How to store your Damascus knives
A good knife arrives sharp. Where it lives in your kitchen decides how long it stays that way. Most edges are not worn down by cutting, they are worn down by everything that happens between cuts: rattling in a drawer, scraping into a slot, being fished out from under the peeler.
There are three common ways to store kitchen knives. Here is an honest look at each, and what it does to your blade.
The loose drawer
The most common option, and the worst one. Every time the drawer opens, the blades slide and knock against each other and against everything else in there. Each little knock chips microscopic pieces out of the edge, which is why a drawer knife feels dull long before it should.
It is also the option most likely to end in a plaster. Reaching into a drawer where sharp edges are hidden under other utensils is how most kitchen cuts happen.
If a drawer is genuinely your only option, use an in-drawer knife organiser with a slot for each blade so nothing touches. It protects the edge and your fingers. What matters is that no blade ever rests against metal.
The knife block
A block is a big step up from a loose drawer. Each knife has its own slot, nothing knocks together, and the handles are easy to grab.
It has two quiet drawbacks. First, the slots. Sliding a blade in and out drags the edge along the wood twice per use, and if the knife goes in edge-down, the edge is carrying the blade's weight the whole time it is stored. Store block knives edge-up if the slots allow it. Second, the inside of a block never sees light or air. If a blade goes in even slightly damp, the moisture sits in the slot, which is not somewhere you can clean.
Blocks also take up worktop space, and you are locked into the slots it came with.
The magnetic holder
A magnetic wall holder solves the problems the other two cannot:
- Nothing touches the edge. The blade holds by its flat side. The edge itself never contacts wood, metal, or another knife, from the moment it goes up to the moment it comes down.
- Blades dry in open air. No dark slot, no trapped moisture. Wipe the knife, put it up, done.
- You can see every knife. No rummaging, no reaching past hidden edges, and you always grab the handle first. It is also the safest option for keeping blades well out of reach of small hands, mounted at whatever height suits your kitchen.
- It clears the worktop. The wall does the storing.
A wooden holder does the same job as a bare steel strip with one advantage: the magnet sits behind the timber, so the blade rests against wood rather than metal. On a Damascus blade, that also means the pattern is on display rather than shut in a drawer.
How to place a knife on a magnet
Spine first, then roll. Touch the back of the blade (the blunt spine) to the holder first, then let the flat of the blade roll flat against it. Taking it off is the reverse: tilt from the spine and lift.
What you want to avoid is the edge swinging in and clacking against the holder, which does to your knife exactly what the drawer does. Spine first becomes automatic after a day or two.
Putting one up
Our holder comes with adhesive strips for tiled or glass walls and screws for everything else, so it goes up in a rented kitchen without drilling the tiles.
- Choose a spot within easy reach of your prep area, away from the hob and the sink splash zone.
- Smooth, sealed wall such as tile, glass or gloss paint: clean it, let it dry, and use the adhesive strips.
- Painted plaster, wallpaper, brick or anything textured: use the screws and wall plugs through the keyhole slots on the back.
- Either way, give it a firm tug before the first knife goes up.
For the full walkthrough, including how to prepare the wall and fit the screws, read how to set up your magnetic knife holder.
Two woods, same job
The holder comes in two finishes, so it can match the kitchen it is going into. Walnut is the darker of the two, rich and deep against light walls and white tiles. Acacia is lighter with a livelier grain, and suits wood worktops and warmer kitchens. Both hold the full set of knives with the same magnet underneath.
The short version
A loose drawer dulls your knife and hides the edge from your fingers. A block is fine if the blades go in bone dry and edge-up. A magnetic holder is the only one of the three where the edge touches nothing at all, which is why it is what we use in our own kitchens.
However you store yours, the habit that matters most is the same: dry the blade before it goes away. Do that, and your knife will still be taking a paper-thin slice off a shallot next Christmas.
Any questions, get in touch at support@kanzokitchen.co.uk. We are happy to help.
