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

I once worked with an ex-butcher on a construction job, and he told me that when they rub the knife and the little rod together like that before they cut, they are “straightening the kerf.” They are not running the knife over a whetstone so much as smoothing microscopic deformations on the blade’s edge.