Everyone, without exception, uses knives in the kitchen. But I’m sure not everyone knows exactly how to take care of them. Without further ado, here are eight simple rules that will make your friendship with your kitchen knife strong and long-lasting.
1. Use only wooden and plastic boards for cutting food.
No glass, granite, marble, metal, or other hard materials. All of these will dull the knife and damage its cutting edge.
2. Never use a knife to cut frozen food or to cut bones (even chicken bones).
Special knives and kitchen cleavers are available for this purpose. An ordinary knife will become dull at best and break at worst.
3. Never soak a knife in the sink.
And always wash it immediately after cutting acidic foods such as tomatoes or lemons.
Yes, modern knives are made of stainless steel. But an edge that is constantly honed and sharpened can be susceptible to rust.
4. Keep your knife out of the dishwasher.
Hand wash only and dry immediately with a kitchen or paper towel. In the dishwasher, the knife is exposed to a fairly high temperature (hot water around 60 °C (140 °F) plus steam). This has a negative effect on the handle of the knife (wood swells and plastic can easily crack from the temperature).
5. Do not store the knife in a drawer with other utensils.
The blade can be ruined by constant micro-impacts from all kinds of garlic slicers, scissors, and other metal utensils. Keep your knife on a table stand or on a magnetic holder. Even just separately on the table, wrapped in a towel.
6. Hone your knife regularly with a honing steel.
This will keep the cutting edge in good shape and you will need to sharpen it less often. I hone my knife before every third use.
7. Sharpen your knives regularly.
For average home use, that’s once a year. If the knife is used intensively – more often. Sharp knives are much safer than dull ones – mainly because when you cut with a dull knife, you use more force and have a greater chance of getting a deep wound.
8. Don’t sharpen your knife against a knife.
Or against the first metal object you come across. Also, avoid using a household sharpener with metal disks that will grind off the edge. I have a Japanese waterstone for this purpose and it is a great option.
If you do not have the right tool for sharpening, it is better to take the knives to a specialist. But before you do, check what kind of tools they use to sharpen the knives: for example, a sharpening machine with an emery wheel is the death of a good knife.
