There are many tools in a kitchen, but knives are where it all starts. Without a sharp knife, you will struggle.
A correctly sharpened knife makes all of your work easier, gives better cuts, and is safer to use. A dull knife can be dangerous, because of the force needed to get the same cuts as a sharp knife. This is why sharp knives are important, but what are the best cutting boards for your expensive knives.
There are two main causes for your knives becoming dull; a rolled edge or a rounded edged. While a knife edge may look sharp, it may be quite dull and jagged if looked at under magnification.
When your knife edges become bent or rolled over to one side, caused by too much pressure on the blade, a rolled edge occus. This is most common reason that a food prep knife becomes dull. A rounded knife edge happens when material is worn away from the blade due to overuse without sharpening. This is considered normal wear and tear. When the cutting edge of your knife blade becomes rounded, it requires sharpening.
Your cutting board material is also a factor in wear of your knives. A cutting board made from hard material like glass can cause your knife edge to roll. Hardness of the knife material ismalso a factor. The best kitchen knives are made with good old stainless steel, which has “Rockwell Hardness” ratings from 55 to 59. Specialty knives made from carbon steel, or Japanese VG steel, are harder, with Rockwell Hardness ratings of 60+, but are more brittle and prone to chipping.
The worst boards for your expensive cooking knives are made of glass and stone. Glass cutting boards are extremely hard. They are almost as hard as steel! These boards will dull even your best knives. By contrast, HDPE plastic, and Richlite, cutting boards are easy to maintain, and will not chip your knives. Richlite or plastic cutting boards are also long lasting when taken care of correctly. Plastic and Richlite are the most common materials use o make commercial kitchen cutting boards. As an added plus, you can just throw them in a dish washer to be cleaned and sanitized – an action that will instantly ruin most wood cutting boards! If you are a knife aficionado, it would make sense to invest in a custom Richlite or plastic cutting board.
