Top 10 Rules of Knife Safety
Keep knives out of the reach of children.
Pretty self-explanatory, but oh so important!
If you have little ones, consider mounting a magnetic knife rack on your kitchen wall, high enough to ensure they can't reach the knives. This is much safer than putting knives in drawers or counter-top knife blocks.
I once watched my then two-year old daughter open a kitchen drawer, disengage the "childproof" lock, and open the drawer all the way! Fortunately, it wasn't the knife drawer, but it could have been. Never bet a child's life on so-called "childprooof" gadgets.
Never use a knife while distracted. Don’t allow distractions around you while chopping.
Food prep time is not the time for a foot race through the kitchen. Nor is it a good time for your spouse to tell you about the terrible thing that happened to them at work today, or for the family to gather and gab in the kitchen. Shoo them out!
It's also not a good time to watch videos or listen to music. Put away all potential distractions and focus on what you're cutting.
Never look away while cutting or chopping. Keep your eyes glued to the blade of your knife and what you're cutting. If you must look away for a moment, keep your hands still and don't move them until you can focus again.
Never allow your fingers in the blade’s path.
It's mighty hard to cut your finger if it's not in the path of the blade. Keep body parts out of the blade's path, and you don't have to worry about cutting yourself. Duh!
Hold the item you're cutting using a "claw" hold, with your fingers curled under. Use your knuckles to guide the blade.
** For more tips on safe handling of a knife while cooking, see our article, "10 Best Kitchen Knife Safety Tips".
Never attempt to catch a falling knife.
Most of us have a reflex to try to catch something that is falling. Resist the reflex in this case. Step back and let it fall. Alert others around you that it’s falling.
Never leave a blade lying around when not in use, and don’t leave knives near the edge of counters or tables.
When you are done with a knife, wash it and put it away immediately. Don't leave it on the counter, especially near the edge. Someone could walk by and knock it off the counter, resulting in an injury. Or a child could see it and pull it down onto them, again resulting in an injury.
Lay knives flat, not on the back or edge.
When knives are laying on a flat surface, make sure the blade edge is not pointing up, where someone could be injured by touching or grabbing the blade. Likewise, when knives are in a drawer, sheath them and make sure the edge of the knife is never facing up.
Fold up or sheath a knife before walking with it.
If possible, fold up a folding knife or sheath a fixed bladed knife when carrying it. When walking with a knife with an exposed blade, hold it straight down and close to your body with the edge behind you. Don’t carry a knife with an exposed blade while also carrying other things.
Never put knives in the sink or soak in soapy water.
Prolonged exposure to water is bad for knives, and blindly reaching into a sink containing a sharp knife is bad for you. Adopt a rule that sharp knives never go into the sink.
Store knives in sheaths/sleeves, a wooden knife block, a magnetic knife holder, or a knife rack rather than loosely with other utensils in a drawer
Loose knives laying in a drawer are bad news. That goes double if the drawer has other types of utensils in the same drawer with the knives. If knives must lie flat in a drawer, at least apply a sheath or cover over the blade. Better to store them in a wooden knife block or knife rack. Best yet, store them on a magnetic knife holder on the wall beyond the reach of children.
Keep knives sharp. Dull knives are more dangerous than sharp knives.
It sounds counterintuitive, but a dull knife is far more dangerous than a sharp one. Dull knives cause a loss of control because the user exerts too much pressure on the knife in an attempt to force the knife through the food. The food rolls or the knife slips, and it's "hello stitches". A sharp knife glides through food with little to no effort so there's no loss of control.
[Shameless Plug] We recommend getting your knives professionally sharped every 3-6 months, depending on how much you use your knives. In between times, use a sharpening steel to maintain the blade's edge.