When chefs sharpen a knife before cutting into veggies and meat, shouldn’t we be concerned of eating microscopic metal shaving residue from the sharpening process?

Question

I always watch cooking shows where the chefs sharpen the knives and then immediately go to cutting the vegetables or meat without first rinsing/washing the knife. Wouldn’t microscopic metal shavings be everywhere and get on the food and eventually be eaten?

In: 5225

Answer 1

When you see a chef use a steel to ‘sharpen’ a knife, they are not actually sharpening the blade, they are honing it.
When you sharpen a blade, you are grinding down the edge of the blade to a really superfine edge, this is what makes it sharp.

When you then use that sharp knife to cut things, you are pressing down that very fine edge onto a hard surface over and over, which can fold or bend over that superfine edge.

Using a steel (the cylindrical rod you see chefs swipe their knives against) helps to unfold or unbend the knifes edge back into its original position, and this is called honing the blade. It is not actually grinding down the edge so there are not any metal filings to be concerned about.