A day at the forge in Tupudana
From the 6 am fire to the last edge on the stone: how a knife is made, hour by hour.
Sharp knives for Chhath and Durga Puja cooking
Big batches of vegetables and fish for the festival weeks: how to get your knives ready.
October and November are the heaviest cooking weeks in Ranchi. Durga Puja brings bhog for hundreds in community kitchens, and Chhath brings thekua, kaddu-bhaat and days of preparation. A dull knife on two sacks of pumpkin is hard on the wrist and dangerous.
Get knives sharpened two weeks before the festival, not the day before. Our mail-in service returns knives within seven days, but in the last week of September queues are long. If you are in Ranchi, bring them to the forge on a Saturday and we will sharpen them while you wait.
For kaddu and other hard vegetables, use a heavier knife: our chopper or a thick sabzi knife. Thin chef’s knives can chip if twisted in hard pumpkin. Split the vegetable first, then cut the halves flat-side down.
For fish, keep one knife for scaling and one for cutting. Scales dull an edge quickly. Wash fish knives in cold water first, then warm, to stop the smell setting into the handle.
After the festival, strop every knife and oil the carbon blades before putting them away. Community kitchens can also hire a sharpening session: one of us comes with stones and sharpens the whole kitchen’s knives for a fixed fee.
