KITCHEN KNIVES IN TOP FORM:
SHARPENING & MAINTAINING
YOUR KNIVES
Now it’s time to sharpen the knives – the chef’s knives.
But don’t worry, because we mean it literally.
Do you know that?
You want to make a delicious tomato salad for dinner but
Your knife can’t cut through the skin of the tomato?
Instead, you crush the fruit and the entire contents
Why do knives become blunt in the first place?
The cutting edge is the thinnest, but also the sharpest part of the knife. It wears down through use and the cutting edge becomes blunt and uneven.
Even the best blade made from the highest quality steel will eventually lose its sharpness with frequent use. The cutting edge is wafer-thin and is pressed into the material when cutting, which puts a lot of strain on the cutting edge – it wears down. As a result, the edge moves further and further upwards and becomes wider and wider, resulting in a blunt blade that requires a lot of force and pressure to cut. The resulting irregularities on the blade also cause the knife to lose its sharpness.
As soon as you have to apply pressure, it is time to sharpen your kitchen knife, which you should do at regular intervals.
Professional chefs sharpen their knives at short intervals, as this keeps the knives in a continuously sharp condition. Once the blade is dull, a lot of material has to be removed from the cutting edge with a coarse abrasive to sharpen it again.
So take the time to sharpen your knives at least once a year – you won’t regret it, on the contrary, you’ll always have sharp knives and won’t end up with tomato puree instead of tomato salad.
But that brings us to the important question:
What methods are there for sharpening a chef’s knife?
These two are the classic accessories for sharpening knives. The sharpening steel consists of a handle with a long rod of highly hardened steel attached to it. This is included in most knife blocks and knife sets, unlike the whetstone, which is usually not included in such a set.
Sharpening on a sharpening stone is the supreme discipline, as you work freehand here – once you have mastered this technique, you can sharpen a knife on a wide variety of stones.
It is therefore worth investing in these two and having such accessories in your own kitchen, as you can sharpen your knives at any time, take a look at our Online Shop vorbei.
How do knives become sharp again?
To find the right angle, you can use a triangle to help you. However, you can also make an approximate estimate by placing the knife vertically on the sharpener at a 90 degree angle, taking half of this, i.e. 45 degrees, and then a little more than half and you are at approx. 20 degrees.
The knife must be pulled over the sharpener in a semicircle with the entire blade. In addition, you always work against the blade, with the exception of a leather rub, where the blade is pulled over the leather with the back first.
Conclusion on how you can protect your knives
Every knife will become blunt at some point, but there are ways in which you can prevent it from dulling quickly:
- Do not put your knife in the dishwasher. The aggressive detergent will attack the knife.
- Do not clean your knife with a coarse sponge. High-quality knives with finely ground steel are antibacterial, as germs cannot adhere to them easily. A damp cloth is sufficient for cleaning.
- Store your knife safely. The constant movement in a drawer and the associated knocking against other metals will dull knives more quickly. o protect your knives, you can use a knife guard or secure the blade in a knife sheath (such as the (such as the leather sheath from ChefsTalk Knives). An alternative storage place is a knife block, in which the kitchen knives are always visible and within reach and are quickly available when they are needed in the kitchen. In addition, such a knife block with high-quality Germancut chef’s knives also looks good, especially the professional chef’s knives.
If kitchen knives and chef’s knives are cared for incorrectly or not at all, they may even become completely unusable.
Conclusion on the care of chef’s knives
Whether paring knives, utility knives, chef’s knives or bread knives – they all need protection and must be sharpened regularly.
In future, you can find out everything about our Germancut products and how to look after them on our blog.
We will also provide you with exciting knife-related topics, such as the bread knife, the paring knife, the santoku (the Japanese all-purpose knife) and our cutlery sets as well as our chef’s knives.
We also give you useful tips for handling knives and for your kitchen.
