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I'm not completely sure, but I believe that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ever since the Stone Age, knives were used by man to gather and hunt for food, and later on used to prepare food when fire was discovered. Today, the knife remains as one of the most important tools you could have. The ubiquitous knife is used everywhere, from homes to restaurants to cruise ships.

But although we can all agree about the importance of this versatile tool, it's sad to see that a lot of people don't know how to handle and take care of their knives correctly. A friend once jokingly explained that perhaps it's because knives don't have instruction manuals.

One of my pet peeves is watching people use knives wrongly. The problem is that nobody taught us how to do it properly when we were just kids. Our parents just told us that knives were dangerous and to keep away from them. There may be no instruction manuals for knives, but I believe that people who use them regularly should at least take the effort to learn how to handle them correctly.

First, learn how to hold the knife properly. Basically, there are three ways to hold a knife, but it depends on the kind of knife and what is it going to be used for. For cutting against a board, the knife should generally be held with the blade between thumb and forefinger. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When you want to cut hanging meat, for example, hold the knife in a dagger-like fashion for proper leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.

Learn also how to care for your knives. Use a wooden board for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards require more cleaning, and they are not quite as gentle on the edge of a knife as wooden boards. Get a board with the end-grain as a cutting surface, rather than side grain. Why? The end-grain is the least abrasive surface to cut against, and side-grains will chip off eventually.

Always store a knife in a way that protects the blade, such as a plastic sleeve or a paperboard. Clean the knife first after use, then dry before storing it away. Do not wash knives in a dishwasher, no matter how convenient it may seem. Remember that you have to protect the edge from other hard objects. It's more dangerous to use a dull knife than a sharp one, so always keep your knives as sharp as possible. To truly sharpen it, an abrasive surface that is harder than the knife must be used, such as a diamond honer. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the case knives and supplies you need.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the automatic knives and supplies you need.