Kitchen Knives: Preferences, Tips, General Care

[Martin Fisher]

CCK Cleavers.

[rotuts]

thanks. was looking for the all metal ones. have one from chinatown a long long time ago. looking for thinner.

mine is a # 3

[chopperreed]

i have a set of SHUN and Kasumi knives both japanese hand folded steel.  Most of my knives are single bevel for perfect cutting finish on the product, japanese and german knives are best because these countries have very high quality steel materials and manufacturing technology.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

New West replaced my chef's knife.  No bend in the blade.  Very satisfied.

[patrickamory]

Great post, thanks paulraphael.

 

Also great to see the links to the Chinese cleavers.

[ahpadt]

Recently bought my first Japanese knife, followed by another. A Mac Pro 10" slicer and 6" utility knife. A big step up from the Global and Anolon knives I've tried.

[lordratner]

Recently bought my first Japanese knife, followed by another. A Mac Pro 10" slicer and 6" utility knife. A big step up from the Global and Anolon knives I've tried.

I love my MAC chefs knife. Takes a great edge and holds it for a couple months of household use with regular honing.

[NEPolarbear]

Based on reviews, budget, size, and the type of prep / cooking I do, I bought the CCK Large cleaver from CKTG.

Used it for almost a month now and it has been a huge help in prepping vegetables.

Wish I bought this long time ago.

[shadowjack]

Tramontina professional master series are good for the price.

Not too pretty, but functional.

[lindag]

I've replaced almost all of the German (Wisthof and Henckels)  blades I have with Japanese blades (mine are Shun and Mac) from Chef's knife all the way to the parer)..  I've just found them to be so much sharper to begin with and they retain that edge much longer.

[dcarch]

A few years ago, out of curiosity, I bought on eBay a 9" Teflon coated chef knife for $15.00.

 

The Teflon coating does not do much for non-stick slicing/cutting, but I am surprised that it really can keep a long lasting sharp edge.

 

Not a bad investment.

 

 

dcarch

[ojisan]

[rotuts]

Soooooooooooo dying here

 

 

ojisan

 

what a wonderful collection !

[ojisan]

I seem to use one knife 95% of the time - alternating between the Tojiro DP nakiri (5th down on the left), and the 240mm Hiromoto HC gyuto (3rd down on the right). The gyuto is carbon steel, no longer made, and sold for $50. Although carbon, is shows no patina, unlike the 150mm Hiromoto HC petty (to it's left) which has a lot of patina. The petty is the sharpest, thinnest knife I own.

[lordratner]

I just bought this little guy (literally... I ended up getting the exact one they used for product photos):

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/sata24wa.html

It's a Christmas gift, so DW isn't letting me use it until then. My other two knives are a MAC chefs knife and utility knife. I love them. Just got done Shapton stones for the edge pro to make them stupid sharp.

Edited December 6, 2014 by lordratner (log)

[rotuts]

interested to hear what you think of the Shaptons.  what grit ?  do you have to 'off-set' as some are thicker than reg. water stones.

[pyrguy]

This is a set I have. It goes along with a few other custom knives and a bunch of Victorinox knives.

 

http://www.bgoodeknives.com/

Edited December 6, 2014 by pyrguy (log)

[Hassouni]

interested to hear what you think of the Shaptons.  what grit ?  do you have to 'off-set' as some are thicker than reg. water stones.

 

I recently got some Shapton Pro stones - they are a vast improvement in terms of speed and cutting power compared to my King

[rotuts]

H: for the EdgePro ? or the stand alone stone ?

[lordratner]

interested to hear what you think of the Shaptons. what grit ? do you have to 'off-set' as some are thicker than reg. water stones.

I got the Shapton Glass stones in 500, 1k, and 2k. They are a huge improvement over the EP 220 and 320 stones I was using before, but I can't compare them to the higher grit EP stones.

They cut very fast and wash off easily. They are thicker than EP stones, but since the 500 grit Shapton is similar to the 320 EP, I only use the Shaptons which are the same thickness so no adjusting between stones is needed.

I used a sharpie to set the EP to the matching angle and went from there. I may end up getting an angle cube to get a more precise bevel on the Takayuki, but I haven't decided. If I do, I'll get the quick load spring and locking collar at the same time, as well as the 4k Shapton to finish the set.

[Hassouni]

H: for the EdgePro ? or the stand alone stone ?

 

Standalone

[Simon Lewinson]

Recently I was given a Kyocera Ceramic Santoku Knife (Green, 14cm Blade) and have found it to be an awesome addition to my kitchen. I now find my self continually reaching for it when i'm in the kitchen. I find it great for cutting tomatoes and other salad stuff to peeling the skin off pumpkins. I love it, its almost converted me.

A couple of years ago my children bought me a Kyocera ceramic Santoku - the black "professional" one and it almost never stays in the knife block. The only thing that it is not brilliant for is boning out meat. Since I have been using it I cannot stand using a "normal" blade as it is nowhere near as sharp.

Simon

[cisy]

I get used to one knife and when I'm cooking, I only use that one. Nothing can take the place of it.

[Shel_B]

For quite some time I used an 8-inch Wustoff chef's knife, and ultimately found that I didn't always like the heft and the shape of the blade.  Staying with the 8-inch theme, I acquired a Victorinox which I liked better for most uses because of it's thinner blade and lighter weight.  But after using that for a while I realized that for most of my uses, a smaller blade was a better choice, so now I'm using a 6-inch Victorinox and enjoying it every time it's used.  I also use two smaller blades, both Henkels, one forged and the other stamped.

 

 

95% of my knife use is for vegetables and fruit, so these knives work great in that they are easy for me to handle and allow for excellent control.  These are certainly not fancy or expensive blades, but they do just what I want them to do effectively and efficiently.

[Porthos]

Home: most of the time it is my 10" Mighty Oak chef's knife, a brand that was not around for very long but this knife still rocks 33 years later. I have a Henkles 4-star paring knife that use when I use a paring knife which is not often. My 8" Henkles feels like a toy in my hand but it is there when I need it when my 10" is dirty.

 

Travelling/Faire: 10" Victornox Forschner chef's knife. I have been very happy with it.

 

Between my home and running my volunteer ren faire kitchen I own many other knives but these are my back workhores knives.