How Often Should Professional Chefs Sharpen Their Knives?
If you’re a chef working in a professional kitchen, you’ll know your knives work almost as hard as you do. Long hours, fast prep and tough ingredients can be tough on your knives. Blunt knives slow you down and raise the risk of injury. Sharp knives give you speed and control.
Sharp knives speed up prep. They also reduce hand and wrist fatigue on long shifts. Meat, fish and veg cut cleanly. You also get more consistent portioning. You’re also less likely to have slips or accidents with a sharp knife, as blunt knives force you to use more pressure, which is more likely to result in the blade slipping. Most kitchen cuts happen with blunt knives rather than sharp ones.
So how often should chefs sharpen their knives? The short answer is more often than most people think. The long answer is the same, with a bit more waffling.
What affects how often you need to sharpen?
How often your knives need sharpening ultimately depends on a whole host of factors.
If you’re in a busy restaurant using your knives for heavy duty prep work all day every day, they’re likely going to need some attention a lot sooner than knives that that are used in the kitchen of a small café. The type of surface you’re cutting onto has an impact too; wooden or thick plastic boards help your knife maintain its sharpness, while surfaces like granite, glass and marble will result in a blunter edge very quickly. Habits such as dragging the blade across a chopping board, cutting through hard ingredients like bone, and sticking your knives in a dishwasher instead of washing by hand, will all result in a dull edge sooner, and can also end up causing damage to your knives.
Your knife and how you treat it
The type of knife you’re using will also make a big difference to how often it’ll need sharpening. A high-end Damascus knife keeps its edge for a lot longer than a cheaper knife will when used under the same conditions. How your knives are stored can again mean some knives need sharpening more often than others – and we recommend a magnetic wall block or knife stand rather than keeping your knives in a drawer where they can get bumped about for this reason. You’ll find that using a quality ceramic honing rod between sharpenings can also be make a considerable difference to how long you’re able to go between sharpenings.
Signs your knife needs sharpening
Rather than suggesting a strict sharpening routine, we recommend getting to know when your knives need a sharpen by how they feel to work with. Don’t wait until the knife is unusable. Watch out for these signs:
- You need extra pressure to cut
- Your knives squash ingredients like tomatoes instead of slicing straight through
- Ingredients like herbs are bruised by the blade
- Honing no longer helps
- Your knives simply don’t feel as sharp as they used to
- …And simply because you know they’re not feeling quite right!
We always recommend sharpening your knives sooner rather than later. Sharp knives make a kitchen safer, and waiting until your knives are really blunt can end up costing you time, effort and control. Getting your knives sharpened regularly means less metal is removed each time; this extends the life of your blades and saves you money long term. If you knives feel harder to use, they’re already overdue for a sharpening.
You can find out more about our Mobile Knife Sharpening Service here.
Get in touch if you think your knives could use some attention – to book in, call us on 01706 489481 or 07341 304221.
