Housekeeping

Sharpening and maintenance methods of knives

Every few months, you will find that your cooking knife has difficulty making skinny cuts and precise parts. In this case, your knife is slow and should be sharp. It is essential to keep blades strong so that they can cut food with minor damage.

Using a sharp knife will improve the taste of your food. Cut thin slices or small pieces of food into shape and size. You can do this with a board and a sharp knife. Smooth and chopped slices make the food cook evenly and thus a delicious meal.

You have probably seen someone use a steel rod cutter for a knife. But these steel rods do not sharpen your knife; they smooth the blade’s cutting edge to make softer cuts. Draw your knife on these rods weekly if you wish to use the knife and sharpen your knife every few months or at least every year.

Sharpening and maintenance methods of knives

Knife turning methods:

  1. How to cut with a millstone

Our favorite method for shaving the blade is to use millstone. A rectangular block, almost like sandpaper, helps you smooth the blade’s cutting edge while pulling the knife on it. Most millstones are soaked in water before each use, so use the manufacturer’s instructions to make sure.

If your millstone needs to be soaked, soak it in water for 5 to 10 minutes until it is completely saturated and no bubbles come out. To use it, hold the knife at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees to the millstone (the tip of the knife varies according to its edges) and gently pull each side of the knife towards it several times. (Like a wiper blade) Most knife cutters have a “thick grain” and a “fine grain side.” If your knife is slow, start with refined grains, then repeat with fine grains.

If you already sharpen your knife annually and use it regularly, you can chop it straight into small pieces. If your knife blade seems to dry out when you use it, rub some more water on it and move on.

 

  1. Sharpen the knife with a knife

This tool is a quick solution for shaving a slow knife. Just press the knife’s blade to the coarse, pull it a few times towards you and then go to the small. Learning how to use a knife sharpener may be helpful, but it may not be the best solution.

The genuine concern is that these turning tools may not be perfect for your knife, so consider this method for cutting low-cost blades. Be sure to use a sharp knife when sharpening the knife.

  1. How to maintain the edge of the knife with steel rods

Now that you have sharpened your knife use a steel razor weekly to keep the knife’s edge perfectly smooth (do not worry about damaging your blade with repeated shaving – it does not kill like shaving a knife).

Instead of holding the steel rods in the air and pulling the knife on them, keep them vertically on a plate with its tip on a work surface and the handle in one hand. Hold the bottom of the knife blade (the thickest part) firmly on the edged steel and work at an angle of 15-20 degrees, pulling the knife down and towards you. Until you reach the tip of the blade, hold the knife in the same hand, repeat the movement on the other side of the knife and place the blade angle against the steel bar.

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