In this article, we will guide you through the most frequently asked questions and issues that arise with kitchen knives.

Every single kitchen knife customer at Artisan Revere receives a detailed guide to knife care. We’ve summarized that guide down to 8 simple steps, most of which are proactive. Sometimes, things still go wrong. This article will teach you how to troubleshoot the most common kitchen knife problems.

First, the 8 steps to knife care are as follows:

1. Hand wash & dry right after use—never use the dishwasher.

2. Avoid bones, frozen food, and ceramic—they can chip your blade.

3. Cut on end-grain wooden or plastic cutting boards only.

4. Use the knife's spine for food collection, not the knife's edge.

5. Use food-grade mineral oil on the handle & blade regularly.

6. Hone daily with ceramic honing rods—avoid steel rods.

7. Sharpen on whetstones or a belt grinder regularly.

8. Store on a magnet or in a leather sheath—no knife blocks.

With that out of the way, let’s jump into knife troubleshooting:

1. My knife blade has started to discolor. What should I do?

2. My knife is no longer flying through food. What should I do?

3. How Do I Sharpen My Knife?

4. How Often Should I Sharpen My Knife?

5. What Are The Best Whetstones To Use?

6. My knife has micro-chipping. What should I do?

7. My knife has a big chip in it. What should I do?

8. I dropped my knife and the tip broke off. What should I do?

9. My knife is really sharp and I’m scared of it. What should I do?

10. How Should I Hold My Knife?

The discoloration has come about as a result of oxidation. At Artisan Revere, we use super steels like Elmax, which have plenty of free chromium to fight oxidation, but sometimes, if a knife is left in something acidic, the oxidation process can start stripping that free chromium layer.

We recommend a product called Shadazzle, which can be purchased for about $10. It is a mild abrasive. Once your blade has been brought back to its original luster, remember to wash and dry your knife as soon after cooking as possible.

Whetstones are a great option. To learn good sharpening technique, we recommend Murray Carter’s Blade Sharpening Fundamentals, available on Youtube. Note, it's a 3 hour long video, so it may be too long. We will be releasing our own, much shorter guide soon.

In terms of electrical sharpeners, we like the WorkSharp Elite Knife Sharpening Solution as it’s not as aggressive a metal eater as the Chef’s Choice Trizor. We would recommend avoiding all non-electric hand-held pull-through systems as they will ruin your edge.

Chef Knife: For professional chefs, we suggest daily honing on a ceramic rod, and weekly or bi-weekly sharpening on whetstones. For home cooks, we suggest weekly honing on a ceramic rod, and monthly or quarterly sharpening on whetstones or a quality electric sharpener like the WorkSharp Elite Sharpening Solution.

Petty & Paring Knives: It’s best to sharpen your knife before it goes dull. Petty & paring knives do not typically process foods in a way that dulls them quickly. We do not suggest honing these knife. Instead, we recommend sharpening on whetstones or a quality electric sharpener at the same time as your more heavily used knives, like your chef’s knife.

There is no “best”, but the easiest to use are Shapton Glass Stones because they are the best metal eaters. They’re also splash-and-go, so you won’t need to soak them.

The second best option, in our opinion, is DMT Diamond Stones.

You can also use standard whetstones, but it will take a bit longer to re-sharpen. If you take this route, you’ll want a 220 grit stone to quickly remove metal. It is also useful to do a final burr removal via a leather strop.

My Knife Has a Big Chip In It. What Should I Do?

This will depend on how big the chip is. Firstly, to avoid chips, you should not be using a thin edged knife on extremely dense and hard items. We wrote up a full post on this here.

If you already have a chip on an A/R knife, please send us an email to help@artisanrevere.com. It will help us determine how to best proceed. We do offer a resharpening service, but if the chip is extremely tall, it will require a large amount of work to grind it out, and then thin out the knife. Once you send us a photo, we can help you decide what to do.

My Knife Has Microchipping. What Should I Do?

SImilar to the chip sections, please send us an email. We can likely fix this up for you by re-profiling your blade for a modest charge.

My Knife Is Really Sharp & I'm Scared Of It.

That’s okay! It’s important to learn how to hold your knife correctly, and importantly, how to hold it with different food items. We’ll be creating a variety of videos that will help with this.

How Should I Hold My Knives?

Chef Knife: The most standard grip for a chef’s knife is the pinch grip with your dominant hand. Your index finger and thumb should be gripping about 11.5” in front of the handle. The other three fingers should be wrapped around the handle. Your middle finger should be pushed up against the choil. This grip will give you maximum power and control. It is useful for push cuts, rocking motion, and slicing. There are some instances where you may choose to use a point grip with your index finger on the spine of your knife. In nearly all cases, your support hand should hold food down on the board in a claw grip. This way, your support hand fingers will never be exposed.

Petty Knife: The most standard grip for in-hand peeling work with a petty knife is to wrap your index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers around the handle with your dominant hand. Your thumb should be on the item you are peeling. For on-board cutting, you should use either a point grip (index finger on spine), or a pinch grip, with your index finger and your thumb on the sides of the blade just in front of the handle. In all cases, your support hand should be holding the food item, either in-hand, or on the cutting board.

Paring Knife: The most standard grip for in-hand peeling work with a paring knife is to wrap your middle, ring, and pinky fingers around the handle with your dominant hand. Your index finger should be on the spine of the blade close to the tip. Your thumb should be on the item you are peeling. For on-board cutting, your index finger should be on the spine of the knife with your thumb on the side of the blade. In all cases, your support hand should be holding the food item, either in-hand, or on the cutting board.

Your chef’s knife should be your most reliable sidekick in the kitchen. Take some time to do your research, and invest in a knife that stays sharp longer, cuts better, is tougher to chip, and feels great in your hand. Choose a knife made with a high-quality powder steel containing about 3% vanadium, for a knife that will last you a lifetime. 

Don’t know where to start? Go for the Artisan Revere Chef’s Knife, made with Elmax High Vanadium Super Steel—and tested by hundreds of home cooks and professional chefs. We promise it’ll soon become your workhorse in the kitchen; you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.