11 tricks from Martha Stewart that will help you get your kitchen in order once and for all
Martha Stewart is famous around the world for her cookbooks and shows with life hacks for housewives. We've put together a few tricks that will help you keep your kitchen and home in perfect order.
1. Free your hands while cleaning
An apron with huge pockets that can hold detergents and keep your hands free. You won't have to walk back and forth to pick up a forgotten bottle or carry a basket full of cleaning supplies around the house while cleaning with just one hand.
2. Accurately measure the required amount of powder
A familiar picture: you tilt a package of powder and a whole mountain spills out of it. You can seal the hole with tape, but not all the way, to better control the flow.
3. Protect books from dust
Cover the top of the shelves with books with thick linen strips - such a barrier will prevent dust from settling.
4. Remove dust from cacti
It is clear how you can remove dust from plant leaves. What about cacti? It's simple: take a construction brush, the kind you use to paint objects, and brush it over the surface of the cactus between the needles.
Martha suggests placing towels at the feet of a heavy wardrobe. This way, the furniture does not need to be lifted and it will glide smoothly across the floor, leaving it untouched.
6. Reuse candle jars for other purposes.
If you've run out of candles in a nice jar with a lid: no problem, all you have to do is remove the wax. To do this, put it in the freezer. Frozen wax is easy to remove.
7. Remove dirt from the pan
Those stains of fried leftovers can't be easily removed from the pan. They are easier to remove with a dry sponge and salt. Just clean the pan well! But remember that this method does not work on non-stick coatings!
8. Clean the lampshade
A fabric lampshade can be cleaned with a roller and adhesive tape, the kind you use to remove cat hair from clothes.
9. Sharpen your scissors
The easiest way is to cut off a piece of foil. But if you have double-sided sandpaper, the effect will be even better.
10. Clean your dog or cat's bed
Even if it looks clean and free of stains, it is full of bacteria. Use an iron with steam or a steamer - this will quickly disinfect.
11. Use utensil gloves correctly
Roll up the ends of your gloves to prevent water droplets from reaching your elbows when you raise your arms. This way, the water will remain in these “pockets”.
Source: https://mama.ru/articles/11-hitrostej-ot-marty-styuart-kotorye-pomogut-raz-i-navsegda-privesti-kuhnyu-v-poryadok/
How to sharpen a kitchen knife - 7 steps for beginners
It is simply impossible to describe all the nuances of how to properly sharpen knives in one article, but this is not always necessary. Especially if an ordinary kitchen knife needs sharpening or you are just a beginner who needs to start somewhere.
- In fact, sharpening a kitchen knife to a sharp point at home can be done easily and quickly. But the difficulty is that this must be done in such a way that the sharpness of the blade is preserved for a long time, and at the same time too much steel is not removed from the blade.
In this material we will try to simply and clearly tell you how to properly sharpen a knife with a whetstone. After all, this method is not only basic and accessible to everyone, but also the most effective. In addition to step-by-step instructions for sharpening and finishing, here you will find a selection of training videos and an overview of alternative methods - from sharpening systems to the bottom of a ceramic plate.
A little about choosing stones
Sharpening stones come in the following types:
- Ceramic;
- Diamond;
- Natural;
- Japanese water stones.
If you wish, once you gain experience, you can buy some solid and expensive diamond stones or Japanese water stones. However, it is better to start with ordinary ceramic bars (such as “Boats”), which are sold in every household goods store. They are wear-resistant, durable and affordable. The only drawback is their uneven abrasion.
Here are tips to help you find the right assistant:
- What size should the block be? Ideally, it is 1.5-2 times longer or at least not shorter than the knife blade. The width and shape of the bar is not important.
- When purchasing a block, make sure it is flat and free of chips.
- To start, you can buy one medium-hard all-purpose whetstone. But if you wish, buy one block with two sides of different grain sizes or two stones with a large and half the grain size. In the future, a couple more stones may be added to your collection.
- It's best to try to get a couple of Soviet-made donkeys, say, at flea markets or from your grandfather. Bars marked “Made in the USSR” have uniform-sized grains and high-quality binding material.
