Is Your Sponge Ruining Your Knife?

Name: The Chef’s Knife
Brand: Artisan Revere
SKU: Chef-Blu-Mahog-86
Price: 445.0 USD
Availability: InStock

USE YOUR SPONGE CORRECTLY TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR KNIVES

5 MINUTE READ

BY: DAVID OLKOVETSKY

In this edition of our Knife Education Series, we're going over the right type of sponge to use to keep your knives in great shape. We'll also give you some tips to keep your sponges in the best possible condition for the longest amount of time.

As a refresher, we recently discussed how you can keep your knives looking their best, by washing and drying immediately after cooking, and applying a bit of food grade mineral oil on occasion. We also went over several techniques to keep your knives sharp, and chip-free for longer. Proper sponge technique touches on both: keeping knives looking good, and helping them stay sharper for longer. Let's jump in.

Pick A Non-Scratch Sponge

Pick a non-scratch right sponge: Grocery stores and hardware stores carry a variety of sponge options. Our recommendation is to only purchase sponges labeled non-scratch. Their “heavy duty” cousins often contain very aggressive scouring materials, like Aluminum Oxide, which will scratch up your blades and also dull your knife edges. In fact, Aluminum Oxide is one of the main materials used in abrasive belts and whetstones: the material can really eat metal! To make matters worse, heavy duty sponges can also scratch up your pots, pans, and wooden cutting boards, if used too aggressively. That's why we always recommend non-scratch sponges.

The best non-scratch that we've tested is the O-Cedar Scrunge® Multi-Use Sponge. We like it because it's Teflon™ approved for non-stick surfaces, it readily absorbs water, squeezes dry easily, and the shape and size are quite versatile.

The best way to wash knives: Wet your sponge with warm water and then squeeze a bit of dish soap into it. Make sure the soap is well-absorbed. When washing cutlery and dishes, we recommend starting off with the gentler side of the sponge. This side is typically made of cellulose or a foam material (polyurethane). If some food scraps are stuck on, go ahead and switch to the scouring side. Once your knife looks like it's free of any remaining food particles, run some warm water water over it to wash off the soap. A clean sponge and a bit of standard dish soap are all you’ll need to clean off your dirty dishes, and keep your cutlery in top-notch condition. For a detailed guide to washing your knife, visit Artisan Revere's Guide to Washing and Drying Your Knives.

Clean your sponge: When you finish up with the sponge, don’t forget to clean it off. This is one of those unusual kitchen tips that almost everyone forgets about—cleaning the sponge you just cleaned with. It is important because bacteria thrives in moisture.

Your daily ritual should include two important steps. When you finish washing the dishes, remember to 1. Squeeze any remaining water and soap out of the sponge, and 2. Store it in a way that allows air to flow all around the sponge.

There are three quick and easy methods to killing bacteria, like Salmonella, E. coli, and Staphylococcus which might be living in and on your sponge. A few times a week with any of these 3 cleaning methods will help you feel confident that your sponge is bacteria-free.

The Microwave: Soak your sponge in water and then place it in the microwave. Ensure that the sponge is fully saturated. Run the microwave on high for 1-2 minutes. Carefully remove the sponge. Do not wring it out for at least 5 minutes, as the water it retains will be extremely hot and can burn you. Squeeze out the remaining water only once the sponge has cooled off. To be confident you won’t burn yourself, it’s a good idea to wear latex cleaning gloves. This method kills 99.9% of bacteria.
Bleach + Water: Create a mixture of 9 parts water, 1 part bleach. Place and leave the sponge in the mixture to fully soak up for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Dry. This method also kills 99.9% of bacteria.
Dishwasher: Place your sponge in the dishwasher and make sure to run it with “heated dry” turned on.

That’s all you need to know to make sure your sponges aren't dulling your knives and making you sick. If you’re ready to upgrade your knives, join us, as we improve the quality of knives across America.

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Customer Reviews

A Dream

I'm having so much fun getting acclimated to my new knife. Immediately noticeable was how light it was in comparison to my current daily driver. This translates into a wonderful nimble-ness when in use, feeling very much like a natural extension of my intent as I cut rather than a tool for which I need to plan each movement. The details are beautifully considered, and I was pleasantly surprised by both the rounded spine and the very useful point at the heel. I'm so glad I finally treated myself to this knife!!

Incredible chef’s knife

I ordered a chef’s knife that was out of stock so I knew there would be a delay, but the company kept me updated on everything that was going on with my knife (approximately when the steel would be there, when it got there, went into production, etc.) Customer service was above and beyond in every way. So is the knife. Incredibly sharp, great weight and balance, ergonomics are spot on. This is a fast and fun knife.

Outstanding knife

I love this chef’s knife. It is a very comfortable knife to use and wicked sharp. I was surprised by how lightweight the knife is, I’m used to heavier weight knives. I was a bit concerned until I used if for the first time. It’s so easy to use, the lightweight aspect is not an issue, it’s a benefit for bigger cutting and chopping tasks.

I own chef’s knives from Bloodroot Blades, Misen and Frederick Dick. All are great for their own reasons but my new Artisan Revere knife is fast becoming my favorite. I’ve used it a dozen or so times for various tasks and it makes even mundane work a pleasure. I’m interested to see the longevity of the sharpness. I’m used to honing with each use and using my work sharp belt sharpener every 4-5 months. So far the Artisan chef knife has held its edge longer than I am used to. I love this knife and look forward to continue to challenge it. You can’t go wrong buying this knife. PS I also own the petty knife. I bought that before the chef.

Incredible Kitchen Tool

The Artisan Revere Chef's knife is the best overall knife I’ve ever worked with.

Mine came RAZOR sharp and it stays that way for an insanely long time. I just do a quick hone on my honing rod and occasionally pop it onto a 1,000 grit stone and it’s back to perfection.

The other thing I’ve noticed with my Artisan Revere knife is how unbelievably comfortable it is. All of my other knives are really rough on my hands. My Artisan Revere knife feels incredible and I’ve been cooking wayyyyy more because of it.

I love this knife. It was the best investment I’ve made in a long time.

Top tier knife

First impression as soon as I got my package was wow. This company did a fantastic job on delivery and packaging of this knife. Second thing you notice is how light and well balanced the knife actually is. NOW for the actual performance of the knife. This is an honest review. I own over 70 plus fine western and Japanese knives ranging from brands and metals that you’re probably familiar with to ones that you probably wouldn’t have heard of. Wustof, henkels, global, Kramer, miyabi, kikuichi, sekai Takayuki, Mac, masakage. And metals such as zdp 189, 52100, Hap 40, aogami supers, white #2 you get the picture. Out of the box sharpness was just ok and that’s fine I’m usually not a fan of factory edges from a lot of knife makers. So after 2 days of use I sharpened my knife on the cerax 1000 and rika 5000 then Shapton 8000. And NOW THIS KNIFE IS SCARY SHARP. It took a scary sharp edge and now glides thru vegetable prep. I work in catering for over 14 years, so I know my way a knife. We do large amounts of prep and only time will tell how the edge holds up. Love the handle it’s super comfortable and appreciate the height of the knife. Also love how smooth the metal around the choil is. And the leather sheath he really nice. If you are an experienced knife sharpener which I’m sure if your buying this knife most of you are, pull the trigger you won’t be disappointed. I just recommend a good hand sharpening to unlock its true and full potential.

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