How do I care for my Milk Street knives?Updated 5 months ago

Cleaning your knives: 

Always keep your knife dry and clean! 

1. Hand wash with warm soapy water. A sponge or soft scrubby should suffice; anything too abrasive can scratch the surface.  
2. Never put your knife in the dishwasher or leave it soaking in water—it can damage the handle or blade steel.
3. Dry your knife completely using an absorbent towel. 

Storing your knives:

We recommend storing your knives with one of the following:

1. Magnetic knife rack
2. Magnetic knife block
   1. We offer Artelegno knife blocks
3. Wooden saya (Japanese knife sheath)
   1. We offer two sayas one for the Kitchin-to and one for the Kitchin-tan/Serrated Kitchin-tan
   2. We also offer a knife cover by bisbell that can be cut to the size you need but only fits the Kitchin-kiji and Milk Street Nakiri
4. Knife roll or wrap

Maintenance: 

A sharp blade makes for a safe, effective and pleasurable knife to use, so we strongly encourage regular knife maintenance to keep your blade in top form. Every knife will eventually dull with use.

To begin, routine use of a Work Sharp Ceramic Honing Rod helps maintain sharpness by realigning the blade edge, which curls over with use (the fine, leading blade edge is more delicate than you might think). Give each side of the blade a few gentle swipes tip to butt at roughly 17 degrees (the angle of the bevel) and wipe clean afterwards. Check out this knife sharpening video to learn more!

Once the knife begins to glance off foods or tears at meats even after honing, it’s time to sharpen.

We highly recommend the following knife sharpeners:

1. Suehiro Ceramic Water Wheel Knife Sharpener for Double Beveled Knife
2. Work Sharp Benchtop Whetstone Knife Sharpener
3. Work Sharp E2 Sharpening System

For serrated knives: if you find it needs sharpening, we recommend using a fine diamond sharpening rod. Simply slide the rod in the scallops between the teeth to bring the edge back

We also recommend professional sharpening at least once a year for the best maintenance, even if you are sharpening at home. Many knife speciality stores around the country provide mail-order sharpening if you cannot find a local service.