To bring your knife to razor sharpness, in addition to sharpening stones, you can also buy GOI abrasive paste, which we will also talk about working with.
7-step instructions for sharpening and finishing a kitchen knife
So, in sharpening a knife, one goal is to remove enough metal from the blade so that the cutting edge becomes sharp again. You need to start work with a coarse-grained abrasive and finish with a fine-grained one.
It is important to remember the following principles of sharpening knives:
- The most important thing is to choose the optimal sharpening angle and maintain it along the entire cutting edge while sliding along the block.
- Movements should be smooth, without pressure.
- All bars must be moistened with water, or better yet, with a soap solution: before sharpening (so that the blade glides better and metal dust does not clog the pores), during the process (to remove the resulting suspension) and at the end, to clean the bar.
And one more important tip - the first time it’s better to practice on a knife that you don’t mind ruining. Especially if your main knife is too good and expensive. Well, let's start practicing.
Step 1. Rinse the stone with water, and then run over it, say, with a sponge with a drop of dishwashing liquid.
Step 2. Next, sit down at the table and place the stone on a wooden board, for example, a cutting board. You can place a towel under the stone. For some it is more convenient to place the block perpendicular to themselves, and for others at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. Over time, you will understand how it is more convenient for you to work.
Step 3. Now you need to decide on the sharpening angle and fix the position of the knife. What should the angle be? The general principle is that the smaller it is, the sharper the blade, and the larger it is, the longer the blade retains its sharpness.
- Regular kitchen knives are sharpened to an angle of 40-45 degrees. If you are sharpening a fillet knife (designed for cutting thin pieces of fish, poultry and meat), then you should sharpen it sharper - at an angle of 30-40 degrees. The selected value must be divided by 2, and then we will get the angle that should be between the blade and the surface of the block. That is, to sharpen a blade at 45 degrees, you need to sharpen each side at 22.5 degrees to the sharpening surface.
A simple technique shown in the photo below will help you fix the knife at an angle of 22.5 degrees.
- Remember, you should try to stick to the chosen angle throughout the entire work.
Step 4. Place the knife across the block so that the upper edge of the handle is above the lower edge of the stone. Holding the handle with one hand and the blade with the other, we begin to slide along the block away from ourselves along the trajectory shown in the picture below.
Watch a short and clear video:
- The point is that the cutting edge sliding along the stone should always be perpendicular to the direction of movement.
- At the bend of the blade, the knife handle needs to be slightly raised to maintain the selected angle.
- Remember also that you can’t put pressure on the blade, but you shouldn’t give it any slack either.
Thus, you need to pass the blade along the stone about 40-50 times, namely until a “burr” (burr, microsaw) appears along the entire length of the cutting edge. Its appearance will tell you that the excess metal has worn out and there is no point in grinding further. Then you need to turn the blade over and repeat the same steps. Clearly in the video:
- A burr is a small roughness that is difficult to see, but can be felt by carefully running your finger along the edge of the blade (but not along the edge, so as not to cut yourself).
Burr of a sharpened knife
During operation, a suspension will appear on the blade - metal dust, which must be periodically washed off with water.
Step 5. So, the burrs have appeared, now we proceed to finishing. To do this, we repeat the same manipulations on a stone with half the grain size. An alternative finishing method is using musat.
- Musat is a steel rod of oval or round cross-section with longitudinal notches. It is only suitable for editing and maintaining sharpness, but not for sharpening a knife. It is recommended to edit the knife with musat every time before and after work.
How to sharpen a kitchen knife with musat can be seen in the following video master class from the respected knifemaker Gennady Prokopenkov, who, by the way, specializes in making kitchen knives.
Step 6. If desired, you can bring your knife to a razor sharpness. To do this, take any leather or leather belt, treat it with GOI, Dialux or any other abrasive paste, and then do the same steps, but only in the direction from the cutting edge.
Step 7. Finally, we check the quality of sharpening. This is done very simply. It is enough to cut a tomato or cut paper. If you wanted to achieve razor sharpness, then you should try to shave the hair on your arm. The sharpest knives can even cut hair, as shown in the photo below, but in the kitchen such sharpness is not required for the most ordinary knife.
