Where to get an education on Commercial Cutlery?

Hankins

Hankins

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Dec 7, 2008
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Where to get an education on Commercial Cutlery?
Handling knives and working with steel for the past decade plus. Now realizing how little I know about Commercial Cutlery.
Talking about the blades used on cutting room floors and high volume kitchens.
Any Chefs out there or others who care to chime in???Where do I find out who makes the best blades and which blades are best for what job?
 
Hankins said:
Where to get an education on Commercial Cutlery?
Handling knives and working with steel for the past decade plus. Now realizing how little I know about Commercial Cutlery.
Talking about the blades used on cutting room floors and high volume kitchens.
Any Chefs out there or others who care to chime in???Where do I find out who makes the best blades and which blades are best for what job?
Click to expand...

seriously, talk to alot of chefs- and try to find good ones. You'll find alot of differing opinions, from ones who don't care as lond as it's sharp- to the ones who have their own special custom knives. Cooking styles are as different as the knives they prefer.
 
Check out dexter-russell, contact a butchers union near you and ask to speak to a few old timers, look in food service catalogs. Remember in commercial cutting room operations, the workers often have no choice what to use. Commercial kitchens are different sometimes. Big hog meat producers like h**mel etc, tend to employ workers with no initial training, often with very little english and pay them less then a living wage and fire them once they become crippled by repetitive stress injuries. These folks have little say in what knife they use, there knives are very sharp, steeled very frequently and dont last terribly long.
 
There are basically 2 types. Stamped and drop forged. knives that are drop forged are superior than those that are stamped.
Henkels, and Wusthof make both, but the easiest way to tell is if they have an integral "bolster" they are drop forged.

200.jpg
 
Chuck Gedraitis Knives said:
There are basically 2 types. Stamped and drop forged. knives that are drop forged are superior than those that are stamped.
Henkels, and Wusthof make both, but the easiest way to tell is if they have an integral "bolster" they are drop forged.

200.jpg
Click to expand...

Not anymore, many if not MOST of the bolstered knives have the bolsters electrically welded on both sides by automated machinery and are then ground.

I believe there is only one drop forger left in Solingen and they forge all the knives for everybody who still likes it like that. Güde is one company in Solingen who's knives are still forged.

Other blades are inded stamped from giant rolls of steel strip.

My kitchen knives are contour CNC machined (by me) from sheet stock after being first rough lasered and annealed.
 
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