Okay, I'm ready to buy the best cutting knives out there. Maybe this has been brought up before and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but the reason I did post this here is because I'd have a better chance to get some good replies. If this is moved, I know it won't be looked at nearly as much as it is here.

So what are the greatest knives out there, I'm tired of the dull ones I have, time to throw them all out to get 1 to 3 good knives! Thanks

I did a whole post on knives awhile back on my site. Most of mine are either Henckels or Wusthof and I highly recommend both companies.



My website: The Coconut Chronicles

deegarry@yahoo.com Wrote:
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> So what are the greatest knives out there, I'm
> tired of the dull ones I have, time to throw them
> all out to get 1 to 3 good knives!
A famous Chef was once asked what was his favorite
knife. He replied "a sharp one".
I've tried just about every knife made. I like Wusthof,
best of all.....WY

So far, I haven't met any fruit that something from my $20 Ikea knife SET and a little bit of enthusiasm can't take care of.

Cheap knives have taught me the importance of TECHNIQUE. =)

I dont remeber the last time I used any cutlery lol

Just got a cheap block..and a couple ceramics..but I am a clumsy ass so the latter best to stay in the draw!!

My Cutco knives - I've had them for almost 6 years now and they are turning out to be the best investment I ever made in my kitchen. The long meat-carver knife is THE best watermelon slicer EVER!

Good knives really do make a difference in kitchen prep. Your mileage may vary with the top brands out there, but I'd definitely consider Cutco.

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

Personally, I have a few Cutco knives, and am happy with them. I also have a cheap $10 cleaver I bought for opening my coconuts and it works pretty good at cracking those things open.

However, my brother (a professional chef) is a big fan of Mac Knives, and some other outrageously expensive Japanese knives. I just can't justify the cost which can exceed $200/knife, but it makes using even a freshly sharpened Cutco knife feel like you're trying to cut with a spoon. So if it's the best you want, I'd look at the Macs first.

And here's a few tips for keeping a knife sharp:

-Never put a knife in the dishwasher unless you'd like to turn it into a butter knife.

-Use only plastic or wood cutting boards

-Get a honing steel and use it every time you use your knife. I'm sure you can find a youtube video or two to show you how to use one of these tools, but they're great at keeping a very sharp blade very sharp

-If your knife gets dull, get it professionally sharpened. Those home sharpeners pretty much suck

-Don't store you knives in a drawer where it can bang against other metal objects or your blade will get duller quicker


Gary

Wusthoff basic butcher block set and a Henckel cleaver bought specifically for coconuts. I hate cheap, blunt knives. I think from years of struggling with knives at my folks place.
Besides bicycles it's my favorite gift to give.

gorillawar Wrote:
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I hate cheap, blunt knives.


Ugh.. I know just what you mean...



My website: The Coconut Chronicles



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2008 04:26PM by TheCoconutChronicles.

garyr Wrote:
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> And here's a few tips for keeping a knife sharp:
>
> -Never put a knife in the dishwasher unless you'd
> like to turn it into a butter knife.
>
> -Use only plastic or wood cutting boards
>
> -Get a honing steel and use it every time you use
> your knife.
> -Don't store you knives in a drawer where it can
> bang against other metal objects or your blade
> will get duller quicker

Nice tips. I never could get the hang of using a
Steel to put an edge on, so just haven't used anything, which
is working well. I like a softer wood Cutting Board, but it has
to be oiled quite often. I use B's Oil or Mineral Oil.
Here's the knife I use for cutting Carrots for juicing. I like
Wusthof because it has a thin Blade, is very sharp, and cuts
through the carrots easier than a Henckels, which has a thicker blade.....WY

[www.cutleryandmore.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/2008 04:33PM by Wheatgrass Yogi.

When I was younger, as in 10 or 11, I started to help my mother with a lot of food prep. Unfortunately this included meat. My Mama, she's from Sicily, didn't have a lot growing up. It makes it hard for her to get rid of anything that may have some use yet. Again, unfortunately, this included knives. I had to use knives with broken handles, missing points, etc. She did, fortunately, have a steel. I learned to put an edge on almost anything at a young age. She never knew how to use the steel and still doesn't. I usually sharpen her knives when I visit. I do my brother's knives too.
I bought the cleaver after chipping a $100 wusthoff chef's knife. I replaced the chef's knife with a japanese style wusthoff, the kind with the dimples in the blade. Hey ... I still have to send the chef's knife in for a free replacement. Thanks for the thread. It was a good reminder.

gorillawar Wrote:
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> .... I replaced the chef's knife
> with a japanese style wusthoff, the kind with the
> dimples in the blade.
gorillawar....You know, but for those who
don't, those dimples form air-pockets to help the
produce from sticking to the blade. It only works half-way
with Carrots.....WY

[www.cutleryandmore.com]

A good knife is like a good friend ... even a pocket knife. I backpacked Europe twice. The first time was when you could still bring a knife on board. My Swiss Army knife was used constantly for fruit and veg. I'd hit a market place in the A.M. and would eat all day from the fresh produce (and a small quantity of bread). Nothing like eating fresh produce from the country.

The second time was more difficult being post 911. I had to buy a pocket knife in Spain and got some hassled because it could be used as a weapon and I had to check my pack on the way home rather than throwing the knife out.

The "BEST" knives have several qualities..

First, the knife must fit YOUR hand as well as it is possible to do so..A person should be able to work for hours without undue fatigue in the muscles of the fingers, hand, & forearm..Many knives fail this criteria..Unfortunately, one must purchase & use a knife for a while in order to determine whether or not it feels comfortable to YOU..If your knife causes fatigue or pain, SELL it & purchase another that feels better to you..