Alternative sharpening methods
If your kitchen knife is a simple and inexpensive “hard worker” and/or you just don’t want to delve into the “knife culture”, then we recommend using an electric sharpener, a roller knife or a sharpening system for sharpening at home. What are their pros and cons?
- An electric sharpener sharpens knives perfectly and quickly, but even the highest quality models remove too much material from the blades, thereby shortening their service life. Another disadvantage of an electric sharpener is that a good device costs more than $200.
- A roller knife is an inexpensive and easy-to-use option. With its help, you can quickly sharpen a kitchen knife, but, unfortunately, the sharpness of the blade will not last long and the knife will deteriorate over time. The most trusted tool among roller scissors is the one from Fiskaris (pictured). Do not confuse a roller blade with a V-shaped blade. The latter is an option for the most frugal.
- Sharpening systems are good because they allow you to more accurately set and maintain an angle. There are different types of such sharpeners - with blade fixation (manufacturers DMT and Lanski) and with fixation of the stones themselves at a certain angle (Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker). Separately, we can highlight a sharpening system in which you can select the desired angle and control the position of the knife - this is the Edge Pro Apex Knife Sharpening System. Each system has its own pros and cons. For example, on sharpeners with a fixed blade it is inconvenient to sharpen wide chef knives, but on a triangle from Spyderco the knives are straightened rather than sharpened, and you can only choose an angle of 30 or 40 degrees. However, for kitchen knives these are the angles that are needed, and using a triangle is very simple. A detailed review and operating instructions for the Spyderco sharpener can be seen in the following video.
What are the disadvantages of Apex Edge Pro? Perhaps this is just a high price - $245. However, to sharpen kitchen knives, you can buy a Chinese copy of this sharpener (for example, on Aliexpress).
There is another clever way to sharpen a knife at home - using a rough mark on the bottom of a ceramic mug or plate. The principle of operation is still the same - maintaining the angle, smooth movements, maintaining the cutting edge (cutting edge) perpendicular to the direction.
Source: https://kitchendecorium.ru/accessories-decor/posuda/kak-natochit-nozh.html
How to sharpen scissors at home
No matter how high-quality scissors you buy, sooner or later they, like any other, will become dull. In this case, you can simply buy new ones, but why do that when you can save money and let your scissors last a little longer? All you need is some free time and items that you are sure to find in your home.
You cannot sharpen professional scissors yourself! The best blades for scissors are those that, after applying the best sharpening, remain for quite a long time. With poor sharpening, any blades will not bring you any benefit. However, that's not all. After unsuccessful sharpening, the metal may be damaged, and then your scissors will definitely be thrown away. Sharpening some types of blades is a problem even for specialized service centers.
Convection blades and thinning sheets fall under this definition. They require special equipment. However, with these types of problems you most likely will not have any problems for a long time after the purchase. Thanks to the high hardness steel of these scissors, they do not require sharpening for years. In terms of their effectiveness and convenience, the following methods are the best.
1. Metal kitchen sponge
necessary for washing off any dried-on dirt or food that cannot be wiped off with a regular rag or sponge. A softer sponge is suitable for sharpening scissors. The sharpening method is no different from the previous ones; you just need to cut the sponge with scissors. In order not to leave behind many small pieces of sponge, which will be difficult to remove later, it is better to do this over a trash can.
2. Tailor's pins
They can be used not only for their intended purpose, but also in the following ways. Scissors are sharpened in the same way, therefore the pins need to be cut. Moreover, here you need to be especially careful not to leave nicks on the blade. Place a tailor's pin between the blades of the scissors (try to press the needle towards the top) and then start cutting. Slowly at first, then when it starts to work out, you can increase the speed.
3. Application of glass jar
Find a jar that you no longer need, since after sharpening the scissors it will no longer be usable. If the blades are thin, a bottle with a narrow neck will do. So, how to sharpen. You need to make movements as if you were cutting a can so that the blade slides along it. Once you realize that the scissors are sharp enough, stop. Then wipe down the blades to remove any glass dust.
Please note that all the methods presented do not provide long-lasting results. If you want to get it, contact a professional.
