05/27/2023
Tips for kitchen knife maintenance
We all use kitchen cutlery daily and give it very little thought, but there are steps you can take to maintain your kitchen knives to keep them sharp longer. Here are a few tips from a guy with 33 years experience sharpening, using and repairing kitchen knives
1.) CUTTING BOARDS
This is the number one area where you can prevent premature dulling of kitchen knives.
If you have a glass cutting board, throw it away! or find some other decorative use for it. Glass is close to the same hardness as your knife, and cutting against it will dull it almost instantly. People use the glass boards because they have sanitation concerns, and they want to clean them in the dishwasher, which we will address later, but these boards are no good.
Sermolan plastic cutting boards seem to be a good option, they are advertised as being sanitizable, and they are... but only when they are brand new. When the first cut is made all bets are off. These cuts hold bacteria and act as a petri dish propagating the growth of more bacteria. The dish washer doesn't get it all, and neither will bleach. These are not as hard on edges,but are still not great.
My final point is that wood boards are best. They can be cleaned with bleach solution, are harmless to edges and they look great. Use wood and your knives will stay sharp longer!
HOME SHARPENING
if your knife set came with a grooved sharpening steel, you guessed it, throw it away! A steel works by taking a "bent" not "dull" edge and realigning it. It works simply because it's harder than the knife. These grooves in the steel swage (cut) micro serrations into your edge along with aligning it and in the process destroy it. They make them "feel" sharper, but they aren't. Professional steels are smooth and are the best option, they only realign and that's all you need. Diamond and ceramic steels actually remove small amounts of steel and are a good option too. However, they are dependent on holding the angle correctly and a bit of skill. If you hold the angle too high you just grind off the edge.
One last point:You have all seen a chef on tv using a steel by rapidly stroking it side to side, towards themselves. This is just a parler trick chefs and us knife people do to show off. Don't do it. It's dangerous and unnecessary
CLEANING AND SANITATION
Keep all knives out of the dishwasher! I can't stress this enough!!! Dishwasher detergent is caustic and will actually corrode the edges of your cutlery and it will do it in short order. Wash them in hot water and dish soap, dry them and put them away. Also don't leave them to soak in the sink. Not bad for the knives, but dangerous for you. Blindly reaching into the sink and hitting a freshly sharpened edge can cause horrific cuts.
These were just a few tips to help educate customers on how to clean and maintain your kitchen knives and I hope you learned something
If you need a tune up on your knives, please send me a message or give me a call at:
806-323-3731
