Folders and food prep: Yay/Nay?

I love using my stainless stag scaled Case baby Dr.s knife on my steaks to open them up on the grill and check the inside, but not to cut on a plate. My Dr. knife is like a scalpel in its sharpness. My wife always gives me that look with a sly smile and says, "Do you have a knife dear?" This is when she needs the frozen bag of veggies opened, or any other food package. I love it when she gives me that look. She is such a tease.
 
Overall I just use the kitchen knives just because I dont care about em and they can go in the dishwasher. Sometimes use a folder for fun, sometimes out of necessity. I like Outback Steak House but they have the worst knives in the world. I was at one around Christmas and had to pull out a Buck 110 and was at one early Feb and had to do the same thing-took a photo with my phone to chronicle

steakknife.jpg
 
I use my folders for anything that I need to cut. However, if there is a fixed blade available, I prefer that. Actually, there are very few applications for which the fixed blade is not vastly superior to the folder. Unfortunately, my urban lifestyle precludes regular carry of my beloved fixed blades, so my folders have to suffice.
 
So is it harmful to put a stainless steel manual lock back or liner lock folder in the dishwasher?
 
It is really not the best idea to use a folder for food prep or for cutting cooked food. A guy always plans to clean the knife well but seldom does it get done right. I do it, but i shouldn't, and I know it.
 
I don't tend to use folders for food prep, unless it's just cutting open food packages (not really the kind of food prep you're talking about). I've found that it's just not worth the hassle of the clean up when I have a cutting block and drawer full of knives that work as well or better than my folder at getting the job done.

- Mark
 
udtjim said:
It is really not the best idea to use a folder for food prep or for cutting cooked food. A guy always plans to clean the knife well but seldom does it get done right. I do it, but i shouldn't, and I know it.
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I find that rinsing with hot water and then drying leaves my knife clean. My kitchen knives are use by 3 different people and put into the dishwasher - my own personal knives are sharper and I like using them more. I could saw through a tomato with a serrated steak knife or I could slice through it with a razor sharp plain edge blade - I just prefer the sharp knife.

I really can't imagine in what way my folder is going to be any less clean than the knives in the drawer, unless you are talking about within the pivot point - but that is not the part that touches the food.
 
While I tend to agree with you, you can't see bacteria and a clean looking knife may not be really clean. I use my EDC quite a bit in restaurants that never have a decent sharp knife.

I also use folders a lot for hunting which can be pretty messy but What can I say, I love folders. And fixed blades and Machetes and hatchets and saws.;)
 
I personally feel that dedicated kitchen knives are far superior to folders when dealing with food. There is simply no way that any folder can provide the rapid cutting power of a 10" chef's knife.

A folder can make a very nice paring knife, but if I am in the kitchen I will just reach for a dedicated paring knife. I am very fastidious about keeping my knives sharp so there is no advantage for my folder(s) in that regard.

Having said the above, I have on occasion used my military or flat ground endura at a party or other place where there is no quality kitchen cutlery available. Having such a blade on hand can turn you into a hero :)

Folders can also make a wonderful solution to the pathetic steak knives many restaurants pawn off on their customers. My personal favorite is a fully-serrated caly3, but most any sharp folder will perform well.

Cheers,

John
 
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well if you don't have decent kitchen knives or maintain them well they are going to be inferior. You can't expect much out of a $30 walmart 5 year old never sharpened knife block set of junk. Also running knives through the dishwasher is hard on them that's akin to deciding that you are going to leave your pocket knife in your pants pocket when you do laundry every single time.
 
Running knives through the dish washer doesn't really affect them much. Been doing it for years.
 
blades banging around, abrasive chemicals and long term exposure to water and most handles is hardly not rough on knives.
 
Caveat; carbon knives do not belong in the dishwasher. Stainless only.

So just make sure the knife is in a location where it doesn't bang around. It's an overblown issue that is perpetuated because people like to parrot what they hear, even if they have little to no experience with the subject matter. I still have people tell me not to do it because it'll ruin the temper on the blade. Then I ask them "what does that (the temper) mean?" and they don't have an answer.

A well made knife should not be affected by being run in the dishwasher. Stabilized wood, fiberglass handles (G10, Micarta and FRN) aren't affected by water or dish detergents. Dish detergents aren't that abrasive anyway, if they were you'd see damage to plastic parts inside the washer. Which you don't.

I'm not saying they'll probably be alright, I'm saying I've been doing it for years, in a variety of machines and I've seen no problems inside or out.
 
I have used a folder with food prep and it works great, but I work with lemons a lot so I find myself having to take apart the knife after I'm done to clean it, so I use my Gerber Profile now.
 
Just be careful with knives that have handles made of bone or wood - the dishwasher detergent is pretty harsh and will cause drying & cracking. I would be surprised if there was any problem with Micarta or G10 or FRN or plastic - those sort of materials should be fine.

Yeah, and like spoonrobot says - put them where they wont bang around.
 
All this talk about cutting food in the kitchen has me wondering: what surface is most/least harmful to the blade? I mean, when you cut through the food to whatever it is resting on, such as a plate, formica or stone countertop, wood cutting board, glass cutting board, plastic cutting board, etc. Which of these can roll or dull the blade the most/least?

I'd love to get my wife a nice kitchen knife, but she usually cuts on a glass cutting board and I suspect that the glass is not good for the blade. She won't change her habits. Would the blade metal make much difference? For instance would D2 stay sharp slicing into glass cutting board or ceramic plate?

BTW, I'll use a folder on food in the kitchen if it's the sharpest thing around (usually is -- see above), but try hard not to let anything get into the pivot or scales.

Also, I use peanut oil to coat blades that I will use for food. Peaunut oil never goes rancid and doesn't cause the problems that mineral oil might, unless a peanut allergy is involved.
 
Plastic and wood or bamboo are really the only suitable cutting surfaces.

I think some harder steels will scratch glass but I don't know how much of an issue it actually is. I recall someone testing the hardness of a BG42 blade by scratching plate glass but that was a few years ago.

Maybe something serrated for your wife?
 
spoonrobot said:
Plastic and wood or bamboo are really the only suitable cutting surfaces.

I think some harder steels will scratch glass but I don't know how much of an issue it actually is. I recall someone testing the hardness of a BG42 blade by scratching plate glass but that was a few years ago.

Maybe something serrated for your wife?
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We're talking a woman who continues to scratch up teflon pans with metal utensils.

I'm not concerned about scratching the cutting glass. Rather, I'm concerned that a good knife would be wasted on her because she'll cut on glass with it and dull/roll it in no time, regardless of how many times I sharpen and lecture.

Not sure what difference serrated would make.
 
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