Knife Safety

• Asian Knives
• Boning & Fillet Knives
• Bread & Serrated Knives
• Carving Knives & Forks
• Chef's Knives
• Cleavers
• Cutting Boards
• Knife Blocks & Storage
• Knife Sets
• Knife Sharpeners
• Outlet
• Paring Knives
• Shears
• Specialty Knives
• Steak Knives
• Utility Knives

What to look out for in a good Knife

Good quality modern knives are made from high carbon stainless steel. This combines the softness of carbon steel for ease of sharpening with the strength of stainless steel.

Old fashioned high-carbon steel blades tarnish easily but they sharpen to a better edgea nd the blade is also more flexible. Careful maintenance is required the blade must be wiped dry after use and needs to be washed after cutting acidic produce such as onions.

Look for sturdy construction with the tang (handle end of the blade) running inside the handle and attached solidly with rivets.

The heel at the wide end of the blade reinforces the blade and protects the fingers.

Choose the right knife for the job. Flexible or rigid, long or short bladed.

Handle How is the handle made? Is it plain hardwood or an elegant rosewood? Is it a synthetic handle, with easier care and more grip and won't crack. Take the size of your hand into account: is it too large or small for the size of your hand?

Construction Stamped blades are less expensive than forged blades because they are stamped out of sheet steel with shaped dies. Forged knives are now largely mechanically made put the process is similar to the old hand forging.

Tang The tang is the end of the blade to which the handle is attached sometimes with rivets sometimes molded into synthetic material. If the tang doesn't pass through the entire handle it could cause the khandle to snap or the blade to beacome loose with prolonged use. The full tang is where you get the weight, balance, and stability of a high-quality knife. The best knives have full tangs.

Bolster This is the thick piece of metal between the handle and the heel of the blade, it is a shield between the fingers and the cutting edge and it helps to the balance of the knife.

Blade The size and shape of the blade are important to the use of the knife. Select the right blade for the task at hand.

Ceramic Ceramic blades are light and extremely sharp when made though they cannot be sharpened at home once they lose their edge and some are prone to chipping if not handled carefully! The edge will slide across some surfaces such as onion skin rather than slicing through it.

Type	Use		Type	Use
Paring	Trimming and peeling vegetables and fruit		Mandolin	To finely slice and cut up vegetables
Turning	Shaping and trimming vegetables		Vegetable peelers	To remove the peel of vegetables
Chef's or chopping	Chopping, dicing and slicing vegetables, meat, herbs and other ingredients		Parisienne cutters	To cut vegetables and fruit into balls
Carver	To cut even slices of meat		Pitter	To remove the stones from cherries or olives
Boning	To bone out meat		Corer	Usedto core fruit usually apples or pears
Filleting	To fillet fish and to thin slice and segment fruit and soft vegetables		Oyster knife	To force open th shells of oysters
Butcher's Scimitar	Used to slice raw meats into even steaks and chops		Grapefruit Knife	Used to prepare and eat grapefruit
Cleaver	Used to hack through bone - vegetable cleavers are used as a general chopping and slicing knife		Zester	Removes the zest of citrus fruit
Cutlet Bat	Used to flatten meat and fish especially escalopes		Egg Slicer	Slices boiled eggs evenly
Meat Hammers	Used to bat out meat, where more vigorous batting and tenderising is required		Fish scaler	To scrape the scales off fish
Canelle knife	Cuts thin strips of citrus fruit rind or the peel of vegetables to form a decorative pattern		Truffle/Aspic Cutters	Used to create decorative paatterns
Grater	To grate various foods from nutmeg to cheese		Kitchen Scissors	Used to cut and trim
Mezzaluna or mincing knife	finely chopping herbs and vegetables		Sharpening	Various utensils and methods or sharpening are now available
Cheese Knives	Curved with prongs to use on a cheese board or cheese wires to get thinner slices or cut up larger blocks		Meat Saw	Used to cut meat bones
			Poultry Shears	Used to cut through poultry boves and carcases