Food-Grade Mineral Oil: Keeping Your Knives Looking Their Best

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

2 MINUTE READ

BY: DAVID OLKOVETSKY

Ensuring that your kitchen knives last forever is all about building good habits. There’s nothing complicated or fancy about it, just some basic principles that will keep your blades in superb working condition. Our first two tips are designed to help you keep your knives looking great.

In our prior edition, we learned how to properly wash and dry our knives. For a refresher, click the link below.

The Nuances of Washing and Drying Your Knives Correctly

In this edition, we’re going over food-grade mineral oil, and why applying it to your blades will prevent patina.

Apply food-grade mineral oil to your blade and handle.

Food-grade mineral oil plays a major role in great knife care, yet it’s one of the most overlooked maintenance steps. We recommend applying a few drops of food-grade mineral oil to a towel, ideally one designated specifically for this task, and rubbing it into the blade and handle, taking care not to cut yourself on the edge.

The mineral oil will create a physical barrier between the steel and everything else. If your knife was properly cleaned and dried, this guarantees your blade will look its best for generations to come. Food-grade mineral oil prevents patination and corrosion.

One of the reasons we like storing our knives in leather sheaths, is that over time, the inside of the sheath will build up a modest layer of mineral oil, helping keep your knives lubricated and protected from the elements. Food-grade mineral oil is also particularly useful for handle materials such as Richlite®, wood, and micarta, so don’t forget to apply a drop of it to your knife handle. The oil impregnates the fibers of the material that make up the handle and fills in the intercellular gaps so they can’t fill up with water and bacteria. This reduces shrinkage and expansion due to moisture/humidity changes. Some additional tips:

Don't use cooking oils: It’s important to note that you should not use other oils, like olive oil, canola oil, coconut oil, etc., because they will quickly oxidize and go rancid.
Have a designated oil towel: We recommend having one dish towel set aside for mineral oil. You’ll use this same towel for your knives, your butcher blocks, anything in your kitchen that is steel or wooden.
Food-grade or food safe: Use mineral oils labeled “food-safe” or “food-grade”.

What Is Food-Grade Mineral Oil & Where Can I Get It?

Food-grade mineral oils are highly refined mineral oils that are tasteless, hydrophobic, and chemically stable. Importantly, they do not support bacterial growth and are inert. In other words, they won’t change the taste of your food, they repel water, they won’t react to acids or bases, and they create a protective barrier that protects the steel from patina. This essentially means that they’re a perfect belt and suspender protection tool for knife blades and handles.

You can find inexpensive food-grade mineral oil at Target, hardware stores, Amazon, and sometimes your local pharmacy, and it should cost under $10. You can find food-grade mineral oils here.

Go ahead and pick up some food-grade mineral oil to guarantee your knives keep looking their best. And, if you’re ready for an upgrade, 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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