Kitchen Knife Safety: Carrying, Passing, Washing
Carry point down, never catch a falling knife, never leave one in a full sink. Home kitchen knife safety, plus an honest look at the dull-knife claim.
Knife Care
When to Replace Kitchen Knives, and When to Restore Them
Chips, bent blades, pitting, loose handles and worn-out steel: which knife damage a sharpener can fix, which it cannot, and when to retire the knife.
Wooden Knife Handle Care: Drying, Oiling, Cracks
Why wooden knife handles crack, what oiling really does, which oil your own maker recommends, and when a loose handle makes a knife unsafe to keep using.
Food Safe Knife Oil: What to Use and When
Mineral oil and camellia oil are the two traditional choices. What “food grade” rests on, why cooking oils fail, and when a knife needs oil.
Carbon Steel Knife Patina: What Is Normal, What Is Rust
Gray, blue and brown on a carbon blade is patina, and it protects the steel. Orange that smears is rust. How to tell them apart before you scrub.
Can You Put Knives in the Dishwasher? The Real Answer
Four separate things damage a knife in a dishwasher, and the makers disagree. What Wusthof, Victorinox and Robert Welch each tell their own owners.
How to Keep Knives From Rusting (Carbon Steel Too)
Rust starts where water sits. The moisture traps that rust kitchen knives, and what prevention really looks like for stainless and for carbon steel.
How to Remove Rust From Kitchen Knives (Safely)
Tell surface rust from pitting and patina, take it off with the gentlest thing that works, and know the point where a rusted knife should be retired.
How to Take Care of Kitchen Knives: What Ruins Them
Hand wash, dry, hone, and read your own maker’s care page, because the makers disagree about dishwashers. Knife damage ranked by what comes back.