Second, the knife must come to you SHARP from the factory..Many knives come from the factory with an edge that FEELS sharp, but dulls quickly..Most factory knives will benefit from a professional HAND (not machine) knife sharpening..This has to be experienced in order to truly be appreciated..

Third, they are EASY to keep sharp..Keeping a knife sharp entails many things..Store the knife in a wooden knife block if possible..If you cannot store the knife in a block, then purchase blade guards for EVERY knife that you care about & NEVER store the knife in ANY drawer without the blade guard installed..NEVER put the knife through the dishwasher..The heat & the dish washing chemicals destroy the micro-serrations of the blade's edge..Period..Hand wash ALL sharp knives, even those with crappy steel in the blades..The poorer the steel & the harder it is to keep sharp; the MORE care you should be exercising to keep the blade's edge intact & sharp..Hand dry the knife EVERY time that you wash it, taking great care to ensure that the blade's edge is TRULY dry..The oxygen in any water that is left to air dry on ANY knife's blade will attack & oxidize the micro-serrations of the blade's edge, causing the edge to dull..

All modern quality kitchen knives with blades of stainless steel are INFERIOR in edge holding ability to a similar or even lesser quality knife with a blade of carbon steel..Period..There are only a very few exceptions to this rule, & almost all of the knives in question are custom hand-forged knives with stainless Damascus steel blades with a high nickel content..The price per inch of blade length for such a knife would take your breath away..Most such blades START at around $50.00 per inch of blade length & escalate rapidly depending upon a variety of criteria..

It is a fact of life that for the past 30 years virtually all of the commercial knife making R&D has been in attempting to duplicate the qualities of a good carbon steel knife in a stainless steel knife..Stainless steel knife technology has come a LONG way from the early 1970's when I purchased my first S.S. steel knives as a gift for my mother who refused to properly care for the carbon steel knives of the day..None-the-less, I have recently taken most of my decades old carbon steel knives out of storage & started to use them again..They sharpen easier on a stone (the steel is softer), they sharpen easier on a steel (the steel is softer), the edge is more easily repaired (the steel is softer)..Conversely, they dull easier (the steel is softer), the edge is more easily damaged (the steel is softer)..Kinda get my drift, here??..A kitchen knife with a hard blade & edge is NOT necessarily a better tool..

ALL modern high-quality stainless steel kitchen knives have blades that test out from the high 50's to lower 60's on the Rockwell hardness scale..This equates to fairly hard blades with edges that are hard to sharpen, both with a steel & with a stone..My older carbon steel knives have blades with Rockwell hardnesses in the low to mid 50's..They are MUCH easier to sharpen on a stone, & VERY much easier to hone on a steel..

So why are 99.999999 percent of ALL current kitchen knife offerings in stainless steel..In a word, rust..Oxidation..Unless a carbon steel knife is washed, carefully dried, & oiled it WILL rust in the average humid kitchen environment..Period..Such knife care was an every day fact of life, & had been so for thousands of years..Carbon steel knives also react & oxidize with highly acidic fruits such as tomatoes right while you are using them..

So the Holy Grail of Knifedom has been to create a S.S. knife that will NEVER rust with ALL of the outstanding qualities of a high-quality carbon steel knife..Unfortunately, the very additives that give a S.S. knife it's rust-inhibiting properties also make the blade hard & both a pain-in-the-a** to sharpen & keep sharp..

IMO, the raw vegan has four choices in knives today..

First, choose one of the current offerings in stainless steel & deal with S.S.'s difficulties..

Second, search our older carbon steel blades at thrift shops, yard sales, etc..These can usually be purchased for a pittance & resurrected..Unless the blade is deeply pitted with truly bad rust, a little elbow grease & progressively finer grades of emery cloth will bring such a blade back from the dead..Have the blade professionally sharpened; or better yet purchase a good water or oil stone & teach yourself how to properly sharpen your knives..

Third, consider the modern ceramic knife offerings..The blade material is inert & non-reactive..Their drawbacks are that the blades are brittle (dropping a ceramic knife usually means purchasing a new knife); & they can only be sharpened by shipping the knife back to the factory..They do however, stay sharper MUCH longer than a steel knife will..

Fourth, consider one of the carbon steel, single-edged Japanese knives especially designed for vegetables & fruit..These knives are considerably more expensive than a knife from Wustof, Henckels, etc. that is designed for similar tasks..However, these knives are of such high quality that they will generally last for many generations..Being single-edged they are eaasier to sharpen than double-edged knives..

Bruce

Bruce....Nice post, as usual. I haven't had to sharpen any of my better knives yet. A Diamond stone awaits me when I do. I dread doing it because I usually end up with a duller blade than when I started. My Father always used a stone and was quite good at it. I didn't inherit any of those Genes.
I like the way Wusthof Classic knives fit my hand. The Japanese knives don't have a good feel to me.....WY

WY

If funds ever allow me to do so I will in all likelihood invest in 1-3 hand-forged Japanese-stlye knives designed for vegetables & fruit..Either knives made in Japan, of if I was truly flush, custom hand-forged knives by one of America's Master Bladesmiths..

Then I would sell off my collection of nearly 50 Western-styled kitchen knives; most of which I don't use..

The blades would all have the traditional Japanese single-bevel edge (the cross section is shaped like a chisel, instead of like an axe blade) which, as I have already mentioned, is not only easier to sharpen, but slices through foods with less resistance..

Traditional Japanese blades have a tang which is inserted into the haft (handle)..This is so that the haft can easily be replaced as it wears out; or so that a different haft can be fabricated to fit the shape & size of a new user's hand..The Japanese are much more practical in this regard than are Westerners..We put permanent handles on our blades, which tend to fit only a narrow range of hand sizes..

You might want to give a traditional Japanese knife with a haft that has been contoured to fit your hand a try & see if you don't change your mind..

Bruce