Although I'm not completely sure about this, but I personally think that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ages ago, man used knives to hunt and gather their food, and later on used to prepare food when fire was discovered. Several centuries later, the knife is still one of the most common and most used tools everywhere you can find a kitchen. The ubiquitous knife is used everywhere, from homes to restaurants to cruise ships.

But although we can all agree about the importance of this versatile tool, the fact remains that still very few people know how to properly handle and care for a knife. A friend once jokingly explained that perhaps it's because knives don't have manuals when we buy them.

One of the things that really annoy me is watching people handle knives wrongly. The problem is that nobody taught us how to do it properly when we were just kids. All we knew at that time was that knives were dangerous and better kept away from us kids. There may be no instruction manuals for knives, but that's not a reason why people shouldn't learn to use them properly.

You have to learn how to correctly hold a knife. There are three basic ways to hold a knife, but it depends on the kind of knife and what is it going to be used for. When cutting against the board, a knife should usually be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, for example, the knife should be held like a dagger for proper leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.

Learn also how to care for your knives. A wooden board should be used for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards are not as gentle on the edge of the knife as wooden boards. It's also better to use one where the cutting surface is end grain, rather than side grain. End-grain surfaces are the smoothest, least abrasive surface to cut against, and side-grains will chip off eventually.

When storing knives after use, it's better to use paperboards or plastic sleeves. Clean a knife after using it, then dry and store. Do not wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Remember that you have to protect the edge from other hard surfaces. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the knives and supplies you need.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the custom knives and supplies you need.