Taking Care of Kitchen Knives + A GIVEAWAY!

I had some issues with filling today’s spot, for some reason, so I’ve decided to show you an excellent video (that is free to watch) from Craftsy. I was hoping to explain how to buy, use, and take care of kitchen knives, but I found this video explains it all for me.

First, though, Craftsy contacted me and offered to give away one FREE class via this blog. We’ll get that over with since it’s short.

The Giveaway

• You may only enter the contest ONCE
• You must be logged in to your Craftsy account (or create one through the link below)
• The winner can choose ONE class to take for free. It can be ANY class, up to a $59.99 value. (Awesome, right?)
• Contest ends on April 1.

Taking Care of Kitchen Knives

The video I’m going to link to discusses the following topics:

1. Essential Knife Skills
2. Shortcuts for Produce
3. Sharpening & Honing

The third one is probably the most important part, because a properly sharpened knife is a safe knife. Letting your knives dull can cause them to slip and make them more likely to cut you. So take care of them!

Two things I want to mention that he did not:

1. Actually, he DID say not to do this…but then he did it himself, which I feel could send a mixed message. When you’re finished sharpening/honing your knives, wipe them with a cloth to remove the metallic debris left behind. DO NOT hold the cloth in your hand! The knife could cut through the cloth and then cut you. Instead, lay the cloth on a flat surface and wipe each side of the knife on it, making sure to face the sharp edge away from you.
2. He uses a whetstone to sharpen his knives, but it’s not the only way. Many knife sets come with a sharpener. When Zach finished college six years ago, one of the first things he bought was a set of Wusthof knives. They came with  a sharpener like this one, which is really nice and much easier to use than a whetstone (it’s also much less expensive). If you choose to get one, be sure to read the instructions on how to use it. If you find them difficult to understand, or it doesn’t come with instructions for some reason, there are videos on YouTube explaining how to use one. It’s really very simple, though! As I said, we’ve had these knives for about 6 years now and they still cut as if they’re brand new. As long as we continue to care for them, they should last a few generations.

Go HERE to watch the free Craftsy video!