The Knife Thread

Been happy with my Global boning knife for general work with meat and all but had to remove the skin off of some relatively lean pork belly today and the knife didn't cut and track as cleanly as I would have liked.

Aside from get good and sharper knife, is there a trick to stuff like this or do I just need a sharper knife? FWIW, the knife wasn't particularly sharp today, been a while since I've sharpened it, but it is still sharp enough to cut paper with only the smallest bit of the paper tearing.

 

And today my in-laws just put one of my nice knives with a natural wood handle into the dishwasher...

 

To minimize my suffering I split my kitchen knives into 4 groups:
I have one magnetic holder in the most convenient place with softer (<60RC) steel knives sharpened at 20 degrees, no wood handles here - my family still puts knives in the dishwasher sometimes despite my efforts. These are the most used and abused by family members knives.
Then there is another holder with knives in harder, more chip-prone steels, sharpened at 15 degree, more expensive on average. More visible but less convenient to reach. Some have stabilized wood handles.
Knives that are "special" kept in individual boxes in relatively hard to reach place. Most expensive knives on average. Only knives in this group may be sharpened manually, all others are on electric sharpeners.
There is also roll with "cheaper" knives (usually just knives that were replaced with "better" knives on one of the holders) which I'm bringing with me to rental houses.

 

Well see, I had the knives in two groups already. The "display" rack with all my harder knives with wood handles, and the "work" rack with the softer steels and non-wooden handles. The work rack is on the counter between the stove and sink where I usually work.

Except the inlaws decided that when they are cooking the food prep area would be on the opposite side of the sink where I keep my display rack

I've tried oiling the handle a few times and it's soaking it up like a sponge, but the wood has swelled and warped that it protrudes past the pins and part of it has separated from the tang. I might be able to sand it back smooth, but I don't think there's much I can do for the warping. Chalk it up as a semi-loss and move on.

 

I just bought a hand-made knife: it cost about five US$.

Actually, it has a nice handle. But the finishing of the blade is pretty rough. It takes an edge for sure, although holding it might be a different matter. I think it was described as "iron" and it is certainly not stainless.

Although fussy, buying only one type (carbon steel) of knife, I'm fairly prosaic about knives. Much the same as I am about hifi. I do like them a lot, and have to be evangelical to stop others leaving them wet, etc, to prevent rust and staining. But they cost a fraction of what you guys are paying for stainless knives. I'm not doubting that there are multiple good reasons, as with high-end hifi, for spending that money: practical and aesthetic. I've had my wow moments in knife shops.

I've had most of my knives for over twenty years, and some for more than forty. One of my oldest was once maybe something like seven inches, and is now much diminished, and it is time to museum it.

So the five-dollar knife... There is no doubt that it has heaps of character compared with any ordinary cheapo knife and hey, $5, I won't cry if people misuse it.

I'll post a pic when I get a round tuit. Round tuits are on my shopping list. The one I always leave at home

 

, lol, expectation bias, I totally read this as "... five hundred US$"
Unfortunately, the "tech" part is pretty critical for me in knives, also I doubt non-stainless will survive on the first rack in my home, - they made knife in 154CM rust, it would be too much pain for me to see what they do with high carbon still . I have couple of kitchen knives in carbon steel, but as "special".

 

Most of the cheap kitchen knives here are soft stainless stuff. I am actually having a hard time thinking of where I would go to look for a cheap carbon steel kitchen knife (that isn't from goodwill/used). All my $5 (kitchen) knives are stainless and tbh they hardly ever get used, I don't have guests cook for me very often.

 

We don't have a cook, but we have a "maid" who dies cleaning and some cooking most days. So "people" get their hands on my knives. They even complain when they get blunt!

