Dinner is Served...

L

Longstrider

Joined
May 18, 2005
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230
Am I the only person left in the world who eats dinner with a plain, old fashioned, bone handled knife rather than one of the modern stainless jobs with the useless serrations ? My knives were my grandfathers and they are still going strong. The beauty of them (for me) is that they are plain edged, and made of good steel, so are knives that I can sharpen. I might only be eating dinner with them but I like a knife that CUTS! If I have steak, I don't want to saw it into pieces with a thing that looks like a wooden handled hacksaw blade, but nor do I want to bludgeon it apart with an all but useless lump of steel that would struggle to cut mashed potato cleanly.

I know that many of you are incredibly fussy about the edge on your knives (hell, I thought I was bad until I came here and saw that guys were inspecting their edges with microscopes!), but I wonder how many of you sit down to dinner with up to half a dozen knives in your pockets/on your belt that would shave a passing flies eyebrows off... only to struggle through your meal with a knife which is more like a mini pry-bar?

Once, having ordered steak in a restaraunt, I was given a "steak knife" that I wouldn't have used to split a bread roll. Failing to attract the attention of the waiter I happily ate the steak with a fork and my 110. I think the waiter got the message when he returned to clear to table and found me wiping the juice off my Buck with the napkin! *LOL*
 
Well, I wouldn't use a plain edge knife on a ceramic (or whatever) dinner plate. Maybe you eat off a wooden or plastic plate? :) The serrated knives are designed to protect the knife's edges from the plate which is made of a harder material than the knife steel. The tips of the serration slide along the plate preventing the sharpened recesses from being dulled. I find a good quality steak that has well designed serrations to work very well if it's sharpened properly.

So I'll save my plain edge knives for cutting things that aren't harder then the blade steel so I don't ruin my edges.
 
interesting point wade, I have pulled my calypso jr when eating before. Definately is nice to eat with a sharp knife.
 
Real men will only use plain edge knives to slice bread, and for cutting up food on ceramic plates. Personaly the only knife I will use at the dinner table is my Strider SMF. :rolleyes:
 
I used to use a little neil blackwood necker clip point when cutting was needed .I now use my paramilitary as I carry it most often.
 
When eating meat, I'll use whatever edc knife I have with me at the moment-usually and Al Mar Hawk Ultralight, or a Mini Grip 555. Yeah, it's not the best for the edge, but that's what sharpeners are for. I can't stand the idea of having a great cutting tool on me, and not using it when faced with a cutting task.
 
I believe in the right tool for the job. This is why I don't prepare food with things from my tool room like my utility razor knife, hacksaw, wood saw, etc. Also my EDC knife is primarily used for opening packages and other cutting tasks, but not my food. I have a whole array of kitchen knives to prepare food with which are designed to handle various kitchen tasks better than my pocket knife and are much easier to clean after use.

In a pinch, like out at a picnic or something, I can see using my EDC to cut food, but only if I know it's clean. :)

Also I'd never take my EDC to a dinner plate. I don't spend time sharpening and polishing up my edge to ruin it on a dinner plate. For those who aren't used to scary sharp edges, and are used to just dealing with whatever edge the factory puts on, they probably wouldn't notice a difference if they use their knife improperly.

The reason they make cutting boards out of wood and plastic is so it won't damage the edge of fine kitchen knives. If cutting on ceramic plates wouldn't damage the edge they'd make ceramic cutting boards. :rolleyes:
 
WadeF said:
I believe in the right tool for the job. This is why I don't prepare food with things from my tool room like my utility razor knife, hacksaw, wood saw, etc. Also my EDC knife is primarily used for opening packages and other cutting tasks, but not my food. I have a whole array of kitchen knives to prepare food with which are designed to handle various kitchen tasks better than my pocket knife and are much easier to clean after use.

In a pinch, like out at a picnic or something, I can see using my EDC to cut food, but only if I know it's clean. :)

Also I'd never take my EDC to a dinner plate. I don't spend time sharpening and polishing up my edge to ruin it on a dinner plate. For those who aren't used to scary sharp edges, and are used to just dealing with whatever edge the factory puts on, they probably wouldn't notice a difference if they use their knife improperly.

The reason they make cutting boards out of wood and plastic is so it won't damage the edge of fine kitchen knives. If cutting on ceramic plates wouldn't damage the edge they'd make ceramic cutting boards. :rolleyes:
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Exactly. :D
 
Agreed, there is a reason that the vast majority of dinner knives are serrated. This way cutting up a few pieces of steak on a diner plate won't make the edge rolled over and dull as a butter knife. A god quality, well designed serrated steak knife does a fine job of cutting up your meat, without needing the time invested in restoring edges for each knife after.
 
i cut a plate in half with a henckles paring knife by accident once, I was cutting some cheese and it went through pretty forcefully and the plate broke right down the middle.
 
Cooked food is usually not all that hard to cut. The job of a steak knife usually isn't all that challenging. When I was a kid back in the 50's I never saw a serrated steak knife. Steak knives were simply typical tableware knives with slightly thinner dull edges and tightly spaced grooves or ribs cut across the edge. This was usually adequate. Table knives were silver plate with rounded edges in order to protect your fine china. They also protected your Melmac plastic plates that you let the kids use.

Steak knives with actual knife edges, serrated or not, became common in the 60's when we became a truly disposable society. Meat toughened on the barbeque was sawed appart on cheap plates. This was the era when disposable serrated kitchen knives were the order of the day and so disposable serrated steak knives were a natural. I don't think there was any real intention to have an edge that withstood plates any more than they worried about the serrated edges damaging the plates. Everything was intended to be thrown away and be replaced with great new disposable stuff.

If you eat at the table like civilized folk you don't need a fancy knife to cut your meat. You can add some pressure and saw through a round steak. As dining gets away from the dinner table and over by the TV you need a knife that slices with little downwards or crosswise force. A serrated knife fits the bill. In my tableware stockpile I have a lot of cheap serrated steak knives that my wife loves for that purpose. I also have about a dozen nice all stainless plain edge steak knives. I keep all of these knives moderately sharp. They don't have to be as sharp as our kitchen knives to cut steaks and chops. I want them to cut steak, but I don't want them to scratch up the plates. The plates are more expensive than the knives and their appearance is more noticeable. For the same reason I don't use steak knives with extremely hard blades. I sold off a couple dozen Gerber steak knives with tool steel blades for that reason.

When guests come over I resort back to our good tableware. This is all stainless flatware that won't damage our antique plates. The plates cost over $25.00 each when you can find them. The edges on the steak knives are lightly serrated and I don't sharpen them. I just make sure that I serve my guests more tender cuts of meat and we eat at tables where we can get a handle on what we are doing.
 
Good meat you can cut with a fork. I rather forget about the knives and save my antique bone china
 
GarageBoy said:
Good meat you can cut with a fork. I rather forget about the knives and save my antique bone china
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Okay, what's with you knife guys and you're fancy plates? :p :D I just have some regular old Pfaltzgraft or however you spell it.
 
In the dreaded case of a tough steak/dull knife combo at a restaraunt, I usually break out my Benchmite.

I have been known to use my Sebenza from time to time though! :D
 
My normal everyday plates are Corelle white glazed glass. They get destroyed when my dad saws through the glass
 
I normally don't break out whatever I'm EDCing to cut up a steak, that's what steak knives are for. But if one isn't available for some reason, I'll use whatever I'm carrying.
 
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