The Ultimate Knife...

[hildi]

Haven´t found the ultimate knife for myself yet,but will be adding a Kershaw Shun 8" chef's knife to my collection of Wusthof,Henckels and cheaper varieties. Am looking forward to seeing how I like it. This search for the "right" knife sounds like the search for a soul mate

[slkinsey]

Here are some of my knives. They are custom made, cast (not forged) "dendritic steel" with Brazilian ironwood handles. I like a heavy, Western-style knife.

Here's a closeup where you can see the dendritic pattern:

[fimbul]

For all you cats who want vintage Sabatiers, the folks at a cookery shop near me sell new Sabatiers in both carbon, and stainless, steels, in nearly every size imaginable up to 13 or 14 inches. The brand is not one I find a lot of (Sabatier 69 ring a bell with anyone?), but I'm astounded by the quality of the ones I have. They're far better than the carbon-steel Sabatier I picked up on Amazon.com.

That said, my workhorse knives are my 11" F. Dick chef's knife, and my 12 and 10" carbon steel Sabatiers. I assist classes at a local cooking school, so I get to handle (as well as fondle, and sometimes covet) a lot of students' knives as they learn to chop things, and I just don't much care for much besides heavy, European-style knives. *shrug*

[pjackso]

slkinsey

Your knives are beautiful!

[Country Cook]

I just bought a Finnish Rosselli 6.5" carbon steel santuko with arctic curly birch handle. Not a common knife but I wanted something to remind me of my heritage.

Click here and scroll down for "R-line chef's knife in mounting block"

Edited January 29, 2005 by Country Cook (log)

[slkinsey]

Are we to gather that you are of Finnish, Italian and Japanese ancestry?

[slkinsey]

As you can see, I have edited some posts upthread. I'd like to take a moment in my moderator's hat to remind everyone of our Copyright & Fair Use Policy.

Two things in particular:

1. You can't post a picture without permission if it is owned by someone else. It's a copyright violation. This includes pictures from other web sites.
   
2. You can't post pictures that reside on another web site, unless you have permission or unless that web site belongs to you. This is called "bandwidth theft" because every time that image displays on our site, it uses some of the originating site's bandwidth... bandwidth that they pay for.
   

Thanks for understanding and cooperating!

[pjackso]

I can still post links no?

[slkinsey]

You can still post links, yes!

That said, it's not considered good form to post a "deep link" (i.e., one that goes directly to just one image on a page rather than to the whole page in the context intended by the creator/owner).

[Country Cook]

Are we to gather that you are of Finnish, Italian and Japanese ancestry? 

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No just Finnish (Rosselli is a finnish surname), but I grew up with Italians and I like sushi

[pjackso]

What are your thoughts on Granton edges?

My MAC has one, seems to work...I'm just worried that the overall strength of the knife is compromised by the shallow cutouts.

Edited January 28, 2005 by pjackso (log)

[slkinsey]

The problem with granton edges on non-slicer knives, in my opinion, is that they shorten the usable life of the knife. Once you sharpen to the point where you're getting up into those divots, you've got a screwey edge.

[pjackso]

Good point. I work my knives on a stone almost weekly...

[Devilkitty]

The problem with granton edges on non-slicer knives, in my opinion, is that they shorten the usable life of the knife.  Once you sharpen to the point where you're getting up into those divots, you've got a screwey edge.

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True, if you're talking about the multifarious copies of the original.

If, however, one looks at a real Granton edge by Granton the hollows are so well-placed that the actual edge (viewed edge-on) looks dead straight. The hollows are also much more of an inverted "U" shape than the ovals one sees in other lines, so it will take a hell of a lot of stoning to get to the point where the edge becomes a problem - you'd replace the knife before then, probably.

I've migrated mostly to Japanese knives - and the only Western ones I still use are my Grantons.

I know it's horribly cliche, but "oft imitated, never duplicated" is a good way to sum it up. Wouldn't trade my 10" Granton scimitar for anything (it's probably 1/8" narrower now than it was new) - and I wouldn't give a plugged Ginsu for an imitation.

[winesonoma]

The problem with granton edges on non-slicer knives, in my opinion, is that they shorten the usable life of the knife.  Once you sharpen to the point where you're getting up into those divots, you've got a screwey edge.

←

True, if you're talking about the multifarious copies of the original.

If, however, one looks at a real Granton edge by Granton the hollows are so well-placed that the actual edge (viewed edge-on) looks dead straight. The hollows are also much more of an inverted "U" shape than the ovals one sees in other lines, so it will take a hell of a lot of stoning to get to the point where the edge becomes a problem - you'd replace the knife before then, probably.

I've migrated mostly to Japanese knives - and the only Western ones I still use are my Grantons.