How to properly sharpen scissors at home Link to main publication
Source: https://freelancehack.ru/other/kak-pravilno-natochit-nozhnicy-v-domashnih-uslovijah
How to sharpen metal scissors correctly? — Metals, equipment, instructions
Magazine "Science and Life" No. 1 for 1999
Scissors for paper and fabric
If the knife, when cutting, pushes parts of the material apart, then the edges of the scissors move these parts one relative to the other.
The cutting force with scissors depends on the radius of the rounding of the edges and on how close the planes of movement of these edges are to one another. To ensure that the edges fit properly against each other (near the shear point, and not along the entire length), the cutting halves are made slightly bent.
In addition, the mating edges (which many people do not suspect) are given a concave shape in cross section or the scissors are equipped with a special stamped cavity.
When buying scissors, pay attention to the quality of the steel, for example, by checking the hardness of the metal with a file.
Before sharpening, check the gap between the cutting halves near the hinge. If it is too large, reduce the gap by turning the screw in and riveting it out on the other side.
Loosen a hinge that is too tight by placing a washer so that the head of the screw is directly opposite the hole, and applying several blows with a hammer to the riveted end.
If the hinge is OK, check for clearance between the cutting halves. If there is no gap in some area, bend the halves here towards each other.
To do this, use a vice, setting the distance between their jaws 1-2 mm greater than the thickness of the cutting halves. Having placed one of the halves between the jaws, gradually push it out without applying too much force.
If this is not enough, use an anvil and two 5-10 mm thick plates so that they form a low area 25-30 mm wide.
Also pay attention to the contact of the cutting halves, determine the width of the shiny stripes on the surfaces of the cutting halves - let's call them “contact spots”. These spots appear when the halves rub against each other.
If the width of the spots is no more than 0.5-1 mm, it will not be difficult to put the scissors in order, since you will only have to remove the metal from one side of each half.
The width of the “contact spots” more than 1.5-2 mm indicates intense wear when scissors were used for a long time to cut materials with abrasive particles, or bad steel, or a flaw in the design itself (when, for example, they “forgot” to make the mating edges of the cutting blades concave halves). In this case, you will need to disassemble the scissors and restore or re-form the concave surfaces.
First, about a case that does not require disassembly. Large and medium scissors for paper and fabric with an edge length of 70-130 mm are best sharpened using an electric sharpener. Just as when sharpening a knife, make smooth movements, with approximately the same movement and pressure along the entire length of the blade.
Remove metal until the width of the “spot” is reduced to 0.2-0.3 mm, or, if the “contact spot” is narrow enough before sharpening, until the rounding of the edge becomes so small that the reflected the light will not be captured by the eyes.
The last pass with the abrasive wheel is finishing; after it, an even “pattern” of micro-irregularities remains, and the sharpened edge is almost a plane.
After sharpening both halves, remove any burrs from the edges. First, bring the halves together so that they do not touch each other.
To do this, open them to the sides with the thumb and forefinger of your left hand.
Then separate the halves, while, on the contrary, press them harder against each other.
As a result, the burrs will bend back, and all that remains is to remove them with a fine-grained stone or “zero” sandpaper. If necessary, repeat breaking off the hangnails several times.
When removing burrs with a block or paper, do not try to make the surfaces of the edges very smooth. The greater the height of the micro-irregularities, the easier it will be to hold the material being cut. This is exactly the case when roughness is useful.
When sharpening short scissors with a length of cutting halves of 30-40 mm, you can only get by with an abrasive stone, and sometimes with a flat, always new, file with a fine notch. To fix the knives in the desired position, use a vice.
An electric sharpener is contraindicated for sharpening nail scissors, since the layer of metal being removed is so small that without sufficient experience, you can ruin the tool in a few seconds. Therefore, use a small, fine-grained abrasive stone. To process a concave edge, round one of the edges of the block with a radius of 4-5 mm.
When sharpening ordinary garden shears, it is necessary to disassemble them, since the other half will not allow you to process the entire length of the edge of one cutting half.
Metal scissors
These “steps” have a particularly strong effect when cutting metal with a thickness of more than 0.3-0.4 mm, when in order to move the scissors forward (after the next separation of the cutting halves), one of the sides has to be bent, which slows down the work and deteriorates the quality.
