Does this knife exist? Fixed blade 'kitchen' utility knife question.

danthaman1980

danthaman1980

Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
296
Greetings, ye wise and judicious forumites of blade.

I have a bit of a problem. I've purchased a countless number of production folders over the past few years, some of them costing hundreds of dollars. Although I enjoy the ownership experience and I use them at every reasonable opportunity, I still find myself coming home after a hard days work at the office, and pulling a dull $7 chinese kitchen knife from the butcher block to help with the preparation of the evening meal.

Something has gone terribly awry.

Suffice it to say, I've come to realize that I've been focusing too heavily on folders, which frankly get used relatively infrequently compared to the workhorse knives of the household - the ones that live in the kitchen.

So I'm setting out to replace the most frequently used 'cheap' kitchen cutlery, one at a time, with replacements of suitable quality. Something that will hold an edge for more than ten seconds. Something that won't dull when I look at it the wrong way. Something I care enough about to not put it in the dishwasher.

Up first - the usual suspect. My acclaimed but unpretentious 'utility knife'. This specimen has a 4.75" blade, the perfect length for this particular tool. I recall that it was probably purchased at *cough*walmart*cough*, but I could be (hopefully) wrong. Made from the cheapest of Chinese stainless, the only thing easier than sharpening this knife, is making it dull again.

No sir, this will do no longer.

I need an instrument that fills the same demand space, but which excels in its execution. So I've searched, and searched again. But so far, to no avail. It seems, when it comes to kitchen cutlery, I like German style, but prefer Japanese steels.

What I'm looking for: 'Utility knife' pattern, somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.5 to 5 inches in length. Stock thickness less than 0.120 - preferrably much less. 0.080 might be ideal. 0.060 is probably too thin. Full tang. Non-serrated preferrable, though micro-serrations might be acceptable. Steel with reasonable edge holding ability. Reasonably stainless, but not rust proof. This knife will be cared for, generally hand-washed only, though an occasional (i.e., accidental) trip through the dishwasher might be inevitable. I'll use it on wooden cutting boards only. OK, maybe occasionally a paper plate. Not going to use it on dishes, I have cheap steak knives for that.

Budget: More than $7. For household kitchen duty, I'd like to limit it to $75, but I could go up from there if I find something that can pull double duty as a camp kitchen/hiking/ultralight 'bushcraft' knife. Something that can live in the kitchen but take vacations outside as well.

I've taken a brief look at:
Wusthof, Henckels, Messermeister utility knives; Traditional designs (good), traditional steels (maybe not so good).
Spyderco Sprig; a bit shorter than what I'm looking for, and S90V is likely -way- overboard for this task.
Bark River Bird & Trout; Way too short. Perfect in every other way.
Shun Classic Paring Knife; Dangerously close to what I'm looking for. Just 3/4" too short.
Kramer by Zwilling Euroline 5"; Right pattern. Wrong price.

Perhaps what I'm looking for doesn't quite exist. Or am I just not looking hard enough yet???
 
Check out the tojiro dp F-801 petty knife. Its got a 4.75in vg10 blade. I'm unsure of two things about it. I don't know if this particular knife is ground symmetrically (most of theirs are, but I know of at least one model of nakiri isn't), and I don't know spine thickness offhand. I have been very happy with my tojiro dps though. Excellent value and performance. Somewhat like a half price shun.

Also, congrats on getting a "real" kitchen knife. I do find it funny how many people like their nice edc knives, but just keep on using those $7 mystery knives to cook. A new kitchen knife was my my second new knife purchase. And what's best, is my wife is a "convert", she can't stand dull kitchen knives anymore :).

Oh, and personally, I find that I use larger kitchen knives 100x more often than a paring knife. I've got a 7in victorinox santoku that sees a lot of use, as well as a 10in tojiro dp. Those do by far the bulk of our kitchen work. So you may find that you might start considering other kitchen knives after the paring knife :).

Good luck finding something that works for you.
 
I agree with you. It's crazy that we knife nuts neglect the knives that get used the most (or at least as much as our pocket knives). Lucky for me, I just started making knives, and a kitchen knife is up next. I'm planning a large santoku style blade in CPM 10V. My first homemade knife was 10V, and that stuff is unreal. I bet only cutting food on wood it would hold an edge for a year.

Anyway, my whole point here is that a good source may be the custom knife sector. I bet you could search the Blademaker's sections of this forum and find someone like myself to make you a knife. Sure, some customs are crazy expensive, but for something simple (like you're looking for), I bet you could find someone to make you a nice blade in a wicked steel for a reasonable sum, especially if it's someone that isn't really popular yet. If I had a Service Provider membership, I would offer to make you one, but I don't, so I won't. I would go post your specs in the Blademaker's forum and see what happens. I bet someone will pop up that will make you something nice for $75-150. And it would be way cooler, more unique, and possibly better performing than anything you can buy. You might even be able to specify what steel you want. You might even be able to send them a drawing and get the exact shape and size you want. Bonus: you'd be supporting your forum friends!
 
The problem with wanting a knife that does both kitchen and outdoor, is these knives need a certain requirement in thickness.
Kitchen knives need to be thin(er) while outdoor knives are usually thicker.
I would keep the kitchen knife in the kitchen to be honest. It's not difficult to bring a cheap kitchen knife to a camp, it takes very little space. Get a decent kitchen and retire your cheap current kitchen knife for outdoor tasks, keep it near the tent?

You could also do both with a small thin bushcraft knife, as they don't have unneeded thickness, making it easy to prepare meals.
 
