Folders and food prep: Yay/Nay?

Serrated blades are usually recommended for cutting on plates or glass since the teeth contact the plate and preserve most of the cutting edge so dulling isn't so quick or obvious.

But they don't work for chopping, and I don't think the steel is going to make an appreciable difference. Perhaps a nice thin secondary bevel with a very obtuse microbevel would work? Should reduce chipping or rolling while still giving decent performance?

Although I will admit I don't have a lot of experience with cutting on glass.

Sounds like you already know the answer. Forget getting her a nice knife and buy yourself one instead. :D
 
the best boards are end grain butchersblocks 2nd choice are sani-tuffs
best woods are maple, cherry, mahogany and walnut.


bamboo is typically bad due to large quantities of binder used to make the boards. Despite what some people are saying they are one of the worst boards next to cutting on metal or glass. I know people come by teak boards once in a while and those are as bad as glass due to the silica content of the wood.

I still stand buy my previous statement that dishwashing knives is horrid treatment bordering on abuse. Like anything else though people on this forum recommend cutco knives as being good which is laughable. So for the most part on knives in the kitchen this is a bad forum in that area.

other knife uses there is better discussion
 
And on scratching most glass requires a very hard piece of steel if I am not mistaken soda lime glass (very common) translates to 63hrc there is discussion on differing scales of hardness on another forum and the hardness of glass.
 
We can disagree. ;)

I don't get much choice of boards at work. Wood lasted for a few weeks before it started to mold and got tossed out. Right now we have some of the regular white plastic boards but they're starting to show a lot of wear and aren't really getting the care they need. I'll bring up the point about bamboo at the next meeting, thanks for the tip.

What do you like for kitchen knives?

I've been running an Al Mar (a rebrand from a Japanese maker I forget at the moment) 8" chef knife for few years. The VG2 gets pretty sharp but has been showing a lot chipping lately, not quite sure why but I may have taken it down too thin.

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darkmoto said:
And on scratching most glass requires a very hard piece of steel if I am not mistaken soda lime glass (very common) translates to 63hrc there is discussion on differing scales of hardness on another forum and the hardness of glass.
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I think it was for a Paul Bos heat treated Buck Strider folder with BG42 steel back in 2003-2004, can't find the specs or anything so don't take it as gospel. I didn't know if it was an issue or not but figured any kind of scratches in glass would be a pretty bad thing so I'd toss it out there.
 
spoonrobot said:
We can disagree. ;)

I've been running an Al Mar (a rebrand from a Japanese maker I forget at the moment) 8" chef knife for few years. The VG2 gets pretty sharp but has been showing a lot chipping lately, not quite sure why but I may have taken it down too thin.
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Probably 'cause you put in the dishwasher.:D
 
My work case these days consists of

270mm Ikkanshi tadatsuna white 2 gyuto
270mm Pierre Rodrigue custom O1 suji
270mm Blue 2 yoshihiro kiritsuke
300mm yoshihiro blue 2 yanagi
270mm aritsugu a-type gyuto (my semi stainless knife)
210mm yoshihiro blue 2 hon deba
240mm mizuno tarenjo akitada hontaren gyuto
10.5 inch mac sb105 bread knife
3inch ish forschner paring knife
120 mm watanabe white 2 mukimono
150mm suisin high carbon honesuki
and for giggles I have a sakai kikiuhide number 3 cleaver

wood works well in the kitchen if you bleach it and oil it and they are not dishwasher safe. Salt and lemon juice pulls smells out of wood pretty well normal routine is to wash under a little running hot water like normal, if the board has picked up a little off smell then lemon juice helps and sanitize with bleach and make sure it dries boards with feet are better for this. treat with mineral oil ever few days.

and as with poly boards wood boards will have surface wear and with a little effort with some sandpaper you can refresh the surface. Our poly boards I jam through a planer once to twice a year.

and bar none I stand by boardsmith butcherblocks easily one of the best cutting surfaces available and while they aren't cheap they are like just damn fine cutting boards. really heavy, thick, nice boards with binder that doesn't contribute to chipping and the blocks of wood used are cut by dave and are quite large meaning less binder overall than many other boards. I am not shilling just stating my opinion of the brand.

this is pretty ot for folders in the kitchen though
 
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:eek:

After a bit of googling of your kit; I need to apply wherever it is you work. My current place has two Dexter-Russell 8" chefs with the tips broken off and a no-name offset serrated. The house tool situation is even worse, I'm the only guy with a channel knife or a microplane. :rolleyes:

Do you just use regular mineral oil for the wood boards?

Probably 'cause you put in the dishwasher.
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Shhh. :foot:
 
yeah its like 2 bucks and is good for boards, non resin impregnated handles, non painted sayas and carbon blades that are going to sit around. also decent for lubing folders up especially if you want to keep them safe with food if it came down to it.
 
Yes, preparing food away from home is one of the major reasons I own/carry a folding knife. A 3-4 inch paring knife might be a better solution, but it presents legal-carry problems in my state.
 
In terms of function and convenience a kitchen knife or a fixed blade is better. I think most would agree that a good quality kitchen knife that is taken care of is better than any folder. However, I am a total knife addict that doesn't get a chance to use my knives as much as I would like, aside from opening and closing them. So any excuse to use them I take advantage of.
 
Nope, I never use any folder in the kitchen period.

That's what I have Kitchen knives for.
 
Another thread necromancy? Oh well, at least it's still the same year.

I guess using a folder once in a while in your kitchen is not gonna hurt, but I don't make a habit out of it, especially not with raw chicken.
 
For most cookery you'll want THIN blades. My Robert Herder kitchen knife blades are less than 2mm thick. You really notice the difference with any folder when precisely slicing.

Now on holiday I often used the big Opinel 12 for cookery. Works well enough but it can sometimes be a pain to clean. In general I'd rather recommend an open framelock design for easy cleaning

On my last holiday I did most cooking with the Spyderco Bill Moran and the compact Boker Rhino, both fixed blades, and so much easier to clean.
 
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