Sharpening Your Knives

This is going to be more of a public service announcement than an observation.  Be extra careful after you sharpen your knives.

My wonderful parents bought me a knife sharpener for Christmas.  I was thrilled.  My prized Henckel knives have been bending the fruit rather than slicing through it and I really did not relish the idea of taking my cutlery to a knife sharpening store.  It sounds stupid, but just think of what could happen with all those sharp (well not super sharp) instruments in the back of your car.  You could stop suddenly and have them all shoot out from the back seat into the back of your head.  Or you could stop at a light and have a crazed gang enter the car, grab the knives and stab you for your purse.  The risks are numerous.  Thank God I can sharpen in the privacy of my own home.

So I set up the sharpener, reading all the directions.  You would be surprised on how important your hand movements and holding angle are to the quality of your blade.  I started with a lovely pairing knife.  Was gentle at first and only ran it through a couple of times.  Went into the fridge and took out a pint of grape tomatoes to test the blade.  This pairing knife did better but not great.  I went back to the sharpener and really ran it through.  Now it sliced through the tomato as if it wasn't event here!

Took all the knives from the block and ran them through - the chef's knife, the bread knife, the fish scaler and even the clever.  After each sharpen, I was off to cut some tomatoes.  Finished the Henckels and moved on to the steak knives, the old pairing knives at the bottom of the drawer and even consider the scissors -but no scissors could be ruined.  I was obsessed. Actually ran out of tomatoes to cut.

All sharpened and the sharpener put away, I forgot about my adventure until it was time to cook dinner.  This time the knife did not cut through the tomato, instead it cut my thumb, then my index finger and finally my pinkie nail! Blood and bandages dotted the kitchen.

So as much fun as knife sharpening can be - take my words of caution and proceed with caution or at least wear an oven mitt for the first few slices.