ITH Poker Forum

[Bullajami]

I do the majority of the cooking in my household, so I appreciate a sharp knife. The problem is I seem to rarely have them. I have quality knives (Henckels) and I have them professionally sharpened, but they only seem to hold an edge for a few weeks.

What's the secret to maintaining the edge on kitchen knives?

[CroMagnon]

I use a two step system that seems to work pretty welll. I am thinking about getting a stone and learning how to use that, but for now this works well enough. I have a Steel that I use every time I use one of the knives. I had one that came with a cheap set of knives, but was worthless. I spent $25 bucks on a Chicago Cutlery Steel and I'm happy with it. Once a month or so I use this other device that I unfortuantely don't know the name of that has two V's that you drag the knife through. One slot is a carbon steel V and can remove good sized fillings from the knife. I'm sure if you're not careful it could damage a knife. The other is a ceramic V. I do a 4 or 5 passes on the carbon and then 4 or 5 on the ceramic. I have taken a knife that was having trouble cutting through a tomatoe, run it through the V's, take the Steel to it and it goes through like butter.

I have done searches on the web, but much of the info is not about kitchen knives or involves an elaborate kit that gets mixed reviews. Professional chefs must have figured this out. Perpahs BigRedChef will put his two cents in.

Cro

[niin]

Use a honing blade. You know, that big long stick that comes with most knife sets that nobody uses or thinks is a sharpening stick. I use one every time I'm about to use the knife; just 4-5 swipes per side and the edge is back to being true.

Knives can appear dull after a few uses because the sharp edge can sort of curl over; the honing blade straightens out that edge, so that the knife is sharp again. Eventually that edge just wears down, causing you to have to get the knives sharpened.

Also, never put your knives in the dish washer. Just wipe them clean with a wet sponge and put them away.

[nsidestrate]

Hone them every time you use them.

Never put them in the dishwasher.

Professionally sharpen every once in a while.

In my opinion, the V sharpeners that Cro mentions take too much metal off the blade and are long term bad for your knives.

[CroMagnon]

Here is what I have and I wouldn't disagree with nside. It probably does shorten the life of a blade some. I have 5 main knives I use for a variety of tasks. None of them are really high end and professional sharpening is not cheap. If I had a fancy Japanese knife I probably wouldn't use this thing, but for my knives it works well, is easy to use and the shortened life is made up for in the saving on sharpening.

http://www.amazon.com/W%C3%BCsthof-2904-7-W-fcsthof-2-Stage-Sharpener/dp/B0009NMVRI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1284596773&sr=8-5

Everyone probably already knows, but Steel=Hone.

Cro

[Maiden]

just use the steel everytime you use them. I use a Sabbatier knife, had it for years, and always has a good cutting edge just by using the steel each time I use it.

[Bullajami]

OK, honing EVERY time. i was doing this maybe once a week.

How does the dishwasher dull the blade? I am also guilty of this, but now I am curious how this is bad for a knife.

[nsidestrate]

Google says:

Washing sharp knives in the dishwasher can be hazardous to the knife, the dishwasher and the cook! It is too easy to reach into a dishwasher and get a nasty cut. Sharp knives can knick plastic-coated wire shelves and other utensils. The force of the water can dull knife-edges by pushing them against shelves or utensils. The combination of hot water and the chemicals in dishwasher detergent can leave stains on stainless steel cutlery that comes in contact with silver or silver-plated flatware or copper.

The problem with knives in a dishwasher is two-fold. The liquid used is very alkaline and will destroy the handles and the high heat of a dry cycle will crack handles and etch the blades.

If you think dishwashers get things clean by squirting water at them, think again. Dishwashers get things clean with heat and fairly strong, caustic alkali detergents. Now, some people might not care about what appens to that really thin bit of metal at the cutting edge of their knife while it's exposed to hot alkaline chemicals, but anyone that's spent upwards of $75 on a single knife certainly should! Not to mention the edge contact with any other metal objects in the silverware basket.

I've always just done it on faith, so it was interesting to see why.

I think the honing is a big deal. Suited pretty much exclusively uses one of our knives (a Santoku) and she is less uptight than I about honing it, but we sharpen them at the same time. I hone my knife pretty much every time I use it and my knife has a noticeably sharper edge than hers. In every other way, they should be the same. We wash them the same and they are made by the same folks. I do have a thin carving knife that doesn't seem to get as razor sharp any more that I'm thinking about replacing. Meat slicing knives really need to be very sharp or they don't slice cleanly. Its about 20 years old so I guess that is fair value. Its sharper than knives I get handed in other people's houses, but I'm no longer happy with the edge. I suspect it has been dulled by me carelessly whacking bones over time.

[janeg]

I do the majority of the cooking in my household, so I appreciate a sharp knife. The problem is I seem to rarely have them. I have quality knives (Henckels) and I have them professionally sharpened, but they only seem to hold an edge for a few weeks.

What's the secret to maintaining the edge on kitchen knives?

Don't put them in the dishwater, dulls the edges.

[celavey]

They might have used samurai blades to make these kitchen knives too sharp.

[toom]

When honing, hold the knife at a 30 degree angle to the steel. Draw it towards you 4-5 times on each side, I alternate sides each swipe.

[darvon]

How about ceramic knives?

[nsidestrate]

How about ceramic knives?

That's an interesting question. When they first came out I was told that they never needed to be honed or sharpened because the edge didn't burr or deform. However, I've recently seen honing rods intended for ceramic knives. I know that you generally have to send them to the manufacturer if you need a new edge put on one. In theory, you shouldn't need it. Ceramic is extremely hard and prone to chip, so I'd be very leery of letting anyone sharpen one.

[PauliF]

slightly off topic here but still kitchen appliances...

apparantly every fcker in germany has a Thermomix

I have interweb researched but cant decide if it is just another jack lamar juicer or if it is actually the thing of things

[darvon]

A)