Description
- A SHARP KNIFE WORKS BETTER - Sharp knives need less brute force to cut than dull knives. Less force means less damage to the food. Delicate ingredients like herbs will look fresher for longer if you slice through them cleanly, whereas a dull knife will crush more cells surrounding the cut, causing wilting and discoloration. But, more than this, a dull knife slows you down, while a sharp knife makes prep easier and more enjoyable.
- A SHARP KNIFE IS SAFER - A sharp blade is predictable. When it strikes or is drawn across the food’s surface, it won’t slip. This makes it easy to control how the blade moves through the food, giving you control over your chopping or slicing. A dull blade will slip, which makes control difficult and increases the risk that it will slip into your finger. With a dull knife, it’s only a matter of time until you badly cut yourself.
- GIVES YOU MORE CONTROL - When you sharpen your knives yourself, you can control the bevel of the edge to suit how you use a particular knife. For example, you may choose to put a broad 45-degree angle on the sides of a sturdy chef’s knife for a tough, durable blade that will be well suited to chopping. Or for a fine slicing knife, you can hone the edge to a shallow angle of 15 degrees on each side. Such a blade will be fragile but will slice through food with ease.
- SHARPENING IS QUICK AND EASY - It’s neither difficult nor time-consuming to sharpen a knife. The alternative to sharpening a knife yourself is to use the sharpening services of a good knife shop. They’ll usually sharpen knives for a few dollars each. Depending on where you live, this might involve mailing your knives and waiting for them to be returned.
- IS AN INVESTMENT - A set of waterstones for sharpening your knives will cost about as much as a good knife. We think this is a great investment since a whole set of expensive but dull knives is useless. A couple rounds at a sharpening service will cost more then a set of stones, and the stones should last you a lifetime. Nobody cares as much as you do about sharpening your knives. If you send them off to be sharpened it is likely that a lot more material will be removed than is necessary.
Nobody cares as much as you do about sharpening your knives. If you send them off to be sharpened it is likely that a lot more material will be removed than is necessary. This decreases the life span of your knives. Health & Safety in the work place. Knives which are continually used on commercial premises must always be kept sharp - a blunt or dull knife is dangerous because it requires more pressure and is more likely to slip and cause an injury. This is the single most important reason to keep all knives sharp.It's said because it's true. A dull knife can easily slip off of an object rather than cut through it, but is still sharp enough to cut you. The same can be said of any tool that can't perform the way it's designed to.Storing in a cluttered drawer can chip the blade and handle, and most definitely will make the knife dull. In order to keep your knives sharp, store them in a way that stabilizes and separates them. The two best ways to do this are knife blocks and magnet strips.A sharp knife will cut cleanly when using a slicing motion to cut through paper. A razor sharp knife can cut the paper cleanly by just pressing down on the edge of paper without any slicing at all. Another test is to shave the hair on your arms. While we recommend caution using this method, it can be very useful.
