For every chef or housewive, a set of kitchen knives is an indispensable item in the kitchen. It is considered to be one of the most effective assistants in food processing. Good cooking depends not only on the skills of the chef but also on small items like knives. A good knife will help the process of preparing ingredients quickly and cooking will become easy.
Therefore, a chef must pay more attention to choose and preserve the “assistant” properly. The following article is will share the most common query about storing kitchen knives and ‘how often should I sharpen my kitchen knife sets.’
We should sharpen my kitchen knife sets regularly
As you might know that the sharp kitchen knife makes it easier to chop food. However, after a period of use, the sharpness of the knife will be reduced, now you need to know how to sharpen the knife before it is so blunt that it can not be cut anymore. The knife is used more often or sharpened weekly, the life of the knife will be significantly increased, and vice versa. So, there are some cases that lead your knives quickly blunt, so that you would sharpen my kitchen knife sets regularly.
- Leave the knife immersed in water, sticky plastic or dirt for a long time. When the knife is used to cut acidic foods (lemon, tomatoes …), you should clean it afterward, because if left long, they can gradually wear out the blade, causing it to be blunt.
- Put the knife into the dishwasher that causes impact, friction to make the knife dull.
- Wipe the knife with a hard paper or iron cloth: improper wipes can cause the product to be scratched, less sharp … after repeated wiping. Ideally, you should use soft towels, high absorbency to wipe knives, scissors, then hang them to dry.
- Knife Storage: Many housewives often put all different kitchen utensils together. It is advisable to keep knives, scissors separately, ideally hanging or putting them in specialized containers, or magnet knife bar, or wrapping them in wood boxes, plastic bags.
- Using inappropriate cutting board: This is an important note because hard surfaces: stone, metal … can damage the knife. Wooden and plastic cutting boards are the perfect choice.
How to sharpen your kitchen knife sets properly
You use a knife every day but forget about having to sharpen it, causing it to get dull. You can check the status of your knife by cutting through a tomato or a piece of fruit.
If you spend too much effort cutting, your knife is too blunt, at that point, you need to get your knives sharpened right away. Or you don’t know how to sharpen your kitchen knife sets in the right way. Now, we will guide in detail how to sharpen the knife extremely sharp with the grindstone
- Firstly, you should soak the grindstone for 15 minutes in water, as if the sharpening stone is too dry, it could scratch your knife. If you use a grinding stone with two different sides (smooth and rough), place the rough surface upwards. After grinding, you will flip the surface to use a smooth surface to polish the knife.
- Sharpening knife: You need to place the blade on the grindstone surface inclined at a 20-degree angle. Use your fingers to control the force when sharpening. Gently press, slide the blade on the stone surface about 10 times and make sure the entire blade surface is rubbed into the grinding wheel. Next, turn the other side and do it 10 more times. Be sure to add water or oil to the stone when you feel it is dry.
- After grinding on the rough surface of the stone, turn it to a smooth surface to polish and sharpen the blade. And don’t forget to always do both sides of the blade. Check the sharpness of the knife by trying to cut a piece of paper, if the knife is sharp enough, it will easily cut through the paper, otherwise, you need to sharpen it a little more.
- After grinding, wash and dry the kitchen knives. You should also follow the manufacturer’s instructions. For the sharpening stone, rinse with water to remove residue and wrap around dry cloth when not in use. To prevent dull knives, store knives in a toolbox for storage.
Tips to get your kitchen knives sharpened without grindstone
If you don’t have a grindstone, don’t worry. There are still many other ways to deal with dull knives. We will tell you some tips for grinding at home like a chef that not everyone knows!
- Sharpening the knife with a ceramic plate. You simply turn the ceramic plate face down. Sharpen a knife on the rough bottom of the dish. You can also use porcelain cups, porcelain bowls … to replace the plates.
- Sharpen a knife with sandpaper. You just prepare 1 sheet of sandpaper and a cutting board. Place sandpaper on the cutting board. You can be lined under a cutting board a cloth to limit slippery during grinding. Then, sharpen 2 sides of the knife on sandpaper.
With just simple, easy-to-find items, you can turn a blunt knife into a sharp knife. If you have any more tips, do not forget to share them with us.
Final words
That’s all about the article that we answer your question How often should I sharpen my kitchen knife sets? With the above tips, I hope to help you overcome the problem of blunt knives and sharpen the knife easily by many different methods. Now, you can enjoy cooking in your beloved kitchen, and the knife sharpening process is no longer so difficult!
Stay tuned for the next posts, we will come back for more interesting and useful sharings. Thanks for reading.
