Handling and Caring for Knives

I’m not completely sure, but I personally think that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ages ago, man used knives to hunt and gather their food, and later on used to prepare food when fire was discovered. Several centuries later, the knife is still one of the most common and most used tools everywhere you can find a kitchen. The ubiquitous knife is used everywhere, from homes to restaurants to cruise ships.

However, even if we know that the knife is a very important piece of equipment, it’s sad to see that a lot of people don’t know how to handle and take care of their knives correctly. Perhaps it’s because knives don’t have manuals when we buy them.

One of the things that really annoy me is watching people use knives wrongly. The problem is that nobody taught us how to do it properly when we were just kids. 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.

You have to learn how to correctly hold a knife. Basically, there are three ways to hold a knife, depending on the knife and what is being cut. For cutting against a board, a knife should be held with the thumb and forefinger gripping the blade. The handle should be held with the other fingers. When cutting hanging meat, hold the knife in a dagger-like fashion for proper 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 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. 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 the knife first after use, then dry before storing it away. Never wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Always protect the knife’s edge against other hard objects. 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. Using a whetstone needs lots of experience to achieve a fine, razor’s edge.

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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.

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