How to Clean and Store Your Kitchen Knives

The best way to clean your knife is to simply run it under the tap right after you use it. Just hold it under cold running water and rub the blade with your fingers, without touching the sharp edge. You can also use a towel or a sponge, but make sure they are clean so they don’t scratch the blade’s metal surface.

It’s important to do this as soon as possible – salty or acidic food can stain your blade if you don’t clean it for longer periods of time.

It’s also ok to use just water – our stainless steel blades are highly polished during the manufacturing process, which means ingredients don’t usually stick to them. The only exception is greasy food – here a small amount of dishwashing liquid on a sponge should be enough.

For maximum safety, it’s best to hold the knife blade parallel to the sink so you can see the whole surface of the blade and keep an eye on the sharp edge all the time.

All of our household knives with synthetic handles are dishwasher-safe. We would however recommend that you wash all large knives by hand, regardless of whether they have wood or synthetic handles.

The reason for this is that if it isn’t placed carefully, a large knife can damage the cutlery basket, which itself can cause corrosion. If this happens, the dishwasher’s system may have an indirect effect on the knife’s steel. Washing by hand can also help to keep the knives sharper longer, since the process is gentler on the blade.

However, if you do go for the dishwasher option, we recommend rinsing the blade first and making sure that the knives in the cutlery basket don’t touch other metal items. This avoids the blades being damaged by other utensils or cutlery.

We also recommend paying attention to which detergent you use in your machine. Aggressive or too much detergent can also cause stains on the blade. If you see that your dishwasher is not cleaning your blades thoroughly, we recommend changing your detergent.

Other tips include opening the dishwasher briefly after cleaning. The hot water vapour and water condensation can also cause stains and corrosion on the blades.

Don’t let your knives air-dry, as this can result in limescale spots on the blade. Instead, use a cotton or linen towel to dry the knife immediately after washing. Make sure your towel is clean so as not to scratch or harm the blade.

Knives with wooden handles need slightly different treatment and they definitely should not go in the dishwasher. When washing them under the tap, try to make sure the handle doesn’t get too wet. In fact, it’s best to clean the handle with a damp cloth. Avoid extreme temperatures, high level of moisture and aggressive cleaning agents.

We also recommend that you treat the handle with a conventional cooking oil or our protective wax every now and again, to prevent moisture entering the handle and to refresh its natural grain and colour. You can use an oil like rapeseed or linseed, and we especially recommend using a cold pressed oil, which won’t clog the wood’s fine pores and gets into the grain of the wood better.

The type of cutting board you use can also affect the performance of your blade. You should avoid hard surfaces made of natural or artificial stone, which dull the blade of your knife. We recommend using a wooden or plastic cutting board instead. Our cutting boards are especially kind to blades.

Pro tip: when you are using your knife to push ingredients that you’ve just chopped from the cutting board into your pot or pan, always flip the knife around and use its spine. This way, you aren’t blunting the cutting edge of the blade by scraping it across the board.

The golden rule is never store your knives loosely in a drawer. When unprotected blades rub against each other, they lose sharpness and the cutting edge can be damaged by the other blades. We strongly recommend keeping your knives in a block, in an in-drawer holder or on a magnetic holder on the wall.