Before assembling garden shears and tin snips, lubricate the axle and hole, as well as the mating areas near the hinge, with lithol or some other lubricant, even petroleum jelly.
If the mating edges of the cutting halves are heavily worn and you need to restore or re-shape their concave surfaces, use the electric sharpener section, which is located near the end.
Depending on the position of the knife, you can get an almost flat or concave surface of the edge. Make sure that when sharpening, the cutting edge of the knife slides along the surface of the “table” of the electric sharpener. This will allow you to orient the resulting “gutter” relative to the edge as accurately as possible.
Make sure that the metal is removed evenly along the entire length of the cutting half, including the area behind the hinge. Don't forget to cool the part with water from time to time. Perform the last, finishing pass in one movement, without tearing the cutting half off the circle.
After such a pass, a smooth concave surface of the correct shape remains, without ledges, with an even pattern of micro-irregularities. The radius of curvature can be controlled with a metal ruler, positioned near a window or near another light source.
A radius of 100-120 mm with a blade width of 8-10 mm corresponds to a gap between the ruler and the “bottom” of the gutter of approximately 0.1-0.2 mm.
uCoz technologies are used
How to sharpen scissors at home? Easy and practically free
Together with a knife (pardon the tautology), scissors are the most popular household tool. They are used by dressmakers, cut out paper products, and cut up food in the kitchen.
Like any cutting tool, scissors periodically need sharpening. The principle of their operation differs from classic blades (such as a knife or scalpel).
The knife makes a so-called straight cut, using one cutting edge. Hence the corresponding sharpening angle, tending to 0°.
The scissors use an indirect type of cut - between two cutting edges. Accordingly, the sharpening angle tends to 90°, and the quality of the surface is of fundamental importance.
How to sharpen scissors
Just like skates, the halves of the scissors should not be sharp in the usual sense. The main thing is careful adherence to uniformity and linearity of processing.
If a tool does not cut paper or fabric well, you should evaluate the condition of the cutting edge and other parts of the tool:
Check the hinge assembly.
A loose connection between the cutting halves actually makes the tool impossible to operate. If it is screw, you need to tighten the thread. If it is riveted, crimp the rivet.
IMPORTANT! When squeezing loose halves, do not apply excessive force. Otherwise, the edges will quickly become dull during work, and cutting will become uncomfortable.
The problem of a weakened hinge is solved by the Ring Lock system, which is used in products from well-known manufacturers.
If your scissors are connected in the traditional way, watch for play, and you may not need sharpening.
Evaluate the geometry of the scissors when viewed from above.
The blades should have some "negative" bend.
In this case, at the point of contact of the cutting edges (and this is the point at which the material is cut) there will always be close contact. If the blades are spread apart and there is play between them (tenths of a millimeter is enough), then no matter how sharp the edges are, the tool will not cut. You can bend the blades manually, using caution and moderation.
IMPORTANT! Too much bending causes rapid wear and dull edges.
Check the condition of the cutting edge.
Before sharpening your scissors, inspect the blades for nicks or corrosion. It often happens that a perfectly sharpened tool does not cut due to one notch, which “spreads” the blades without providing a contact point. It is enough to eliminate it, and the cutting ability will be restored.
How to properly cut wood with a hacksaw?
Clean the surface of the blades.
Household scissors are often used to cut tape. Glue sticks to the edge, followed by dust and dirt. Pieces of adhesive tape remain that cover the cutting part and cling to the material being processed. You can remove foreign objects and glue using alcohol or solvent.
Sharpening scissors using traditional methods:
If nothing from the previous list is found, the scissors need to be sharpened. There are several ways. We will look at those that are available at home. When the edges are not very worn, instead of sharpening, it is enough to straighten the blades.
- Using a needle or awl. You need to simulate cutting a steel bar made of hardened metal. Then the surface of the edges will be leveled and free of burrs. The force must be balanced so that the “cutting” begins at the hinge itself, then the needle gradually moves, and the process ends at the tips;
Source: https://spb-metalloobrabotka.com/kak-pravilno-zatochit-nozhnitsy-po-metallu/
