Five Answers About Knives For Beginners
Knives are the essential tool used in the kitchen because many kitchen works cannot be done without them.
Whether it be a five-star gourmet meal or a quick, simple dish, a knife will be needed.
The essential quality of a knife is its sharpness, no matter what it is used for. A sharp knife is essential because it ensures neatness and precision, allowing food to be cut and peeled easily.
When cutting fine ingredients like herbs, a sharp knife is preferable to use as they tend to stay fresh longer, unlike when using a blunt knife.
A blunt knife destroys the surrounding cells of the food item resulting in a quick decay.
With a sharp knife, less force is needed to cut food as it has more control and less slip, producing clean, consistent slices.
Another thing about sharp knives, which is even the most surprising, is that they are safer to use than blunt ones.
Contrary to popular belief that sharp knives are more dangerous, you’d be surprised to find that using sharp knives is very easy and predictable.
Controlling how the knife cuts through food, no matter the shape and size, are relatively easy and the risk of cutting your fingers is low.
When using knives, there are some things to take note of and they are presented in the questions below:
Why Won’t My Knives Stay Sharp?
Bear in mind that all knives are sharp when new, and all blades can be made sharp, only that some become dull faster than others. This could be a result of many reasons.
The sharpness of a knife mostly depends on how well the blade was honed or has been sharpened.
Its ability to retain its sharpness depends on the metal used to make the blade, the angle of the bevel, how the blade was used or misused, and the material it was used with (e.g., cutting boards).
Cutting on a harder surface than a knife, for example, stone, ceramic, glass, and porcelain, will dull a blade faster. These materials are harder than even the highest quality steel knife, so it is not advisable to cut them; instead, good quality hardwood should be used.
One more thing that can affect a blade is bad sharpening or not sharpening enough. It is important to note that knives do not have a sharpening time frame, but they should be sharpened when needed.
The more you sharpen a knife, the more its edge moves to the thicker part of the knife, and the more its bevel angle becomes insensitive. In this kind of situation, thinning is a good option as it reduces some of the thickness and allows for the restoration of the former bevel angle.
Can You Sharpen Knives too Much?
Yes, it is possible to sharpen your knife too much. Though it is not new that dull blades are bothersome, excessive sharpening can wear it out.
Sharpening involves grating away metal using a rough substance. It removes layers of the blade’s material to create a new cutting edge; therefore, every time a blade is sharpened, its life span is reduced.
It isn’t every time a blade becomes dull that it needs to be sharpened. Sometimes it’s just needs to be honed. Honing and sharpening are not the same, though they both produce similar results;
honing only straightens out the edges. While sharpening removes quite a considerable amount of material, honing removes but only slightly that it is barely noticeable.
How Do I Know if My Knife is Sharp?
To get an accurate result, it will be beneficial to know how the edge of your knife feels regularly.
There are different ways to determine this. One way is by feeling the edge with your fingertips. If it feels dull or rounded, then you’ll know that it needs sharpening.
Another way to determine this is by doing the paper cut test. For this, standard white paper or even paper from a magazine can be used. If your knife is sharp, it will cut cleanly and efficiently through the paper;
if not, it should be sharpened. Tomato can also be used to determine this. If it slices the tomato easily without smashing it, it is sharp, and onion can be used too, and it works in the same way.
Is there a Knife that Never Needs Sharpening?
Yes, there is a knife that never needs sharpening. The Farberware knife never needs sharpening as its blades are made from superior high carbon stainless steel to produce strong, durable, and precise results.
Do all Knives Need to be Sharpened?
The quality of the blade of your knife affects the need for your knife to be sharpened. As is the case of the Farberware, it doesn’t need sharpening, but for other knives, you will need to sharpen your knife when it becomes dull.
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