You ever left your knife sitting in a container of water overnight? Have you ever sharpened your knife the incorrect way or misused it? Well, you have come to the right place! Welcome back all knife users to the ‘Best Practices of Kitchen Knives 101’ class. We are all victims of shortening the lives of our kitchen knives due to lack of tender loving and care, one would say. Here is a list of ways to ensure you are prolonging the life of your kitchen knives:

#1 - Holding of The Knife

You ever heard the saying, “the way you treat people says a lot about who you are”? Well, let’s apply that saying to how we hold our knives. The way we hold the knife determines the motion and outcome of where we want the knife to go and what we want it to do. They say you should use the cutting hand to grip the knife. The helping hand holds, nudges, and stabilises the ingredient being cut to maximize safety and efficiency.

#2 – The Way to Chop The Material 

• Look at how the thumb and first finger grip the blade just beyond the handle. This helps make the knife an extension of your arm and gives you better control and precision in cutting.

• When finely chopping or mincing some foods, the handle may be held in one hand while the other hand rests on top of the blade.

• The tip of the blade is kept in contact with the cutting board. The blade is rocked up and down until the food is chopped to the desired size.

• To prevent vegetables and fruits from slipping on your cutting board, cut them in half before slicing or chopping further. This helps anchor them firmly on your cutting board and helps protect against cutting yourself.

#3 - How To Sharpen Your Knife

Up until now, I did not know there are two ways to sharpen your knives, - honing and sharpening. They are entirely two different processes and we are going to look at both to ensure your knives longevity.

#4 - Sharpening

We recommend using a manual sharpener rather than an electric sharpener for best results. For the testing of the knife, draw the blade along the edge of a piece of paper to see if it cuts. If not, the knife needs to be sharpened.

#5 - Honing

This process makes the blade of a knife straight and is done with a sharpening steel. The blade is drawn over and over along an abrasive rod of metal, ceramic, or stone.

As it relates to safely storing your knives, here are some tips:

• Keep knives away from each other to prevent nicks.
• Store in a block or magnetic strip.
• They can be placed in a drawer if you do not wish to use your counter or wall space.