Topic · teire
Care, rust and repair
Hand wash, dry right away and store the knife where the edge touches nothing. Cut on wood or a soft synthetic board, never glass or stone. Small chips and rust spots can be fixed at home; a broken tip needs a regrind.
- Never
- Dishwasher, glass or stone boards, bones, frozen food
- Good boards
- End grain or edge grain wood, soft rubber or synthetic
Most damage comes from use, not from the steel. Chips happen when a thin, hard edge meets bone, frozen food or a twisting cut. Small chips come out on a coarse stone (about 220 to 400 grit) followed by normal sharpening. A broken tip needs the spine and edge reshaped, which a sharpening service can do if you would rather not.
Rust on stainless blades usually starts as small orange spots from a knife left wet. Remove them early with a mild abrasive cleaner or a rust eraser, then dry the blade. On carbon steel a gray or blue patina is normal and protects the steel a little; orange rust is not.
Store knives on a magnetic strip, in a block or in a saya (a wooden sheath). For carbon steel, a thin coat of food safe mineral oil helps if the knife will sit unused for a while.
Common mistakes
- Putting a Japanese knife in the dishwasher.
- Scraping food off the board with the edge instead of the spine.
- Scrubbing off a stable patina as if it were rust.
Pages on this topic
- Loose or cracked knife handle: repair or replaceA loose or cracked knife handle can often be fixed. When to use the warranty, when to rehandle a wa handle, and the care habits that stop it happening again.
- Why your knife gets dull so fast and how to stop itWhy a knife dulls quickly: hard cutting boards, scraping with the edge, twisting, over-honing and leftover burrs. Fix each cause and keep your edge longer.
- Rust on a Japanese knife: how to remove and prevent itRemove rust spots from carbon or stainless Japanese knives with a rust eraser or mild abrasive, then stop it coming back with drying and storage habits.
- Japanese knife oil: camellia oil and how to use itWhen and how to oil Japanese knives with camellia oil or food-safe mineral oil, how to care for wooden handles, and what to put in a simple care kit.
- How to store Japanese knives: saya, block or magnetic stripStore Japanese knives in a saya, a block with wide slots, an in-drawer tray or on a wood-faced magnetic strip. How each protects the edge and how to size a saya.
- Chipped Japanese knife: causes and how to fix itWhy hard Japanese knife edges chip, how to fix small chips on a coarse whetstone step by step, and when to send a chipped knife to a pro or the maker.
- Carbon steel knife patina: what it is and how to build oneWhat a carbon steel knife patina is, how it differs from rust, and how to build one naturally or force a patina with mustard, vinegar or coffee, step by step.
- Can Japanese knives go in the dishwasherWhy Japanese knives, including Shun, should not go in the dishwasher: what heat, detergent and rattling do to edges and handles, and how to hand wash them.
- Broken knife tip: how to reshape itHow to fix a broken knife tip by regrinding a new point on a coarse whetstone, restoring the edge profile, and when to send the knife to a pro instead.
- What cutting board is best for Japanese knivesThe best cutting boards for Japanese knives: end-grain wood, hinoki and soft rubber boards, and why glass, stone, bamboo and hard plastic dull or chip edges.