Knife Skills —

a kitchen guide to using the right knife the right way

This site will give you the confidence to choose and use the knives and other nonelectric sharp tools in your kitchen. It’s also a reference site that you can use as you improve your skills and acquire the tools that will make you a better cook!

Bench scraper

When I suggested that you needed four and a half knives, it’s the bench scraper that I consider to be the equivalent of half a knife. Although the bench scraper is technically not a knife, it’s too important to be excluded. Its original function was for pastry chefs to cut and divide dough, and to scrape the sticky remains of dough off the work surface. But its everyday use has much more value than just baking. Its best use is to transfer the food you’ve just cut from your cutting board to a bowl or directly into the pan.

If it’s not your habit to use a bench scraper, then you’re probably using the side of your knife’s blade to scoop up the food off your cutting board. Or even using your hands cupped together. These methods can often lead to multiple tries to get all of the chopped food to its destination. With the flat, wide bench scraper, it’s rare that even the largest mound of chopped food needs more than two or three tries to clear the board. It turns a task that often spills food on the counter and floor into a quick and easy step. I always keep a bench scraper by the side of my cutting board whenever I’m cooking. It’s like an extension of my hand. And it almost always costs less than $10.

Transferring chopped foods
Transferring chopped foods from cutting board to bowl with a bench scraper
How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Choose and Use Your Knives

How to Buy a Knife

How to Buy a Knife

Caring for Your Knives

Caring for Your Knives

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools

Nonknife, Nonmotorized Sharp Kitchen Tools


A woman’s tongue is a double edged knife. Romanian proverb

A woman’s tongue is a double edged knife.

Romanian proverb


Marriages sealed with rings end with drawn knives. Scotch proverb

Marriages sealed with rings end with drawn knives.

Scotch proverb


Wounds from the knife are healed, but not those from the tongue. Vietnamese proverb

Wounds from the knife are healed, but not those from the tongue.

Vietnamese proverb

Sam Snead

If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork the way they do a golf club, they’d starve to death.

Stanislaw Lem

Is it progress if a cannibal uses a knife and fork?

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The information in this site is true and complete to the best of our knowledge.
The author disclaims any liability in connection with the use of this information.
All recommendations are made without guarantee.