Wash the knife very carefully being careful not to cut yourself.Use warm soapy water, rinse well, sanitize if in a food servicesetting, and dry thoroughly.At home, I wash my knives immediately upon completion of thetask at hand, then I dry them with a towel and put them away. Theacids from food can dull the edge if not cleaned off. Fresh fooddebris is easier to clean off than dried on food. I also store theknives in their sheaths. If a knife doesn't have a sheath, I makesome with clean paperboard (length of blade and 3x the blade width.Fold it around blade to shape, remove from blade and use schoolglue to secure the sheath's shape. Put a weight on it - like aphone book - and wait an hour or so.) Sheaths make a drawer ofknives safer and the blade edges don't get banged up so they staysharp longer.Something I learned from a cutlery salesman - if you use a blockto store your knives and the slots are vertical, insert the knifewith the edge facing up. That helps the knife retain sharpness.