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Although I'm not completely sure about this, but I personally think that the knife was the first cooking tool ever created by man. Ages ago, knives were used by man to gather and hunt for food, and when he learned how to make fire, the knife was a major tool in food preparation as well. Today, the knife remains as one of the most important tools you could have. Everywhere you go, from homes to cafes and restaurants, you will find all sorts of knives being used for almost every food preparation and cooking task.

However, even if we know that the knife is a very important piece of equipment, the fact remains that still very few people know how to properly handle and care for a knife. A friend once jokingly explained that perhaps it's because knives don't have instruction manuals.

One of my pet peeves is watching people use knives wrongly. The problem is that nobody taught us how to do it properly when we were just kids. All we knew at that time was that knives were dangerous and better kept away from us kids. There may be no instruction manuals for knives, but it's no reason why people shouldn't learn to use them properly.

First, learn how to hold the knife properly. There are three basic ways to hold a knife, but it depends on the kind of knife and what is it going to be used for. For cutting against a board, the knife should generally be held with the thumb and forefinger gripping the blade. Grip the handle with your other three fingers. When cutting hanging meat, hold the knife in a dagger-like fashion to get the right amount of leverage. And when turning or peeling with a small knife, one or two fingers should grip the blade, with the othersthe rest around the handle.

Learn also how to care for your knives. Use a wooden board for chopping and cutting. Plastic boards are not as gentle on the edge of the knife as wooden boards. It's also better to use one where the cutting surface is end grain, rather than side grain. Why? The end-grain is the least abrasive surface to cut against, so your knife's edge will last a longer time.

When storing knives after use, it's better to use paperboards or plastic sleeves. Clean the knife first after use, then dry before storing it away. Do not wash knives in a dishwasher, or just throw it in the wash basin. Always protect the knife's edge against other hard surfaces. To properly sharpen a knife, the best way is to use a knife sharpener with an abrasive, diamond surface. Of course, you can always use a whetstone, but it takes a lot of experience to be able to sharpen a knife to razor-like sharpness with it.

Azlan Irda is the co-founder of AfterKnife.com, which provides high-quality knives and supplies. Visit our website to get all the benchmade knives and supplies you need.