We all know that knives are an important part of any kitchen. Be it a household kitchen or a professional five star hotel kitchen. It is a chef’s most valuable tool. The most valuable knife of all is the butcher knife. Chef’s all over the world use it to their best skills as it is used the most in kitchens. Butcher knives are primarily used for cutting meat of all types. They are even used for cutting through a tough joint or for finely slicing a London broil. A butcher knife has a stiff spine, a good grip on the handle and a keen edge. If this knife is taken good care of, it will easily provide many years of service. Its proper care will extend its life. For this very reason, there is no harm in investing in a good quality butcher knife.

Butcher knives as mentioned are basically used for meat but they can also be used for slicing, dicing and chopping vegetables like onions, potatoes and other hard and tough vegetables. This knife is such that it demands respect and needs to be handled with care. Expert chefs handle this knife with ease and perfection and they take care of their knives as well. It is not a difficult job to do, maintenance just requires diligence. A few key points need to be taken into consideration and practice to keep any knife in good working condition for a long time to come.

One of the major factors to keep a butcher knife in a good condition is to sharpen it from time to time whenever the need arises. It is true that a sharp knife is safer than a dull knife. Butcher knife sharpening is not a difficult thing to do. There are various different techniques to sharpen a butcher knife. One way involves the use of sharpening steel. It is made of high carbon steel in the shape of a long rod. This is used to straighten the fine edge of the knife while diamond coated and ceramic rods are used for sharpening the blade of a knife. By dragging the knife down the edge of the sharpening steel from top to bottom at a 45 degree angle will give a sharp edge to a knife.

Another method of sharpening is by using whetstones. There are two kinds of stones, wet and dry. A wet stone requires a lubricant like water or oil while dry stone doesn’t require any lubricant for sharpening at all. For sharpening on a stone, even pressure is applied to the knife, with the blade kept at an angle of about 20 degree, and strokes are made along the stone. The same procedure is applied to the other side of the knife. Both fine and medium grit stones are used to get the perfect edge while carrying out butcher knife sharpening. While sharpening does the trick to gain an edge, care needs to be taken for the long life of a knife. Like a butcher knife should not be washed in a dish washer and cleaning it immediately after use.

Caring for a butcher knife will show its results in the long run and sharpening it occasionally will maintain a sharp cutting edge on the butcher knife and give you complete control over it.

Having a good set of knives makes cooking so much more fun and enjoyable, and less painful! (literally)

Knives can range from $500-$10. However, good knives do not have to be expensive.

This video from Rita Heikenfeld does a good job at explaining different knives and their use in the kitchen.

Remember a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife.

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Kitchen knives are used just about every day. If you are cooking a meal then chances are you will have to use a kitchen knife. Knives which are used a lot end up dull and a dull knife makes chopping and mincing a real chore. If you do any amount of cooking then you owe it to yourself to get an electric knife sharpener. An electric knife sharpener doesn’t have to be expensive either, there are some great knife sharpeners on the market for less than $30. Electric knife sharpeners are also great for sharpening dull pocket knives and cordless electric knives. Most of these types of sharpeners will also sharpen serrated knives too.

Electric Knife Sharpener & Pocket Knives

Not everyone uses a pocket knife but if you do happen to be one of the many people who use a pocket knife on a daily basis then you will love sharpening the knife with an electric knife sharpener. Whether you carry a folding pocket knife, a utility knife, or a leatherman type of knife with a bunch of gadgets, you will be able to now sharpen your knive to back to new sharpness. You may think your pocket knife is already sharp enough but this may be due to you being used to how dull the knife really is. Of course another option to sharpening your knifes at home would be to take them all to a professional knife shop. This may seem like a hassle but it really is worth the trip. Depending on where you live, you will probably waste a good hour minimum on driving to the knife shop and waiting for your knives to be sharpened. Remember you time has value and for about $30 you can get an electric knife sharpener which will provide you with years of sharpening. The knife sharpener will pay for itself with just one sharpening of all your knives.

Electric Knife Sharpener Guides

Most of the newer electric knife sharpeners on the market actually have guides, which will guide your knife through the sharpening steps. Generally in less than a minute you knives will be razor sharp. After you try using an electric knife sharpener you will wonder why you didn’t have one before.

I can deal with a lousy oven. I can use crummy cookware. And I’ll admit that I can bake a cake in a flimsy pan. But I refuse to use a dull knife. It’s not only that they’re hard to use, but a bad knife is downright unsafe. Some people are terrified of sharp knives when in fact, when used properly, they’re actually safer: Most people cut themselves when a knife slides off something they’re slicing rather than when it makes a clean cut right through it.

