How to: Turn Old Butter Knives into a Set of High-Quality Steak Knives

In case you’ve never looked into it, a set of steak knives is, like, super expensive. Even a reasonably priced, high-quality set, like these six rosewood-handled knives from Victorinox, will set you back $130. Which, to be fair, works out to about $22 a piece, but, c’mon, if you were gonna spend $130 on some knives, would you really want to get a speciality tool you’ll only you five or six times a year when you cook up some serious protein for guests?   

I wouldn’t…and haven’t, which is why, despite all the cooking and entertaining I do, I don’t own a set of nice steak knives. Either did the team at Chefsteps, which is why they came up with this great solution to whip up some serious steak knives… from a batch of thrifted, secondhand butter knives. 

You should watch the video for the full process, but the short answer is: you can do this fairly easily and quickly, either with an oil or waterstone, or with the aid of a stationary or sander. (They call it a grinder in the video, but I’m pretty sure this is what they’re using). Even if you have to purchase a set of stones or a tool to get the job done, you’ll spend the money on something you can continue to use for other projects and hacks, not something that will sit in a box 99% of the time.

Check out the video below, and learn more at ChefHacks.com: