A carving knife is one of the best type of kitchen knives. You can use it in many ways for your knifing works. It is used especially for slicing, cutting or splitting food items or preparation of cuisines.
So you must have the idea about the proper using of carving knife. There are variations in carving knives and they are used for different purposes.
For getting the best performance of a knife, you should know some advanced techniques of sharpening along with the uses of the knife. In this article, we have discussed some advanced techniques. Hopefully, this guide will help you sharpen your tool effectively.
What Kitchen Knife Should I Buy?
Before knowing the methods of sharpening and using a carving knife we must know what kind of carving knives or kitchen knives are best suited for the kitchen.
A perfect and appropriate kitchen knife is suitable for slicing or cutting any kind of food items. Before purchasing you must know details about the best product.
There are various types of steels of a kitchen knife. There are stainless steel, carbon steel etc. Stainless steels are very durable. You will get it in the market at a reasonable price. It will provide you with long life sharpness.
On the other hand, carbon steels are a little bit expensive. But they are also easy to sharpen. And it can also give you better performance.
You will find various kinds of kitchen knives for various purposes. For peeling any kind of fruit, slicing tomatoes or other vegetables there are flexible classified carving knife in the market.
Bread carving knives are specially designed for slicing bread for the sandwiches or squashing the crumb. You can also cut cakes and slice cheese by this knife.
How to Sharpen a Carving Knife?
A dull knife can cause a serious injury. So, you should use a sharp knife for any kind of cutting or slicing task. Now a question may arise in your mind that how to do it.
There are some simple but effective techniques of sharpening a carving knife that you can grab easily. Here are three simple steps for you to finish the task with minimum time and effort.
Using A Diamond Stone
Now you are thinking of that what a diamond stone is. It is actually, Whetstone and also known as diamond stone. It can easily sharpen your carving knife. You just have to maintain the following process.
At first angle your knife with the stone. Angle the knife according to the portion which you need to sharpen first. An angle of 17 degree- 20 degree is an appropriate angle per side. Remember that steeper angles are more viable.
Don’t forget to lubricate the diamond stone before sharpening. You can make the stone plane by using honing oil or mineral oil.
Usually carborundum, stones are the most common sharpening stone which can easily be lubricated. So you can also use it. If you let the stone dry the shape of your carving knife will be destroyed soon.
But don’t forget to use an angle guide. It will provide a balance while you are sharpening. It will also help you to control the angle. Sharpening without using an angle guide is risky.
You should check the grit on the stone. Generally, diamond stones have variant cramp on either side. Fine grit side is for sharpening the carving knife.
On the other hand, the rough grit side is for grinding the steel. You should complete the grinding task before sharpening.
Using Sharpening Steel
If you want to keep your curving knife sharp in between your regular use, you can purchase a sharpening steel. It is specially made for regular use. It doesn’t reduce the durability of the knife. It doesn’t destroy the shape of the knife.
Sharpening steel helps to make your curving knife long lasting. Sharpening steels are also known as honing rod. Whetstone or diamond ring may reduce the quantity of metal from the slab of the knife.
But honing rod doesn’t do this harm. To sharp your knife by honing rod uses your non-dominant hand. Hold the knife smoothly using your dominant hand.
Now take an angle of the knife exactly 20 degrees in relation to the rod. Move the knife smoothly across the top half and bottom half of the rod.
Coffee Mug!
It sounds a little bit weird but actually, a coffee mug can help you in this process efficiently. Use an old coffee mug for sharpening. Now use the bottom part of the mug for sharpening your knife.
Take an angle of 20 degrees. And move the knife as previous. Repeat the task several times. And get a perfectly sharp knife.
You will also know about how to sharpen a wood carving knife from above methods.
Carving Knife Uses
The carving knife is called the best friend in the kitchen. For any kind of kitchen and cooking task, we can use the carving knife.
Not only is that, carving knife used for many useful home tasks. Anyway, let’s discuss the uses of carving knife in detail.
Slicer
A carving can find it’s place to your kitchen knife holder as a slicing tool. Since a slicer carving knife has a narrow and thin blade, it can slice any kind of food item very perfectly. It can slice meat, fish, and vegetables in very thin pieces.
The shape of the carving knife is a little bit different from the shape of a chef’s knife. It can also slice the large size of roasts, turkeys, and hams.There are different sizes of carving knives. So you can slice any kind of food with this knife.
You will find various kinds of kitchen knives for various purposes. For peeling any kind of fruit, slicing tomatoes or other vegetables there are flexible serrated carving knife in the market.
Reducing Resistance
There is one kind of carving knife which is called modern carving knife. This knife has long shallow dimples on both sides. It reduces the resistance.
You can cut the large size of a turkey, fish with it without facing any resistance. For its advanced shape, you will get thinnest slices.
Splitting
Bread carving knives are for slicing bread for the sandwiches or squashing the crumb. You can also split cakes and slice cheese by this knife.
Fish Filleting
You can easily fillet any kind of fish by using a fish filleting carving knife. You don’t have to manage a chef’s knife for this purpose. You can fillet the fish very softly without any friction.Carving knives are always flexible and easy to sharpen. You can say it the boss of the kitchen without any doubt.
Best Carving Knife for Brisket
Carving knives are also used for slicing brisket. For slicing brisket, you need a strong and hard carving knife.
There are various kinds of carving knives in the market especially made for slicing brisket. You don’t need to have a chef’s knife for this purpose.
For slicing brisket, there is electric or manual carving knife. Electric carving knives are faster. You don’t need to give excess effort while you are slicing brisket.
Electric carving knives have interchangeable blades. You can finish any kind of rough cuts through it.
But there are some disadvantages also. It often breaks down. You will not find it at a reasonable price. This carving knife is noisy. You cannot slice brisket at the middle of the night.
Now let’s discuss the manual knife. This knife is also used for slicing brisket. This knife is easy to control. You will find it at a reasonable price. It can be used everywhere and it is not noisy at all.But you may require more strength for it. It is a little bit slower than the electric carving knife.
You will also find various types of blades for carving knife for slicing brisket. Such as: straight, scalloped, Granton etc. Let’s discuss some common blades of carving knives for slicing brisket.
Straight Blade
You can slice any kind of food items very cleanly using the straight blade.
Serrated Blade
On the other hand, you can hold or grab the knife easily while you are cutting anything using the serrated blade. This is safe. Serrated blades are quite good for cutting rough pieces of meat or fishes.
Scalloped Blade
Scalloped blade is one of the best blades for slicing brisket. Serrated blades often get torn. But this blade never gets tore. It will surely save your time. Even you don’t have to effort much for this.
Granton Blade
Granton blades are the most common blade for the carving knife. It is suitable for cutting brisket. It is cheap but efficient. It reduces the resistance and friction during slicing. This blade is also slightly serrated.
Final Verdict
As you can see sharpening and using the carving knife will not seem so hard if you follow some proper steps.
All you need to do is to take basic ideas about various carving knives along with the materials by which the best carving knife is made of. And you must also learn the methods of using the knife step by step.
I hope you’ll be benefitted from all the methods discussed in this article. Thank you for being with us.
