Opting for the best chef knives isn’t enough itself as maintaining them is another crucial task for you being a chef. Just like other chefs, you also want to get the most out of your holy knife, so you won’t have to keep replacing them.
But this wish doesn’t come true because your knives could start capturing rust. This is the worst thing a true chef could ever face in his career. A rusted knife isn’t a knife but it is likely to be a piece of junk sooner or later. To avoid rusting, you must learn how to prevent rust on knives?
Before finding out how to keep kitchen knives from rusting; it better is to find why you need to prevent them from rust at first. So, you will have a better understanding and you will be happily saving them from rust.
If you will keep your blade maintained; you will never miss out on the sharpness of a knife. The best knife requires the best material on its blade so it will provide a better pitch for cutting with enhanced sharpness.
Why Prevent Rust On Knives?
A knife is a prolonged property for a chef just like a car to its driver. Your knife needs sharpness to cut down the ingredients of a meal for your trade, or your family if you are a home chef. And, this sharpness is the dominant thing for a chef. Without that, your knife won’t work at all and you never want this to happen.
Most of the time, the knives mainly feature stainless and carbon steel in their blade composition. Stainless steel knives perform better than carbon ones, both in terms of sharpness, longevity and in rustproofing parts as well. But, they are a bit expensive and you will find them mostly in professional hands.
However, Carbon Steel knives are meant for both the intermediate, professional, beginners, and home chefs as well. Due to their reasonable price and balanced sharpness, these knives are the star of the Chef’s eyes. But, they need a bit of extra care or maintenance so you can expect them for a long time in your kitchen.
If you are using these knives and you don’t take care of them; you are likely to miss them. Carbon steel knives contain more carbon content that makes them tough enough. So, they can load impressive sharpness on their blades to provide a flawless cutting experience.
On one hand, this carbon content makes these knives durable and outstanding. But, this can also lead to their destruction as metals with carbon content attract the rust quickly. And, carbon knives get dull pretty rapidly after capturing rust.
This isn’t fair at all for a knife that costs more than a hundred bucks! If you want to secure this investment, it is better to learn how to rust proof a knife, so that blade could bring a nice smile to your face.
05 Methods on How To Prevent Rust On Knives | Tools Of Chef
In this knives care guide, you will get to know 05 best methods on how to prevent rust on knives. So, they can stay razor-sharp, cut easily and last for a long time. All these methods may work in any sort of situation for your knife.
1. Removing Patina (Rust) Layer from Blade
You will be thinking what the heck is a patina and what it has to do with a knife? Well, let us make things simple to consume them easily. A patina is simply a very thin layer of oxidation aka rust over the surface of your blade. It mostly happens to carbon knives and this can be fixed without any sort of professional services.
This layer isn’t blindly visible just like solid rust of dark orange shade. But, it still belongs to the rust family. A patina occurs on a carbon steel knife when it is set to idle and you are not using it for a couple of months.
This period could vary from 02 months and even some years. However, it all depends on the environment or atmosphere where you are living with that knife. In humid weather, this process is fast due to moisture content in the air. You will feel this Patina by rubbing your finger on the blade.
Now, most chefs treat it like regular rust and they keep it rubbing a couple of times. Instead of getting fixed, this Patina layer starts getting mature over time and it becomes hard to remove after some time.
If you have got a high carbon blade knife, the chance of Patina is higher than the usual carbon steel knives. Not just that, if you have a longer blade, the Patina will be tougher and it will be hard to remove in that case.
To be honest, you first try to prevent your knife from capturing a Patina. Because there is no as such recommended and best way to get rid of it for a lifetime. Instead, you can get rid of it by following some of the methods. But, it will keep reappearing once it hits that blade in its life as a natural process.
1. Grinding the blade
This is the basic method a chef could do on his rusted knife. You will need sandpapers for that and a couple of different grits. You can also use steel wool sort of things to handle this but it isn’t the effective way as they leave scratches on the blade. It will only work if your knife has just started rusting out in that way.
There are a couple of grits for sanding paper and you might need a couple of them. The coarser the grit the better it will be for rough removal of thick layers of rust. And, the finer the grit the better the polishing will be. Just be careful from the edge of a blade as they are harmful.
You will need 1000 Grit to 8000 Grit. The lower grits are better for maintaining the blades and finer ones are for cleaning the sharp and dangerous edges of it. They will not only help in removing the rust; they will also help in sharpening the blade.
