Let's see your kitchen knives

[U.C.O.K.]

French "peasant chef" knife:

Maynard Linder ulu:

Recently, I've been using a golok petok in the kitchen:

Also used a cheap Searles/Fowler bowie reproduction for cooking before. I love the 18th/19th century aesthetic:

Where's you got the Golok Petok? How it's performed?

 

[C.S. Graves]

Where's you got the Golok Petok? How it's performed?

Got it through Valiant Trading Company... they're not actually intended for kitchen use, but for harvesting plams, so I'm told. However it works well enough for a blade of this thickness (about 3/16" at the spine) on most foodstuffs, though carrots and whole onions as usual will require more effort to get through. As with a lot of their wares though, I had to give it a good sharpening to get most of it up to my personal tastes. I was surprised to see a hamon emerge on it slowly with use. Perhaps, not the ideal kitchen blade, but really fun to use. Aside from the shipping from Australia, pretty inexpensive for something differentially hardened with carved handles/scabbard. Soon I'm hoping to acquire a larger knife of similar function called a bendo... horn handle and an upswept tip.

For kitchen performance using a (relatively) exotic blade, I'd have to push the ulu. :thumbup:

 

[Gator97]

Never had a real ulu, but Busse Paul's Hatchet is quite ulu-ish IMHO It does work in that grip and I've used it for cutting, scrapping, slicing... That is besides chopping.

 

[lamarrk]

Here is my rather pedestrian kitchen cutlery:

I think that sharpness is more important than forged versus stamped, bolster versus non-bolster... If it is sharp it will cut and slice. If I go into a strange kitchen with unfamiliar but sharp cutlery I will be able to work efficiently. The common denominator on all cutlery is the edge.

I do not like bolsters. They interfere with the sharpening process. They complicate things when you need to relieve them to get at that last bit of the heel. I like things simple and uncomplicated.

I have a Santoku just like yours (the white handled one at the top).
Got it at Sam's club (pack of 2 knives for around $12) .. Master Chef brand. Personally, it's a great knife and I love using it. Feels good in the hand and cuts like crazy. Perhaps if I had an expensive Japanese knife to compare it to, I would buy one. As is, I'm happy (they say ignorance is bliss). If I didn't already have a set of Wolfgang Puck knives (cheap set) I'd get the rest of the Master Chef knives like yours.

 

[thombrogan]

Hey, Zvi! Finally finished my Aritsugu project:

Mirror finish at one angle and buttugly scratches at every other angle. Learning experiences... Now I know why Mr. Watanabe charges so much for mirror polishing.

 

[CUTS LIKE A KRIS]

Here are mine. These two are Arctic influenced (my wife grew up on an island on the arctic ocean), the ulu from the meat plant I worked in up there, and the damascus blade from K&G with musk Ox and Caribou handles (my muskaboo 1).

Then there is the Cocobolo kitchen knife- cut down from a henkels ~14" blade that some Inuit kids had chipped on caribou bone so I got the knife.
Next are the 6" and 8" Henkels Brazil knives I got from Value Village for $5 & $7.
Last is our cake knife that I made for our wedding last July. CPM154 3/32" 8" blade with synthetic handles. People were surprised that it was so sharp when I cut the cake- duh- it's a knife.

The wife has a Shun Sheepsfoot that she keeps at work unless she is on mat leave as well (I don't even have a Shun)

 

[SShepherd]

Hey, Zvi! Finally finished my Aritsugu project:

Mirror finish at one angle and buttugly scratches at every other angle. Learning experiences... Now I know why Mr. Watanabe charges so much for mirror polishing.

a load of fun isn't it

 

[thombrogan]

Great knives, Cuts Like A Kris!

Sean,

Yeah, lots of fun. Lots of second-guessing on how to make the project go better next time on two other knives and lots of thanking my lucky stars that the other two are a very simple carbon and very simple stainless instead of some demented cousin of D2.

 

[Hard H2O]

I have a Santoku just like yours (the white handled one at the top).
Got it at Sam's club (pack of 2 knives for around $12) .. Master Chef brand. Personally, it's a great knife and I love using it. Feels good in the hand and cuts like crazy. Perhaps if I had an expensive Japanese knife to compare it to, I would buy one. As is, I'm happy (they say ignorance is bliss). If I didn't already have a set of Wolfgang Puck knives (cheap set) I'd get the rest of the Master Chef knives like yours.

Mine was a two pack as well. Gave one away. Mine are Tramontina. I think they used to have a plant in Manatowoc, WI. I think they closed that plant up and move it to Brazil.

 

[Gator97]

Hey, Zvi! Finally finished my Aritsugu project:

Congratz! Really. I've spent 8 hours on my first Aritsugu honkasumi yanagiba. Because of that I bought DMT 8XCC. I hope your pain was much less. Tell me, you didn't make it 5 deg. angle, did you?


This Aritsugu A-Type one took about 4 hours non-stop. Thanks to 8DXCC. Now it's about 12 deg on the right, pretty much flat on the other. So far, so good.

 

[thombrogan]

Lol! No, I didn't! It's some fat angle I won't begin to quantify.

While I wouldn't dare use it with an Aritsugu yanagi, a wet grinder from Harbor freight is so much easier on the wrists and elbows when doing a lot of reprofiling. On small knives, hold the edge perpendicular and then clean up with the D8XX and on large knives, hold the knife parallel and move straight to the 220 grit wet/dry (less "facetting" than when attempting to clean up with diamonds) and polish to desired level.

 

[Gator97]

I can assure you at 12deg. it works fine
What wet grinder do you use? I have one, but not really good and thinking of getting a new one.

 

[thombrogan]

Good to know. Might might a yearly habit of repolishing the knife so it'll eventually reach a thinner angle.

My wet grinder is the cheapy Harbor Freight with an 8" wheel and $60 pricetag. The one that doesn't look like a Tormek knockoff.

 

[jonnymac44]

Here is a group shot of my kitchen knives that get the most use. There are many others, but these are the workhorses. I'd love to get some higher end Japanese knives for the kitchen, but my folder addiction gets most of my extra dollars For now, I'm quite satisfied with my assortment:thumbup:

 

[thombrogan]

jonnymac44,

Do I spy the rare and fabled KX09 as the second knife down from the top?

 

[Gator97]

#5 from top or bottom, that's a mean looking knife. What is it?

 

[thombrogan]

Looks like quite the nifty slicer.

 

[Hard H2O]

#5 from top or bottom, that's a mean looking knife. What is it?

Looks like your basic Chicago Cutlery to me.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Here are mine

If I need SE

RR Furi I do not find it to be a POS

Paring knife was a gift; blade is marked Spain

 

[Gator97]

I'll refrain from comments on Furi It's their marketing that's utterly irritating. I like that Spanish parer though. More like a scalpel.