Professional cooks bring their own knifes to work and take care of them themselves. It’s something I still do to this day. And when I go away for a weekend to someone’s house in the country, if I plan to do any cooking (which I usually do), I bring along at least one knife of my own so I know I’ll have a good, sharp knife to cook with.

There’s a lot of knives out there, some are crafted by hand and really expensive, but you can do well with a few inexpensive options as well. I list my favorites at the end, but to prove my point, one of my all-time favorite knives, the yellow-handled paring knife

Diamond Knife Sharpeners

Have you ever tried to cut something with a dull knife? It is not an easy task and has been found to be more dangerous than using a razor sharp knife. If you are looking for a high quality, way to sharpen your knives you should look into purchasing Diamond knife sharpeners. There are other methods and models on the market but the best results come from this process.

Diamond knife sharpeners come in both manual and electric forms. The electric diamond knife sharpeners are going to cost more but will also have features that are not available on a manual model. The electric sharpeners are mush easier to use and save the most time.

Chefs Choice has one of the top models available on the market today. Their 3-stage model not only puts a fine edge on your blade, but it also cleans and buffers your blade during the final stage. This sharpener uses 100% diamond abrasives to give you a sharp cutting edge. To get the most out of your knives for years to come, it is best to use diamond knife sharpener.

These electric diamond knife sharpeners can withstand hard use over a long period. In order to keep your sharpener fresh you should wash them regularly to get rid of tiny particles of metal that are in your machine.

If you do not use as many knives or dull blades as fast then a manual diamond knife sharpener may suit you better. These models cost less and still give you satisfying results. One of the best and cheapest models is the Gerber diamond knife sharpener. This model gives you all the luxuries of a diamond abrasive sharpener for a low cost that you can carry around in your pocket.

For people that have purchased an expensive set of knives, then a diamond knife sharpener is necessary. One of the biggest factors in buying a sharpener is the amount of metal that your sharpener removes. Using a diamond abrasive sharpener will ensure that you are getting a sharp edge without losing most of your blade. Some other methods of sharpening can ware down a blade and ruin your knife.

When purchasing a knife sharpener you need to decide what your needs are and how much you are willing to spend. If you need to sharpen many knives and fast then maybe an electric diamond knife sharpener is for you. If your sharpening needs are not as often and you want to save some money you should purchase a manual knife sharpener. Therefore, when you are out buying that new sharpener, electric or manual, choose a diamond knife sharpener, it will leave you satisfied.

Chef’s Choice 320 Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener At last! – tennquaker –
I have hunted for a decent knife sharpener for over 40 years. This one does the trick. It is fast, easy, doesn’t eat the knife blade up and makes the blade razor sharp. No more using a serrated knife to “thinly” slice soft ripe tomatoes. But, BEWARE, the blades are so sharp that you will slice right thru something and into a finger before you realize it! I am a truly happy camper. I wish I could give this one a 10 star rating, I think I will “10 Stars”
…and that is purely because I am a traditionalist when it comes to sharpening knives. I spend a lot of time outdoors and sharpening a knife the old fashioned way is an essential skill for every man…and sadly maybe for the woman whose man won’t develop the skill. Even during a stint in the deli and meat business for 9 years, I stuck with the old methods. As often as I had to sharpen knives, only occasionally and with a lot of work was I able to get our knives really razor sharp. Other times, they were only just pretty sharp!

Many people don’t realize that the most dangerous utensil you have in the kitchen is a dull knife. A dull knife requires more force to do the same work. Dull knives are more susceptible to slipping and combined with the force that moved them, can still produce chilling and even life threatening accidental cuts. A sharp knife requires much less force, can cut more precisely and is easier to control.

I bought this device for my son and daughter in law for Christmas 2008. They owned excellent quality knives, but they were sharp only for the first few months after they bought them. After that, I discovered they may as well have used a butter knife because that’s the condition these knives reached pretty quick. The knives also suffered from the very bad habit of being stored loosely in a drawer. Consequently they had nicks in addition to just being dull. I was afraid that my daughter in law would end up with a nasty cut. The situation got so bad that instead of sharpening the dang things, my daughter in law would just buy a new knife each year!

I used this device for the first time just last week only because I remained as stubborn about my son learning how to use it as I did about my own traditionalist methods. He and a buddy tried using it…without looking at the instructions… and didn’t get anywhere with it. I learned very quickly that had I been smart, I would have bought one of these machines for ourselves when we started our deli business in 1994 !!