I know it's horribly cliche, but "oft imitated, never duplicated" is a good way to sum it up. Wouldn't trade my 10" Granton scimitar for anything (it's probably 1/8" narrower now than it was new) - and I wouldn't give a plugged Ginsu for an imitation.

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Here is the real Granton knife. http://www.knifemerchant.com/products.asp?manufacturerID=6

[pjackso]

Funny you should put that link up as I was just there checking out the real Granton knives. The divots do look like they are almost on the edge itself.

...Guess I shouldn't be to worried then eh?

[winesonoma]

Good point.  I work my knives on a stone almost weekly...

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Why? What do you cut up that you need to use a stone that often? When I was a carpenter I only had to touch up my cutting tools monthly. A steel maybe but a stone seems overkill.

[SWISS_CHEF]

Good point.  I work my knives on a stone almost weekly...

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Why? What do you cut up that you need to use a stone that often? When I was a carpenter I only had to touch up my cutting tools monthly. A steel maybe but a stone seems overkill.

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I agree. My knives see the stone maybe once or twice a year, the rest of the time I use the steel. I can revive a pretty dull knife with just the steel to the point where it will neatly shred paper (sharp enough for me). It takes a while, but leaves more steel on the blade. That is one of the reasons I like carbon steel, they take an edge quickly and I almost don't even need a stone.

Edited January 29, 2005 by SWISS_CHEF (log)

[pjackso]

What can I say...I'm an an uber-fanatic when it comes to sharpness.

If I can't shave with them after a good steeling it's time to go to the stone...

[pjackso]

Does anyone have "Sharpening Made Easy" by Steve Bottorff? Its a great book with amazing insight on what sharpness is all about. A must for any knife geek!

[pjackso]

When I say I work them on the stone weekly I mean 1200 grit. Not aggressive at all...

I find if I work my knives more frequently on a higher grit I almost never have to use my 250.

[RETREVR]

Random responses:

Full Carbon is misleading. A high carbon knife will only have around 1% Carbon. I know what you are saying though...It is simply a carbon knife and not a stainless knife. Quality high carbon knives generaly take an edge with less work and keep the edge longer than a typical Solingen steel.

Japanese Knives being a trend? Sure they are trendy right now. Once you own a good one, there is little chance that you will go back to German knives. The blades can be more brittle since they are harder(generaly) and thus can hold a finer edge. I still use my Wusthof for brutal chores. By the way, most of the fine Japanese knives are carbon steel. You do see a lot of super hard high tech stainless knives, shun being one of them.

Global. Owners of Global knives are 87% more likely to own a Wiemerhiner than non-global owners. They are decent knives if you can stand to look at them, but Shun is far superior

Ceramic knives are short lived and for home use. Keep one around for tomato.

Sharpening. Some japanese chefs will sharpen every day. Keep in mind they are using incredibly fine stones. I touch up my blades at least once a week and hardly ever steel. A steel will not put and edge on a knife no matter how long you work at it. All it does is line up the edge. If you have a good edge, a steel will bring it back. If you are a home cook and have a good carbon blade, I could believe that you need to sharpen only rarely. Especially if you have a grip of them and use all of them. I can cut in one day, what a home cook may cut in two months.

The finest knife I have ever owned is this one. It is Japanese and it is carbon steel. It is made by Watenabe. http://watanabeblade.com/english/pro/gyu1.jpg

[pjackso]

Beautiful knife!

How fine of a stone do you use for weekly touch ups?

[RETREVR]

Beautiful knife!

How fine of a stone do you use for weekly touch ups?

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Usualy a 3000. I need to get an even finer stone, like an 8000. Some of the Japanese guys use unbelievably fine stones. The point is that after you aquire the edge, you use the fine stones to polish it. I suppose if you just spent $1000 on a aoko honyaki yanagi, you would want to use the finest stones possible and keep a mirror edge. If you don't let your knives get dull, you don't usualy have to use a coarse stone unless you damage the edge. Most nights (while watching TV) I will feel the edges on my primary working knives to see if they are smooth. If they are, I will give a swipe on a fine stone or give them a strop on an old leather belt.. If they are not smooth, or are dull, I will spend a few minutes and sharpen them. A dull knife that has not been worked lately can take a lot of time. I usualy don't have more than 5 minutes, because I keep them in good shape. This gives you a lot of insight as to the nature and character of the steel and edge of your various knives. I have a steel at the kitchen but don't cary it in my bag anymore.

I am looking at getting a MAC boning knife that they call the Garishiki macBON-60. I also wouldn't mind having a very large MAC chefs knife. The knife I linked to is 240mm, which is the absolute most versitile size, but I would not mind having a big thundering MAC.

[andiesenji]

This is a test to see if my photo will post, the one I tried to post a couple of days ago.

My favorite knives!

That is a full-sized sheet pan holding the cutting board.

Edited January 31, 2005 by andiesenji (log)