Covering All the Important Points

Packing knives means two things: protecting the knives and protecting everything around them – including our customers’ fingers! Here we’ll cover the basic points, then go through a few ways to add an extra few ounces of protection.

How to Pack Knives: The Basics

#1. Separate your knives into groups of similar sizes to create tighter, safer bundles.

#2. Start by rolling up the first knife in a couple of sheets of packing paper, then add another, then another. Four or five knives to a bundle might be plenty, rolled up tight to keep them from slipping. Again, we want tight, safe bundles. But keep in mind…

#3. We should leave a little extra room when folding the paper over the sharp end of the bundle. If something or someone does put a little pressure on that end the extra cushioning will help prevent those knife points from poking through.

#4. Tape the bundle to keep it tight throughout the journey. Wrapping the sharp end, both around and over the end, lends an extra dose of protection against incidental damage.

#5. Label the bundle with a big fat ‘KNIVES’ written with your Sharpie. Showing which way the points are might also be helpful for the person who will be unpacking them. Be careful here though: an arrow can be construed as an invitation to grab that end. Unfortunately there is no established acronym like SE for Sharp End, or HFH for Handle From Here or TITPP (got that one?) so you’ll have to, if you are so inclined, make up your own notation. Whatever it is, just be clear!

#6. For an extra heads-up, note on the outside of the carton that there are knives inside.

How to Pack Knives: Extra Care

• Incorporate some dish towels into your bundles. Position them so they will cover the blades and extend beyond their tips; when you fold the ends of your bundle over the towels will be doubled over too, lending lots of good cover.
• Place these bundles of knives into smaller boxes which in turn can be placed into your 3-cube or dish pack.
• If your customer keeps their knives in one of those butcher block things, leave them in there. But be careful of two things: (1) Wrap the whole package up well, with plenty of packing paper or, if you have one on hand, a large dish towel; (2) Pad those handles well and pay attention to how you position the whole thing in your carton – sticking out of that block of wood leaves those handles susceptible to damage if pressure is placed on them.
• Particularly for large butcher and carving knives, consider (after wrapping them individually of course) laying them side by side in a still-flat 1.5 carton. Tape the carton along the end where the handles are, carefully add paper to keep the blades from slipping and sliding around, then tape that end shut, folding the box flaps over for more protection and safety.
• Want even greater protection? Pack those bundles of knives tightly in between bath towels when you are packing up the bathroom. Just remember to label in BIG and CLEAR letters that there are knives in there.