Parker Bros help ID

[HeavyHanded]

Hello, I don't normally post in the Kitchen forum but this seems like a question for the better informed. I recently moved into a new (to me) house. In the garage the previous owner left a few odds and ends including a full set of Parker Bros cutlery. All pieces including the butcher's steel are stamped 'Japan'. Chef's knife is 10", slicer is 8, utility is 6, boning knife is 5, and the paring knife is 3". I did a search and could find very little re Parker kitchen knives. All the pieces appear to have never been sharpened, have a factory grind about 40 inclusive or just over, and are quite dull. I picked the utility knife to recondition first and am rather surprised by how tough this steel is. It took over 30 minutes on a 1000 grit King to grind a new bevel at a steeper angle and it really needs another 5-10 minutes before it will be ready for a finer stone. In my experience this puts it up there with the better 1095 carbon and Sandvic sheath knives I own. Could I have been left something of value to offset the leaking pipes on my sump pump? Is anyone familiar with this cutlery? Any info would be much appreciated - type of steel, likely RC, anything.

Thanks,
Martin

 

[jimnolimit]

using a 1000 grit king stone to re-angle/re- bevel a large knife isn't the most efficient method. for the $15-$25, i would suggest investing in a lansky extra coarse or coarse diamond benchstone, it's great to have on hand.


if i had to guess, those knives are stainless steel, and based on the fact that they are stamped, they are probably just made out of a decent, high corrosion resistant stainless (probably in the 55-57HRC range). but again, this is just a guess.

 

[HeavyHanded]

Normally I use a coarse Crystalon or 220 grit Norton waterstone but all I had at my bench was a couple of King stones. I'm still a bit surprised - blade stock that thin in a kitchen knife would normally be no problem for that stone. Then again I'm used to a few Chicago cutlery knives with fairly cheap and soft Chinese stainless.

 

[eisman]

Parker knives range from the really good to the impossibly bad. As best I can tell it depended on what the deal was they were cooking; there's not much rhyme or reason to it.