"Edged Weapons" in the kitchen

[CPTAUSRET]

Originally Posted by Razor

My lovely bride got me the 7" hollow ground santoku several years back, and it is our absolute favorite kitchen knife. The oblong handle is very comfortable, and the blade holds a great edge, requiring only a quick steeling before use to get everything aligned for even very fine cutting (think smooth, thin cuts on tomato skin). Since then, we've bought a 7" serrated utility with the funky (but comfortable) handle, which is a great meat and bread slicer, and a couple of the smaller paring/utility knives. If you sign up for Williams-Sonoma emails, they occasionally run great discount specials on Shuns.

Thanks for the response Brother...We ordered this small set last night.

http://www.prokitchengear.com/Shun_K...un-kos1000.htm

[Penn]

Please do not buy these knives.
Instead, buy a slicer, paring and boning knife from Korin. Use the extra dough to first fly me, then Bill H out, and you'll have great lesson in execution and sharping for the same price, not to mention dinner, plus you'll have knives that will stay sharp forever with but five minutes on the correct stone.
$900.00 dollars for BS knives is beyond me. If its not bench made, or its legendary history is not from a knife making clan and you are spending more than 50 dollars, I have a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge for sale-Cheap, call me.

[CPTAUSRET]

Originally Posted by Penn

Please do not buy these knives.
Instead, buy a slicer, paring and boning knife from Korin. Use the extra dough to first fly me, then Bill H out, and you'll have great lesson in execution and sharping for the same price, not to mention dinner, plus you'll have knives that will stay sharp forever with but five minutes on the correct stone.
$900.00 dollars for BS knives is beyond me. If its not bench made, or its legendary history is not from a knife making clan and you are spending more than 50 dollars, I have a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge for sale-Cheap, call me.

Penn:

Now you tell me! I already pulled the trigger, they'll be here next week.

Speaking of getting together, Nancy asked me where you were were plying your culinary talents, I told her I would find out. We were in NYC a couple of weeks ago where Nancy rec'd an award from the NY Academy of Med.

I'd love to fly you and Bill out here, I still don't have a great cooker/smoker, Bill could probably build one in his sleep. I'd like you two to see what Eastern Iowa looks like (Grant Wood Country). Don't need any of that bridge, thank you!

[Penn]

CPT, Princeton, NJ I'll PM you.

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by CPTAUSRET

Penn:

Now you tell me! I already pulled the trigger, they'll be here next week.

Speaking of getting together, Nancy asked me where you were were plying your culinary talents, I told her I would find out. We were in NYC a couple of weeks ago where Nancy rec'd an award from the NY Academy of Med.

I'd love to fly you and Bill out here, I still don't have a great cooker/smoker, Bill could probably build one in his sleep. I'd like you two to see what Eastern Iowa looks like (Grant Wood Country). Don't need any of that bridge, thank you!

Most people would od fine with just a chef knife, a pairing knife, boning knife (I also have a bread knife). If I had to pick three it would be those. You don't need "all those knives" for the average kitchen. And unless you're doing a lot of boning you don't need that one either.
(Be careful with those knives, if you use the chef knife to cut something hard it will dent.)

I have a few of the Shun Chef Elite's, the one's I use everyday are the #10 Chef and the pairing...... I could live fine with just those two....

[busa]

I followed some of the advice here and bought two Henckels Professional S knives. I picked up the chef's and paring knife. I have never owned a really great set of knives before.

I used them for the first time last night and I could not be more pleased.

Thanks for the advice!!

[Nightfall]

I'm such a firm believer in having a good set of knives in the kitchen. Seems like no one has anything but those awful Ginsu knives in their drawers. I'm fortunate that my father believes in heirlooms and the like. I went shopping for a good set of knives (I do a LOT of cooking, my own butchering and whatnot) and I had a good Henkle Chef's knife and a Santuko (never understood the point after using chef's knives all these years). In addition to those I had a variety of random Chicago Cutlery knives, boning, chef's, slicers. I wanted a mostly matched set at some point in my life. When I got married, I couldn't think of anything else to ask for on the registry, but didn't feel comfortable asking for $1K worth of knives, so I found a bunch seperate (still uncomfortable putting things on there $100 a piece). So the great guy my dad is, looked at what most of them were and just bought me the whole set of Calphalon Katana series knives. I love 'em. They're asthetically pleasing, and keep and edge like nobody's business, I am very pleasantly surprised. Grip's nice, though a little strange at first glance. Normally I sharpen my own knives on my old Arkansas whetstone, but these I get nervous with, so when needed I take them to a pro to have them sharpened. At $1 each to sharpen, it's pretty cheap, and all I have to do is hone them a bit before using them and I'm golden. MY ol' man is such a nice guy. With any sort of luck, my kid's will inheirit these when I'm gone, and thier kids then after.