2. Using Chemical Compounds & Rust Removals
This is the recommended and the most effective method to get rid of rust on your knife. It works responsively and delivers a good result with very little effort. You just need to find appropriate chemicals either powdered or liquids that are suitable and healthy for your knives.
Again, there are a lot of so-called rust removals out there in the market and some of them might also work. But, they might not be healthy or effective for long-term usage. Or, they are likely to affect the surface of your blade permanently.
So, it is better to opt for Carbonates like Sodium and Soda solutions as they work fine for metals especially with steel. They are also easy to use and you can get them at a pretty economical price. These are the 02 best methods on how to rust proof a knife. Now, we will take a look at How to keep kitchen knives from rusting.
3. Add a Protective Layer
After removing the rust from your knife, or if you have got a brand new knife for the kitchen, there’s an important thing to be done. Your high carbon knife will capture rust quickly and it will lose the mirror finish that leads it to get dull.
So, adding and keeping a protective layer to the blade’s surface is an important task. This layer should be oily or anything that doesn’t capture moisture as such. To get economical, you can add a layer of edible vegetable oil to its surface.
If you don’t use that specific knife frequently you need to be a bit more cautious. A layer of oil could get dry either due to the hot climate or any other reason. So, you will have to apply it once again after a week or two.
There are some certain oils as well, that are specifically meant for knives and you can also use them out. Yoshihiro’s TSoil is the best one out of these. You just have to apply its twice layer all over the blade and you are all set.
Check out the Best Sheaths for Knives
4. Cleaning your Knives
If you are regularly using your knives and they are still capturing rust, you are definitely doing something wrong with them. Even though you don’t know about that. And, this problem occurs due to washing them out.
No, we are not saying to stop washing your carbon steel knives as water is an enemy of carbon steel. Instead, you should stop washing your knives in dishwashers. This thing is often neglected, but it is the actual pain for your knife.
Of Course, nothing could be better for washing than a dishwasher. But at the same time; nothing could be worse for your knives than a dishwasher. A dishwasher sprinkles water and covers the knife completely.
This way, the handle gets also covered and their joints hold some water particles in them. With this thing, the water starts reacting to the blade and this is the point where the rusting takes place. So, a dishwasher isn’t a good deal for knives.
Not just that, your knives can also damage your dishwashers due to their cutting edge and tip. As well, they may also get damaged due to their own toughness which is an ultimate loss for your knife as well as your dishwasher.
The best way to prevent rust on your knife is to wash them with your hands. It is the easiest and the safest way for your knives. You can simply wash them in the kitchen sink and wipe them out with a dry cloth. Just make sure, your knife doesn’t stay wet after you wash them. Otherwise, they will rust again.
5. Use Traditional Kitchen Methods
Other than chemical and technical methods, you can also avail yourself of home tips to remove rust from your knife. Dip your knife blade in white vinegar and make sure it is dipped completely even if the blade isn’t fully rusted. This requires around 10 minutes and after that, you have to remove it from that vinegar.
Now, after removing the knife from vinegar, the rust will start leaving the surface of the blade. Just wipe your blade with a silk cloth completely but carefully. And, you will be having a rust-free knife.
There will be some rust elements that still exist on the blade. You can use whetstones and sandpapers to get rid of them too. You can also use Lemon Juice and baking soda instead of white vinegar.
Summing Up How To Prevent Rust On Knives
Maintenance of the kitchen knives is the most important and sometimes the most difficult task for a chef. If you are using Carbon steel knives whether it’s of a good brand or not; they will surely rust once in your life.
Carbon steel knives capture rust easily but stainless steel knives don’t retreat. There are a couple of ways to get rid of rust in the market. However, we have explained the 05 best methods that are effective and inexpensive as well.
You need to prevent your knives from rust as it will ruin their longevity and effectiveness. If your knife is already rusted; you first need to remove its rust, and further you should take steps to prevent rusting in the future.
You can use sanding papers and chemical compounds to remove rust from the blade and they are the most effective and cheapest way. These methods don’t require any expertise and they are also viable for long-term results.
There are some traditional ways as well, but they are a bit time-consuming and their effectiveness also depends on a couple of factors. However, the best is to wash your knives with your hands instead of dishwashers. Just don’t forget to wipe them out, so they won’t capture rust again.