Your Cart is Empty
Our knives have been made to be used, a lot, for a long time. But even the best tools need maintenance and care. Here we’ll show you how to keep your knife in optimum condition.
If you choose a Roselli knife, it’s likely you appreciate things which are done properly. And with the proper care, your blade can last you a lifetime. Maybe more.
Everyday care
Carbon steel is sensitive to moisture and corrosive environments. Get into the habit of rinsing your knife in fresh water, drying it fully and oiling your blade regularly.
Washing
Wash your knife in gentle soap and rinse well with water, carefully removing any dirt from the blade. Strong cleaning products will damage your blade, as will dishwashers. Dry the blade with a soft, scratch-free cloth and store it in dry, clean conditions.
Sharpness
Keeping a blade sharp involves two methods:
honing and sharpening.
Honing, or straightening as it is sometimes known, is what you will do most often. Through normal use, the edge of any knife will become slightly bent (fig. 2). The remedy is to hone or straighten the edge back to its original straight position (fig. 1). The art is to do this without shaving off much of the blade’s material.
In time, the knife edge may become so dull (fig. 3) that the blade needs to be re-ground or ‘sharpened’. This requires specialist tools and even more specialist skill. Should you lack either, you are welcome to send your knife here to our workshop.
See our video of how to use your diamond sharpener to sharpen your knife.
Use a fine grit diamond, steel or stone tool. We recommend diamond products for our UHC-steel.
Start by honing the blade with gentle circular motions. It is important to keep the angle fixed at the original blade angle, do this until there are some burrs on the opposite edge. Repeat the procedure on the other side until you feel the burr on the first side. You have now established a straight edge.
Finalise the blade by removing the small amount of remaining burr. Working along the full length of the blade, gently pull the tool towards you, at a steeper angle than the initial honing. Work along the full length of the blade.
To verify that the blade is sharp, gently scratch the edge on your fingernail. You should feel directly whether the knife is sharp or not.
If done with care, this is a reliable and fairly safe way to test the sharpness of your knife.
Roselli handles are treated with linseed oil. This doesn’t only enhance the wood’s natural beauty. It protects your handle, too, preventing cracks caused by dryness and protecting against humidity.
While our initial linseed oil treatment will last you years, after many years of use you may wish to oil your handle yourself. A few drops of linseed oil, applied with a clean cloth, should be enough; let the oil sink in before polishing with another clean cloth.
See our video of how to maintain your handle.
If you want to keep your leather sheath looking fresh and new for as long as possible we recommend that you use leather wax or natural oil on a regular basis. Gently apply the lubricant to the sheath and let it dry before putting your knife back.
If, on the other hand, you want your sheath to get that used look, just keep using it as normal and the leather will develop its natural patina over time.
Either way, you should always keep dirt out from inside your sheath to protect the blade of your knife. If the sheath gets wet, take out your knife and let the sheath dry in room temperature.
Since leather is a natural material, it can eventually lose its tension around the handle. This can be corrected by placing a piece of leather as a wedge on the inside of the sheath.
See our video of how to adjust your knife sheath.