It is important to read and follow the instructions to get the best service from this machine. Starting with the dullest 10″ knife and using only the weight of the knife, I drew the knife blade in 10 alternating passes. This very quickly produced the burr sought in the instructions for stage 1 along the entire length of the blade. (Normally, a knife in better condition would need only a total of 2-4 alternating passes to produce the same result.) After reaching the burr stage, only 4 alternating passes (2 on each side) in stage 2 produced an edge on this knife that I could use to shave the hair off the back of my left index finger! I gave that knife one more stage 2 pass for each side and went on to the next knife. This time fewer passes…same results! My daughter in law gave it a shot with another dull knife that would only smush a tomato and produced an edge in only seconds that would cut tomatoes paper thin! She also got razor sharp results on a short bladed paring knife!

Once a knife is this sharp, the machine won’t be needed for quite a while. Generally, only a pass or two with a high quality ridged sharpening steel such as those offered by Forschner or Mundial will be enough to maintain the edge for months of household kitchen use. This is because the edge of a razor sharp knife becomes so thin that it will “fold over” in the shape of a J during use. The steel straightens the edge and restores it’s razor sharpness with just a few VERY LIGHT strokes. The vision you might have of the butcher flailing his knife 10-20 times with the steel to restore the edge is really overkill and mostly for show. The two light strokes should do it…and as quietly and lightly as possible. I have even used the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup or the back edge of another high quality knife in place of a sharpening steel, although the coffee cup will remove some material from the blade of the knife.

In just minutes with this machine, we had 8 razor sharp knives and accomplished what could have literally taken HOURS to achieve with traditional methods. If you are not getting the same results with your machine, my humble guess would be that you are not using it properly. the steel in your knife is very hard or they are in really bad shape. Only as a last resort would I fault this machine. We were even somewhat saddened when we were done!

Remember to store your knives in a way that keeps them banging against each other. We prefer wood blocks designed for storing knives. They can get pricey if you buy them retail. We managed to pick ours up at Goodwill for ….a real bargain. They have them every time I go in there. Chef’s Choice: 320 Reclaim your blades when cutting gets tough. This exclusive device sharpens your knives in two steps for incredibly sharp edges that last longer than ever before. First run a blade through the conical 100% diamond-coated sharpening disks. Then switch over to the revolutionary stropping/polishing disk to finish the process. Magnetic guides facilitate precise angular control, eliminating guesswork for perfect results. Works on straight edge and serrated knives. Two-year limited home use warranty. When your favorite knives start squishing ripe tomatoes instead of slicing them, it’s time to sharpen your blades. This knife sharpener is remarkably easy to use on both straight-edge and serrated knives. Simply plug it in, turn it on, and feed knife blades through the stages. The first sharpening stage uses 100 percent diamond abrasive disks to hone the knife’s edge while the second stage incorporates polymer disks to polish and strop the edge to hairsplitting sharpness. Straight-edge knives should go through both stages, while serrated blades should only be used in the polishing stage.

The internal elastomeric spring guides hold knife blades at just the right angle to the sharpening surfaces, making sharpening easy. The instructions are easy to follow, and maintenance is limited to removing the metal dust shavings from the clean-out tray once a year or so; no lubrication is necessary for the motor, bearings, or sharpening surfaces. Guaranteed not to detemper, the sharpener has a two-year warranty for home use. –Ariel Meadow Stallings Chef’s Choice 320 Diamond Hone Knife Sharpener

• J.A. Henckels Twin Four Star 4-Inch High-Carbon Stainless-Steel Paring Knife
• J.A. Henckels International Classic Stainless-Steel Meat Cleaver
• Wusthof Gourmet 7-Piece Knife Set with 9 Slot Block
• J.A. Henckels Twin Gourmet High-Carbon Stainless Steel Steak Knives, Set of 4
• X-Rite ColorChecker Passport

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Tags: Chefs, Choice, Diamond, Sharpener

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18th, 2010 at 7:09 pm and is filed under Chef Choice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

How frustrating is it when you have a dull knife and need a tool that can quickly and easily get it sharpened back like new again? We’ve all been there, but the AccuSharp 001 Knife Sharpener is designed to put an end to those issues. Here’s a look at how it works and whether it will stand up to your particular needs.

