JA Henckels Massacre and a question.

[Gorog]

No, there was no bloody battle between me and Henckels, (am I spelling that right? anyway), but there was an epic failure in my basement when I took a nice stainless steel highly serrated kitchen knife to the basement and started shaving wood chips off a block of obstinate wood. What a FOOLISH idea that was. The moment that sucker bit into the wood, I started hearing this ominous crunching sound, but I kept going, until most of the serrations were ground off by that awful piece of wood...if my dad finds out I took a kitchen knife to wood carving, he'll probably start carving me.... Okay, so, I exaggerated slightly, the only carving that will go on in the house will be pumpkins, but at least I got my point across, right ? Anyway, so me and my mom went out today and shopped, and out of sheer feeling-bad-ness for ruining that knife, I bought my mother a cheap, but good looking SET of knives, AND a scrubby for the sink, cause Dad melted the last one by putting a scorching pan on top of it in the sink and turning the water on (terrible idea...), but yeah, I got that set for her, and redeemed myself...hopefully.
So I was wondering...anyone have any experience with a kitchen knife company called Hampton Forge? It sells colored knives, ceramic knives, and some other products, I think, but I was wondering, before we test them out, what the knife experts think about the topic of Hampton Forge's Tomodachi 12 pc. knife set? Any owners out there who know them well enough? Well, I got to go, dinner starts soon. Peace, I'll catch you all later.
Oh, and feel free to give me status updates on how you all are doing, as well, if you like Good, bad, and anything in between, just vent and I'll listen. Peace, again.
David

 

[wildmanh]

David, ouch!! Which model Henckels were you trying to saw with and what type of wood was it? I'd used serrated knives to saw wood before, but not hard dry woods, with out incident. Honestly as soon as you said that you were sawing with the knife I knew the out come. Remember to use the right tool for the right job.

Don't know anything about Hampton Forge. Hope they work out for you. I've been buying used kitchen knives from the second hand stores and fixing them up. If you want to try stuff out with Mom's knives, use some from the Thrift store.

 

[Gorog]

Oh, it was a super expensive one with serrations broken up by an edge. It was actually a pain, because the edge that breaks up the serrations does NOT cut very well, leading to snagging. Actually, I can check the exact model name, I'll be back... okay, the knife is a JA Henckels Ever Sharp PRO stainless. I should have known that stainless steel serrations are NOT cut out for any kind of abuse outside their intended purpose, and I should have known that a knotty, pressure treated block of unknown wood like that would probably take chunks out of a SAW, much less a serrated knife! Bah, humbug! But, yeah, sorry everyone, I tried them out last night, and they were pretty good for the price, not spectacularly sharp, but good enough, certainly. I was a little disappointed by the dullness out of box of the tomato knife, but the chef, santoku, bread, sandwich, and parer, all worked well. All for about 19.00$USD, not too shabby at all.
Well, peace everyone.
David

 

[Howard Wallace]

...I've been buying used kitchen knives from the second hand stores and fixing them up...

I used to do that quite a bit with my spare time, which is quite a bit scarcer these days. Putting on new handles, reshaping blades, sharpening them up. A bit of scrounging often turns up some good stock to play with. Don't neglect the other aisles where you may find hardwoods suitable for handles, and leather for sheathing.

 

[wildmanh]

I used to do that quite a bit with my spare time, which is quite a bit scarcer these days. Putting on new handles, reshaping blades, sharpening them up. A bit of scrounging often turns up some good stock to play with. Don't neglect the other aisles where you may find hardwoods suitable for handles, and leather for sheathing.

So far I have not had to rehandle any of the knives that I've found, just clean the blades, sharpen them up and maybe contour the handles to my liking. I like the Old Hickory knives but their handles can be a bit to square for me so I've rounded the edges on a few making them much more comfortable to use. Sometimes I'll find Victorinox, Henkels, Kershaw and other big names for good prices. Most of the time all those need are a cleaning and a touched up edge. Though the Kershaw Chefs knife I got a few weekends ago needed a whole new edge ground. Looked like someone had used it to chop cow legs or rocks.

 

[Gorog]

Wow, and I thought I was pretty clever just cutting off bits of leather from my hacking knife to make a finger choil (I think I spelled that wrong :grumpy: ) and a pry tip on the back of the handle, via much filing with my Simmonds red tanged Whizcut Vixen file. I never thought about making kitchen knives more ergonomic, but it could be done quite easily with a lot of Sugru and some patience, however, wood is probably a better shock absorber for chopping, yet something is appealing about my Sugru idea, with the Sugru silicone composite molding to your hand so it kind of grips you instead of you gripping it. That actually is not a bad idea at all...in case anyone is wondering, Sugru is a compound that molds like clay, but when exposed to air, it begins to cure and become, within twenty four hours, a type of silicone that leaves no residue and stays molded in the shape you want it molded to, unless exorbitant force is used to purposely misshape it. Well, peace, everyone. I might get some Sugru someday and try it out....
David

 

[Howard Wallace]

I played around with sculpy a bit. It's a modeling clay that you bake to harden. It worked and let me try out some new ideas, but it's pretty ugly. You can make a golw-in-the-dark handle with it though.

