All About Knife Care

Although I'm not completely sure about this, but I personally think that the first cooking implement created by man was the knife. Several millennia 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 very few people know how to properly handle and care for a knife. Perhaps it's because knives don't come with an instruction manual.

One of my pet peeves is watching people handle knives incorrectly. But then, no one showed us how to use knives properly whe we were little. All we knew at that time was that knives were dangerous and better kept away from us kids. There may be no instruction manuals for knives, 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. Basically, there are three 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, a knife should generally be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. The handle should be held with the other fingers. When cutting hanging meat, the knife should be held like a dagger to get the right amount of leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, it should be held with one or two fingers gripping the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.

There are also several ways to properly care for your knives. A wooden board should be used for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards are not as gentle on the edge of the knife as wooden boards. It's also better to use one where the cutting surface is end grain, rather than side grain. The end-grain is the least abrasive surface to cut against, so your knife's edge will last a longer time.

When storing knives after use, it's better to use paperboards or plastic sleeves. Clean a knife after using it, then dry and store. Do not wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Always protect the knife's edge against other hard surfaces. It's more dangerous to use a dull knife than a sharp one, so always keep your knives as sharp as possible. To truly sharpen it, an abrasive surface that is harder than the knife must be used, such as a diamond honer. 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 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 buck knives and supplies you need.

- Azlan Irda