A really sharp and good knife makes cooking both easier and much more fun. If you treat your knives well, they thank you by staying sharp and fine for longer. Here are 4 tips to help you maintain the sharpness of the knives so you can keep the cooking fun.
1. Clean the blades from the dishwasher
The dishwasher is the number one enemy of the kitchen knives. If you wash the knives in the dishwasher, their sharpness goes quickly and you risk rust and acid attack. Make it a good habit to always wash the knives by hand after you use them – it helps your knives stay nice, much longer. Just be careful when washing and drying the blades.
2. Store the blades properly
If your knives are loose in a kitchen drawer, it’s time to find another storage solution. When the knives come to rub against each other, they become lethargic faster. Instead, store the knives in a knife rack or on a magnetic strip attached to the wall.
If you are not going to use your knives for a long time, you can lubricate on a layer of mineral oil and roll them into a newspaper to protect the egg during storage.
3. Think before cutting
If you are going to cut into really hard materials such as frozen foods or bones, you need to use particularly strong knives in hard steel and with extra thick knife blades. The usual kitchen knives are bad at the task, and should you give up trying anyway, you run the risk of scratching the egg or getting a hack.
So it is important not to let impatience take over and give the groceries a chance to thaw before you embark on cutting with the usual kitchen knife.
4. Remember to sharpen the blades
To help the knives stay sharp, it’s a good idea to grind them now and then. The brow steel only helps to bring out the sharpness that is already in the edge, so the grinding is necessary to create a new sharp surface.
If you want to grind yourself, you can invest in a grindstone, but it can be a little difficult to keep the knife at exactly the right angle if you are above. You can also use a roller grinder that fixes the knife at a fixed angle – perfect if you are not so sharp on the needlework yourself.