Would you use your own classy gents folder at a fancy restaurant?

Can, have, and will continue to do so...

 

I quit using maxamet in restaurants as a courtesy, to keep from cutting/damaging their ceramic plates.

 

No - I’d never touch my food with something I carry in my pocket. Knives pick up lint, dust, and plus who washes their knife regularly? Have you ever looked inside your knife handles? Plus oil contamination on your food....mmmm. Nothing like a little bit of Rem Oil for flavor.

I’ll use a nice stainless blade that came out of a dishwasher to cut my food. I’ve literally never have had a problem cutting a steak with the provided knife, even at cheap date places like Texas Roadhouse. There’s literally no need. If the provided cutlery was insufficiently sharp, I ask my waiter/waitress for a sharp one.

 

No biggy. Just spit on the blade and wipe ot clean first with your shirt

 

Each their own. My knives follow me around. I know where I’ve been lol

 

That's why I like Asian cooking. Chop up the food before it gets on my plate.

Cutting on a plate can't be too good for the knife.

Some of the larger Opinels, I have heard, work great as utility knives for cooking, and they aren't expensive. There's quite a few Asian kitchen knife folders out there now too, most have ceramic blades.

 

Custom Steak knife from Bradford Knives courtesy of Bradford Larkin. Use it every time I go out to eat. Cleaned and stored after every meal. Carried to the restaurant in a custom made protective kydex sheath. Black G10 with red liners and M390 steel. Cuts a steak like a light saber.

 

Ya' know, about ten thousand knife servicemen just had a light go on over their heads! The discussion here just "created" the new art of polishing generic steak knives!

Usually these knives are inexpensive and come in a box of six. The metal is soft, and most polishers have 20 stones capable of perfecting any knife and alloy.

You could have the modification done to a real-deal steak knife when you visit your sharpener, wrap the piece in a clean napkin, be seated at the restaurant, and enjoy a delicious meal with a keen edge!

I just might buy six of these steak knives, polish them, and use them as a "gimmee" for returning clients. A meal at a restaurant should be a happy, enjoyable excursion. And for a knife guy, having a perfected edge just caps the experience!

 

Actually, the light has been on for some time. It's even a full time job for some specialists.
Just my experience here : I sharpened several sets of "six steak knives", some rather luxurious. All were beyond dull. Used for decades without any honing, thrown in the dishwasher, thrown in a drawer barely dryed. Well, they all came back to great cutting performance. Just for fun, I tried it on an age old (over 100 years) set of table knives my grandmother left us. The ebony handles were washed out and cracked, and the edges were beyond "butter knife" dull. I sanded and oiled the handles, sharpened and polished the edges.... And these knives hold their part at any table with any dish. Especially meat ! (Even if the steel is a rostafrei / nothing impressive stuff).
I tried to offer this service to restaurants I use to sharpen their kitchen knives. No ! Customer safety issues... I understand this because in my own house I warned everybody to "keep hands clear of the cutting edges, don't soak the knives in the sink with the plates, and so on..." Five minutes later : Ouch ! I cut my finger !
So, short version : Sharp edges are for people needing or enjoying them.

 

From "herisson," So, short version : Sharp edges are for people needing or enjoying them.

Ah, the start of a good debate! For example, how many times have you heard the old canard that "a sharp knife is a safe knife." I usually hear that about two minutes before my friend asks for a bandage--which I carry in my biker wallet because it seems to happen more and more.

You use the phrase "needing or enjoying them." I would add the condition of "an inflated ego." I don't think you can even pop a zit without some clown spouting, "Ya' know, I carry razor sharp knives for that!" And BTW, these guys sharpen only to 'utility sharp.'

I believe a polished edge is a dangerous edge simply because I doubt very many people have even seen one outside of a cutlery forum. After all these decades I pick up a sharp knife like a wayward, abject rookie. Then again, I do not remember the last time I got nicked.

 

Should I have added to "needing or enjoying them" something like "understanding them" ? Ask a butcher how many times he cuts himself. Never (almost never). They use the mail gloves only at the first states of quartering. In the butcher's shop, I never saw a butcher using a mail glove and I never heard a butcher scream "Ouch !".
I exactly (at least tried) to make the point that a polished / razor / table splitting edge is not for everyone. And that makes your assertion that a "polished edge is a dangerous edge" come up as a bit moot. This is a knife geeks' forum. So, basically, what "knife indifferent" people do or care with their kitchen or table knives doesn't disturb me much. Then, they get plenty of opportunities to hurt themselves with carpet cutters or electric tools... Come on... The knives aren't a problem at all ! And to end the rant : whenever you pick up a knife, handle it with care, caution and respect (like any cutting, shredding, slicing tool). And you will be golden. If plus, you have some skills, you might even shine.

 

This.

Note that - since I always carry a knife - I will carry a fancy knife to a fancy restaurant. Too fancy to use on ceramic restaurant dishes though

 

I wouldn't whip out a knife at a fancy restaurant, Ive tried and my wife gives me the death stare...

I did however get asked to leave a Wendy's one time by management because a lady by the name of Karren with a short "I wanna speak to a manager" haircut was deeply afraid and offended by a knife sheath hanging from my belt while I was eating a burger.

I was however naked at the time...

 

I do not like your summary. It's stoopid.

 

This is what us in the biz term as "Stupicide by Mod".

Jot that down.

 

I love these. I want an entire set.

Or I might just do the Boker Burnley Steak Kwaiken thing. They're pretty neat too.

 

Haha that is awesome!

 

My steak knife has gotten even fancier


Just a home shot...haven't been out to eat since I got it

 

Most nice restaurants I've been to supply you with a nice steak knife or whatever you need to cut your food.
If I need a knife and don't otherwise have one I'll use the one I'm carrying. I wipe the blade down a bunch with a clean napkin
and make sure there's nothing in the scales/ handle that'll fall in my food first.

If folks trip out by a little ole pocket folder the size of a steak knife being used to cut food, then you can make a mental note that wherever you're eating isn't worth your money
or you're not refined enough for the place you're eating. Taking a knife out around people should be a judgement call and you shouldn't make yourself look like a barbarian
while you're in a nice steak restaurant.

From safety regulations at work to fancy restaurants, it seems some people come across a lot of restriction when it comes to using their knives.
I use basically whatever knife I want all the time at work, home, and even nice restaurants and no one has ever said anything to me.
I don't think anyone even noticed me using my knife. My knives are too sharp and too smooth to be noticed I guess