UTENSILS : Blades Are Cut Out to Be in Sharp Shape

For best results, treat your knives and scissors with care so they will keep you on the cutting edge.

Here’s how to take care of knives:

* Always use a cutting board.

* Don’t use a good knife to stir hot food. Heat can damage the blade.

* Wash a knife by hand right after using it and dry it thoroughly. Don’t put it in a dishwasher unless the manufacturer specifies that it is dishwasher-safe.

* Avoid soaking knives in water. The wooden handles can be damaged and loosened.

* Store knives in a wooden knife block or with blades pointed upward on a wall-mounted magnetic bar. If you store them in a drawer, use a divider or knife rack to avoid metal-to-metal contact that can nick the blades.

* Knives with serrated edges should be sharpened by a professional, or not at all.

Chef’s Steel

To keep a good carving or kitchen knife in top form, make a habit of sharpening it on a chef’s steel before each use. Here’s how:

* Grab the steel in your left hand (if you’re right-handed) and hold it straight out in front of you. Hold the knife in your right hand.

* Place the heel of the blade (the part next to the handle) against the steel’s tip. Hold the knife at a 15-to-20 degree angle.

* Applying light pressure, quickly draw the knife toward you and to the right so that the entire blade passes over the steel. Repeat the action with the blade beneath the steel. Alternate strokes until each side has passed over the steel 10 to 20 times.

Whetstone

The most effective way to get a good cutting edge on a blade, even one that is badly dulled, is to use a whetstone (bench stone) with a coarse and fine side, available at hardware stores.

* Before using a whetstone, saturate it with vegetable or mineral oil. (Check the manufacturer’s directions.)

* Sharpen a very dull knife first on the whetstone’s coarse side, then on its fine side. With a blade that’s only slightly dull, use the fine side only.

* Place the stone on a non-skid surface, such as a rubber pad, or fasten it in a vise. Position it lengthwise in front of you.

* Holding the knife firmly, place the heel of the blade on the stone so that the cutting edge is at a 15- to 20-degree angle to the stone. Maintain this angle throughout the procedure.

* Applying pressure with both hands, draw the blade in an arc across the stone and away from you, from its heel to its tip, so that the entire length of the blade is sharpened.

* Flip the blade and reverse the stroke, working toward you. Repeat 10 times on each side.

* Continue with a few light strokes over the stone’s fine side. Finish with a few strokes on the chef’s steel.

Scissors

Don’t sharpen scissors unless they are badly nicked. Frequent sharpening whittles away metal, causing the blades to cut poorly. Before sharpening, try tightening the pivot screw that holds the blades together. Doing this alone may improve the cutting.

* To sharpen, use a whetstone (coarse side up) prepared as for sharpening knives. Open the scissors wide and, firmly holding one blade and handle, place the other blade on the stone with the inner face vertical.

* Then tilt the blade slightly (less than 10 degrees) so that the cutting level is flat against the stone. Repeatedly move the blade diagonally across the stone toward you until you have the desired edge. Repeat on the other blade.

* Wipe both blades clean with a soft cloth. Open and close the scissors several times to remove the burrs that result from sharpening. Have a professional knife grinder remove deep nicks.