Concrete Cat

September 24, 2009

“Can I cut directly on my concrete counter tops?” This is a question I get quite a bit from clients, and also my mom who I think has asked me this at least seven times so far in various conversations. As an amateur chef and concrete artisan this is also a question that bugs me to no end so here is the definitive answer once and for all.

No!

This picture equals bad.

This picture equals good.

For starters the concrete itself is pretty resilient and you will be hard pressed to damage it, but we have put a sealant over the concrete to reduce staining and increase luster, the sealant is something that should be reapplied every 2–3 years and it is not nearly as strong as the concrete, if you cut on it you will damage the sealant.

The big one for me though is your knives. As an amateur chef I have invested a decent amount of money in some pretty nice knives. About a month ago I was cooking a leg of lamb to eat with a nice Shiraz and I found that the leg would not fit in my roaster. So I decided that I could hack through the bone with my 8” chefs knife. I mean butchers hack through bones why can’t I? Well long story short I did some pretty bad damage to my knife and luckily my knife sharpener was able to salvage the knife and got it back to almost new for me. The moral of the story is to go easy on your knives, they are professional instruments and should be treated as such. If I could do that much damage to my knives with a bone think of the damage concrete will inflict on your knives.

I am a firm believer on cutting on wood, it is soft and will help keep a keen edge on your knives longer. If you don’t believe me have a read of this great article on knife maintenance from http://www.gizmodo.com. It deals with some great tips for knives and cutting and also touches on what you should and shouldn’t cut on. So please people, lets me kind to our

http://gizmodo.com/5348996/youre-doing-it-wrong-how-to-properly-buy-maintain-and-use-a-knife