How Bad is it to Soak Knives in Water?

How Bad is it to Soak Knives in Water?

As well as knowing how to care for your knife is an essential quality of a cook, knowing how to clean your knife is also just as important.

Many people perform some bad habits that they may not even know are detrimental to their knives. Some bad habits include using your knife to scrape off food particles, leaving your knife on the sink, soaking it in soapy water, or even any water at all.

Many knifemakers and experts believe that the best way to clean your knife is by doing it manually. Washing your knife by hand saves you the trouble of affecting its quality and lasting performance.

Here are some reasons why some practices are bad:

Why You Shouldn’t Put a Knife in Soapy Water

Never leave your knife in soapy water! This is one of the bad habits that people practice that is very dangerous. People leave their dishes in water to let them soak, but this practice should not be applied to knives.

Knives should always be washed separately and immediately but should never be left to soak.

Knives soaked in soapy water are very dangerous because they will be difficult to handle. They can even increase the risk of injury because soapy water is not clear, so objects in the water will be difficult to detect.

How Bad is it to Soak Knives in Water?

It isn’t good to soak your knife in water. Aside from the fact that it can cause unnecessary accidents, it can also affect its quality.

When it is left in the water to soak, it can become dull, especially when it scrapes against other utensils in the sink, which will require it to get sharpened more than is necessary.

It can also affect its handles, especially wooden ones. Wood can absorb water, and when it does this, it can make it decay and destroy easily. There’s also the risk of mildew or fungi accumulating on it, causing contamination. It also increases the risk of corrosion and staining.

Why is a Sharp Knife in Soapy Water Dangerous?

A sharp knife in water is very dangerous because the risk of getting an injury from it is very high. When a blade is put in water, an unsuspecting person may put their hand in it, unaware that it is there.

In that case, the person may get seriously injured. Some people might be lucky and get just a minor injury, a scratch, or even just a prick from it.

The only advantage of getting cut by a sharp knife is that it heals faster than a cut obtained from a dull knife. You might be wondering, “how is that possible?”.

It is possible because the cut from a sharp knife is usually nice and thin, even though it may be deeper.

In contrast, the cut from a dull knife leaves a wider and jagged cut. The difference between these cuts is that with the dull knife, the cut destroys the surrounding cells of the skin while a sharp one doesn’t.

So if you’re wondering, the cut from the dull knife will require those damaged cells to be repaired first before the actual healing if the skin starts.

This is also disadvantageous because prolonged exposure to an injury can result in an infection. But with a sharp knife, you don’t have to worry about any of these problems. Still, though, it is very wrong to leave your knife in the water no matter what.

In conclusion, learn to take good care of your knives, safety precautions to take when using them, and the responsibility that comes with using a knife.