Stay Safe by Keeping Your Knives Sharp

Even if you have the most expensive knife in the world, if you use it often, it will get dull. A great knife will usually stay sharp for up to one year. When you do have a great knife you often use it everyday for cooking and preparing food. If it’s dull, that great knife is useless.

You can take your knives to a professional knife sharpener, or you can take the time to learn it yourself and save a ton of money. Bear in mind it does take a bit of time to really learn how to sharpen your knife, so don’t practice with your best knives or you could damage them.

Visually, your knife may look sharp, but a simple test can reveal quickly if your knife is really sharp or not. First, take a ripe tomato, and then slice it down. If the tomato gets halved easily, then it is sharp, but if it squishes down, it means the knife is not as sharp as it may seem. It needs sharpening.

Different types of metal determine the proper method for sharpening your knife. The harder the metal the less often that you have to sharpen your knife, but the harder it is to sharpen. To properly sharpen a knife you have to find a stronger material than the material that knife is made of. Professional butchers often use a sharpener called a steel, but if you need to sharpen your knife less often, feel free to use a ceramic sharpener.

Using a Ceramic Sharpener

Begin by placing the heel of your knife blade at the tip of the sharpener and then sliding the entire length of the blade down the sharpener. Keep the pressure and angle constant; you should feel the abrasion between the cutting edge and the sharpener.

- Plan the sliding of the knife so that when you finish, the point of the knife is right at the base of the sharpener. Do this again on the opposite side of the sharpener with the opposite side of the knife. Repeat a few times until the knife is razor sharp

Using a Steel Sharpener

If you choose to use a steel sharpener rather than a ceramic one, begin with the heel of the blade at the base of the sharpener (rather than at the tip as with the ceramic sharpener) and work your hands away from each other while maintaining the contact between the knife blade and the sharpener at an angle of 25 degrees.

Sharpening knives is a simple and easy task, provided you have the right tools and the know-how. If you’re still unsure, practice the motion with a dull knife to ensure your safety. If all else fails don’t feel bad to take it to a professional.

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