A wooden knife block houses all the knives needed for cooking and enjoying your food. It often holds a knife sharpener as well. Your paring knife, your steak knives, a chef’s knife and more are typically all stored in a wooden knife block.

Just as those knives get dirty, so too does your wooden knife block. Is cleaning inside those deep slots impossible? It isn’t. In fact, getting your knife block clean isn’t nearly difficult as you might imagine it could be.

Items Needed to Clean Your Wooden Knife Block

The following items will come in very handy when cleaning your wooden knife block. Pick and choose among them, based on those items readily available in your home.

• Blow dryer
• Paper towels
• White vinegar
• Chenille pipe cleaners
• Knives

Get the Knife Block Clean

Begin cleaning your knife block by removing the knives and tipping it upside down over the sink or a trash can. This will allow any loose debris dislodge. It is amazing what gets in there.

Turn your blow dryer to its cool setting. Continue holding the wooden knife block over the sink or trash can and aim the blow dryer inside each of the empty slots. This should blow out even more debris. Who knows what else is lodged in there.

Moisten a piece of paper towel with white vinegar. Wrap one of the longer, thinner knives in this same piece of paper towel. Work it inside each of the empty knife slots and, if possible, move it back and forth once you put it in there. Since white vinegar acts as a natural disinfectant, this will help clean any bacteria that may have found its way inside your wooden knife block.

If you prefer, you may perform the aforementioned step using a chenille pipe cleaner instead. Simply dip the pipe cleaner into the bottle of white vinegar. Press the excess from the chenille with your fingers and proceed.

You might like reading:

• Cleaning with Vinegar
• How to Clean a Wooden Cutting Board

Drying the Knife Block

No matter how little white vinegar you may have used, it must be dried away in order to avoid hurting the wood. Once again turn your blow dryer to its coolest setting. Aim it inside the empty knife slots and turn it on. After about a minute the inside of your knife block should be dry.

Replace each of your knives and the knife sharpener, too. Since this isn’t one of those cleaning jobs you need to do weekly, you might want to note on your calendar when you completed this job. The next time you perform this task it will take even less time, since you’re now a wooden knife block cleaning pro.