You just purchased an expensive knife and now you want to know “How do I take care of this object so that it lasts?” I hope this extensive care guide helps remove the mystery and helps you realize how simple it is to maintain your high end handmade kitchen knife. One of the best kitchen knife makers, Mareko Maumasi (check out his work here), breaks down knife care into what he calls five pillars. I use this philosophy for my own knives and recommend thinking about care this way as it helps to simplify and break down what is needed to keep your knife sharp and usable for a long time. The five pillars of knife care are:
Knife Care Guide.
- Cutting Surface -
Use a wood or rubber cutting board to keep from damaging the knife edge.
-Cleaning -
As soon as you are done using your knife, give it a quick hand wash and make sure it is dry before putting it away.
-Storage -
Store your knife somewhere that keeps it dry and from coming into contact with other utensils and items that can damage the edge.
Keep your edge sharp using a hone or strop to keep sharpening to a minimum to give your knife for a longer life.
-Sharpening -
Use proper sharpening techniques or take it to a professional that will keep steel removal minimal and keep your knife usable for a long time.
Cutting Surface
The cutting surface you use is one of the most important considerations for taking care of your cutting edge. The wrong surface can chip the edge or cause the knife to dull much quicker.
Use wooden cutting board or one of the Japanese rubber ones.
Bamboo and plastic boards are fine but not ideal as they are harder and will dull the edge quicker.
Never use glass, ceramic, marble, or any stone. These are way too hard of a surface and can chip your knife edge.
Great Cutting Board Options
This is a great rubber cutting board. You can find them cheaper in some other places but they are fantastic and sanitary.
Owl Woodworks makes some of the best and most beautiful cutting boards. Sign up for his newsletter to stay informed when he has available stock.
You can find wooden cutting boards in a lot of places but this is a trusted store local to the Bay Area.
Cleaning
Keeping your knife clean is important for it’s longevity and actually quite easy. Whether it is stainless or carbon steel I recommend the same cleaning instructions. A simple rinse and swipe with a soft sponge followed by a towel to dry after prepping your food is all it takes. It isn’t great to let them sit wet or with food on them.
NEVER put it in the dishwasher and I mean never.
Hand wash with a soft sponge or blue scratch-less side of a sponge. Many sponges and brushes can leave scratches on the blade. The green ones will.
Wash and then dry immediately after cooking. They can sit out with food on them for a bit but it is a good habit to just give them a quick wash and dry. A rinse under water with a swipe of a sponge immediately followed by a towel dry is all it takes.
Don’t let the knife sit wet or in the sink. Dry it immediately after washing. Even stainless knives can rust if left wet for a long time. It is also not good for the edge to hit or come into contact with other dishes in the sink.
Storage
Storage is a big consideration as incorrect storage can cause rusting or edge damage. Store it in a dry place where it will not bounce around and run into other hard items.
Don’t put it away while wet. Make sure it is dry. I like to wipe it dry with a towel and then let it sit on the cutting board to air dry while I eat.
Try and protect the edge from getting hit by any hard items. If storing in a drawer use some sort of edge protector to keep the other items from impacting the edge.
A knife block is a great storage choice but make sure your knife is clean and dry before putting it in the rack.
A wood or leather magnetic rack is fantastic. Again, make sure the knife is clean and dry before storage. It is also good practice to place the spine of the knife on the rack and then lay the blade flat against it, so the edge is not snapped against the board too hard/fast.
Recommended Storage Options
This is a small business making all sorts of quality magnetic racks. They have wall hanging and countertop ones. They also sell non-magnetic knife blocks.
Maybe my favorite option of all my recommendations. It is from a great company that curates kitchen items from all kinds of talented artists.
A drawer divider like this is a great way to keep the knife from bouncing around as a drawer is opened and closed.
A knife guard like this can help protect the edge if storing it in a drawer. Just be sure the knife is dry before putting it in the guard.
Edge Maintenance
A good quality sharp knife has lots of little tiny microscopic teeth at the edge. Those little teeth are what “grab” onto food and initiate the cut through the food. Over time those teeth can get bent over as the knife hits the cutting surface no matter what surface you use. Getting into the habit of edge maintenance will increase the useful life between sharpening sessions. Keeping the edge maintained will lessen how often you need to sharpen which will increase the life of your knife. When you feel the sharpness diminish use a strop, hone, or stone to bring it back. Once it no longer brings back the edge you can move on to sharpening.
Using a leather or cork strop is one of the easiest ways to realign the edge and give it a little bit of a polish.
Honing with a ceramic honing rod is similar to using the leather strop but a little bit more aggressive and can bring the knife back a little more bite.
In general, it is best to stay away from steel honing rods and stick to the ceramic ones.
If you sharpen your knives yourself on a whetstone, you can use your finishing whetstone and do a stropping motion with it. This is the most aggressive but will almost keep you from ever needing to sharpen.
Recommended Maintenance Accessories
This is a great leather strop with a handle that would be easy to use for maintenance.
Here is a great ceramic honing rod. This page also has great quick instructions for using it.
This is a cork strop preloaded with compound that will be good to go right out of the box and keep your edge polished.
Sharpening
Finally, the one you came here for, the sharpening. The reason sharpening is listed last is because it removes material from the knife which moves it closer to the end of its life. Also, as you remove material through sharpening, the edge moves up into thicker sections of the knife. When the edge gets into a section of the knife that is thicker, the knife will need to be thinned. The other pillars are listed first is because they help reduce the amount and frequency of sharpening needed, thus increasing the life of the knife and keeping it performing well. However, sharpening is part of regular knife maintenance as every knife dulls.
Avoid any pull-through style sharpeners. These can damage the fine edge of a quality knife.
In general, it is best to stay away from anything electric. If you are taking care of your knife you will not need to remove much material from the edge and anything with a motor will remove too much and shorten the life of your knife.
Taking your knife to a professional sharpener that uses Japanese whetstones is the best option if you do not want to learn to sharpen yourself.
Recommended Sharpening Services
Bernal Cutlery is a trusted knife retailer and sharpening services in San Francisco. They offer a mail-in service and in-person sharpening.
Japanese Knife imports is one of the most trusted knife sharpening services that exists.
Knife House in Portland has a good reputation and offers multiple levels of sharpening services.
Learn to Sharpen
These two YouTube videos are the best place to start if you are wanting to dive into sharpening yourself. They are done by one of the best kitchen knife makers right now, Don Nguyen, and contain all of the information and background you need. The information is presented with a low barrier to entry and I can’t recommend them enough (these videos are how I learned to sharpen).
Bernal Cutlery in San Francisco offers regular sharpening classes. They are helpful too if you have questions.
This is the stone Don uses in the resource videos. It is from a trusted source and pretty much the only stone you need (the only one I really use). It gives a great all purpose toothy edge for the majority of kitchen tasks.