Plastic knives don't cut steak well.

Zal

Zal

Joined
Mar 25, 2003
Messages
972
After several bouts with steak and ham in a place where a METAL butterknife is the best you can hope for (and sometimes being stuck with a plastic one), I'm thinking about adding a fully serrated knife into my EDC. Now, for some reason, when I think fully serrated, I think Spyderco . . . so the question is: What fully Spyderedged Spydy do you reckon would make the best improvisational steak knife?
 
The best looking would be a vielle, but not everyone can afford one. Best bet for an all around user to include cutting food, is ether an endura or delica depending on local laws. I've used my endura a lot in resturaunts here.
 
My Endura II SE worked great for steaks. That being said, I'd bet the Delica II plain edge I replaced it with will cut steaks just as well, as long as I touch it up occasionally on the sharpmaker.
 
Calypso Jnr Lwt.

That full flat grind will just glide through the thickest of steaks.

Discontinued, but you can still find some of the fully serrated ones about.
 
Hey Zal,

I used a plain edge C25 Centofante at Ruth Chris' Steakhouse in Denver 7/02. The POS they had on the table would have had trouble getting through a stick of butter.
The C25 made quick work of my Prime Rib. The two guys with me struggled with their house bladeware. I did get a couple of double takes from the waiter and bus staff, but they never said anything to me.
As long as your edge is sharp I don't think you really need the serrations, just pick a knife that doesn't scream to your fellow diners (sheeple) when you slip it out of your pocket.
 
The fully-serrated Endura makes for an excellent emergency steak knife...I've used mine for that before, and it worked just swell.
 
Hi Zal. Welcome to the Spyderco forum.

I'm biased, but I think ANY serrated Spyderco will out cut ANY
steak knife made!

sal
 
Heck, Yes. They don't even need serrations. You should have seen the looks that I got at a Quaker Potluck when they served a country ham that someone had brought but forgot to put out knives with which to cut up the individual slices into which they had carved the ham. I pulled out my Police and started into cutting up my slice of ham and everyone sort of gulped and backed off. That was until they saw how effective it was, then they wanted to borrow it.
 
Thanks Sal. I'm sure you're right--I've been meaning to snag a Spydy for quite some time now, but now I have an excuse.

I know that a plain edged knife will work fine on steaks and other meat provided they're kept sharp, but I carry multiple plain edged blades on a daily basis. What I've needed is an excuse to buy a Spyderco folder, and that steak incident was the last straw.

As sheeple aren't really a problem here (I ended up using a BM-42 balisong on the steak) I believe I'm gonna try to find a serrated Endura. Thanks for your recommendations, everyone. ;)
 
My EDC and by far most used knife is my SE VG-10 Delica. Food preparation included. Works great, especially since I changed the grind to full flat ground. It is small enough not to raise too many eyebrows (which can't be said about the Endura, this is a big knife). BUT... Oftenly, when it comes to food preparation you need a bigger knife. In this case, why not to try the best? Believe me, get yourself a Military, you won't need another knife.
 
Because if I was going for "won't need another knife" I would've stopped several (dozen) knives ago.

Like I said before, I'm honestly not too worried about sheeple. I live in southeastern Kentucky and go to college at a place where the most common response heard to a large knife is "Cool! Lemme see!" Regardless, I just placed an order with 1sks for a fully spyderedged Endura. I already had the Delica-sized knife covered with a Small Sebenza.

As to the Military . . . well . . . we'll see. Not just yet. Maybe later. :)
 
In my experience, I have found that the pointy, triangular-shaped, blades (e.g., Delica, Police, Calypso, etc.) are not that effective for a dining knife. It seems that only the point area does any actual slicing.

I have satisfactorily used the Ayoob, Military, and Wegner on occasion in "dining"--no, strike that--"eating" facilities. These knives seem to have more belly for effectively slicing steak and ham. I think the new Persian could be included in this list. Be careful if you're cutting on chinaware or porcelain as it will tend to dull your edge pre-maturely. One trick is to stack the pieces of meat and try to slice only the top piece (any overcuts will be made into the bottom piece and not onto the plate). Alternatively, you could stack the meat over vegetables or a potato before cutting--same idea. This method works well with paper plates that you might encounter at a picnic or party. ***Warning: Wives and/or girlfriends may not like this practice at all!***

Some people believe that a tanto blade would be ideal for slicing food on a dinner plate since only the secondary point would contact the plate relieving the rest of the edge from becoming dull. If you wish to test this idea then maybe the Lum Tanto would be appropriate.

If you wish to venture out of Spyderco country, then I would recommend a slipjoint with a spey blade. A doctor-type knife (with at least one spey blade) works well--it doesn't look tactical yet has a long enough blade to slice and dice your steak, ham, and sandwiches.

Have fun, and don't forget the about the "wifey" warning I gave you above.
 
I often try steak as a cutting test on new user blades. I have even used the Lum Tanto fixed blade (which worked great!) But the most amazing cutter for steak: the Ronin!

The thin blade really glides through with ease.
 
The Endura is an excellent choice. :) Good pick.
Let us know how it works on your next steak.




Blades
 
I was in that situation twice.

On a family trip Dad had limited me to 2 knives. At a cookout the only steel knife available was the serving knife that was siting next to the platter of steaks. So I pulled out my 50/50 Spydercard, which worked just fine as I watched in amusement as others used the serving knife to cut up their steak before going to sit down. Despite being nonsserrated, the thin wharncliff tip and edge of toothy Aus-8 steel it worked like a dream. To my suprise, it did not slit through the plastic plate. This was because point itself was slightly dull.

For my last birthday the family went to Outback Steakhouse where I had a T-Bone. As you may have noticed, the tips of resturant steak knives are blunt and rounded. Having forseen this possibility I decided my duplicate serrated Massad Ayoob (I have two, the early production slick almite, and a late production matte, grippier one).
The provided "steak knife" (in name only) was unable to make the cut so I pulled out the Ayoob. Dad Did not like this at all and made me put it away. I got the last laugh however: I was only able to finish half of the 20 oz monster and brought it home in a doggy bag. In the privacy of my apartment I finished the job with the Massad Ayoob.
It worked almost too well, allowing me to cut some of the connective tissue away from the bone, along with the muscle! The canted blade is more ergonomic than a traditionl inline handle as you do not have allows you to hold your hand at an odd angle. The belly of the blade was perfectly alighned, while only the easily resharpened tips of the serrations contacted the blade contacted the plate after slicing - not sawing - through the steak. The kissaki (Japanese for area where edge curves up to meet the spine) cut right to the corner of the T of course!

Lastly, if you want some rustic charm combined with thin blade performance, Opinels are easy to resharpen. Opinel even has a Laguoile-ish folding steak knife line with handles in a variety of woods and stainless Blade lengths from three to Six(!) inches.
http://www.opinel.com/FR/catalogue/index.htm
In Ingrish courtesy of Google
http://tinyurl.com/39mge
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top