Gary Portman 
People often call the santoku a Japanese chef’s knife, as if the two were the same tool with a different accent. They aren’t. A chef’s knife has a curved edge and a sharp point made for rocking through herbs and … Read more
A nakiri and an usuba look almost the same from the side: a rectangular blade with a flat edge for vegetables. The difference is the bevel. A nakiri is sharpened on both sides and works like any Western knife; an … Read more
To use a Smith’s knife sharpener, pull the blade through the coarse carbide slot 3 or 4 times with light pressure (only if the knife is dull), then 8 to 10 times through the fine ceramic slot to polish the … Read more
If you want to have sharp knives at all times, you should totally learn how to use a Lansky Pocket Knife Sharpener. We have just the guide that can help! Short answer, for the Lansky BladeMedic: use the carbide slot … Read more
To use a butterfly knife, you hold one handle (the safe handle) and let the other handle and the blade swing around it, opening or closing the knife with wrist movements instead of a thumb stud or a spring. The … Read more
A kitchen knife is sharp enough when it bites into a tomato’s skin under its own weight and slices a sheet of paper from heel to tip without snagging. If it slides off the tomato or tears the paper, it … Read more
A strop is the reason some people’s knives fall through a tomato while yours, fresh off the same stone, still feels a little grabby. Sharpening leaves behind a burr, a wire of weakened steel clinging to the very edge, plus … Read more
Hawkbill knives share their curved edge with knives like the karambit. The edge curves inward, like a bird’s beak, so most of these knives are not used for chopping. Instead, they are used for carving, pulling cuts and slicing. Sharpening … Read more
Glock is famous for pistols, but since 1978 it has also made a field knife for the Austrian army. The original FM 78 has a plain spine; the FM 81 adds a saw on the back. Both use the same … Read more
For one premium Japanese-style knife, I’d buy the Shun. Both brands put a hard, very sharp core inside layered Damascus steel, but Shun makes its knives in Seki, Japan, and will sharpen them for the original owner for free. Dalstrong … Read more