News — knife care

If your top priority is keeping knife edges sharper for longer, standard bamboo is usually kinder to blades than carbonised bamboo, and in our testing a well cared for natural board can help quality kitchen knives hold a working edge for 5 to 10 days longer between honings in a busy home kitchen. What is the real difference for your knife edges? Both bamboo and carbonised bamboo come from the same plant, but they behave slightly differently under your knife. Standard bamboo is kiln dried and pressed without extra heat treatment. It stays a little lighter in colour and typically...

If you care about how long your knives stay sharp, acacia chopping boards are slightly better for knives than bamboo, because acacia is a touch softer and kinder to the edge. In our tests at Deer & Oak, identical chef’s knives used daily on a 45x35cm acacia board stayed sharp around 10 to 15 percent longer than those used on a 45x35cm bamboo board over 6 months. That said, high quality bamboo boards still protect knives very well and often win on price, weight and sustainability. How bamboo and acacia actually affect your knife edge When you cut, your knife...

If you want to keep a sharp chef's knife slicing cleanly for 5 to 10 years, a well made bamboo cutting board is usually kinder to your edge than a plastic board, especially once plastic develops deep grooves. In most home kitchens where knives are sharpened a few times a year, bamboo offers a better balance of edge protection, hygiene and durability than plastic. Bamboo vs plastic: what actually touches your knife edge? When you cut, your knife edge meets the board thousands of times a week. Over a year that can easily be 50,000 to 100,000 contacts. Two things...

If you spend your days behind the pass or your evenings perfecting your knife skills at home, you already know your chopping board matters. It affects your blades, your speed and even your food hygiene. So the big question many chefs ask is simple: Is end grain bamboo the best for professional UK chefs? The short answer: it can be an excellent choice, but it is not the only one worth considering. Let’s break it down so you can decide what belongs on your station. What exactly is end grain bamboo? Most people are used to flat grain boards, where...