How long do your knives last you?

beckstar1975

We splashed out on good knives 20 years ago, have had them professional sharpened a few times and sharpen them (badly I expect) at home too.

I bought a new knife at the weekend (cheap £3 thing) and am amazed at how well it cuts, ie how bad our current knives are.

How often to you change knives, and if it's a long time how often and where do you sharpen them? And with what?

The OS thing to do would be to try and restore our current ones, suspect we may end up buying new ones and then making sure we get them professional sharpened regularly to keep their condition.

joedenise

The best way to sharpen knives is with a steel but you need to learn how to use it properly.  My DH is really good at sharpening our knives.  Having said that they're not as old as yours!  I think they are probably about 12 or 13 years old but they are still very sharp once sharpened.

Ideally they should be sharpened after every use or alternatively before each use.  DH does ours after use as he's not always in when I'm prepping food so makes more sense.

I am absolutely useless at sharpening although do use a "pull through" sharpener if necessary if knives need sharpening mid prepping - not as good but does the job.

beckstar1975

Well that's where we really fail, I guess I need to learn to use a steel as DH can't, although DS does have a wetstone for his swiss army knives so maybe learn to give that a go

Effician

Oil stone for our knives which are around 15yrs old ( came free from the now disappeared counters at a local supermarket) & i'd expect them to last at least as long again though  expect the handles to go first, i can get a really good edge on them but try not to go too sharp as Mrs E is not too fussed on what type of surface she uses them & if too fine an edge they will dull too quickly.

Scissors i do on the bench grinder , axes / spades etc with an angle grinder & secateurs with a small diamond stone.

DullGreyGuy

joedenise said:

The best way to sharpen knives is with a steel but you need to learn how to use it properly.  My DH is really good at sharpening our knives.  Having said that they're not as old as yours!  I think they are probably about 12 or 13 years old but they are still very sharp once sharpened.

Ideally they should be sharpened after every use or alternatively before each use.  DH does ours after use as he's not always in when I'm prepping food so makes more sense.

There are sharpening and honing steels... you certainly wouldnt be using a sharpening steel before/after each use and even with frequent use of a honing steel you will still need to sharpen occasionally. 

Most suggest that steels are fine for western knives but are not recommended for the much harder japanese knives.


Our knives are now about 7 years old, sharpen every couple of months. Currently use a rolling style sharpener but used to use a whetstone with a guard to get the right angle.

In my experience a small £3 knife out the box will be about the same as our 7 year old ones immediately post sharpening but lose their sharpness much quicker. For large knives the budget knives are never as good as ours post sharpening, the weight/angle etc all help making heavy chopping easy

-taff

I got a medium sized one from Ikea of all places last year. It was so sharp I bought one for everyone. It's still sharp now. My mother was italian and every year we went, the knife sharpening guy would set up his wheel in the street and people would bring their knives to him. We've still got knives [and cutlery] that are fifty years old and more, razor sharp. I've filled my cutlery drawer though with nonna knives because they are vicious things and don't seem to dull with age. My father had one that changed shape because he sharpened it every week at a minimum. I would love a bench grinder, am waiting for a workshop to put one in

nachtvlinders

I use a whetstone for my Japanese knives; it works well. I may not have perfected the technique but it works for me. 

CapricornLass

My 8" cooks knife is 48 years old, and in almost daily use.  OH has his own knife, which is probably around 15 years old, which is also heavily used, He sharpens both those and the other knives we have, firstly on a grindstone, and then on a Japanese wetstone.  (He doesn't trust me with his tools!)  They are like razors.  

If you've bought good knives to start with, and learn how to sharpen them, and take care how you use them,  then they will last you.

Floss

My knives are about 17 years old, cost about £75 at the time for a set of 8 plus carving fork & cleaver and live on a magnetic rack so they don't get blunted being loose in a drawee.

Up until 2018 I lived in Blackpool where there was a mobile knife sharpening team for all the hotels. The knives would get a professional sharpening every year with the occasional run over with a steel if needed.

Now i live elsewhere I sharpen them every couple of months with a steel from IKEA, apart from the cleaver which is only ever used to cut butternut squash 🙂

mumf

The ones we replaced are 10 years old. I sharpen them regularly as blunt is no good! That’s my professional attitude. Up to my serious illness,I was a butcher for 41 years. My knives there,just two, lasted one year for the six inch boning knife,and 2 for my steak knife. 

Admiral_Barbarossa

I've used the sharpening steel on my knives, when they are out of my back, and never had to buy new ones in over thirty years. In fact, I have the Old man's carving knife and it slices meat at a distance!