How to keep your kitchen knives sharp

A sharp knife is a safe knife. It cuts where you aim it, while a dull knife slips off a tomato and into your finger. With a little care, your knives stay sharp for years. This guide works for the Steenwijck chef’s knife 20 cm, the paring knife 9 cm and the knives in the Steenwijck knife set, 5 pieces.

Honing and sharpening are not the same

When you cut, the very edge of the blade bends a little to one side. The knife feels dull, but the edge is still there. Honing on a sharpening steel pushes it back into line. Do this every week or two.

After months of use, the edge itself wears away. Then the knife needs sharpening: removing a little steel to make a new edge. Do this once or twice a year, with a whetstone, or let us do it on a Saturday morning in our Molenbrug store.

How to hone a knife

1. Hold the sharpening steel upright, with the tip resting on a cutting board or a folded tea towel.
2. Hold the knife at an angle of about 15 to 20 degrees against the steel. That is about the angle of a matchbox on its side.
3. Draw the knife down and toward you, from the heel to the tip, in one smooth movement.
4. Repeat on the other side of the steel with the other side of the blade.
5. Do five or six strokes on each side, slowly. Speed doesn’t help.

Test the edge

Cut a sheet of paper or a ripe tomato. A sharp knife goes through without pressure. If it still tears, it needs real sharpening.

Serrated knives

The Steenwijck bread knife 22 cm has a serrated edge. The points of the teeth do the cutting, so it stays sharp for a long time. Don’t hone it on a normal steel. When it gets dull after many years, bring it to us.

Wash by hand

A dishwasher dulls knives. The blades knock against other things, and hot water and strong detergent harm the handle. Wash your knives by hand with warm water and a little soap, right after use, and dry them at once.

Store them well

Knives loose in a drawer bump into each other and get dull, and you can cut yourself when you reach in. Store them in a knife block, on a magnetic strip, or with a sheath. The block of the Steenwijck set has angled slots, so the edges don’t touch the wood.

Cut on the right surface

Glass, stone and steel dull a knife at once. Always cut on wood or bamboo, like the bamboo cutting board, large.