Knife Sharpener

It started with a set of knives we got for our wedding.  RT said we should sharpen them before/after every use to keep them nice.  The sharpener was a metal pole.  There's a special way you are supposed to position the knife when scraping the pole.  If you do it wrong, you can dull the knife.  I'm not a big fan of metal scraping metal.  It's that one sound where I cringe.

You see, I came from a family that was not educated on which knife you are to use for each task.  Apparently, there are steak knives that are used to cut steak.  We used those to cut, oh, just about everything you can imagine.  My family wrote the book, "101 Uses of the Steak Knife."  


Cutting a watermelon?   Here, use the steak knife.

Cutting a cucumber?  Use the steak knife.

How about chopping an onion?  Try the steak knife.

Trying to open a package?  Why not try the steak knife?
(excerpt from, "101 Uses of the Steak Knife)


My Dad used a pocket knife for everything.  (check out his book, "101 Uses for a Pocket Knife")  Probably because he had a pocket knife in his pocket all of the time and could easily whip it out, cut something, wipe it off, fold it up and put it back into his pocket again.

I don't think my family used any other knives.  So, with a whole set of knives, I was a little overwhelmed.  I did know to use the bread knife (for bread).  It took me awhile, but, I've learned the uses of all of the knives.  I left knife sharpening to RT (and had to run out of the room every time he did it, which wasn't too often).

Since Nick has been cooking, he has been complaining about the knives not being sharpened.  I told him it would be great if he could do it for me (a present for my birthday, Mother's Day or Christmas).

For my birthday, he presented me with my very own knife sharpener.  I think he was tired of having to sharpen the knives every time he went to cut something.  It's a nice gadget.  The sharpening sound is actually bearable.  Nick told me that I can now sharpen my own knives.

I did tell him how I like when he sharpened them for me.

I think he really wants me to sharpen the knives on my own.