Whether you are an amateur or a professional chef, you will have your favorite knife in the kitchen.
A sharp knife (or a set of sharp knives!) is the most ideal tool to have in the kitchen.The frequency in which you should sharpen your knives, or get them sharpened professionally depends on your usage. How often you sharpen it yourself or get it done professionally depends on your usage. However, even after sharpening, a knife might not have an even edge. This would be your cue to consider stropping the knife! Buy a leather strop to do this by yourself, in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Investing in a good knife is only worth it if you maintain it well. Getting it sharpened regularly is the clear way to good maintenance, regardless of the type of knife.
What is stropping?
Stropping is the procedure that ensures that the edge of your knife remains smooth and sharp like it should. It is the final step in keeping your knife looking brand new and comes after sharpening.
After sharpening a knife, the cutting edge is typically uneven and has a burr (a fine wire of the knife's material that has partly come off) that is either visible or detectable via touch. Stropping removes that extra metal from the knife resulting in a more uniform edge, optimizing sharpness.
Why should you buy a leather strop?
Investing in a leather strop helps you strop a knife whenever needed. All you need to do is move the knife at a slanted angle up and down the leather strop, ensuring that the sharp edge is not cutting through the strop itself.
Stropping a kitchen knife ensures that it is at its sharpest to give you the best performance, no matter what you are using it for! This process can be done on any knife—Nakiri, Santoku, Gyuto, or Petty—regardless of its size.
You can use a stropping compound to maximize the efficiency of your leather strop. The compound can be reapplied every week. It can be used in between uses if need be.
So, yes! It is a great idea to get yourself a leather strop.
You can extend the sharpness of your knife as long as you can, between sharpening procedures. This can be done by investing in a protective, magnetic or leather saya, or case for the blades. These cases come in various sizes, and you can buy one that is the right fit for your knife. You can also buy knife polishing accessories to keep the knife looking brand new.
Whether you are hosting a dinner party for friends or just making warm comfort food for your family on a cold day, take your pick of knives from The Cook’s Edge. The store offers Atlantic Canada’s largest selection of beautiful handcrafted Japanese knives and affordable knife sharpening services.