Essential Care Instructions for Your Baltic Blades Kitchen Knife

General info

Before using the knife please wash it with warm water and dry it.

My kitchen knives are made from AEB-L stainless steel that is hardened to 60-61 hrc. All stainless steels are stainless not "stain-non" so even the best stainless steel can over time show signs of corrosions, so to keep you knife as new and in mint condition, try to dry it after using it and don't let it stay in the sink with salty water for days, else you could see some surface patina or even rust. It's not something critical but it's good to know and keep in mind, don't be over cautions, enjoy using the knife.

It is worth to note that the laser etched logo over time will turn a little darker and darker, this is the normal reaction of the laser etched steel with the outside world.

The AEB-L steel is hardened to 60-61 hrc, using cryogenic treatment (dunking the knife overnight into liquid nitrogen) between tempering cycles, so the knife steel is extremely tough for what AEB-L can do. The very best aspect of this steel is the ease of sharpening to a terrifying sharp edge, so maintaining it will be super easy!

Things to do, to make the knife last several lifetimes...

The most important aspect of every knife to make it good or even the best is to measure how long it stays sharp. The edge retention and sharpness is 90% dependent on the habits of the user. What habits you should develop we will talk about next, but first we need to understand what use case was in mind for these knives. Avem line knives are oriented for the efficiency and pleasure of cutting something, this means that you will feel very little resistance while using it on products that it was designed to cut. All knives are sharpened at 17 degree angle per side, for the insane edge retention and sharpness ratio. These knives out of the box will shave hair, cut thin and printer paper, also paprikas, chicken, potatoes and tomatoes are no match for it.

What you should never do with these knives:

• Cut on a ceramic/metal/glass plate/cutting board or just on the table (cutting boards are in stock at https://balticblades.com/)
• Wash this knife in the dish washer.
• Try to cut frozen food.
• Leave the knife in a very moist environment for a very long time.
• Stick the knife point first into the ground.
• Cut food containing bones.
• Cut cheese (these knives are very thin, so when the cheese sticks and you bend the knife sideways, the edge can chip)

You must always remember, that bending it sideways when the knife is stuck can be catastrophic, as these knives are very thing, to make them cut super well (0.15mm behind the edge)

Above you can see some of the cutting boards that are/will be in stock on https://balticblades.com/ they are designed to preserve your knife edge and also look beautiful!

Now if you keep in mind all of what was mentioned above, knife sharpening will be a non issue, you will have to maintain your edge every 2 weeks (more or less often depending on how much you use it) and resharpen it every 6 months or even less! Don't wait till your knife is totally dull and maintain it as needed! When it wont cut paper then it needs your attention! Ikea catalogs are perfect for this test, or just plain white paper.

How to sharpen and maintain your knife

Sharpening is a totally separate and expansive subject with very fanatical people. There are loads of ways to sharpen a knife and all of them are correct if after sharpening the knife is at desired sharpness, there is no wrong way if it makes you knife sharp.

All of the knives that I made I will resharpen free of charge, I will even fix up a broken edge (if it looks like it happened on fair usage and not using it as a pry bar) You will have just to pay the shipping back and forth and also the wait time might depend on my workload.

Below you will find some edge maintaining and sharpening methods that you could use at home, for different level of users:

To the left you can see the most common type of sharpening instrument. Using one of these is very simple and does not requery any explanations as you simple just gile the blade on that crack. When buying such a sharpened please pay attention that it has fine ceramic wheels and not very aggressive ones as they will wear the thin edge away. Do not buy the one with immovable "V" type plates, they shave away the metal, making your knife live a very short life. After using this sharpener I highly advise using a leather stop for increased sharpness and polished edge.

Last and the most difficult way to sharpen a knife is using wet stones. This requires a lot of practice and knowledge on what you are doing and what you want to achieve. But if the knife edge is totaled or has a lot of damage this is the fastest way of fixing it. I would recommend a combined stone with one side being 400p grit and the other 1000p, you will have a side to quickly remove material and a side to hone the edge. (I will have some cheaper beginner stones in stock in the coming days) After using a stone I would also recommend using a leather strop.


Here is a great entry level explanation on how to use wet stones for sharpening video.

Using a ceramic rod for sharpening is also super simple. You need a little practice but your knife will have a much longer life, the sharpness will be better and the sharpening time is minimal.

Please keep in mind that the rod must be ceramic and on the finer side.

You can find them for cheap at  IKEA stores.
And here you can find video.

Leather strops are the best and least abrasive way to maintain your edge, this means the blade steel wont wear away from using them. They are not meant for sharpening your knife (reforming the cutting edge) but more like to maintain it and fix small issues, also it can be used as the very last step while resharpening your knife to remove the burr from the cutting edge. Currently there are two versions available one Beech and one from Mahogany they both have silicone feet for stable stropping on table tops or outside and have high quality belt leather meant for stropping.