Octaveman

I'm sorry I can't give my opinion on these as I've never seen them but to address your concerns. To ship a 3" thick slab of tree will never be cheap regardless of where you get it. I just looked and their shipping costs seem reasonable for the weight of the block. Regarding the block splitting I have no clue what is normal for cross cuts of a tree. I have seen cross cuts like these with a metal band around them but they're more prevelant around the net au naturel. I would think that they are dried enough to greatly limit splitting. If I was in the market for a thick chopping block I would certainly buy one from here. Tane is very nice to talk to so you could call or email with your concerns and see what she says then go from there.

Two years ago I cooked TG dinner for family. I had a somewhat rustic theme going and chose this soup. A mushroom soup that I modified a bit. HERE is the original recipe. What I did was to change the three mushroom types for Porcini and swapped out 1/2 of the chicken stock for the soaking liquid from the porcini's. All else remained the same. Damn fine soup...rich, flavorful and it really warmed the belly. Everyone loved it.

I'd be more concerned about thickness as anything less than 3/4" will warp. I know. I've had two cheap edge-grain maple boards warp on me over the years. BTW, I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong but if it's edge-grain it's a cutting board. Butcher blocks are end-grain. I'd have to buy a sander and sand paper first and at the average cost of $50 plus the cost of the board, I'd rather buy one made by a professional woodworker using better quality wood. Given the constant use and cleaning of the board I think I could agree with this. I'm sure these kinds of oils were used for 100's of years spanning generations as it was quite possibly the only oil available in the area. Don't think I would use EVOO or vegatable oil on mine but I see no real reason not too if the board gets used a lot. Wouldn't oils like this remove the antibacterial properties of the board by sealing it? I wonder how hard the surface would become and it's affects on knife edges changing any benefit the board originally had to offer. I wouldn't do it to my boards but that's just me.

Yes, from Dave. I got a jar at the gathering last weekend and used it on my walnut board. Man-oh-man is this stuff awesome. It's based off a recipe from a guy on a knife forum and it's been tweeked by Dave to where it is now. Very very nice. It spreads really well and doesn't take a lot to cover the board. I probably used two tabelspoons to coat twice my small 12x14 board. It can be purchased below. I don't think he's got it set up to buy online but send him an email expressing your interest and payment can be worked out. Tell him Bob sent you. http://www.japaneseknifesharpening.com/products.html Bob Edited to add that I do not benefit from sales of this stuff just in case anyone was wondering. Just informing people of a great product is all.

Awesome board. Thanks for the pic. I got a home-made board conidtioner that made my walnut board as smooth as a baby's butt. Fantastic stuff. Let me know if you're interested in a jar and I'll direct you to the guy I got it from. It's a combination of mineral oil and bees wax.

Has this been said already? ....artichokes the size of the average coffee cup for $4 each. Screw that.

Great choices. I've never paid with money on account with Paypal. That sucks that there's a delay. I guess it would be no different than the 3-4 day wiat for the money to show up in my bank account when I make the transfer. Oh well. Be sure to let us know what you think when you've had a chance to play with them. Cheers, Bob

Commissioner, yes, the Honesuki will take care of chickens quite well...taking meat off, going through joints and the smaller bones. It wouldn't work chopping in half the bigger, leg or thigh bones but ribs, breast and back is no problem. There is also the option for a larger Honesuki called the Garasuki. Longer and even more heavy duty than the Honsuki. Glestain has one and it's a beast. While I personally use a traditional deba for chickens I chose mine very carfeully as not all debas would be ideal for boning and breaking down chickens mainly because of ease of chipping the edge. Any single beveled knife has a more fragile edge than it's double beveled counterpart. The deba can pretty much handle anything from the sea but land critters might pose problems.

Pat, send him an email. It may not be too late. Hest, cool. Look forward to seeing it.

Mambwe, thanks. I'm so glad I got walnut. Very elegant. I shoulda got a big one. I wasn't sure if I would like the feet because it raises the height close to an inch and I thought I might need to rotate use from one side to the other just to keep any single side from getting all cut up. After using the board now for a while the height doesn't bother me and after all this time cutting, chopping, slicing on the board there is nary a cut from my knives that can be seen. The end grain is doing it's job of reducing knife marks to practically none. This board is a dream to use. So, I say yes, add the feet. The only reason I can think of for using both sides is when you have the juice groove on one side and the other you don't. But with a board the size you're getting it frankly is a moot point as you'll have plenty of room to do your work. I specifically asked to not make it with a groove because the board is so small. I think he does it automatically unless you say you don't want it. Gotta post pics when you get it. I would love to see it. Cheers, Bob

Cool peggy. Care to post a picture? I love to see pics of his boards. Funny too when word got out that he was closing shop he recently said this time is the busiest he's ever been. Yes, his boards are very solid and well made so I can imagine how heavy your 16x22 board is. That's a big board.

Yep, very cool. Looking forward to checking it out. How many pages?

Okay, checking up on people...what boards were ordered?

Mambwe, have you made the plunge yet? What you end up getting?

