Joyce Chen's "My Handy Little Knife" is

M

moxie

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Jul 3, 2006
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not especially sophisticated and won't replace any of your special or custom knives. But if you want something that is in fact handy for cutting things, this is it. The blade is about 4 inches, made of some kind of really stainless steel. Thin and very sharp blade. Plastic handle with knurled grip. The neat part is the plastic sheath that slides on to the blade and stays put. Same stuff as the handle. When you slide it on the blade it's a one piece affair, sort of like the samurai swords and knives. About 7 1/2 inches with the sheath on. You can throw one in your pocket or your day pack without fear of cutting anything which is the case with kitchen knives. Mine's about 25 years old. Used to use it for hiking, but has resided in my office desk drawer for the last dozen years or so. Use it every day for cutting oranges, spreading spreads, cutting open envelopes and packages. Everything. Rinsing it off in the water fountain is all it needs. I've never sharpened it. Doesn't need it. Available for $8.35:
http://www.amazon.com/Joyce-Chen-Ha..._11/104-7859744-8311133?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden
 
Earlier this year my Mom gave me a similiar knife she had got for free when she went to Costco , a lady was handing them out as promos.
It is not a bad little knife by any stretch of the imagination and best of all it was free from Mom. :D
 
I've had the Joyce Chen as one of my kitchen tools for years. Great little picnic knife. It doesn't get as much use these days, with all the evil tactical knives I keep trying out on food prep. :)
 
Anyone know what kind of steel it has? It says that it won't rust.
 
Any highly stainless steel, which will rust, given harsh enough circumstances, will be practically rustproof under normal kitchen conditioons, with minimal care. It could be 420J2. But they are not primarily marketing to people who would know or care what steel name was attched to it.
 
says it won't rust and all I can say is after 25 years it looks brand new and is still sharp. Sometimes I wonder about exotic specialty blade steels that cost a fortune and are fashioned into extremely expensive knives by gnome eunuchs in a far away land. Then you read reports of spotting, corrosion, inability to keep an edge, inability to take an edge, and edges folding over, nicking, shattering and the like. An 8 dollar knife that works from the get go and keeps on working for 25 years provides a bit of perspective in my book.
 
moxie said:
Sometimes I wonder about exotic specialty blade steels that cost a fortune and are fashioned into extremely expensive knives by gnome eunuchs in a far away land. Then you read reports of spotting, corrosion, inability to keep an edge, inability to take an edge, and edges folding over, nicking, shattering and the like. An 8 dollar knife that works from the get go and keeps on working for 25 years provides a bit of perspective in my book.
Click to expand...

Apples to oranges ... the exotic steels and their problems are involved in high-tech knives for a wider range of work and environmental conditions than the Chen knives generally see.

When I use my Dozier Canoe and CRK Sable III in the kitchen, they hold up just as well as the Chen, and can handle heavier tasks, as well. For the price, of course they should.
 
Reminds me of a budget Deerhunter.
Looks like a handy little knife. Oh:o
Sorry I'm so lame:foot:
 
Thanks for the heads up, I've been looking for something like this, but couldn't tell the junk from what would be good.
 
Check out the Mora knives at Ragweed Forge for a sturdier version of the same sort of knife.
 
I think the handy knife is, well...handy. I used to keep one in my suitcase for use in hotels. After 911 this became impractical. I left one at a cabin which was sorely in need of a sharp knife. I hot-glued the sheath of another one to a plastic wrap dispenser in our kitchen. I have found them for sale in a few stores. The best price that I have seen was at my local Le Gourmet Chef store. I think that it is even cheaper than internet prices and you don't have to pay for shipping. I have found unusually good deals on a lot of things at Le Gourmet Chef.

BTW, despite the Chinese name, a lot of the Joyce Chen products are made in Japan. I particularly like the Joyce Chen utility cleaver:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=160397&
 
have these same discussions periodically on the watch boards. Someone will ask how it is that one is willing to pay $3500 for a Rolex Submariner when an $8 Wal-Mart special is more accurate and just as rugged. The answer is in esthetics rather than pragmatics. Aficionados will pay $5k for a watch and $500 for a knife. Hell, I just paid over $300 to have a watch serviced (1940s solid gold Hamilton). I mention the Joyce Chen knife because it gives perspective and to point out that there are in fact uses for those knives and for the Timexes, even for aficionados. I've got expensive dive watches that will do the job but typically dive with my Seiko. I dive with a UK Fusilier, not a Mission. I've got expensive knives but typically cut up boxes and so forth around the house with my SAK and, as mentioned, the Chen in the office. I don't like cleaning tape residue off of good blades. The list goes on. Porsche vs. Hyundai, Waterman vs. Bic, etc., etc. A lot of the fun of owning "fine" equipment is keeping this perspective in mind. IMHO.
 
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