Why hand wash knives ?


 
While dishwashers may sound like they are running "smoothly" it actually can get pretty violent in there, and the knives can be banged around, therefore the edges can come in contact with baskets, other cutlery etc. and chip or dull the edge you worked so hard to keep sharp.
 
I wash my knives (except wood handled ones or my carbon steel knives) in the machine all the time with no ill effect at all. However I place the ones going in VERY carefully to not be able to have the blade contact anything. This to prevent damage to the blade(s) or the dishwasher itself.
 
Anything that with an edge that I sharpen gets handwashed immediately after use (vegetable peelers may be the exception,) and never goes in the dishwasher. There's a physical risk to the cutting edge, both in terms of damage to it, and in damage to me, that I don't care to take.
 
My dishwasher has an upper third rack for cutlery, long spoons, tongs, etc.
Knifes lay flat and don't move around because of the design of the rack, but I still wash most by hand. Most of mine are carbon steel with wood handles anyway. I think the way the knife is designed plays into this. If it has plastic, rubber or some type of insert in the handles, the heat from the drying mode can damage it.
I know my weber tongs say dishwasher safe, top rack only, but after a few washes the rubber grips on the handles came loose.
 
I’ve only ever hand washed my knives, but wanted to throw in a safety nugget. Only hand wash with a scrub brush, not a sponge. Spent 2hours at ER with my brother on Christmas Eve getting 6 stitches on his hand. 🤦. He doesn’t hand wash with sponges anymore.
 
Mine are hand-wash only. That way, I know they're clean and (equally important), DRY. Carbon Steel patinas almost instantly if not cared for properly. That, and the fact that if I'm going to spend the time to get them sharp with stones and elbow grease, then I'm going to protect that work as best I can. A couple of my knives have been handed down from my grandparents and are my "go-to" knives - would hate to ruin them because I got lazy.
 
I recently remodeled my kitchen and, in the interest of reducing clutter, I put quite a few of my knives into “Storage” in a shotgun case that I picked up from Cabela’s several years ago. These were just knives that I don’t use a lot mind you but, it cleared a ton of space! The largest and more “specific” knives went into the case. They don’t see a lot of use.
 
i hand wash EVERYTHING
no such thing as a dishwasher in my home 'cept me.
had one once (rented), think we used it twice.

No thanks.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
There is maybe one benefit of only having a “manual dishwasher” (ME) I know that everything is cleaned the way I want it!
Click to expand...
We had a "manual dishwasher" for a couple of weeks while I was figuring out which part our dishwasher needed to stop the error code. Never again.
 
I normally hand wash the good knives. But on occasion I have put them in the top rack, on their side or in a horizontal slot, no major issues. But NEVER put them pointed down in the general silver wear bin. You’ll get a small but really bad bend right on the tip, impossible to fix
 
Mine are 25 year old Henkel Pro S. I always hand wash them by hand as they they are very sharp. Dishwasher soap is very abrasive and I don not want to ruin my knives.....
 
I hand wash all my good knives, and I don't let them "hang out" in the sink for two reasons:
1. I cut myself once reach into the sink
2. the knives can get damaged
 
My ex-wife was of the belief that everything can go in the dishwasher. She ruined everything that had a wooden handle by doing that, including my favorite chef knife (which admittedly, being Chicago Cutlery, was nothing expensive or special, but for some reason it worked well for me and was my go-to).
 
My brother in law is like that too, why can’t people understand the wood cannot take the abuse?
I’m still using the 10” Chicago Cutlery chefs knife I bought for myself when I was 14 years old!
 
I just have 3 go to knives and I hand wash them.. We have a bunch of random others that get thrown in the dishwasher.
 
I dishwash anything that does not have wood handle. Even my high end like Henckel. Never had an issue with my blades. Would love for anyone to tell me how water and soap will wear out a blade. Now my carbon steel knives/wood handle ones as well. Different story
 
I have a dishwasher for quite a few years, but I've never really understood how it works.
Other than that, she's pretty cool.
*Dons tin hat*
 
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