The whole reason a sharper knife is safer comes from the fact that sharper knives promote better cutting techniques. A sharp knife can cut using the edge of the knife with a safer slicing, rather than stabbing, motion. Another unsafe practice is using too much force in your cut.

A dull blade is actually more dangerous to use than one that is sharp. Here’s why: A dull blade requires more pressure to cut, increasing the chance that the knife will slip with great force behind it. A sharp knife “bites” the surface more readily.

The cutting edge of a knife that has been sharpened has a smaller surface area than a dull knife. Since pressure is force per unit area, a sharp knife will exert a higher pressure with the same amount of force and cut through material more effectively.

A sharp knife is better for you. Where a dull knife can slip, lack traction and make it easier for you to hurt yourself, a sharp knife will reliably sink straight into what you are slicing. This gives you more control over what your blade is doing and can even elevate your knife technique.

Bohler M390

Larger chef’s knives are used for cutting meat, dicing vegetables, disjointing some cuts, slicing herbs, and chopping nuts. Carving knives are used for slicing and carving dense meats. Slicing knives are used for cutting thinner slices of roast, fruit and vegetables.

This is why they are usually careful about their knife choices. These are blades that use high-grade steel and flexible designs. The top knife brands preferred by most include Henckels (Pro S), Wusthof Classic-Ikon Santoku, Shun Classic Knife, Global Santoku, and MAC MTH-80.

7 Best Butcher Knives for Chopping and Cutting Meat

• Best Overall Butcher’s Knife: Wüsthof Classic Artisan Butcher Knife.
• Best Value Butcher’s Knife: Jero Butcher Series 7″ Carving Knife.
• Sharpest Butcher’s Knife: Dalstrong Butcher’s Breaking Cimitar Knife.
• Best Butcher’s Knife for Beginners: Mercer Culinary Granton Edge Cimeter.

Wash your knife with dish soap and hot water after each use. Rinse with clear water. Air-dry or pat dry with clean paper towels. Handle kitchen knives carefully by their handles; don’t pile them into the sink or dishpan, but wash them one by one and rack them with handles up.

5 Ways To Improve Your Knife Skills

1. Choose the right knife. Every cook should have a few different knives at the ready and be aware of their applications.
2. Know the basic cuts. By mastering a few simple motions, you’ll be able to cut items into pieces faster and more effectively.
3. Grip properly.
4. Focus.
5. Maintain your blades.

Before shaving, run the razor blade under warm water to wash away any leftover hair or gel and to lubricate the razor. After shaving, a simple dunk in alcohol or hydrogen peroxide works to disinfect the razor.

In addition to peeling and trimming fruit and vegetables, here are five smart ways you can put your paring knife to work.

• Coring tomatoes.
• Hulling strawberries.
• Zesting citrus.
• Deveining shrimp.
• Releasing cake from a baking pan.

Chef’s knife is the backbone of every professional chef and will speed up a chef’s progress. Gordon Ramsay uses both Wüsthof and Henckels branded knives; the brands are known for quality products, and they are two of the best knife manufacturers in the world.

A paring knife usually comes with a thin 3 – 4 inch blade with a pointed tip. It can be used for cutting and peeling fruits and veggies, and trimming excess fat with great precision. The most common styles of paring knives include the spear point, sheep’s foot, and bird’s beak, named after the shape of the tip.

serrated

A bread knife is shaped similar to the Santoku knife with 2 differences – it is serrated teeth and is much longer. The idea behind the length of the blade is it allows the cook to cut large surfaces in long, smooth strokes – much like a saw in carpentry.

Bread/Serrated Knife: This long serrated knife is most commonly known for cutting through bread (hence the “bread knife” name). This knife features a long and thin blade to easily slice large cuts of meat into thin slices. Carving knives are great for slicing cooked poultry, roasts, hams, and other large meats.

Look for a knife with large, scalloped serrations as they are more effective than small ones and create less crumbs while slicing through bread. You want a bread knife that looks more like a saw than a steak knife. These knives tend to be fairly slender and have a bit of flex to the blade.

Knife cuts

• Chop. So, the first, most basic, cut, a thing that you’re going to be probably already familiar with, is the chop.
• Batons and matchsticks. So, I’m going to show you how to do baton and matchstick.
• Julienne. Another common cut that you’ve definitely heard of is the julienne.
• Dice. And now for dicing an onion.
• Brunoise.
• Mince.

What to Look For When Buying a Serrated Bread Knife

• Good serrated bread knives should be at least 10 inches in length.
• It’s better to have a blade with fewer, broader, and deeper pointed serrations.
• Narrower blades of just 16 degrees or less make for a better serrated blade.

17 to 20 degree

If you’re using a small portable sharpener, stroke the blade in nearly a straight direction. Remember to always cut into the stone and never pull or drag your edge backwards. The blade edge should face in the same direction as your stroke. So, you’re essentially moving the metal away from the edge.

Yes, you should clean after sharpening, which is not the same as honing. No, after honing, it’s not necessary. By sharpening, you take some metal off the edge of the knife to create an edge.

The best way to tell is by asking the manufacturer of the knife. As a general guide, European/American knives manufactured before 2010 have 20 degree edges while Asian style knives have 15 degree edges.

Hey everyone. A knife can never be “too sharp”, but it can be too sharp for a given use. There’s a point at which a knife will be too sharp to cut certain materials effectively, and a point at which it might be too sharp to cut them safely.

BEST KNIFE SHARPENERS

1. Spyderco Sharpmaker. The Spyderco Sharpmaker is: affordable, portable, and easy to use.
2. Darex Work Sharp Field Sharpener.
3. Darex Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition.
4. Edge Pro Apex 4.
5. KME Precision Sharpener.
6. Spyderco Double Stuff Ceramic.
7. Work Sharp Benchtop Sharpener.
8. Lansky Tactical Blademedic.

5 Answers. For a home cook: Honing should be done before or after heavy use or once every couple of weeks, depending on how finicky you are about the blade itself. Proper honing can stave off the need for an actual grind/sharpen for years.

Honing steels can wear out but most will last decades in the home kitchen. For professional kitchens, a honing steel may need to be replaced every 5 to 10 years as they are used much more frequently.

“And those handheld sharpeners remove so much metal! It’s almost impossible to truly ruin a knife because knives are made of metal. Occasional sharpening won’t make the metal more brittle, nor will it wear the blade away to a sad, unusable little nub, even if you are very, very strong.

Stainless steel knives normally want honing with a steel every 2-4 uses. This will keep them sharp. Carbon steel knives should be honed after each use. If you have been honing, you should need to sharpen your knives no more than once per 1-2 years.