Comprehensive Guide for Knife Safety, Care and Maintenance

Staff members need reliable tools and “knives are, obviously, the single most-used tool in any kitchen,” says Cody Levi Berg, a professional knife sharpener and the owner/operator of The Sharpening Company in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area.

Eytan Zias asserts that “you need a sharp knife for safety and just out of respect for your product.” Zias is a former chef and owner of The Knife House, a culinary knife store and sharpening service with locations in Phoenix, Arizona, and Portland, Oregon. He’s also co-founder and head bladesmith at STEELPORT Knife Co, which handcrafts carbon steel chef knives in Portland.

With a dull knife, “your food is going to oxidize quicker, it’s going to bruise, it’s going to look bad. You’re just smashing stuff.” Zias says you can illustrate the damage inflicted by a dull knife by cutting vegetables with a dull knife and a sharp one. Compare how much liquid remains on the cutting board, revealing “how destructive it is to the cell structure.” He also offers “an old sharpener’s trick – at the beginning of our demo, we’ll slice off one side of an apple with a sharp knife and the other side with a dull knife.” At the end of the demo, the surface cut by a dull knife will be significantly oxidized while the other side looks fresh.

To help you get the most out of your knives while keeping your staff safe, here’s a comprehensive guide. Berg emphasizes that knowing how to use and care for knives safely “is going to not only make that employee’s life better, easier and safer, but it’s also going to make the whole kitchen function better, and the business as well.”

Mike Maestri, knife grinder and founder of PostKnife, a subscription-based knife service serving the U.S., invokes the old adage that “a sharp knife is a safe knife, a dull knife is a dangerous knife,” so we’ll start with knife care and maintenance, then we’ll cover safety considerations.

KNIFE CARE

Cleaning: Our sources emphasize immediately handwashing and hand-drying knives after each use. “Dishwasher machines are very harmful. Even if it’s a stainless blade and a plastic handle, they tend to knock into other knives, which dulls them,” says Zias. “There are harsh chemicals and it’s too much exposure to water. Rust always attacks the thinnest part of your knife, which is the edge. What a lot of people think is chipping on their blade is actually pitting” from water damage.

Drying: “You want to hand dry. If you let them drip dry, the water sits on there too long, and it will attack your edge.” Zias also notes that “a lot of kitchen towels are not very absorbent. So, we see a lot of rust issues and we see those streaks indicating they’re just smearing the water.”

Storage: For both safety and blade longevity, it’s critical to use a knife rack. Never store knives loosely in drawers or blade-down in buckets. Zias warns against wall magnets unless they have a wooden face, because they can chip the edge. If you do use exposed magnets, train your employees to remove knives edge-first, and place them on the magnets spine-first. Mike Maestri, founder, owner and operator of PostKnife, a subscription-based knife service serving the United States by mail, warns that magnetic racks should not be overloaded because “you grab a knife and another knife falls down. It’s safest to put knives on magnetic racks with handles up and points down, so if any knives drop accidentally, your hand is safe. And ideally there’s a counter underneath to catch anything.” He prefers drop-in plastic knife racks that can be removed from the wall and run through the dishwasher. Maestri and Berg both provide storage racks for knives, “because it not only prolongs the life of the knife, it makes our job easier because they’re in better shape when we trade them back for sharpening.”

KNIFE MAINTENANCE

While sharpening is essential, regular honing with a steel keeps the edge sharp longer. “The idea, especially with professional use, is don’t let your knife get dull in the first place,” says Zias. “You just keep bringing the edge back.” Maestri agrees: “knowing how to use a honing steel definitely goes a long way on a day-to-day basis.”

Who sharpens the knives? There are three models for sharpening knives.

In fine dining, chefs bring their own knives and are responsible for sharpening and replacing them. Another model: the business buys knives and sharpens them in-house or with a local service.

Knife services, as provided by Berg and Maestri, are another popular model. In this scenario, the knife service consults with the restaurant to establish their need and provides two sets of knives. They’ll swap these knives out at regular intervals, exchanging a freshly sharpened set for the set being used. “Most customers are on a two-week subscription” says Maestri. According to Berg, if your employee spends two hours weekly keeping knives sharp, that’s roughly equivalent to the cost of a knife service. With routine sharpening, “a standard chef’s knife will be ground down to the point where there’s 75% or 65% of the original blade left, so we just replace it. Owners never have to buy new knives,” explains Maestri.

The benefits of using a knife service include predictable cost, no large outlay for purchase or replacement, no knife down-time while they’re sharpened, and no need to become a knife expert.

KNIFE SAFETY

Training: Regularly train staff on knife safety and care protocols. Provide hands-on demonstrations and enforce safety practices. Zias recommends “have at least one person in your kitchen that can mentor the rest of the staff” in terms of knife usage. New employees should be trained, supervised and evaluated on knife skills. Educate staff on proper knife handling techniques, such as the “claw grip” where fingertips are tucked under and knuckles guide the blade, reducing the risk of injury. Teach staff appropriate cutting techniques for different tasks. Chopping herbs, slicing vegetables and cutting Parmesan all require different tools and techniques.

Cutting Boards: Always use a cutting board and ensure it’s stable. A damp cloth under the board prevents slipping. “Cut on a clean and level surface,” reminds Berg. “We suggest using soft cutting boards, either wood or soft plastic, something food grade.” “If you scrape the board with your edge, you’ll dull it very quickly. So always flip the knife over and use the spine, or use a scraper,” advises Zias. 

Cutting Gloves: Some commercial kitchens require staff to wear a cutting glove. “That’s fine if you have a lot of turnover and have untrained staff that you’re not invested in,” observes Zias. “But you don’t develop those skills if you keep using a glove. Then when you find yourself without a glove, you’re in trouble.”

Other Sharps: Knives aren’t the only sharp tools in the kitchen. Mandolins, food processors and rotary slicers all rely on wickedly sharp blades. “They’re the most dangerous things in the kitchen,” says Zias. He endorses cut gloves for these blades, which are trickier to handle then a knife because they’re not designed to be held by hand. Zias recommends that you have the manufacturer perform sharpening and maintenance on these, “because they have specific tolerances and very specific angles that they need. That way everything’s done to spec and they can service the machine and make the adjustments.”

Annelise Kelly is a Portland, Oregon-based freelance writer.