No, literally… Please sharpen your knives.

Here are two simple facts:
1. Everyone owns knives.
2. All knives dull with use.

We’ve all seen it in the movies… the chef getting ready to cut into a nice piece of meat, his hands gracefully engaging his butcher’s knife against a steel sharpener, readying the edge for a precision slice. Funny thing is, we’ve all seen it, but most of us don’t ever sharpen our knives. It’s like looking under the hood of your car, it seems so difficult and foreign until someone just explains it simply.

Sharp knives are essential. Dull knives are not only frustrating to use, but can be dangerous. The more force needed to cut through an item, the greater the risk of the knife slipping and injuring the cook.

“Knives made of the finest steel will hold an edge longer, but even the best dull with use,” says Dan Friel, founder of Chef’sChoice, leading manufacturers of quality knife sharpeners and cutlery. “For more than 99 percent of the knife’s useful life,” Friel says, “its performance depends entirely on how it’s resharpened.”

How To Sharpen Kitchen Knives
There are two types of knife maintenance tools: those that straighten and realign the edge (traditional butcher steels) and those that use abrasives to create a new, sharper edge (electric sharpeners).

Conventional steel sharpeners are often included with knife sets. These rod-like tools can be tricky to use at first and do require a bit of skill. Though he’s not my favorite, Gordon Ramsey does do a good tutorial here.

Keep in mind that steel sharpeners don’t actually sharpen the edge of your knife. A dull knife actually has an edge that has curled slightly. Steeling the knife straightens out this curve and realigns the edge.

To sharpen a knife that has a broken edge, a new edge must be created, and this cannot be done by steel alone. The key features to look for in a sharpener are diamond abrasives, angle guides and multi-stages. We at Bite of the Best have used Chef’s Choice sharpeners for many years. Their sharpeners are certainly a choice you’d consider when looking to protect your kitchen equipment.

Moral of the story, no matter what sharpener you buy (or if you just use your steel).. Keep your knives sharp! You’ll enjoy your prep and your cooking that much more!

-bryan