Svord knives, 2.2 mm, .086 inch thickness. Criticised by many Yanks for being too thin for outdoors. Yeah. Right.
Svord_UGP_Lge2.jpg

Utility General Purpose 4 3/4
Length of Blade (inches) 4 3/4"
Over All Length (inches) 9 1/4"
Blade Shape General Purpose
Handle Material Mahogony and Brass
Steel Specifications 15N20
Blade Thickness (mm) 2.2mm
Sheath Leather
http://www.svord.com/index.php?id_product=17&controller=product
 
Check out the Opinel kitchen knives (the black handled ones, not the wooden ones). They're 12C27M, sharpen very easily to an excellent edge, hold it well enough and are easy to maintain. They're obviously more French styled. Overall they really deliver on Opinel's established reputation for sliceyness and value.
 
Though discontinued and scarce - with asking prices reflecting this, the Becker BK15 has served the described function for me.
 
Victorinox, Rada, Old Hickory are all worth looking at. I have a few of the last two.
Cutco is another, but pricier. (I got 2 at a yard sale!) Happy hunting
 
Just off the top of my head, as mentioned already, Old Hickory or Rada. Now, I just saw an older Waterstone blade up for sale in the custom section, 1084 steel so will need extra care, but may meet your needs if you are looking for a camp kitchen knife, should be able to do double duty in your home kitchen too. More like a boning knife. One other idea, check out some of Jeff White's knives, again carbon steel, but thin and have good handles, I have a long hunter knife I have been waiting to try in the kitchen.
 
Hmmm ... you're going to take care of it by hand wash and use only wooden cutting boards but then take it out for bushcrafting?

A double-duty indoor/outdoor knife does neither job well.

As versatile as my various bushcrafters are, my dedicated kitchen blades spank them in prep work.

Get a nice Victorinox/Henckels/Wusthof Utility, Chef, and Santuko and leave them in the kitchen.
 
For camp cutlery I prefer Old Hickory. For kitchen cutlery I've been happy with my Tojiro blades. My favorite and by far most used is the 8 1/2" chef. Second most used would be the 6" utility.

Never put your good knives in a dishwasher.
 
If you want something better than the cheapo knives, yet not so expensive you don't want to damage them outdoors, try the discontinued Cold Steel K-series knives. I have a K-3 and a K-5, both off the bay, and both are excellent.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
 
wesmanthetiger said:
If you want something better than the cheapo knives, yet not so expensive you don't want to damage them outdoors, try the discontinued Cold Steel K-series knives. I have a K-3 and a K-5, both off the bay, and both are excellent.
Click to expand...

He's half right.

They are indeed inexpensive and excellent for the price.

But don't get them off the bay, get them from Kevin at One Stop Knife Shop. Here's a link:

http://www.onestopknifeshop.com/store/cold-steel-kitchen-knives.html
 
I would keep kitchen knives in the kitchen and outdoor knives outdoors. No big deal taking your older kitchen knives (after replacement in the knife drawer) to the field. The Old Hickory's and Case branded ones come to mind. I use a lot of inexpensive Victorinox knives in the kitchen. They are very sharp and work just fine.
 
TravisH said:
Hmmm ... you're going to take care of it by hand wash and use only wooden cutting boards but then take it out for bushcrafting?

A double-duty indoor/outdoor knife does neither job well.

As versatile as my various bushcrafters are, my dedicated kitchen blades spank them in prep work.

Get a nice Victorinox/Henckels/Wusthof Utility, Chef, and Santuko and leave them in the kitchen.
Click to expand...

I've often taken the Henkels 4" paring knife out of the holder & thought, now if this knife just had a heavier blade of A2, 3V or 35V, had a heavier handle, a blade shape of an Insigno, a good leather sheath........but then it would cost $150 & I might as well get one of the many styles of Bark River or other purpose built outdoor knives & be done with it.
 
Made this one for the wife out Aldos AEB-L, it has become the most used knife in the kitchen.
HPIM1274_zpsaxpcbnl0.jpg
 
Amongst other things,
Mora knives also doubles for food prep...
With a choice of fashionably colored sheaths too!
 
Carrots and onion soup, watch till end of vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxbNupxUygM

Victorinox, Sabatier and Kuhn Rikon are all good. As you are finding there are plenty of options.
When it comes to thin field knives then it gets tricky as the fashion has gone battoning thick tough. Blades that are thin enough for efficient kitchen work fare badly when used for anything else. In truth the kitchen stuff from the likes of Victorinox are super light weight and so thats what I would take if you are doing food prep for more than one.

Whatever you use a cutting board and stable working platform helps in the field. I often use my field knives in the kitchen as they are supper sharp. However, my wife now expects all knives to be super keen sharp and complains when they are not.
 
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Kitchen knives are not generally well suited to hiking/bushcrafting purposes. Victorinox Fibrox kitchen knives are decent knives and considered a very good value for the cost. They are also not so expensive that you'd feel that terrible about using them outdoors as well. There are a wide range of knives in that family: Chef's knives, narrow chef's knives, butcher knives, utility knives, skinning, boning, breaking, cleavers, paring, you name it. Stainless with plastic handles. Dishwashable if need be, steel easy enough to maintain with basic sharpening skills.
 
I will second mora knives. Relatively cheap, tough high carbon steel that can work both sides of the fence. I just would not try batoning with one. Some do not have tangs that run completly through the handle. I am thinking the one I have only runs about 2/3rds of the handle. Most of them are about 1/2.

I retract my previous statement. Turns out they are making a bushcrafter that has a full tang and the price tag reflects it. Still can get one for under $40. I do like there steel, it takes and keeps a razors edge.
 
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