A good knife is not a disposable thing. Looked after properly, a Koi blade will outlast the person who buys it and end up in someone else's hands one day, still cutting. Looked after badly, even the best steel in the world dulls, stains, and chips before its time. The good news: knife care is simple. It comes down to a handful of habits, none of which take more than a few seconds, and most of which are about what not to do.
This is the plain-English guide to keeping a knife in the condition it left the workshop in — whether it's a kitchen knife on the board every night, a fillet knife that sees saltwater, or an Aviary folder that lives in your pocket.
The one habit that matters most: wash and dry by hand
If you take nothing else from this page, take this. Wash your knife by hand, in warm soapy water, and dry it straight away. Don't leave it sitting in the sink, don't let it air-dry in the rack with water pooling on the blade, and never put it in the dishwasher.
The dishwasher is the single fastest way to ruin a good knife. The heat, the harsh detergent, and the long wet cycle attack the edge and the handle at the same time — the blade knocks against other items and chips, the prolonged moisture promotes corrosion even on stainless steels, and the heat dries out and cracks a wooden handle. A knife that would have lasted decades gets aged years in a single wash. No exceptions, no matter how stainless the steel claims to be.
Hand-washing takes ten seconds. Warm water, a little dish soap, a soft cloth or sponge wiped along the blade away from the edge, rinse, and dry immediately with a tea towel. That's the whole ritual.
Looking after the steel
Different knives in the range run different steels, each chosen for the job — VG10 in the kitchen and BBQ knives, CPM MagnaCut and Sandvik 14C28N in the Aviary folders and fillet knives for their chip resistance and corrosion resistance, German 1.4116 in the Croc. They're all high-performing steels, but no steel is truly "stainless" in the sense of being immune to everything. They're stain-resistant, which is not the same thing.
In practice that means:
- Dry the blade after every use. Standing water — especially salty or acidic — is what causes spotting and corrosion over time. A dry blade simply doesn't rust.
- Wipe the blade down after cutting acidic foods. Lemon, tomato, onion, and the like are mildly corrosive. A quick rinse and dry mid-prep, then again at the end, keeps the steel pristine.
- Rinse and dry thoroughly after any contact with saltwater. This matters most for the fillet knives. Salt is relentless — get it off the blade as soon as the job's done.
- If a spot of surface staining ever appears, it lifts easily with a little Bar Keepers Friend or a paste of bicarb and water on a soft cloth. Caught early, it's nothing.
Looking after the handle
Many of the knives in the range are finished with natural Australian hardwood handles. Wood is a living material — it's part of what makes each knife feel like its own object — and it rewards a little attention.
Every so often, when the timber starts to look a touch dry or thirsty, give the handle a wipe with a natural food-safe oil. Camellia oil is the traditional choice and what we recommend — it's the same oil used to protect Japanese blades and handles for centuries, it's food-safe, and it won't go rancid the way some kitchen oils can. A few drops on a cloth, worked into the wood and wiped off, brings the grain back to life and seals it against moisture. A wooden handle that's oiled once in a while will never crack or dry out.
(This is also exactly why the dishwasher is off the table — there's no faster way to dry out and split a wooden handle than a hot wet cycle.)
Storing a knife properly
How you store a knife between uses matters more than people realise. The enemy is anything that lets the edge knock against other hard objects — that's what rolls and chips an edge that was perfectly sharp yesterday.
The worst place for a good knife is loose in a kitchen drawer, rattling against other cutlery. Better options, in roughly ascending order:
- A knife block — keeps blades separated and protected. Slide the knife in spine-down where the block allows, so the edge isn't dragging on the slot.
- A magnetic strip — keeps blades visible, off the bench, and not touching each other. Lay the blade against the magnet rather than clacking it on.
- A knife roll or sheath — the right answer for anyone transporting knives, and for fillet and outdoor knives between trips. Make sure the blade is bone dry before it goes into any roll or sheath, because trapped moisture against steel is asking for corrosion.
For pocket knives, the Aviary folders are built to live in a pocket — but the same principle applies: a quick wipe to keep grit and pocket lint out of the pivot, and the occasional drop of light oil on the pivot keeps the action smooth.
Honing vs sharpening: they're not the same thing
This is the distinction that confuses most people, and getting it straight will change how your knives feel day to day.
Honing realigns an edge that's still sharp but has bent fractionally out of true through use. It removes no real metal — it just straightens the edge back to centre. This is what a honing steel (the rod that comes with many knife sets) actually does, despite everyone calling it "sharpening." A few light passes on a honing rod before or after a cook keeps a sharp knife performing at its best.
Sharpening is the removal of metal to create a fresh edge, on stones, when honing no longer brings the edge back. This is a skilled job, done occasionally — a well-treated kitchen knife might need it once or twice a year, not once a week.
The practical takeaway: hone often and gently at home, and get the knife properly sharpened occasionally by someone who knows what they're doing. Which brings us to the part most people get wrong.
Leave the actual sharpening to a professional
The cheap pull-through sharpeners sold in supermarkets, and the kitchen-drawer steel that hasn't been used correctly since 1985, are not sharpening your knife. At best they hone an edge for a few cuts. At worst they grind metal away at the wrong angle and take years off the life of an expensive blade. A dry bench grinder is worse again — it overheats the steel and ruins the temper that gives the blade its edge-holding in the first place.
Proper sharpening restores the knife's geometry, polishes the edge, and lasts for months of daily cooking. It's done on water-cooled stones, by hand, at a consistent angle — and it costs far less than most people assume. If you're in Adelaide, our master sharpener Joao does exactly this at our Clarence Park workshop, on any knife you bring him, whether we made it or not.
The full story on professional sharpening — what it actually involves, what it costs, and how to get to us — is in our companion guide: Knife Sharpening in Adelaide: The Complete Guide →
The whole thing, in one breath
Wash by hand and dry straight away. Never the dishwasher. Wipe the blade after acidic or salty jobs. Oil the wooden handle when it looks thirsty. Store it where the edge can't knock against anything. Hone it gently and often, and get it properly sharpened once in a while. Do those few things and a Koi knife will stay as good as the day you bought it — and keep going long after.
Knives built to be looked after
Every knife we make is built to last and to be maintained, not replaced — the reason we sharpen and service them for life. If you're still choosing yours:
- Kitchen knives — the everyday workhorses, VG10 steel.
- The Aviary pocket knives — EDC folders in MagnaCut and Sandvik 14C28N.
- Fishing & fillet knives — built for saltwater, made to be dried and stored right.
- BBQ knives — the fire-and-meat collection.
