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Accessories
A good knife deserves a little support.
The stones, boards, racks, linen and tableware we would put next to a Japanese blade. Chosen to keep it sharp and protected, and to look right on the table it feeds.
By category
Five kinds of thing.
Where to start
If you buy one thing.
A stone keeps the edge. A board protects it. A rack keeps it off other metal. In that order.
Two grits in one block: 1000 to restore the edge, 6000 to polish it. The stone most cooks should own first.
Glass, marble and hard bamboo blunt a Japanese edge. Hiba is soft enough to cushion it, light to lift, and naturally resistant to bacteria.
A drawer is where edges chip. A magnetic stand holds up to six knives apart, dry and in sight, in oak or walnut.
01 · Sharpening stones
The right tool for a Japanese edge.
Pull-through and electric sharpeners take too much steel from a hard blade. A water stone takes only what it needs.
02 · Cutting boards
A board that is kind to the edge.
Walnut and hiba give a little under the blade, so the edge lasts longer between stones.
03 · Storage
Somewhere safe for the edge.
Magnetic racks and stands in oak and walnut, plus holders for everything that is not a knife.
04 · Table linen
Cloth that softens with every wash.
Stonewashed European linen in natural and off black.
05 · Tableware
For the table the knife feeds.
Kintsugi fine bone china, solid brass chopsticks, a marble mortar and walnut utensils.
Looking after a Japanese knife
Sharpening, boards and storage, explained in Knife School.