaw
Have you tried these methods on how to sharpen a pizza cutter? Let us know your favorite ways to make sure your homemade pizza was cut sharply and efficiently.
