You no longer dice onions—you can only mash them. You’re not so much cutting into a steak as you are wrestling with it. The truth is as clear as your slices aren’t: Your trusty kitchen knives are in need of sharpening.
If it’s been a while or if this is your very first foray into knife maintenance, you might not have the proper tools on hand to get your knives’ edge back. While a honing steel is a great piece of equipment for keeping well-kept knives aligned, it’s not going to cut it (pun absolutely intended) if your blades are already decidedly dull. If that’s the case, you’ll need to up the ante.