How to maintain your knife?

Our solutions to maintain your knife properly

Just like any luxury product, our knives require specific maintenance. Here are Les Artisans du Couteau’s tips to make your knife immortal!

Our maintenance advice for your knives

Broadly speaking, we recommend you to avoid the dishwasher! If the latter is one of your best friends on a daily basis, it is also the worst enemy of luxury products! But doesn’t your wonderful piece deserve all your attention? Or at least a few seconds (a few minutes maximum) of your daily time? Here, you shall find ancestral tips, since your knife, made from natural materials, deserves the best, and the best can generally be found in our environment. The techniques used firstly depend on the materials your knife is made with. Basically, the latter is divided in 2 parts: the blade and the handle.

Handle maintenance

Just like the blade, maintaining the handle of your knife depends on its material. At Les Artisans du Couteau, there are 3 types of materials:

• horn
• wood
• polymer,

The horn and wood are natural materials which are therefore subjected to erosion. They can get dry or dark, swell or crack. To preserve your knife, it is once again indispensable to avoid water. However, nourish these materials with linseed or olive oil, so as to prevent any possible cracks and to help it stand the test of time of environment better. A trickle of oil applied with a cloth shall be enough, while using too much oil could make the material swell.

The texture of the handle can also suffer damage due to weather conditions and time. In that case, sand it delicately with paper or steel wool or the thinnest sandpaper as you can find. Then, rub it with a soft cloth.

For polymer knives, there is no particular maintenance advice. We could even allow you to put yours into the dishwasher, although it shall wear out more rapidly. However, it remains the worst enemy of blades and is thus forbidden for our top-of-the-line knives.

Blade maintenance

Our blades are made with stainless steel or carbon steel.

Stainless-steel blades

Maintaining stainless steel is convenient! Since it is impervious to oxidation, it is therefore waterproof. This way, we recommend you to pass the blade under hot water and to use soap, especially if you want to remove grease. Washing-up liquid yet remains harmful and we therefore recommend you not to use it, and not to air dry your blade either. Take a few seconds to dry it with a cloth, or even better, a microfiber fabric!

Please note that Damascus blades are made with stainless steel.

Carbon-steel blades

This type of steel requires a greater care. Avoid water! If you cannot, please respect these few rules so as to prevent rust deposits on the blade: do not soak it in the water, do not use soap or any other harmful products, do not air dry it, dry it immediately, store your knife in the open air.

As you can see, our advice are the same as for the 2 types of steel, but our handcrafted knives shall be far much more intolerant if these few rules about carbon steel are not respected.

How to keep a shiny blade?

Now you know how to wash your blade, here are a few natural methods to help it keep its brightness.

• White vinegar, and even warm one, shall help your knife remain impeccable.
• Starch! For an 100% eco-friendly antirust solution, cut an organic potato in two and rub your blade with it. A regular potato should also do the trick, of course.

Do not forget to dry your blade with a cloth after applying these home remedies.

Advice on how to maintain your blade are also applicable to the mitre, the part which joins the blade and the handle together, and whose function is to make your knife easier to handle.

For knives with mechanisms, it can be useful to apply, from time to time, a drop of linseed or olive oil.

Finally, a good knife must above all be able to cut! To that end, it is INDISPENSABLE to maintain its cutting-edge, and this implies sharpening or honing. To learn more, you can read our guide about “How to sharpen a knife?” 

How to Maintain your Knife?

Les Artisans du Couteau have revealed their tips to upkeep your exceptional pieces. Now, it’s up to you now!