All About Knife Care
Thursday, October 11th, 2007 by Subscribe To Our Feed
I’m not completely sure, but I believe that the first cooking implement created by man was the knife. Ages ago, man used knives to hunt and gather their food, and when he learned how to make fire, the knife was a major tool in food preparation as well. Today, the knife remains as one of the most important tools you could have. The ubiquitous knife is used everywhere, from homes to restaurants to cruise ships.
But although we can all agree about the importance of this versatile tool, the fact remains that still a lot of people don’t know how to handle and take care of their knives properly. A friend once jokingly told me that perhaps it’s because knives don’t have instruction manuals.
One of my pet peeves is watching people use knives wrongly. But then, no one showed us how to use knives properly whe we were little. Our parents just told us that knives were dangerous and to keep away from them. Knives may not come with instruction manuals indeed, but I believe that people who use them regularly should at least take the effort to learn how to handle them correctly.
First, learn how to hold the knife properly. There are three basic ways to hold a knife, but it depends on the kind of knife and what is it going to be used for. For cutting against a board, the knife should be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, for example, hold the knife in a dagger-like fashion to get proper leverage. When using a small knife to turn or peel, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.
Learn also how to care for your knives. A wooden board should be used for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards require more cleaning, and they are not quite as gentle on the edge of a knife as wooden boards. Get a board with the end-grain as a cutting surface, rather than side grain. Why? The end-grain is the least abrasive surface to cut against, so your knife’s edge will last a longer time.
Always store a knife in a way that protects the blade, such as a plastic sleeve or a paperboard. Clean a knife after using it, then dry and store. Never wash knives in a dishwasher, or just throw it in the wash basin. Always protect the knife’s edge against other hard surfaces. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.
Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the case knives and supplies you need.
Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the kershaw knives and supplies you need.
- Azlan Irda
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