Regardless of whether it is your lawnmower blade, kitchen knifes, pocket knife or any other type of blade, having a good quality knife sharpener in your workshop is a must. Even better is having one that sharpens even the dullest of edges in a matter of seconds.

AccuSharp 001 Knife Sharpener Uses

So what are some of the uses of this type of product? You can use it to sharpen:

* Kitchen knifes* Steak knifes* Meat cleavers* Lawnmower blades* Axes* Machetes* Pocket knifes* Hunting knifes

How does it work?

One of the things you will notice right off is how this sharpener is designed with safety in mind. The design is set up to protect your fingers from getting in the way and possibly causing an accident.

To begin you will hold the knife down on a table or workbench with the blade facing up. Next, you take the sharpener in your other hand and place it over the blade. Then you simply bring the sharpener down the length of the blade and go back and forth with it a few times.

One of the nicer aspects of this particular product is that you do not have to guess at the correct angle of the sharpener. After a few passes back and forth you will have a knife or blade that is as sharp as it was when you bought it.

The sharpening blades inside the unit are made of diamond honed tungsten carbide, which is one of the hardest materials available. The blades inside the AccuSharp are even designed to be reversible so you get double the life out of them. That said, you can expect to get an average of 5-10 years use out of them before needing a replacement.

Cleaning the AccuSharp 001 knife sharpener is as simple as putting it in your dishwasher if you like, or you can simply use soap and water on it. Since it will not rust you do not have to be concerned about getting it wet.

Most people do not know the proper way to handle a knife, whether it be in the kitchen or some other everyday use.

I have worked in a kitchen as a chef for 25 years now and it never ceases to amaze me how carelessly people handle a knife; one of the most used and dangerous tools in the kitchen. A knife is not a toy and it should not be used as one. Always respect a knife. It is also not a can, bottle or jar opener. It is also not a screwdriver, as this can cause damage to the tip of the blade and possibly slip and injure the user.

Always hold a knife in your dominant hand. If you are right-handed, hold the knife in your right hand. Likewise, if you are left-handed you would hold the knife in your left hand. You should always have the angle of the blade away from you. Never slice anything in the direction of your body, as you have a better chance of cutting yourself.

Never cut anything while holding it in your hand. Always use a cutting board with a damp cloth underneath it whenever you are slicing, chopping, or dicing. This will stop the board from slipping or moving on the counter top.

Also remember to keep your knives sharp at all times, as a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife. A dull knife will jump or slip off the item your are cutting and possibly cause serious injury to the user. That is why it is a important to own a honing stone or a knife sharpener.

Most people do not know the proper way to pass a knife to someone else. Some people will hold the knife by the blade while others will hold it by the handle. Each of these methods is incorrect. What if someone was to bump into the person receiving or passing the knife, this is an accident waiting to happen. The only proper way to pass a knife to someone else, is to lie it flat on a table with the edge of the blade facing away from the other person so they can pick it up themselves.

When walking through the kitchen, you never carry a knife loosely in front of you. The only way to carry a knife in the kitchen if you must, is by the handle, at the side of your leg with the sharp edge facing the back.

You should always hand wash your knives yourself after each use. Never put a knife in the dishwasher or sink with sudsy water as someone may reach in and cut themselves not knowing a knife was there.

Make sure you always use the proper knife for whatever job you are doing. Paring knives for coring or cleaning products, a chef knife for chopping or dicing and a slicing knife for slicing. Serrated knives are only to be used for slicing bread or sandwiches.

Always store your knives properly when not in use. A knife block or magnetic rack is best. If you must store your knives in a drawer, be sure to keep them in a separate compartment away from other utensils.

On a final note, if you ever drop a knife, do not try and catch it. I cannot tell you how many accidents I have seen as a result of this. Let it fall and come to a complete rest before you pick it up. Always stay focused on your task without any distractions when using a knife.

Many different brands electric sharpener in the market, but most of them don’t work.

There is Master Grade sharpener that we tested and it is really simple to use and works for dull knife. I mean for “dull” knife, there are brand name sharpeners that works for new knife but when its dull its no longer able to put back the bevel or edge on the knife, which mean we just wasting money.

Master Grade is designed with professional capabilities in mind for home use. this little machine will amaze you that it can sharpen knife really sharp and also put back the right bevel to your dull knife.

It cost less than a hundred bucks, quality item that we select as one our item we sell on Ebay.

If you interested in this machine, come and visit us on Ebay Store: Jochencollection.

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Technorati Tags: Knife, sharpener

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at 1:47 pm and is filed under electric knife sharpeners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.