Matsato care routine – do you treat it like a regular knife?

I’ve had mine for a while now and it’s really not that fussy. The stainless part I treat exactly like any other kitchen knife, hand wash with soapy water and dry it off. No special routine there.

The beech wood handle is the part people seem to get hung up on, but mine gets splashed and wiped off all the time and nothing bad has happened. I’m not careful with it either, it just sits on my counter and gets used daily. I think as long as you’re not leaving it soaking in the sink or tossing it in the dishwasher, you’re fine. Wood handles can look drier after a year or two, but that’s just natural wear.

I don’t oil it. I don’t do anything extra. It still feels solid and hasn’t cracked or warped on me. I’d say it fits into a normal routine without issue.

Honestly? I had kind of the opposite thing happen with mine. I picked it up expecting it to be one of those knives you have to baby a little, given the wood handle and everything. I read a few things before buying it that made me think I’d be doing some kind of extra ritual every few weeks to keep it from drying out or cracking.

Turns out I was wrong. The beech wood handle is way more low maintenance than I assumed. I treat it like I do all my kitchen stuff: hand wash it with warm soapy water after I’m done cooking and dry it off with a towel before putting it away. That’s it. No special oils, no weird conditioning routine, nothing like that. After several months of near daily use, the handle still looks pretty much the same as the day I got it. Maybe slightly darker from being handled, but in a nice way.

The blade itself is the part that actually shifted my thinking. I went in assuming stainless steel meant I could be a bit more careless, but it still needs attention if you want it to stay sharp. It’s not that it dulls fast, it’s just that I found myself reaching for the sharpening steel way more often than I do with my other knives. Not a complaint, just a reality check. It made me realize that no knife is truly maintenance free, even the stainless ones.

So yeah, it fits into a normal routine. Just don’t expect to completely ignore it.

If you cook a lot and keep your knives somewhere they can get knocked around, the wood handle is the only thing I’d keep an eye on. I’ve seen mine dry out a bit faster than I expected, so I rub a little mineral oil on it a couple times a year. Other than that, it’s been as low maintenance as any stainless knife I’ve owned.

I treat the blade like any other knife I own. It is stainless, so it doesn’t need any special ritual. I do make a point to hand wash it, but that is honestly because of the wood handle, not the steel.

I would not say the handle is high maintenance. I have had mine get splashed plenty and it is fine. The one thing I would avoid is letting it sit in a puddle of water on the counter or throwing it in the sink with dishes. Keep it dry when it is not in use and you will be fine.

Mine gets treated like every other kitchen knife I own, honestly. I hand wash it because the wood handle is the only real variable. Left it in the sink once overnight by accident and the handle looked a little dry afterward, but nothing cracked or warped. Blade itself has never given me any trouble.

I’ve had mine for about a year and just treat it like any other knife I own. Hand wash it, dry it, throw it in the block. The handle hasn’t given me any trouble so far, but I also don’t leave it sitting in a wet sink. If you’re already used to caring for a decent knife, it fits right in.

If you already hand wash your good knives, the Matsato is not going to add extra work. The steel is the easy part. I found the handle is the thing that actually needs a bit of attention. I just make sure it is totally dry before it goes back in the drawer, and I do not let it sit wet in the sink while I finish cooking. No oiling or anything so far, but I am only a few months in.