Kitchen knives...

[col]

Just going by what my old Dad taught me Col ( he worked in a slaughterhouse and subsequently was a butcher. Been sharpening kitchen knives for my neighbours for 40 years and never yet got a decent edge using the upstroke when holding the steel freehand. Resting the steel on the table facing up or down will of course increase blade/steel pressure. BTW a steel with a cross guard will save sliced thumbs! I never fail to be amused at the obscure things discussed on CC

This actually happened to me when i was an apprentice the holding the steel onto a table and doing it away was my prefered method from then on.Still got a scar on the back of my thumb from 30 years ago.They did have a chainmail glove to use,but i was sixteen and knew what i was doing

 

[Saddle bum]

With carbon steel, after many sharpenings, do they become magnetic?

Possibly, but it should not matter. If it does, tap the back of the blade on a wooden block, it disrupts the magnetic patten.

 

[Chuffy]

Who knew that kitchen knives could be so interesting?

There are some beautiful knives out there (the I O Shen knives are fabulous) but I've gone for ones of these beasties:-

It certainly doesn't have the looks of a steel, but it should be sharp enough to shave with and I'm realistic enough to know that I can't be faffed with all that sharpening business and I'd probably knack the blade anyway. Oh and I bought a block to keep it in too.

Eight fingered typing, here I come!

 

[Chuffy]

If you got two more, think of the fun we would have at the CC Summer Ball watching you juggle................ (for a couple of minutes)

D'yer fancy being a knife thrower's assistant?

 

[Abitrary]

Don't buy an expensive knive. Gimmicks. Do what the top chefs actually do and just buy the very cheapest supermarket 5 quid knives, and chuck them away. Treat them like disposable razors.

Also old knives harbour disease and no chef will risk getting shut down for it.

 

[Chuffy]

Don't buy an expensive knive. Gimmicks. Do what the top chefs actually do and just buy the very cheapest supermarket 5 quid knives, and chuck them away. Treat them like disposable razors.

Also old knives harbour disease and no chef will risk getting shut down for it.

If they were that sharp then maybe you'd have a point. And my immune system is pretty robust, thanks to my unhygienic ways.

 

[Abitrary]

Sigh. Another ingenue going to the expensive knife slaughter. At least your doing your bit to get the economy spending again, I suppose.

 

[Chuffy]

Sigh. Another ingenue going to the expensive knife slaughter. At least your doing your bit to get the economy spending again, I suppose.

It'll last years and be a pleasure to use. Anyway, I thought you were a gentleman of taste and distinction who would see a good knife as being an essential part of the amateur gourmet's arsenal?

 

[Abitrary]

Yes, yes and yes. I am quite a good cook and for that reason use a blender for what you imagine you'd need a knife like that for.

If it's just for chopping cheese and tomato for your sandwiches, then a steak knife will do you.

 

[swee'pea99]

Cheap knives are a false economy - and I'm as tight as a gnat's chuff. A good knife will take - and hold - an edge. A cheap one won't. A good knife will have good balance, which makes it much easier to work with. A cheap one won't. A good knife (especially a big one, used for chopping swedes) will have weight, which helps 'the knife do the work'. A good knife will give you pleasure every time you use it, for years on end.

No serious cook uses disposable knives. End of.

 

[Abitrary]

Like I've already mentioned, an expensive knive is invariably bought by amateurs as for reasons of expediency rather than art.

Nobody chops swedes any more. They make swede and carrot mash in the blender.

Also, another thing is throwing stuff away by accident, which typically happens in the kitchen. I think I scraped my cheese grater into the bin recently because I cannot find it now.

For someone with a intense kitchen workrate like me I simply can't afford to be chucking out 20 quid knives left right and center.