Using a pocket knife for food prep: now I get it.

[Smaug]

I use kitchen knives, and try to be careful with them. I always cut on plastic boards, and never hit them.

Wow. I can't imagine never hitting the cooking board with a knife. It would take forever to cut anything that way.

Now I'm learning to sharpen, my pocket knives get sharper than my kitchen knives (which, so far, I've had sharpened...sooner or later, when I feel I'm skilled enough, I will sharpen my kitchen knives too)

Don't be afraid, it is really easy, compared to pocket knives. The steel is softer and their ground thinner. It is very quick work. Once you do this, you won't be afraid for the knife edge to hit the cooking board any more, and the cooking will go much faster.

 

[quattromori]

I didn't explain myself properly. For 'hitting' I didn't mean just cutting till the edge touches the board; I meant using a chef's knife as a chopper or cleaver, literally hitting food and board...which of course damages any edge. It's more common than you can think of, especially on some food preparations (for example, I've seen it done for the steak tartare) and I suspect that, if you could take a look around the "average" kitchen, you would see that move more often than you imagine.
As for sharpening my kitchen knives, I'll do it soon

Fausto

 

[Django.cj]

I didn't explain myself properly. For 'hitting' I didn't mean just cutting till the edge touches the board; I meant using a chef's knife as a chopper or cleaver, literally hitting food and board...which of course damages any edge. It's more common than you can think of, especially on some food preparations (for example, I've seen it done for the steak tartare) and I suspect that, if you could take a look around the "average" kitchen, you would see that move more often than you imagine.
As for sharpening my kitchen knives, I'll do it soon

Fausto

I definitely won't hit anything with my chef's knife. That's what the cleavers are for

 

[quattromori]

I definitely won't hit anything with my chef's knife. That's what the cleavers are for

Nor would I...but it does happen, so to prevent that and other violence on my kitchen knives (and also because I like doing it), I do most of the cooking and food prep in my kitchen. And the magnetic bar is a really handy thing, and saves my knives from drawer damage.

Fausto
:cool.

 

[dogstar]

I use kitchen knives more than my carry knives, so it makes sense to keep them sharp. A few passes on ceramic rods keeps them at working sharpness. Oddly enough, I obsess over keeping my carry knives shaving sharp, but it's just too much work to keep the kitchen knives that way, because they are constantly being dulled.

 

[Smaug]

We had a magnetic bar too. It was great. I'd have gotten another one, but my wife prefers a wooden knife block on the counter top.

One thing with the magnetic bar, and I'm sure you've figured this out, is that one has to put the knives on it spine-first, and take it off edge-first. Since you do the cooking, this isn't a problem. But my wife needed some training not to just let them slam on there and really ding up the edges, hehehe.

 

[Will Power]

I've got to confess that my kitchen knives are not that wonderful, they get sharpened from time to time but I don't like the work much. Hence the pocket knives stay keen. It's taken me a long time to stamp out the habit of chucking kitchen knives in the sink, or worse, putting them in the dishwasher, some people won't learn it seems..... No such thing as a dishwasher proof knife in my book. But, it's an uphill struggle persuading others....I keep one small paring knife ultra keen in the block but I usually use my pocket knives or the odd puukko.