 

[Gorog]

Sugru is a little different. Because it is a type of silicone, I am betting it is heat resistant, and, most importantly, unlike sculpy, it is flexible and 'gives' once it cures overnight. It was literally made to help someone 'hack' their life and thereby, make it more 'livable' and less 'painful'. So, while a little different than what you are thinking, Howard, it is the same basic concept, with an added bonus. Yay, added bonus! Peace.

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I simply love the Old Hickory knives for general kitchen use. I bought a mess of them new from a website about 5 years ago. I dabbled with the grip, filled in some of the gaps with some wood putty, gave the handles a bit of a stain/poly seal, and of course put an actual edge on them. My favorite of the bunch (which they discontinued for some strange reason) is a basic chief's knife. Plenty of point, plenty of chop, lots of good flex. I think it cost me 7 bucks.

I've been branching out a bit more these days. I've been using on of the kardas that Pala rehandled A LOT. Great meat knife for blazing off the fat. I've also been absolutely loving the Japanese nata that Danny In Japan traded me a couple years back. That would be a tough knife to break. More of a cleaver, really. Laminated steel and whatnot.

I hate to admit it, but I have practically fallen in love with a set of cheap ceramic knives. A santoku, a utility, and a paring for $27 from Amazon. You want to talk about some FRAGILE knives However, for cutting up my daughter's chicken on a ceramic plate, they can't be beat. Most of my steak knives are dull from such abuse. The ceramic aren't scary sharp (they'll scrape hair where the knives I have touched up will pop it), but they simply don't want to dull...unless you drop them or twist the edge while cutting (NOT for sawing wood).

I'd look at the Victorinox series is you can. They generally have the same tough, easy to sharpen, nearly rust-proof steel as Swiss Army Knives, AND they won't break the bank.

 

[tedwca]

Sugru is a little different. Because it is a type of silicone, I am betting it is heat resistant, and, most importantly, unlike sculpy, it is flexible and 'gives' once it cures overnight. It was literally made to help someone 'hack' their life and thereby, make it more 'livable' and less 'painful'. So, while a little different than what you are thinking, Howard, it is the same basic concept, with an added bonus. Yay, added bonus! Peace.

Thanks for the tip. I've never heard of Sugru until your post. It looks to be most useful.

 

[Gorog]

Yeah, it should definitely have some uses...I only wish that it could be bought in larger quantities than the scant little ovals of Sugru the makers offer. And Jake, maybe I am way too concerned over nothing, but when you use the ceramic knife on softer ceramic plates, does it not leave sharp edges on the plate that someone could cut themselves on? Again, just another product of my worried mind.
Speaking of ceramics, I bought my mother a Yoshi blade for last Christmas, and it was a flop, to say the least. It came out dull and got duller real fast. I could probably drag it at some hairs on my arm, and it would probably rip them out before it would ever get the chance to START sawing through them. And, I think I chipped the edge on it when foolishly cutting an apple, long before this post was around (am I full of bad ideas with knives, or what?). The peeler than came with it worked okay, though....
Well, peace.
David

 

[Steely_Gunz]

David, I've never cut hard enough into another plate to gouge it. I do all of my "firm" cutting on a cutting board. However, tender foods like boneless chicken or banana and the like, the blade does all the work and barely drags on the plate. It's just enough pressure that it would slightly dull a steel knife over time.
Those Yoshi knives are straight up junk. I tried one as well
But you get what you pay for. There is a reason why the Yoshi is 20 bucks and comes with a peeler and an actual NICE ceramic starts out around the $50 mark. I'm still a fan of them, but they are certainly not hard use utility knives. They excel slicing things on surfaces that would dull steel and cutting foods that would stain other knives.

Very niche

I like ceramic, but I won't buy a nice one. Mainly because one little "oops" and a dropped knife onto our ceramic tile floor would result in a shattered blade. I'm cutting my teeth, so to speak, on our cheap set. I might take the plunge on a 30-40 dollar Santoku, but I know I would eventually kill an $80 one.

 

[Gorog]

Oh, okay, cool. For some strange reason, I imagined you would be standing on top of your table and using a double overhand splitter swing with the utility and Santoku in each hand. Totally kidding about that one, no offense meant. Anyway, yeah, the Yoshi is not the best by any means, though it is, surprisingly enough, made of zirconium oxide, according to them, but what I bet they left out was that they did not treat it specially like Kyocera and major Japanese knife companies do, giving it the superior hardness and inconceivable edge retention that QUALITY ceramics are legendary for. I think it has something to do with the molecular alignment of the ceramics due to the treatment that gives it its edge holding awesomeness. Well, peace. David