From buying to maintaining, everything you should know about Kitchen Knives!

Buying Knives:

Navigating the purchase of a quality knife set can be tricky. What constitutes a quality knife? What details should you look for? How do you decide which manufacturer you should choose?

Kitchen knives should be made from a single piece of very thin, and very hard, stainless steel. Stainless steel is an alloy that can be comprised of a number of different materials. The goal of the alloy is to create a very hard blade that will corrode (think rust) at a very slow pace. The Cangshan and Global examples above have hardness levels in the 60's ranges. The hardness provides the ability to have a sharp blade that will remain sharp for a longer period of time. Regardless of the quality of the knife, IT WILL NOT STAY SHARP ON ITS OWN.

Knife Maintenance:

Knife sharpness degrades in a couple of ways; use and misuse! Misuse will leave small divots in an otherwise sharp blade. The divots will create a poor cutting experience and will eventually lead to an overall dull blade. The best way to identify a blade with divots on it is to lightly run the blade across your thumbnail (without cutting off the tip of your thumb). The blade will lightly catch on the divots as it crosses your nail... and tell you that you need to spend some time sharpening your knives (and yelling as your friends and spouse).

Knives will also dull based purely through use. A well sharpened knife should cut through tomatoes with ease. The simple paper test is a great way to find the knives that need some sharpening. The paper test is done by holding a standard, single sheet of paper between two fingers. Take one of your knives and cut away from your fingers down the length of the paper. This should result in a clean, smooth, cut through the loosely held paper.

Sharpening:

If you have a blade with divots or a very dull blade, you will need to a two step process. Step one is to get rid of the divots, step two will refine the blade. We recommend leveraging whetstones because it's easier to maintain a 20 degree angle from blade to stone which is important to get the outcome you are looking for.

Start with the course stone first. Hold the knife firmly in one hand, and use the second hand to hold the blade at a consistent angle approximating 20 degrees. You can successfully push the blade away from you, or pull it toward you, depending on your comfort. Either way, slide the blade across the stone as you move it down the stone. Try to get a full cut across the blade on each pass.

If you started with the course stone, run the finger nail test again. Once the divots are removed, move to the fine stone to put the finishing touches on the blade. It can take anywhere between two to twenty passes with a good amount of downward pressure to get through the necessary steel to get your blade back in shape.

Run the paper test again... and, VOILA, a nice, clean, cutting experience!