What do you use in the kitchen?

outdoorsfan

outdoorsfan

Joined
Sep 30, 2009
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My wife is in culinary school and does most of the cooking. Prior to going to school, it was a fairly frequent occurence for her to cut herself, especially when I would sharpen the knives (I would leave a box of band-aids on the counter). Even though her knife skills have greatly improved, she frequently tasks me with the prep work so I get a fair amount of blade time as well.

I do use a few of my JK's in the kitchen from time to time but I would say that both of us are huge fans of Global knives in the kitchen. We have several (all chef's knives) of various sizes. The stainless blades are super sharp and easy to keep that way, the metal handles have a great shape and are comfortable in a wide variety of grips and the blade shape is spot on. They are a bit expensive ($100+ per knife) but we both feel they are well worth the price.

If it's not one of the Global's, I also like a Tramontina Santoku that we picked up a few years back at Sam's Club. It's also stainless but has a plastic handle. Comfortable, sharp and a handy blade shape.

She had to purchase a whole set of knives and a knife roll for her classes. They are functional, similar to the common black-handled Henckels, but it would surprise most people what they use actually use in a professional kitchen. Not all those who use a knife as part of their job are really all that familiar with the tool.

We have some cooks here, what cutlery do you use the most in the kitchen? Do you have a preferred brand? What about steel, carbon or stainless? Wood, synthetic or stainless handles? What do you guys like?
 
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, we don't' have any "good" knives in the kitchen, I do bring in the JK's but I keep telling myself it's time for a JK 1/16 thick kitchen knife.
 
I`ll get a picture of the one I made for Connie soon. I`m also working on a fishing / kitchen knife right now. Hopefully Rob Babcock will see this and post. He`s a proffessional chef.
 
We use a set of Kershaw kitchen knives. They've been good to us so far, going on 2 years now.
 
Other than frying fish, my wife does all the cooking these days. When i used to cook, I used a Russell Green River skinner for just about everything. Currently there are mostly USA made Chicago Cutlery in the knife block. My wife likes them and they work well.
 
1 Shun, 2 Tojiro ITK Shirogami, 1 JCK Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan, 1 Hattori KD, a set of 7 original Old Hickory knives (love em) and 1 Akifusa. Not counting the many assorted cheapies I have too.
And the collection is gonna get bigger too. I love finding, and using new and different kitchen knives as much as I love the ones I collect and hard use for work and play.
 
hey sean (fellas)....i just have some cheap "block" knives that i use. i would like to have better. i have been wanting to upgrade my kitchen knives. a couple months ago, i saw a set of henckels (the cheap ones...eversharp maybe) on craigslist for like $30. so, i did buy those. i don't like them...they have those "micro-serrations" that i don't like. but sadly, they were better than what i had.

and, i've chatted with John a bit about kitchen knives... and Andy was nice enough to let me try a 1/16" kitchen knife that john made him...it was sweet.

i now have my VT Hunter in my kitchen block as i use it for all my kitchen duties right now (i explained to my son to NEVER put it in the dishwasher ;) ).

anyway....i know i haven't said much. i tend to think out loud.

John, i am very interested to see the new knife you are talking about. my custom really should have just been a kitchen knife. i guess a "chef" knife will be next for me.
 
I picked up a set of the ESEE-Becker kitchen knives a few months back and love them.
for paring knives, my favorites are the victorinox 4" or the Opinel paring knife (both under $10)
prior to getting the E-Bs, we were using a mixed bag: 6" wusthof chef, Ikea veggie knife, 7" chicago santoku w/grantons, serrated "wonder knife" for bread, a low end laminated japan santoku, the vic parer, a Rada paring knife, etc...
 
JK Improved Bowie in 1/16",JK Toby's Knife in 3/32" & a few Victorinox Parers.
I don't cook a lot so my needs are simple in the kitchen & the IB & TK work great for me.
 
Well, I cook for a living so my kit is a bit...involved!;) All of my knives are Japanese except one, a Richmond Ultimatum in M390 steel. I have a knife case for work that holds ten blades. I rotate which ones I carry but I generally keep these:

Tojiro DP Gokujo- this is a Japanese rendering of the common American curved boning knife, in VG-10 steel.
Kagayaki CarboNext 300mm sujihiki- Tool steel suji, 300mm long. I keep it razor sharp and use it mostly for carving meats like prime or cutting steaks.
Tojiro DP 240mm Western Deba- A WD is similar to a gyuto/chef's knife but over twice as thick. It's make to go thru stuff like chicken leg bones without chipping. A real beast of a blade, VG-10.
Kagayaki CarboNext 240mm Gyuto- A gyuto is the Japanese equivalent to a chef's knife. Tool steel, semi-stainless.
Tojiro DP 270mm Bread knife- There really is not Japanese version of a bread knife, but this is made for CKtG. Mine is actually the prototype, sent to me for evaluation prior to production.
Akifusa 240mm Gyuto- This is a gyuto with a very, very flat profile. The hagane is SRS-15, a very, very strong & hard powdered steel. RC 65 or so.
Nubatam 240mm Ryoba - This is the only "expensive" knife I have. It's about $830 right now. The hagane is "Black Steel" and was handmade in Japan. Prior to being sent to me it was sharpened by a sword polisher and my name was engraved in kanji. The edge is spectacular and edge retention is amazing.
Richmond Ultimatum 240mm Gyuto - Manufactured by Lamson & Goodnow, this one is made from Bohler M390 MicroClean steel. It's like something from outer space! I used it 10 hours a day at work for three weeks and it would still shave. I $hit you not! I have never seen anything like it in terms of edge retention. It's a Wa handled knife patterned on the Masamoto KS.
Moritaka KS, 250mm Gyuto- Handmade by Moritaka-san in Japan, this is another Wa handled Masamoto KS clone. It's executed in Hitachi Aogami Super high carbon steel. The edge it takes is really super, with good edge retention.
Tanaka 160mm Nakiri- A nakiri is a vegetable knife with a flat edge and a basically-square end. Mine was handmade from Hitachi Blue #2 and is Wa handled. Sadly, Tanaka-san passed away about a year ago but his son still makes knives.

