When’s the last time you sharpened your knives? If your answer is “I don’t remember,” then you need to a) read this and b) prepare yourself to get up immediately afterwards to do something about it. Ready? Let’s do this.
1. It’s really not rocket science.
You’ll need a knife sharpener, and you’ll need to know how to use it.
I have an older version of this one and it’s pretty dummy-proof. The more traditional choices are a sharpening stone, or a sharpening rod. You can find a functional tool to do this job for less than $10 at any store that sells knives. (That’s a lot of stores, friend.)
Here’s an instructional video for sharpening a knife with a stone. Here’s a video for sharpening a knife with a rod. And these are just two videos out of the 160,000 YouTube search results for “how to sharpen a knife.”
2. It takes less than a minute
Quit putting it off. You can be done with the task in the time it takes to give me your excuse for why you haven’t done it already.
3. SAFETY, people.
A dull knife is a safety hazard—while you’re hacking away at a tomato and can’t seem to break the skin, your knife might slip and puncture that precious skin of yours. Then you’re not only wounded, but have to stop everything to clean up and bandage yourself to keep from getting blood in the tomato juice. (Doesn’t sharpening the knives sound way easier, less painful and less gross?)
4. After you’re done, cutting is easier and more precise.
Seriously. I was just slicing some oranges, and had to saw away at the peel before realizing I just needed to sharpen my knife. Thirty seconds later, cutting was like a dream. More ease, less effort, fewer crooked cuts that look like they were hacked by a caveman.
5. It might actually change the way you feel about your knife
This is loving what you have at its finest—the difference between a dull knife and a sharp knife can be the difference between thinking, “All my stuff is crap” and thinking “I’m so grateful I have nice things!”
Seriously. Part of loving what you have is taking care of what you have, so that the experience of using your belongings remains a pleasant one. (If that tip blew your mind, you might like my email course.)
You deserve a sharp knife. Go do it. Now!
// Image by Todd Quackenbush via Unsplash
