How to Clean and Store Your Blades
Knife Care Tips
How to Clean and Store Your Kitchen Knives: Tips and Advice on Knife Care
Chopping, slicing, mincing: knives work hard in the kitchen and are bound to get dirty with everyday use. The better you clean and maintain them, the longer they’ll last. This may sound obvious, but it makes a huge difference. Read our tips on how to take good care of both blade and handle, with advice on everything from washing and drying to storage and the best cutting boards for blades. Sharpening your knife is another important part of maintenance – click here for advice on how to keep your edges in top condition.
Don’t forget! Our most important tip is to stay calm and handle knives safely at all times. So clean your knives with care to avoid accident or injury.
Washing your blade
The best way to clean your knife is to simply run it under the tap right after you use it. Just hold it under cold running water and rub the blade with your fingers, without touching the sharp edge. You can also use a towel or a sponge, but make sure they are clean so they don’t scratch the blade’s metal surface.
It’s important to do this as soon as possible – salty or acidic food can stain your blade if you don’t clean it for longer periods of time.
It’s also ok to use just water – our stainless steel blades are highly polished during the manufacturing process, which means ingredients don’t usually stick to them. The only exception is greasy food – here a small amount of dishwashing liquid on a sponge should be enough.
For maximum safety, it’s best to hold the knife blade parallel to the sink so you can see the whole surface of the blade and keep an eye on the sharp edge all the time.
Putting Knives in the Dishwasher
All of our household knives with synthetic handles are dishwasher-safe. We would however recommend that you wash all large knives by hand, regardless of whether they have wood or synthetic handles.
The reason for this is that if it isn’t placed carefully, a large knife can damage the cutlery basket, which itself can cause corrosion. If this happens, the dishwasher’s system may have an indirect effect on the knife’s steel. Washing by hand can also help to keep the knives sharper longer, since the process is gentler on the blade.
However, if you do go for the dishwasher option, we recommend rinsing the blade first and making sure that the knives in the cutlery basket don’t touch other metal items. This avoids the blades being damaged by other utensils or cutlery.
We also recommend paying attention to which detergent you use in your machine. Aggressive or too much detergent can also cause stains on the blade. If you see that your dishwasher is not cleaning your blades thoroughly, we recommend changing your detergent.
Other tips include opening the dishwasher briefly after cleaning. The hot water vapor and water condensation can also cause stains and corrosion on the blades.