I have another one on the way, a Konosuke wa-gyuto 240mm in Hitachi White #2. This should take a very, very keen edge. Generally white doesn't hold an edge as well as Blue/Aoko but it arguably gets just slightly sharper.

As much as I've got wrappen up in knives, I've got even more sunk into sharpening stuff. Right now in addition to my Kalamazoo grinder I have maybe 45-50 Japanese synthetic water stones and 13 Japanese natural stones.
 
Rob Babcock said:
Well, I cook for a living so my kit is a bit...involved!;) All of my knives are Japanese except one, a Richmond Ultimatum in M390 steel. I have a knife case for work that holds ten blades. I rotate which ones I carry but I generally keep these:

Tojiro DP Gokujo- this is a Japanese rendering of the common American curved boning knife, in VG-10 steel.
Kagayaki CarboNext 300mm sujihiki- Tool steel suji, 300mm long. I keep it razor sharp and use it mostly for carving meats like prime or cutting steaks.
Tojiro DP 240mm Western Deba- A WD is similar to a gyuto/chef's knife but over twice as thick. It's make to go thru stuff like chicken leg bones without chipping. A real beast of a blade, VG-10.
Kagayaki CarboNext 240mm Gyuto- A gyuto is the Japanese equivalent to a chef's knife. Tool steel, semi-stainless.
Tojiro DP 270mm Bread knife- There really is not Japanese version of a bread knife, but this is made for CKtG. Mine is actually the prototype, sent to me for evaluation prior to production.
Akifusa 240mm Gyuto- This is a gyuto with a very, very flat profile. The hagane is SRS-15, a very, very strong & hard powdered steel. RC 65 or so.
Nubatam 240mm Ryoba - This is the only "expensive" knife I have. It's about $830 right now. The hagane is "Black Steel" and was handmade in Japan. Prior to being sent to me it was sharpened by a sword polisher and my name was engraved in kanji. The edge is spectacular and edge retention is amazing.
Richmond Ultimatum 240mm Gyuto - Manufactured by Lamson & Goodnow, this one is made from Bohler M390 MicroClean steel. It's like something from outer space! I used it 10 hours a day at work for three weeks and it would still shave. I $hit you not! I have never seen anything like it in terms of edge retention. It's a Wa handled knife patterned on the Masamoto KS.
Moritaka KS, 250mm Gyuto- Handmade by Moritaka-san in Japan, this is another Wa handled Masamoto KS clone. It's executed in Hitachi Aogami Super high carbon steel. The edge it takes is really super, with good edge retention.
Tanaka 160mm Nakiri- A nakiri is a vegetable knife with a flat edge and a basically-square end. Mine was handmade from Hitachi Blue #2 and is Wa handled. Sadly, Tanaka-san passed away about a year ago but his son still makes knives.

I have another one on the way, a Konosuke wa-gyuto 240mm in Hitachi White #2. This should take a very, very keen edge. Generally white doesn't hold an edge as well as Blue/Aoko but it arguably gets just slightly sharper.

As much as I've got wrappen up in knives, I've got even more sunk into sharpening stuff. Right now in addition to my Kalamazoo grinder I have maybe 45-50 Japanese synthetic water stones and 13 Japanese natural stones.
Click to expand...
All I gotta say is...damn Rob.
 
Well, the same way that a mechanic winds up with a lot of expensive tools, so do chefs...some of us, at least. There are lots of pro cooks & chefs who never catch the "knife bug" that most of us here caught. I just happen to love knives in general. I've probably got two hundred outdoors knives too, including of course maybe 50 JK's that my Dad had.
 
My Galley Wag and Rule #9 get the most use but I also use an old Foster brothers chef's knife and a Case butcher knife. I love the good old steels.
Karen uses Victorinox butcher knives and paring knives and a wonderful little Japanese slicer that she picked up along the way.

Rob, I'm jealous.:D
 
Rob Babcock said:
Well, the same way that a mechanic winds up with a lot of expensive tools, so do chefs...some of us, at least. There are lots of pro cooks & chefs who never catch the "knife bug" that most of us here caught. I just happen to love knives in general. I've probably got two hundred outdoors knives too, including of course maybe 50 JK's that my Dad had.
Click to expand...

wow! that's so cool Rob. ever thought of taking pictures and posting them for us (me) to look at? :rolleyes: :D
 
I use a Victorinox Forschner 8-inch Chef's knife. It's amazing, especially considering the price.
 
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