Culinary knives and knifeknuts

Mentor said:
Instead, my kitchen is equipped with a few nice blades originally intended for camp or hunting use, pressed into culinary service.

- Mike
Click to expand...

I'm with Mike. I even use a few folders, like the CUDA Maxx and Spydie Military. Mostly, I rely on a CRK Sable III, Iisakki Jarvenpaa leuku & puukko set, and a few Bark Rivers: Rogue bowie, Highland, Wolf River, and especially the Adirondack Guide.

I've also been happy with smaller knives like the Bob Dozier Canoe, Pat Crawford neck knife, and Moras or similar Finnish knives.

I'm sure "real" kitchen knives are a good idea, but I like to familiarize myself with my knives by using them in the kitchen, and some are so effective, they stay there.
 
3 piece Henckels set but to me thats not good blades (i used to think i would never need any more or better kitchen knives but you know how that goes)
when i can get more time i will have a set of at least 3 knives of my own making
 
Another guilty one :o :(

(you wouldn't believe what was sometimes used for "sharpening" of these knives :o)

It's Zepter knife set, no markings of steel used. However I can put by because I haven't bought them :D

IMG_4517.jpg


IMG_4518.jpg
 
I have a couple Wustoff knives and love them. I plan to keep them on a magnetic strip here real soon.I use them all the time as I cook as much as my wife and they haven't had to be sharpened yet after a year+.I do long to buy a couple customs though and probably will.

MPE
 
Guilty.

Our kitchen knives were bought to look pretty, a Camillus rosewood set. But they don't cut worth a crap and won't hold an edge.

My 'good' kitchen knives, a two-piece set of American-made Chicago Cutlery Walnut Traditions, I use in the shop.

There may be help on the horizon though. I recieved two Kai Wasabi knives as a gift. So the situation is improving.

-Bob
 
I have a total mishmash of assorted kitchen knives. A Spyderco serrated knife, two Victorinox skinner styles (one modified almost Nessmuk-ish), a couple or three of old no name chef knives carbon steel and stainless. And a cheapy set of generic lazer brand serrated knives. Actually as far as really cheap kitchen knives go they aren't that bad. 10 or 12 piece set less than 20 bucks, wooden block included. Good flex to them but of course the serrations are not Spyder style sharpenable.I Actually use the lazer steak knives a bit.

The thing is i respect my knives and don't use them for non-knife purposes. But I have family and friends who visit and are clueless regarding knives. Sharp knives are not for hacking steel or for prying apart frozen hamburgers! Guaranteed if i spend too much on kitchen knives someone will come along and damage them.

But don't go too cheap. I have seen some really bad dollar stores kitchen knives that are complete junk and dangerous and will literally snap in your hands! If you have to buy really cheap stuff at least make sure they are full tang.
Actually I hear those Ontario carbon steel kitchen knives are good AND inexpensive. I may order some soon (can't find them around here).
Any forumites use the Ontario kitchen knives?

Generally from personal experience I would recommend the Spyderco and Victorinox, good bang for the buck!
Soon i'm going to order one of those one piece japanese cleavers from Lee Valley. Always wanted a cleaver.
:)
 
For 25 years or more I have had an Old Hickory butcher knife in the garage. I have abused this knife and never really taken care of it other than sharpening it once in a while. I used it several times to cut sod when laying a new lawn. The thing is is that it takes a wicked sharp edge and stays that way for way longer than you would expect when cutting DIRT! I was looking for suggestions on kitchen knives and someone here recommended the Old Hickory knives. What, they still make those! I ordered 2 paring knives, a butcher knife, and a 10" chef knife today for $33.38. That includes shipping!
I got them at Knives Plus. They are made of 1095 steel and should last forever if you take care of them and don't stick them in the dishwasher. If they don't work out I am not out a lot. If they do work out I just saved a ton of money and I can buy some more folders!:D :D
 
As a Food Scientist and having attendant training in the culinary arts, I use and maintain simple "Forschner" tools – an 8" chef's knife, two 6" chefs/utility knives, and two paring knives. These Forschner knives are kept sharp and the Fibrox handles are impervious to anything I can dish out. All the more fancy kitchen knives with lots of stars and lots of price won't help me prepare meals any better than my quality Forschners (the lot cost less than $100!)
 
I've been buying customs to replace my pot metal kitchen knives as they die. my Sabatier set are still going strong after 30 years though. (they belongged to my parents')

Right now I have a Koster santuko, and a Harner pack hunter for kitchen knives.
 
Started out like everyone else usually does.....with crap.

First "decent" knife was a Gerber bread knife, back in 1992. Still have it, don't use it much.

Then, got a 9" Henckles Chef. Still have that. Works...decently. Have a 7" Henkels santoku, that works...decently. 10" Henckels slicer that has seen some good use. Have a 7" Wusthof chefs that cuts real well, but it is a bit light.

In 1995, Phillip Baldwin made me a forged Japenese-ish chef's knife with cocobolo handles, it works really well, but the carbon patina thing drives me crazy.

Keep using it to have at least ONE forged carbon knife in the line-up, but there is also a Tactical Grapefruit knife from our own Steven Agocs, made from differentially hardened carbon steel with an African Blackwood handle. The mirror polish helps.

For that reason, have put up my Muteki Honesuki and 7 1/2" laminated damascus Ed Shempp knife. For some reason, the Busse Thick Nick that gets regular use does not patina, but gets "powder" rust.

These have been supplanted by Shun models: 6.5" Shun Elite santoku with SG2 "super steel", re-shaped to a more "traditional" european chef's knife, VG0165D Deba, and DM0504 Ken Onion Slicer(AWESOME knife).

