Instead, use a soft sponge, a gentle soap, and then thoroughly dry your knife. Oiling metal knives should be a part of your care routine, especially for carbon steel blades.
Cooking oils, such as extra virgin olive oil, are recommended but do tend to leave a greasy build-up on knives. Avoid oil build-up by using mineral grade oil instead. Thoroughly clean and dry the blade, then apply your choice of oil. Apply oil to knives as often as you like, but at least every few months. Tossing knives into a drawer with the rest of your kitchen utensils is a danger to both your fingers and knives.
You are leaving the edge exposed to increase the risk of dents and chips in the blade. If your kitchen size or layout limits you from using a knife block or magnetic strip, opt to purchase a sheath or edge-guard with your knife to limit the damage inflicted from drawer storage. Click here to see this 3-piece knife guard set on Amazon. If you are practicing good maintenance on knives, but they seem to be getting worn, the culprit could be a cutting board.
Using stainless steel, glass, ceramic, or stone cutting boards is harmful to blades. A blade does the best cutting on a surface with a little flexibility, such as wood or plastic. Click here to see Faberware wooden cutting boards on Amazon. Sharpening grinds away at the material over time.
Sharpen too often or vigorously, and you will eat right into the thicker part of the knife, resulting in a thicker blade that can no longer achieve a fine edge. Instead, use the honing tool that generally comes with the purchase of a knife block. This tool gets rid of tiny flaws and realigns the blade. Click here to see this ceramic honing rod on Amazon. Inspect the blade and handle of an uncomfortable knife.
Fixing small knicks in the blade is possible, but large chips or a bent or broken tip are irreversible damage that requires replacement.
If the rivets the metal pieces that hold the handle to the blade are loose or the handle has chipped or come off altogether, its time to replace the knife. Once you get the knife, you may find that the handle does not fit your hand, or the style of the blade does not work out for you.
In these cases, you should find another knife that better meets your needs. Minor nicks and imperfections in the blade are very common if you use your knife at all. Fixing these smaller damaged areas is part of regular maintenance; however, fixing large chips in the blade can take a little more to repair. It requires grinding the blade to remove the material around the chip to create a smooth surface. Depending on the extent of damage and your accessibility to a repair service, you may find it easier to replace the knife.
Chips in the blade are not the only damage that can happen to the knife blade. The knife blade tip can be bent or broken off completely, most commonly from dropping it on the floor or knocking it off the counter. You can also break the knife tip by cutting harder food such as those that are frozen. Broken tips are one of the more difficult repairs to make on a knife. When the tip is missing, a new blade tip must be formed. This can take a significant amount of material off the knife which makes it shorter and can hinder its functionality.
In certain cases, you may need to replace the knife completely. Rivets are round metal pieces that look like screws. If they become loose, then the handle can wabble and create a hazardous situation when cutting.
Loose rivets can also cause the handle to come off entirely. Lastly, if the handle falls off, you need to invest in a new knife. Cheap knives that have a stamped blade are known to have handles that work loose over time.
The plastic handle just will not stay on any longer. In these cases, you should invest in a new knife. If you are willing to put in the extra work, then carbon steel may interest you.
Stainless steel is better for the home chef who may not clean their knives as quickly. The longer your knife spends wet, the more prone it will be to rusting. Try to avoid exposing your knife to water for periods of longer than minutes.
Ideally, you should wash your knife right after using it. Your knife could get scratched, chipped, or break a tip. Long term soaking in water can damage the handle and potentially rust the blade.
Wooden handles are especially vulnerable to soaking too long in water. Life happens though, and sometimes it gets forgotten. Struggling to remove crusty food can be dangerous. If food has dried hard on your blade, you should soak it in clear warm water for no more than 2 minutes - you want to limit how much contact your knife has with water.
Knife Blocks When you are taking out or putting your knife back into your knife block, take care to not let the edge touch the block. The edge scraping along the block will dull the knife. If you are using a knife block that has vertical slots, store it with the blade edge up to avoid dulling the edge. A poorly designed knife block will spill the knives across your counter — potentially dangerous to you and your knives. Magnet Bars. Magnets work great because they keep your counter space clear and they are easy to clean.
When removing or placing a knife from your magnet bar , keep the spine back of the blade in contact with the bar. Remove the blade edge side first, then the spine. When placing the knife on the bar, place the spine of the blade on first, then the edge. You want to avoid any contact with the edge and the bar. A magnet bar with wood covering the magnets is less likely to damage your knife directly, but also tends to have less magnetic power to hold your knife.
A bar that drops your knife has no worth, and is dangerous to you and the knife. Make sure any magnets you get are strong enough to hold your biggest, heaviest knife you plan to store on it. There is a great product called a Blade Safe , which is a protective case that will snap around your kitchen knife, and make it safe to place in a kitchen drawer. Even if you do your best to clean your knives, over time your knife storage will accumulate food debris and dirty up.
Wooden knife blocks look nice on the counter and are usually bacteria resistant, but with their design they also tend to retain moisture, creating a breeding ground for bacteria. You should keep your knives and knife blocks as dry as possible. Wooden knife blocks need to be cleaned on a regular basis.
You will need a solution of bleach and water 1 to 10 ratio and a long pipe cleaner to clean the slots. Plastic blocks are great because they can typically be safely washed in the dishwasher. Be sure to check the manufacturer recommendations with dishwashers — delicate parts may warp in the bottom rack, or may need to be hand washed.
A light coating of food grade mineral oil will help protect your blade from corrosion. Mineral oil will also extend the lifespan of wooden handles. Be certain that your mineral oil specifically states that it is food safe — there are mineral oils that are not food safe. A proper stainless steel knife with a synthetic handle in a location without too much humidity will probably be fine.
Even still — I have had a couple spots of rust here or there that I had to scrub off.
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