Rachel, if you click on the fry pan for instance in the original link it will direct you to a very informational page that has all the specs including weight and thickness. This appears to be the standard carbon steel pan and as the wesite says the material is carbon steel so there you go. It's design is very similar to the DeBuyer (World Cuisine) Lyon shaped steel pans. It is clearly not cast iron. I also doubt their claim of non-stick. Also this fry pans are pretty thick so warping I don't think will be an issue. Great prices that's for sure but that worries me. don't think you'd want to use this for pasta sauces. I have a black steel pan by Debuyer fry pan and love it. Great for searing and quick sauces (once it's fully seasoned of course). HERE is where I got mine. Chris, the owner, was very helpful in talking me through which pan to get...blue, black or carbon steel pan. Great prices to from what I've seen and outstanding customer service. The Debuyer pans are very high quality. www.jbprince.com also has carbon steel pans for cheap.

Paul, I have the large J.K. Adams block. It fits 270mm gyutos and three to four of them at that. It doesn't fit all your requirements (no f'ing steak knife slots) but it's a solid block that fits longerand shorter knives quite well. Chances are you won't find exactly what you want but a combination of tall block and small magnetic rack (www.benchcrafted.com are awesome) for those hard to fit knives. Just an option.

Yeah, who knows tthe reasoning for the manufacturers making what they make. Tosagata knives have great steal and are good knives for the price. They are budget knives so handle materials and finish of the blade is not great. Not bad but just not all that great. As far as the paring knife, I honestly wouldn't know because I have little to no use for one. It's certainly worth a try at $25.

Hattori HD (105mm), Hattori FH (70mm), Misono Swedish Carbon steel (80mm), Misono Molybdenum (80mm), Tosagata (4"), Global, Al Mar (3") and a bunch others under 4 inches (Shun, Kasumi, MAC, Ryusen). They're out there just gotta do some digging. But you're right in that there didn't used to be a lot of choices. Recently the past few years have seen more and more brands sporting the shorter knives for the western market.

Not sure I understand your question. You reference the same size for both western and japanese petty knives. The Japanese have paring knives as small as 70mm and petty's up to 150mm. What am I missing?

The Twin Cermax is a great knife. Uses a powdered steel so it will stay sharp quite well. Global, Shun or the Cermax would be your best bets. Try them out in the store and pick the one you like.

You have very valid points Janet. I can tell you're very passionate about your opinion. But, all I was doing was adding info to show the point that it doesn't make sense to buy Allclad copper core when you can have solid copper for siginficantly cheaper. Sure, you can get SS pans even cheaper than that but the whole point was to say why spend more money for the perceived benefit of copper with the Allclad option and go the all copper route instead and for less money. I used Falk as an example because I have Falk and Budrichard brought up Falk. Simple as that. I heard that Mauvil doesn't clean up nice and that's one of the reasons I got Falk with it's brushed copper. If the handles get hot, I use a towel. No big deal to me. If they get too "tarnished" I clean them with barkeepers friend and they look new again. No big deal to me. If I had a choice of copper or SS or SS w/ a copper core I would still choose copper every time. Even if I could get one more pan with the Atlantis set or even buy a slew of Sitram SS pans for hundreds less. Different strokes I guess. p.s. The Atlantis set you linked...the frying pan is too small and I would rather have a sauciere in stead of a cassarole pan. Also, it's not a good idea to buy sets. Better to buy the individual pieces you want, not a set you'd settle for. I have three Falk pieces and do everything I want them to do. And it's cheaper. And they're better.

Comparing one copper core pan to a basic SS pan and then saying you don't see how solid copper pan could be any better is akin to comparing a Maxima to a Altima and then saying you don't see how a Mercedes is any better. Of course All Clad got a good rating. Were they comparing it to Falk or Mauvil? Pans: 11" fry pan 3qt sauceire (9.5") 2.5qt sauce pan Falk = $595 (www.copperpans.com) All Clad copper core $760 (www.chefsresource.com) Now sizes were slightly different like for example Falk sauce pan was 2.5 qts and Allclad was 2qts and I used the 11" falk fry pan and the Allclad 12". This should balance out the size differences of each of these to be equal overall. So...NOW which would you buy if you were thinking of AllClad Copper Core pans? No brainer to me.

Sorry, Paul, I've used wetstones exclusively and can't recall what I've read on knife forums regarding the use of the sharpening films. I suggest potsing this on KF or FF as those people have direct experience and can answer any question you may have.

I've seen this sight before and it has some good information but for users of wetstones, there's not a whole lot that applies. I've never read the entire thing but there wasn't a whole lot to learn from that I didn't get elsewhere. Regarding the guides they would be fine if one was concerned about keeping the same angle manually. But there are a few issues. Like I don't think you can get the acute angles needed for Japanese knives, would be cumbersome to work with having to constantly move the guide down the length of the knife after a few strokes which loses any momentum built up, couldn't work the whole stone due to it's size. Regarding the sandpaper mounted to glass, that's a very good way to sharpen knives. Many people use the 3M paper mounted to granite slabs or glass plates and can get very good results. Here is a link to the paper to use. Sharpening on a mousepad is also another way to go. I've never done it but from what I remember people saying, it's great for making a convex edge.

Vaughn, it's a standard Honesuki in thickness and length. Yes, it is double bevel. It's damn near a 90/10 grind but it is a double bevel. It just has a very wide front bevel. It definately is NOT single bevel as that would mean the back side is concave and it is not concave. It's very near the same design as the Honesuki by Nenox. From what I understand the Honesuki is not a fish knife. A Deba is a fish knife as well as a Yanagiba. Glad you like the Hiromoto. It is a great knife.