A GOOD KNIFE AND CARE

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BASIC FEATURES and BENEFITS

•  Your hand will tell you if a knife feels cheap, trust your instinct.  How they cut is another story. If the blade bends, slips, or is inadequate for your size hand or grip, pass, look at another. Bent blades are an accident looking for a place to happen and ER rooms and stitches are expensive. 

•  Look for a curved edge on the blade curved rather than perfectly straight because a large portion of work in the kitchen is chopping and the rocking motion is the key to chopping. 

•  See if the weight suits you. A real heavy chef's knife might be OK for Bulbar the Barbarian but too heavy for a slight built chef. A handle-heavy knife will tire you out. The weight should be equally balanced between the handle and blade.

•  All knives generally are shipped sharp. Most can be sharpened further. Many of the cheaper steels will dull faster than those made with better metals. It's called holding an edge. Many started out sharp enough to slice a ripe tomato. After a week or so they smash the tomato. A good knife in some cases is about as good as the person sharpening them. Thats why it is in the curriculum of the first week in culinary school. 

•  Handles are another "bone of contention". Polished plastic and smooth finishes become dangerously slick when used on or cutting chicken. I learned with a Chinese style cleaver. So I like a larger knife with a textured grip and some weight when cooking chicken parts for twenty people. The handle should also keep your fingers off the cutting board.  

•  One piece stainless knives with integrated handles look like an accident looking for a home. I do not like them. I own both bolstered and eastern style knives.

• The two most dangerous things in a kitchen are dull knives and the mandolins when in the hands of an incompetent.


SHARPENING and STEELS:
Knowing how to sharpen knives is a primary skill cooks and chefs learn. Not having sharp tools is frustrating, time-consuming, dangerous to you and damaging to the food's presentation. 

Please stop calling a "steel" a sharpener - The correct product description for the steel rod with a handle is a honer or de-burrer. Most product descriptions are inaccurate, a steel honer does not make your knife sharper, it is used to bring the burrs, mis-aligned parts of the blade back into alignment. It does not sharpen, and if used excessively and incorrectly actually does the opposite by rounding the edge and thus making it duller.. in the hands of the unskilled it will absolutely ruin an expensive knife.
Use the steel safely - Newbies- Hold the sharpening steel at an upward angle or horizontally pointing away from you. I use a safer method when people are around. I have rubber sink stopper. I also have those slick counter tops.  I vertically place the steel or "stab"  the soft sink stopper on my counter top so it doesn't slip. 

Starting at its base (the handle end) and at a 20 angle, I pull the knife's sharp side down and drawing toward me. Do the other side. Repeat until the knife is honed, five times should do it. It is now de-burred, straightened and sharpened. Rinse, dry and store the knife till you need it. I also use the sink stopper to keep a sharpening stone from slipping on my counter top for touch ups to duller knives.

 Sharp knives are safer- Basically because they cut where you place them and don't slip. It's  a misconception sharp knives are more dangerous. While sharp knives can cut you faster, the dull knife can be equally or more dangerous as the needed force to make it work will also work against you..
 
A dull knife is more likely to slip during cutting, putting your hands at risk. Part of being in the kitchen is maintaining your knives as an important part of safety and common sense. You develop a feel for working with any tool and if the edge is good and the same each time, you get better at what you do. Consistency.

FOUR WAYS TO SHARPEN
A)  STONES
B)  ELECTRIC KNIFE SHARPENERS
C)  HANDLE HONES
D)  BELT SANDERS

The knife is the primary tool in the kitchen, used more than any other kitchen utensil. Sharp knives are safer to cut with, more consistent and will last longer if they are properly sharpened and maintained.   For sharpening i prefer stones.  A sharpening stone is a convenient tool that can be used to quickly sharpen dull knives. A proper sharpening stone should be at least 2 by 6 inches and feature a coarse side and a fine side.

A)  Using Stones - Basics of Sharpening the Japanese Way

  1. 1- Lubricate the sharpening stone. There are three things used on stones, water, oil, nothing. And you have to know what right for the stone you are using. In a kitchen the most common safe oil is Olive oil, you can use Mineral Oil or a light weight Honing or Sharpening oil specifically made for this process available at good Kitchen supply outlets for an oil stone.  Japanese style water stones use obviously water. Water and Oil do not mix and if you used one on a stone do not change.

     
    2- Place the sharpening stone on a sturdy countertop, table or workbench and here's a trick, use a rubber sink stopper, the five inch flat disk from the sink or bathtub. Cut off the finger grip tit and this makes a beautiful, washable no slip for the stone on the counter. For water stones, a wet towel saves the tops of the table and a mess. There are many types of stone holders and grits available.


    3- Different knives have different bevel angles. Filet and paring knives will have shallow bevels 10-12  degrees because to flex you must be thin. Santoku's, Chefs, and thicker bladed chopping knives and slicing cleavers generally are at 18-22 degrees. Sashimi, Nakiris, and similar thin-bladded knives have 12-14 degree angles. In todays world nothing is "finis". I have seen field axes used in competition (Alaskan Logging Events) that were sharpened almost to shaving standards.


    4- Place the edge of the knife against the surface of the stone. Hold the knife at the angle of the bevel for it's type. Start with the coarse side or course stone. Tightly grasp the handle of the knife and, move the edge of the knife back and forth over the sharpening stone, using a circular motion. Do this about 10 times, applying enough equal pressure and look to do the length of the blade consistently.  Do the other side the same amount.


    5- Select the fine side or a finer stone.  Repeat the process watching the angle. You may now use the finest stone, doing five strokes on one side and five on the other in a draw motion.  

  2. 6- Hone the edges of the knife, using a knife steel or ceramic honing rod. This gets rid of the burrs from the stones. 

    Honing the Edge

    A steel should be used immediately after sharpening the blade with a stone and between sharpenings to keep the blade aligned. The steel does not sharpen the edge, but rather it keeps a knife sharp that's already sharp by straightening, realigning and removing "burrs" from the edge.

    After the burrs are gone some use a fine, fine steel to polish the edge further and it can be carried to extremes. I have used a circular stone and my grandfathers razor finish stone that he shaved with which is about a 2000 grit to polish with. Thanks papa.