Paring knives are an Al Mar 4.75" laminated damascus, Shun DM0701 6" utility, and probably my favorite knife of all, the William Henry Maestro 3.75" ZDP/damascus utility with cocobolo handles. Gave me a really deep laceration on the left ring finger, cutting an acorn squash for my mother this past thanksgiving. Took an entire tube of crazy glue to stop the bleeding.

Also have two steak knives purchased from Blue Ridge Cutlery with picasso stone handles, and damascus blades with VG-10 core. These are excellent utility knives as well. For company, we have a boxed set of Messermeister Meridian Elite steak knives.

Think that's most of them.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I'm sure "real" kitchen knives are a good idea, but I like to familiarize myself with my knives by using them in the kitchen, and some are so effective, they stay there.
Click to expand...

I commonly use my folders for dicing and some other food prep chores both in the kitchen and on the grill but few have stayed there dedicated to the kitchen. I have a Spyderco Catcherman that I do frequently use there but its kept in the safe when not being used so its away from the edge terror known as my wife who frequently cuts things on the Kohler porcelain sink or a glass cutting board and then shoves things all jumbled in our dishwasher and then in a drawer all jumbled together so they can bang on each other and rub edge to spine and what not everytime you go to get one. This is what I have to deal with with anything cheap or nice in the kitchen.

If I spent the bucks for a good kitchen cutlery I'd be on the couch too much trying to keep her from doing things she shouldn't with them. Just too much work. So high end kitchen cutlery to me might end up being the private label named stuff in the Kershaw catalog although I did order two of the Pure Komachi knives yesterday from Kershaw along with one I didn't even know about called the Higo. Have any of you guys seen this gem? I'll be doing a review on this one shortly I'm sure. Looks like a super quality fruit tester knife to me which I've been looking for for a long time. My neighbors pear tree will never be the same next summer now. :eek:

http://cgi.ebay.com/KERSHAW-SHUN-HI...EAK-KNIFE_W0QQitemZ120061067686QQcmdZViewItem
 
By co-incidence, the Toronto Star ran a feature on kitchen knives today in the Food section. The article is reproduced online.

http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/178840

Some interesting info from George and also from Wüsthof-Trident of Canada Inc. - Zwilling J.A. Henckels.

I supplied some of the information that is mentioned in the article and in the do's and don'ts.
 
Lets see now. I have:

2 Wusthof Tridents
4 Henckels
1 Grohman #4
1 Messermeister
1 Cold Steel
a heap of small victorinox parers, steak knives, etc.
and the first one I bought in the 70s, a Sabatier.
I used to have a Gerber A475 in the kitchen as well but decided it was better used for other purposes.
 
It's the real deal Andrew, and in person doesn't fit your discription.
It is made in Japan, has polished black Pakkawood scales and a VG-10 blade. It has a liner lock, and can be opened and closed one handed. A nice little sheath and presentation box are included as well.
I have one, and think there pretty classy. It always gets compliments at business dinners. Pretty fun, functional and unusal cutting tool if you ask me.
 
I don't know how you could suggest that Andrew if you are at all familar with Kershaw cutlery. Read the description maybe next time. When I saw it for the first time the last thing that would have entered my mind was that it looked 'cheap' because in fact it looked pretty classy to me. If its not authentic what are you thinking about to make that comment? Really I want to know. I'm not being a smart ass. Is there another that you consider to be the authentic one in your mind when you say that?

STR
 
I own some quality carbon steel kitchen cutlery, but don't use it. In the typical home kitchen, where you always have people who aren't knife aficionados "helping out", knives take a lot of abuse. Plus exposure to water, acidic foods, etc. favors stainless steels and synthetic handles which cheaper knives tend to have.

Besides decent quality, inexpensive stainless kitchen knives aren't hard to find, Victorinox/Forschner for example. A couple of my favorites are unknown brand with some kind of non-stick coating a girlfriend got at Pier One or someplace like that.
 
I have a few nice kitchen knives, but they are currently hiding away from the kitchen. Even though I have tried to teach my wife of 22 years proper use and respect of quality cutlery, the simple truth is that I don't trust her with quality cutlery. The reason my good kitchen knives are in hiding is because I recently came home to find out that she had used my favorite ultra-thin- edge kitchen knife to chop a ham bone in half so she could divide it equally between the dogs. She used a rock to hammer the blade through the ham bone. Since I can't leave good kitchen cutlery in the kitchen, I'm not about to pay top dollar for it right now.

She thinks I am being ridiculous. When I got after her for messing up the edge on that knife (and I didn't even raise my voice), she was mad at me and would hardly talk to me for days.
 
Thomas W said:
It's the real deal Andrew, and in person doesn't fit your discription.
It is made in Japan, has polished black Pakkawood scales and a VG-10 blade. It has a liner lock, and can be opened and closed one handed. A nice little sheath and presentation box are included as well.
I have one, and think there pretty classy. It always gets compliments at business dinners. Pretty fun, functional and unusal cutting tool if you ask me.
Click to expand...


Apologies Thomas, and thank you for the information. I have amended my post and perhaps you would also remove my quote.

STR. I love Kershaw knives and a Kai Shun Pro is my favourite kitchen knife both for looks and usability. I just thought it looked a bit gaudy and didn't like the big round pivot. Having never seen one, I mistakenly thought it was a fake and didn't want Kershaw 'associated' with a cheap looking knife. Of course in doing so, I maligned a company I love. I have to admit, it didn't click that the posts was yours. Apologies to you too. :foot:
 
Well i live with my parents so I havent really needed my own culinary set, but last week i started it off by buying the yin and yang culinary knives from spyderco. They havent been used but vg-10 for $52.00, good stuff. Everyone knows how good spyder serrations, one of the cooking knives has the the entire length of the knife.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top