Staying Sharp!

Every chef will agree that the most important tool to have in a kitchen, cooking at any level, is a sharp knife. Keeping your knife sharp allows you to make precise cuts with little to no effort. In fact, using a dull knife in a kitchen is far more dangerous as you have to use more pressure for every cut, with a slip more likely to happen. Additionally, if you want to be able to breeze through your prep work with ease, a sharp knife is definitely the way to go. So, what is the best way to sharpen a knife? Here are our top tips and tricks we suggest.

How to tell if your knife needs sharpening:

You may be asking yourself; well how do I know when I need to sharpen my knife? Here are a few quick tricks we like to use. You can first start by gently feeling the blade and determine if it feels dull or sharp. Another option is to grab a tomato or similar fruit, if your knife crushes it then it could do with some sharpening. If you are still unsure, grab a piece of paper and see if your knife is able to slice through it! 

Sharpening Basics:

You are going to need two things for this, a knife that could use a little love and a sharpener. Grab any knife, besides a serrated one (we recommend them to be professional sharpened) and determine what level of sharpening the knife needs. On our sharpener, we have two settings: coarse and fine. The coarse side is used for when the knife could use a trip to the cutlery spa, resting the blade to factory angles. This reset should be done at least once a month. The fine side is used to hone the blade and should be done every two to three times you use your knife.

How to Sharpen a Knife:

This is the easy part! Take your knife, placing it into the sharpener starting with the blade closest to the handle. Then, in one smooth movement, pull the knife through and repeat two to three times. When using the coarse side, you might need to apply a bit of pressure in order to reset the blade properly. For the fine side, you do not need to apply any pressure to the knife. If you are starting with the coarse sharpener, finish off the process by running the blade through the fine side one or two times to hone the edge. Once you are done be sure to wash your knives in order to prevent any cross-contamination. And it’s that simple!

Our Tips to Keep a Knife Sharp:

One of the best pieces of advice we can give you is to never, under any circumstances, put your knife in the dishwasher. This is because the high temperature of the dishwasher can damage the steel and handle of knives. Additionally, putting your knife in a dishwasher can lead to the steel developing rust which we definitely want to avoid. Another way to keep your knife sharp is to hone your knife often, either with a sharpener or honing rod. Our last tip is specific to serrated knives, the best way to keep these sharp is to bring them to a professional. The upside is that serrated knives only need to be sharpened once every few years, preforming just as well in between sharpenings!