Knowledge Base > Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
Dan Marek - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)
This event was on
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern
Join Chef Dan Marek in his virtual office as he welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to Ask Anything – from cooking techniques to cours… Read More.
Question:
I did the paper test with my current old Wustoff knife, and not only did it not cut cleanly, it didn't cut at all. It seems I need a new knife, but I'm a little scared to get a new really sharp knife. I'm afraid of cutting myself. Any tips to reassure me?
— Melissa Ruebenson
Answer:
Yeah, so Melissa, sounds like your knife is dull here. And, um, you know, much like to, like, you know, if you're afraid of this, you'd actually wanna be more afraid of a dull knife than you would be of a sharp knife because you're more than likely going to slip with that blade as you're cutting something which can actually hit you and cut you. Instead, the sharper your knife, the ease will go through the product to be able to make sure that you're getting a really clean cut and the safer it actually is. So my advice is on that woff knife is to, uh, to give it a good sharpening. You can either take it to professionally, uh, to get it professionally sharpened. Um, if you're in one of our courses, uh, a lot of the plant-based pro and those will show you how to do a knife sharpening technique using a wet stone, which is definitely the best way to be able to sharpen, um, your knives. Um, you can also use an electric one as well too, that they sell for home use. Um, and then professional use is always a great use, uh, or a great way to be able to do that, where you take it to a professional, there are lots of them around to be able to do those and you pay them to be able to sharpen that knife. Now, if your knife right now the woff is not actually cutting through the paper, that means it's really, really dull. So I would highly recommend sharpening the knife. Um, and again, the sharper the knife, the actual, you know, the safer it is, just take, if you're cutting something like a potato and you take your knife and it slips off the end and you're holding it, you can actually, uh, cut your fingers. But if you're cutting through that same potato with a sharp knife, it's gonna go right through and you don't have to worry about, um, cutting yourself as easy. So, uh, a lot of people are afraid of very sharp knives, but the sharper they are, the, uh, safer they are for you. Um, so I hope that helps Melissa. So get those knives sharpened. You might wanna start using a honing tool as well, um, which is a great thing just to be able to use more on the regular, um, when you're using your knives too. Um, but don't throw out the woff, those great knives just need to be sharpened.