[mark46th]

I know the sharpening portion of this thread was started a while back but here is my $.02 worth on it. For those who want to sharpen quickly, here is an effective method.
I ran a seafood plant where we hand-cut our fish. We used a Momacut Japanese made santoku style knife with a thin stainless blade. I was the designated knife sharpener. I was sent to one of our plants in Bellingham to learn how to do it. We used a fine grit(400 IIRC) sanding belt then polished them using a cloth jewelers wheel. For lubricant we used 2 parts parrafin, 1 part Crisco shortening which I melted together in our QC lab. I know, Crisco, but it worked. I made 3 or 4 passes on the sanding belt at a 60 degree angle on each side of the knife, then 10 or 12 passes on the cloth wheel. I did this to about 50-100 knives per week. We did use a steel during the course of the day to refresh the edge. The polishing was the key. These blades came out like scalpels. This was for a large number of knives, so I had to use electricity.

[Razor]

Terry, did you get the Shuns yet? How do you like them? FWIW, my wife paid about the same for our 7" santoku as the MSRP for the less expensive boning knives I saw on the Korin website. Its all about the discounts.

[Bill Harsey]

Originally Posted by CPTAUSRET

Thanks for the response Brother...We ordered this small set last night.

http://www.prokitchengear.com/Shun_K...un-kos1000.htm

The Shuns are exceptional knives especially for the price. They are extremely high quality in the steel used and the quality of manufacturing.

[CPTAUSRET]

Originally Posted by Razor

Terry, did you get the Shuns yet? How do you like them? FWIW, my wife paid about the same for our 7" santoku as the MSRP for the less expensive boning knives I saw on the Korin website. Its all about the discounts.

Received them a few days ago, we are both thrilled with them, they should last for years...They provide a nice fit Nancy's hands, as well as mine.

[cbtengr]

Got a relatively decent set of kitchen knives, the kind that come in a block when we got married 12 years ago. I have never sharpened them but occasionally run them down a steel which seems to be sufficient for my needs. However the steel is now smooth and no longer has any effect on the knives. Can the steel be refreshed or do I just need to go out and get another one?

[Greyshade2]

I don't claim to be any kind of expert but here is what works for me: I use the steel "wand" from my knife block. I have a spot where my granite counter meets the granite backsplash against a built in cabinet tower. I angle my sharpening wand against this "corner" so it won't slip or roll and I slide the blade at about a 30 degree angle one side, then the other slowly and pretty much across the wand without moving the knife blade around the wand. Kind of like drawing the bow across a single string on a bass cello. This has worked quite well in my kitchen, do not know if it's the proper method but like I said, it works for me. I never put my cutting knives in the dishwasher and I run the blades across the "wands" a couple times before I start cutting stuff up (keeps me from getting frustration issues before I start cooking/chopping/slicing etc.).

[(1VB)compforce]

Originally Posted by CPTAUSRET

Received them a few days ago, we are both thrilled with them, they should last for years...They provide a nice fit Nancy's hands, as well as mine.

I like the Asian style knives. I looked at Shun, but Global fit my hands better. Got a pretty good deal on a 9 piece block set and I love them. I added a heavyweight chef and a flexible boning to the set and it's pretty much all I need. Yes, I know... Chef, paring, boning and serrated is all I need, but I would have paid more for those 4 knives individually than I paid for the whole set including the case.

Sharpening them, I have a Norton ceramic oil stone for rough, medium and honing (600). Then I have water stones at 1000 and 6000. As long as you get the angles right, you're fine.

I angle my sharpening wand against this "corner" so it won't slip or roll and I slide the blade at about a 30 degree angle one side, then the other slowly and pretty much across the wand without moving the knife blade around the wand.

Try angling the blade on the wand at the same angle you sharpen at, you'll get a sharper edge and less burr on the finished edge. For german style knives (Henckel, Messermeister, etc...) it's 15-20 degrees. For asian style knives (Global, Shun, et al) it's usually 10-15 degrees but be careful, not all of them are the same, some are single and some are double bevel or even curved chisel style edges.

[mark46th]

Look at this thread for some good info. It says field sharpenening but it goes into more detail...
http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...read.php?t=759