Knife Maintenance
October 13, 2010A sharp knife is a safe knife! Here are some tips to achieve and maintain the best possible edge:
- First of all, if your knives have never been properly maintained, the first thing you need to do is get them honed by a professional knife sharpening service. If they are completely dull, no amount of work on a steel will bring the edge back. At the sharpening service, make sure they put your knives on a honing machine VS a sharpening wheel. Sharpening wheels are only useful for lawnmower blades or hedge trimmers, but will ruin a finely engineered knife- edge.
- Once you get your knives back, you need to make sure you have a sharpening steel that still has bite to it. You’ll be able to tell, as your knife will have a small degree of resistance when you run it over the steel. You should also feel fine grooves by scraping your thumbnail against the grain.
- If there is no resistance or if your thumbnail doesn’t snag the grain, then it’s time for a new steel. Unlike fine edge knives, steels eventually wear out and depending on how often you maintain your knives, need to be replaced every 2-3 years.
- When purchasing a new steel, it is best to get the version from the same brand as your knives since the manufacturer will ensure the Rockwell hardness of the steel is greater than that of the knife; while although technical, is necessary to achieve the best edge.
- Now that we have the steel sorted out, the next question is how often do you use it? The answer is simple – every single time you use the knife!! My habit is to run my knife over the steel just before I begin cutting.
- In some cases, you may need to maintain your knife during prep. For example, if you’re preparing for a large dinner party and using your chef knife for most of the prep, you may need to run it over the steel on 2 or 3 occasions in that time. If this is required, you must wash and dry your knife first, as any food or moisture on the steel will cause it to rust.
There are many ways to use a steel, however, the safest method is to have the knife edge sliding down the steel onto a cutting board, as follows:
Step 1. If you are right handed, hold the steel in your left hand with the tip of the steel resting on the cutting board. (the opposite if you are left)
Step 2. With your right hand, place the knife-edge on the steel. You want to position the bolster of the knife (the part just before the handle) to line up just below the bolster of the steel.
Step 3. Rest the blade of the knife on the right side of the steel at about a 30 degree bevel. If the bevel is too shallow or steep, the steel won’t penetrate the knife-edge. In most cases, you can test the bevel angle by placing your thumb against the steel, then resting the top edge (not the blade) of the knife on your thumb.
Step 4. Keeping the knife at a 90 degree angle to the steel, run the blade from the top to the tip. Repeat this about 5-6 times at medium speed, then place the knife on the left side of the steel and repeat.
You don’t require a lot of pressure when you use a steel because the objective is not to remove steel particles from your knife, but to realign them. This is achieved through a magnetic reaction to the steel VS using pressure. In some cases, the weight of the knife is the appropriate pressure required.
It may take a bit of practice to get the hang of using a steel, but well worth the time.
If you get in the habit of ongoing maintenance, you’ll get years of top performance and enjoyment out of your knives. Kind of like having a finely tuned sports car – you would never run it without changing the oil on a regular basis!
Oh, if you have one of those can openers with a knife sharpener on the back, don’t use it for your knives, but feel free to sharpen your hedge trimmer on it!
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