Knife Care Essentials

The cooking process in the kitchen includes using a few essential tools, and a knife sees a lot of use in that process. A knife is undeniably the most critical tool used to cut meat, dicing up vegetables, and slicing your food at the dinner table. Over time and repeated use, a knife blade becomes dull and loses its sharpness; however, you can preserve the knife’s sharpness for long with proper maintenance. Here are a few knife care essential tips to keep your blades good as new.

Knife Care Essentials – Easy Tips to Keep Your Blades Sharp

Honing Rod

One of the best tools to have for doing some knife maintenance is a honing rod. The sword-looking steel also looks like a long metal stick, with the primary job of realigning the metal part of your knife. The metal realignment using a honing rod allows you to sharpen your knife by shedding off too much metal from the blade.

Using the correct revolution technique for a honing rod, repeatedly rub the knife and rob together, and remember to do the same on both sides of the blade. Over time and with more practice, you will get used to the rod groove and better maintain your knife blades.

Whetstone

With two sides to it, a sharpening stone or a diamond, a whetstone has a smooth side and a rough side. The rough side of the stone is to sharpen a knife, creating a burr by grinding the knife’s blade edge. One can use various techniques to create a burr, but ultimately you scrape both sides of the blade against the rough side of the whetstone until you get a sharp burr on edge.

Once both sides of the blade are equally roughed out, turn the stone to the more delicate side. The fine side of the stone is used to smooth out the burrs on the blade. To ready the knife for use, evenly stroke both sides of the blade until they are smooth.

Mug or Cup

Not everyone has specialized knife sharpening equipment, therefore using homemade methods and regular kitchen items to sharpen them is the best alternative. To quickly sharpen your knife, you can grab a ceramic cup or mug and use the bottom surface. Keeping the mug and knife at a steady angle, on both sides of the blade, slide the knife against the cup. If you happen to have a honing rod available, proceed with a few revolutions to sharpen and polish your edges.

Proper Technique

Getting the right way and techniques of sharpening and maintaining your knives is not easy and may take some time to get it right. Although keeping a twenty-degree angle of sharpening your knives is not the only way, practicing that technique will make you better and preserve your knife. For an accurate blade tip, you need to maintain your grind angle. When you think you are done, inspect the knife’s sharpness and straight-line before stowing it for use.

Cut on the Right Surfaces

When sharpening your knife, the final condition will depend on the surface you choose to grind on. Using hard metal surfaces like aluminum, granite, and stainless steel is not ideal when sharpening your blades. However, cutting on polyethylene, plastic, or wood tends to be just fine. You stand a better chance when using proper sharpening materials and surfaces.

Wash Them by Hand

People’s biggest mistake is throwing their knives in the dishwasher with all the cutlery and kitchen items. Although this may be the best way to get your knives properly cleaned, exposing them to detergent, water, and the barrage of heat dulls your blades quickly. In this case, the best solution is to wash them by hand thoroughly. Washing your knives by hand will help retain sharpness for longer and avoid sharpening blades before each use.

Store Your Knife Properly

In the same way that many people chuck their knives in the dishwasher, together with other kitchen utensils, they stow their good set of knives. Your knives are unique and should have dedicated storage space. There are a few ways you can isolate and store your utensils. Dedicate a drawer specifically for knives only or wooden blocks to keep them tidy and neat.

Most wooden blocks even have space for sharpening tools like honing rods. Commercial or modern homes have magnetic boards as a means of storing knives for quick access; however, stowing knives on a magnetic board is not ideal in a house with pets and children, be mindful.