 

look at the Old Hickory line of knives for cheaper carbon steel like grandpa used to use. They are good knives. At times they’ve had them for sell at my local Ace Hardware.

https://www.amazon.com/Ontario-Knif...ocphy=9027505&hvtargid=pla-404760845423&psc=1

 

I don't actually want cheap knives I like my knives ;/ why do I need cheaper knives that still noone will use. It doesn't matter what level of care they require if I'm the only one using them, most of my knives are carbon steel... that doesn't make them cheap. I don't need any knives ;o I need to sell some maybe.

 

Oh my mistake. This sentence seemed like you were asking for suggestions

 

No worries I can see how it was confusing. I am just saying the cheap stuff here is mostly stainless, like there's no grabbing a cheaper carbon steel version below a $5 kiwi or something that I am aware of.

 

OK, so here's a snap of my five (not-hundred) dollar hand-made knife:


If I belt sander (linisher?) I might have given it a going over, but those marks are deep.Better to let it be as a village-crafts thing anyway.

I have made the point slightly less murderous

 

Added a bougie new Kramer nakiri (SG2 core, fancy schmancy whatever on the outside) to the collection for Christmas...



# 1, 2 and 6 are a Miyabi Artisan 6000 MCT bread knife, gyuto, and paring (all SG2); #3 is a Fehr Forgeworks carbon steel "damascus" chef, and #5 is a Kramer santoku (AEB-L).

 

Beautiful collection. Ever since I watched a "day in the life of" a Zwilling Japan employee, I have wanted some Miyabi knives. I will likely never pay Kramer prices, though.

 

Zwilling's website always has sales and they frequently undercut their own resellers. Just ignore their listed prices and don't get anything unless it's 30% off (at least that's what it's like on the Canadian site, I'm not sure about the US one). Online forums and reddit tend to crap on Zwilling/Miyabi a lot, but I've purchased many of their knives for myself and my parents, my friends have them, and their quality has been consistently good. The online parrot squad will point you to all the boutique Japanese smiths etc. This is one of those things where you really need to feel it in hand and decide what you like. I tried a whole bunch of nakiris in the same price range and still felt the Kramer was my favourite. I find the damascus pattern is lovely on the countertop, and frankly at these prices I know that's where a good chunk of my money is going. There were some other gyutos that I actually did prefer over the Miyabis, but in my case the block set actually came out cheaper and it had all the knives that I wanted, and those matching aesthetics are another thing that twings the endorphin part of my brain (and also more likely to appease the other members of your kitchen, the importance of which is widely variable).

Here's a small table I made up when trying to sort through the different Miyabi lines because it's confusing. Handle material and blade material in the 2nd and 3rd columns. These are the ones available on the Canadian site; you may have different options.


MC66 is their internal name for ZDP-189 (super high hardness and edge retention, very low toughness).
MC63 is SG2 (high hardness, low toughness)
FC61 is AEB-L/13C26 (moderate hardness, super tough)

My wife primarily uses our Kramer santoku which is AEB-L. She's afraid to use our SG2 knives because she's chipped them before as she wasn't too careful (I've increased the angle on them a bit so they will be less prone to that in the future). My Miyabis and Kramer nakiri are all SG2.

 

Oops, I didn't realize Zwilling licensed Kramer designs. I thought you had gotten something from one of the auctions. Thanks for the chart. I've been looking at the Birchwood because they are pretty, but my wife beats the he'll out of the knives when chopping. I probably need to look at the AEB-L options as well.

 

I don't think I could ever justify one of those auction knives. That's FU money right there.

I don't know why the US site doesn't have the Hibana line. They have a really gorgeous pattern to them.
https://www.zwilling.com/ca/miyabi-800-dp-8-inch-gyutoh-54481-201/54481-201-0.html

But yeah, if your wife beats the knives up, Japanese knives are really not going to be an option. Stick the the German knives. The Zwilling Diplome is AEB-L, although it looks like the US site doesn't have any either which is weird.

If you're willing to be more meticulous at cleaning/drying the knives after use, a Zwilling Kramer Carbon might be an option. They are just as tough as AEB-L, but lack the corrosion resistance. If your wife puts knives in the dishwasher though, then don't get anything nice at all.