Sharp and efficient knives are a must in the kitchen. Without them food can not be prepared properly. Dull knives require more pressure to cut, and are prone to slip. This makes dull knives much more dangerous than sharp knives. Follow these steps to maintain your commercial cutlery and the safety of your employees.
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Only cut food products with your commercial cutlery.
Never use knives for cutting metal or other non-food substances. Also do not use
your knives to pry open bottles or for any other purpose except cutting.
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Use the appropriate knife for the job.
Every knife was designed for a specific purpose. Bread knives should never cut meat, and
cleavers should never cut bread.
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Always use a cutting board.
Avoid cutting on metal, ceramic or glass surfaces.
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Never put in the dishwasher.
The hot water and movement can loosen the handle from the blade. Also when in the dishwasher the knife is sure
to slosh around and hit other objects, thus dulling the blade and nicking your other utensils.
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Wash and dry immediately to prevent rusting.
Never let knives soak, especially if they have wood handles. The wood expands when soaked in water.
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Store in a knife rack or on a magnetic knife rack to keep the blades sharp.
Storing properly keeps the edges away from hard objects that can dull the blades. Do not store in drawers with
other utensils. Not only will this dull your knives but it also poses a hazard each time someone reaches in the
drawer to retrieve something.
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Rub wood handles with mineral oil.
This seals them and prevents bacteria from seeping in.
To keep knives in tip top shape, most chefs hone their knives daily. Commercial knives become dull when the edges of the blade fold over on themselves. Sometimes they fold to the left, sometimes to the right depending on how the knife is used to cut. When the blade is folded over, you should hone it using a sharpening steel Eventually the blade will wear down and honing won’t be enough. At that point it is necessary to use a sharpening stone or an electric sharpener to create an entirely new edge for your knife.
Sharpening steel is a deceptive term, since the device is not used to sharpen but rather hone your cutlery. These steels are used for maintenance only. They do not re-sharpen the blade, but instead they realign it. The angle and pressure are important; speed has nothing to do with the effectiveness of this procedure.
This is what your knife looks like brand new
When it has been used, the blade folds over
To sharpen using a sharpening steel, follow these instructions.
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Hold the steel at the handle in your non-dominant hand, and the knife at its handle in
your dominant hand. The dominant hand refers to the hand you use to cut with on a regular basis.
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Point the tip of the steel down and rest it on a solid surface so that it won’t slip. We
recommend using a cutting board as your non-slip surface.
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Start with the heel of the knife at the top of the sharpening steel.
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Apply medium pressure. Do not attempt to cut into the sharpening steel itself.
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At a 20 degree angle pull the knife across its blade to the tip of the steel so that the tip of the
knife and the tip of the steel meet at the end of the stroke.
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Repeat this steps 1-5 approximately 20-30 times, switching sides of the knife with each stroke.
This means you will scrape 10-15 times per side. It is very important to alternate sides of the knife
to ensure a balanced blade.
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Rinse in the sink and dry with a cloth or towel to remove any shavings before use.
When honing is not enough, and a knife is in need of a new edge, a sharpening stone can restore that edge. Sharpening with the stone should only be done when realigning the blade is not enough. This task is a bit more complicated than honing, but is still doable in your kitchen. The trick is to sharpen at the correct angle of 20 degrees. If the knife is not sharpened at 20 degrees, you can do more harm than good. If you are uncomfortable with this, perhaps an electric sharpener is a better option for you.
Most sharpening stones have two different textures, one on each side. One side is coarse and one side is fine. The coarser side will feel rough to the touch. Always start with the coarser side to do the difficult task of sharpening the knife. Then flip to the fine side to polish it off.
To sharpen using a sharpening steel, follow these instructions.
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Start with the coarse side facing upward.
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Place the stone on a damp cloth or towel. This will keep it from sliding when sharpening.
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Spray the sharpening stone with mineral oil or water. This lubricates the stone and reduces the friction
between the blade and the stone during the sharpening process.
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Angle the knife at 20 degrees on the stone and start with the heel of the knife at the top of the stone and
pull the blade across the stone from heel to tip while maintaining the 20 degree angle.
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When pulling the knife across the stone, follow the curve of the knife. If you just pull the knife straight
across the stone, it causes more harm than good because the stone bites into the knife blade.
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Be sure to alternate sides of the knife to ensure that each side gets the same number of strokes across the stone.
This ensures that the edge is balanced. If it is not balanced it will not perform properly.
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Turn the stone over to the finer side and repeat steps 2-6.
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Rinse in the sink and dry with a cloth or towel to remove any shavings before use.
The number of strokes needed is dependent upon how dull your knife was when you started, and how sharp you want it to be when you are finished. Check the blade every 4-6 strokes to see if you should stop or proceed. Sharp knives are necessary to cut properly, however, the sharper the knife, the thinner the blade. Therefore it breaks down faster.
When honing the blades of your knives doesn’t cut it, and you aren’t comfortable using a sharpening stone, an electric sharpener is a great option. The machine does a lot of the work for you. Each machine has more than one section for sharpening a blade. These sections are called stages. Each stage has its own grinding wheel. Most sharpeners have two stages, while some have three. Most have a coarse grinding wheel and a fine grinding wheel in separate stages, much like a sharpening stone has a coarse side and a fine side.
These machines can sharpen any knife. They can even sharpen serrated knives which are difficult to sharpen using a stone.
In most cases a two stage electric sharpener is all you need. For extra dull knives, a third stage may be necessary. Each brand has its own naming and numbering convention. Some separate the stages numerically (Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3) while some separate them with descriptions such as coarse or fine. Consult your manual to see which stage is the coarsest stage and start there. Each stage has two sides with the griding wheel encapsulated in the center. The knife should be pulled through both sides to ensure a balanced blade.
Knives that are sharpened regularly only need to go through the fine stage. Knives that are in need of a little extra care should go through coarse stage and then the fine stage. Extra dull knives need a three stage machine. They start in the extra coarse stage, then move to coarse and then fine. The fine stage is the polishing stage.
How to use an electric sharpener.
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Keep the machine OFF and practice before turning it on.
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With the machine off, place the knife in the slot getting the heel of the blade as far in as possible.
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When you have made contact with the grinding wheel, pull the knife through while following the blade across the wheel. As you pull the knife out, you should feel the handle point upward slightly as the tip of the knife goes past the blade. Notice that the machine has angle guides built in to ensure that you sharpen at the correct angle
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Put the knife in at the heel and pull through to the tip following the same instructions in step 3.
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Once you are comfortable with this motion, turn the machine on.
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Do this on both sides of the coarsest stage necessary at least two times on each side.
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Move to the next stage and repeat steps 5 and 6.
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Then move to the fine, or polishing stage and repeat steps 5 and 6.
Once the knife is sharpened, you can maintain it by using the polishing stage periodically, or by using a sharpening steel.
Serrated knives are not as easy to hone or sharpen, so they need to be replaced more often than other knives. When the knife has been worn down, sharpened and re-sharpened to the point where it cannot be maintained anymore, it is time to toss it and start over. Also, if the handle breaks, cracks or becomes loose from the blade, it is time to replace the knife. Never use a knife that has a broken or loose handle.