Kitchen Knives: Buying One Good One and Keeping It Sharp

A single well-kept knife outperforms a block of neglected ones. Most kitchens would be better served by one good chef's knife, a paring knife, and something to keep them sharp, than by any set.

Steel: the trade-off

All kitchen steel sits somewhere on a spectrum between hardness and toughness, and you cannot have both.

• Harder steel holds an edge longer, takes a finer edge, and chips more easily. Common in Japanese knives.
• Softer steel dulls faster but is more forgiving and easier to sharpen at home. Common in European knives.
• Stainless resists rust and is the sensible default for most people.
• Carbon steel takes a superb edge and will rust if left wet. It suits people who will dry it immediately, every time.

Hardness is sometimes given as an HRC number. Higher means harder, which means longer edge retention and more chipping risk.

Construction details

• Full tang — the steel runs the length of the handle. More balanced and far less likely to fail at the join.
• Forged or stamped. Forged knives are usually thicker at the spine and heavier; stamped are lighter and cheaper. Neither is wrong, and weight preference is personal.
• Edge angle. European knives are typically ground at a wider angle, Japanese at a narrower one. Narrower cuts better and is more fragile.
• Handle shape. The thing you will actually notice every day, and the reason holding a knife before buying is worth the trip.

Sharpening: the part that matters more than the knife

A cheap sharp knife cuts better than an expensive dull one, and every knife dulls. Two different jobs are involved and they are frequently confused:

• Honing straightens an edge that has rolled over. A honing steel does this, it removes almost no metal, and it should be done often — before or after most uses.
• Sharpening removes metal to create a new edge. Done with whetstones or a pull-through sharpener, and needed occasionally rather than constantly.

Whetstones give the best result and take practice. Pull-through sharpeners are fast, convenient and remove more metal than necessary — acceptable for softer European steel, a poor idea for hard Japanese steel.

What ruins knives

• The dishwasher. Heat, detergent and knocking against other items. Wash by hand and dry immediately.
• Glass and stone chopping boards. They blunt an edge in a few strokes. Wood and plastic are the only sensible surfaces.
• Loose in a drawer. Edges chip against everything else. A block, a magnetic strip or a blade guard costs very little.
• Using a knife as a lever — prying, or scraping the board with the edge rather than the spine.

What to buy

1. A chef's knife of about 20cm that feels right in your hand.
2. A paring knife for small work.
3. A honing steel.
4. A wooden or plastic board large enough to work on.
5. A serrated bread knife, eventually — it cannot be sharpened easily, so it is the one place a cheaper knife makes sense.

Before you order

Check the total length and the blade length separately, since listings sometimes give one and picture the other. Check whether the knife is dishwasher safe if that matters to you, though the answer should not change how you wash it. And check the return policy for knives, which some retailers restrict for hygiene reasons once opened.