Show me your kitchen knives

[Weasel]

Opinels work wonderfully as well.  Its actually fun to use what you have in your pockets for food prep in the kitchen.  When I camp I use my RAT3 and Mora.     

It is fun, I think that's why I've never bought any decent kitchen knifes , I can manage most tasks with what's in my pockets

[captain spaulding]

Always wanted one of these and finally got one. 

Sorry for the crap pictures.

[captain spaulding]

BUMP with some pics.

Sorry for the crappy quality pics. Its all I have at the moment.




I picked these up today for $12! I have seen them online in the $50 range so for $12 i'm happy. Sad thing is I would never pay $50 for these. The quality does not seem to be there. Again, for $12 i'm happy with my purchase. 









Next up is just some pics of my Kitchen knife setup, Artelegno knife blocks, and my Al-Mar AM-UC7. I got the Al-Mar for Christmas and have been loving it. My only complaint is the handle, but that is a discussion for another time. There is a long story behind one of the knife blocks, but that is also a story for another time.








I have also been using this other Artelegno block/cutting board.






I bought one of these a while back as well. Everyone should own one of these! It even fits my huge carving knife. I will most likely be putting the new steak knives in here.

[Aloha]

Very nice Capt.  So can one assume you like to cook? 

[captain spaulding]

Very nice Capt.  So can one assume you like to cook?

You would assume correctly.

[Ray S]

My needs in the kitchen are pretty simple so I keep the knives I use to a minimum. I have a large handmade butcher knife I paid 25 cents for at a yard sale that I use for everything from splitting ribs and frozen meats to slicing bread.It is scary sharp;having nearly removed my son's thumb one day while he was attempting to cut something. I also have a circa 1900 Clauss bread knife that sees a lot of use as I buy all my bread unsliced.
For general use I have a small paring knife made by Ernest Warther that I bought in an antique shop for $2. Warther's grandsons still make custom knives in Dover Ohio and maintain his museum of stuff he carved.
For holiday occasions I have my Landers,Frary,& Clark carving set that has some of the most beautiful stag and silver handles and is also scary sharp.My steak knives are a set of Sheffield knives I re-handled with pieces of stag.

[Ray S]

The picture of my Warther paring knife.Fifth knife from the top.

[Aloha]

Great knives Ray 

I used to be in the profession and had a lot of "great" knives.  I  cooked scratch meals for my family so I kept a lot of my gear after I left the profession.  As the years moved on I slimmed down what I use in the kitchen to a few knives.  I've given a lot away and sold off a lot as well.  It sure is nice to have that one great knife in the kitchen tho isn't it?  I still cook a lot as I dont have a live in meal preparer but also I enjoy the process of cooking.   

[Ray S]

Great knives Ray 

I used to be in the profession and had a lot of "great" knives.  I  cooked scratch meals for my family so I kept a lot of my gear after I left the profession.  As the years moved on I slimmed down what I use in the kitchen to a few knives.  I've given a lot away and sold off a lot as well.  It sure is nice to have that one great knife in the kitchen tho isn't it?  I still cook a lot as I dont have a live in meal preparer but also I enjoy the process of cooking.   

Agreed.My go to knife for just about everything is the large butcher knife.From slicing tomatoes to bread to English muffins there is nothing better in my opinion.My wife loves to do ribs and we buy them whole from our local grocery market.I wind up cutting them into manageable size sections for the freezer as well as chicken breasts.That knife will cut anything and requires precious little maintenance;just a quick touch on my 2x12 stone.

[Gerhard Gerber]

It sure is nice to have that one great knife in the kitchen tho isn't it?

By far the best knife I own is Wilkinson Sword bread knife, nothing special, but what get's me is I no longer eat bread 

Next in line is a Wilkinson Sword serrated paring knife that needs a sharpening. 

That means the only knife I regularly use is the Opinel Garden.

I'm a confirmed bachelor, I can cook, just astounds my how little "equipment" I need to prepare food......

[Aloha]

Bachelor as well and yes it is very interesting how little we can get by on.  At one point I used my cleaver for much of my prep work.  From time to time I will also use my Opinel for prep.  I tend to eat quite a bit of vegetable so there is a lot of chopping needing to be done.  I could easily get by with a Chefs knife, paring, and thin all purpose knife. 

[Ron Who]

A bunch of cheap stuff, mostly.

[Sea Monster]

Some of you may recall when I was unfairly robbed of victory in the Great Burger Challenge of 2019

I mentioned at some point, that if I didn't win the juicy prize of a Vic kitchen knife, I would be forced to go and purchase one anyway.

Or so I thought....it turns out that if you give an easily suggestible woman access to infinite data and advertising....well, don't expect to hold onto your wealth.

What we ended up getting is....I don't even remember the brand, but after two-three weeks of research (looking at pictures and reading lies by the people trying to sell them) we settled on this bad boy - It's about 160mm of something called "blue steel" (unrelated to ben stiller...I hope) and though I was initially skeptical of internet BS, it's bloody fantastic to use. You do have to keep an eye on oiling it (no, it's not a "I'll do it tomorrow" thing), but it holds a wicked edge and is a pleasure to use for everything from hacking up chicken to slicing cheese (somewhere a japanese chef is screaming because I'm sure this knife is designed to only cut a specific thing in a specific way for a specific dish)

I'm not entirely sure what the steel composition is, it may as well be melted down from the katanas of shoguns for all I know.

Want to know how much it costs? Guess how much I make in a day, then triple it.

From what I can gather, many Japanese knives are hand made by...some dude or another....which means you'll find variations between otherwise identical patterns and steels.
Whether you find this appealing or not is up to taste.

From what I recall (it's been a few months now) this particular maker is semi-retired and only produces a handful of these to keep himself interested and presumably pay some bills (how much money the maker actually gets is beyond me, given that the knives are sold online and shipped around the world. Old-Matey Yoshimitsu or whomever may see half or less of the sale price in his own pocket)


So - do I like high end Japanese chefs knives?

Yes.

Do I recommend jumping on the nearest website and cracking out the credit card?...


No.


See, this particular Knife (and another one, a longer Gyuto) are excellent and an absolute pleasure to use.

The other four knives we purchased were trash (expensive, high carbon trash)

Whether it was lies about the quality of the manufacturer, about the steel, or whether there really is just that much difference between knives - more than half the lah-di-dah knives we shelled out for were disappointing (they're not "faulty" as such, we weren't scammed, we don't think - they're just crappier)

They all arrived in nice little boxes, they all arrived nicely oiled, they all have makers marks and japanese lettering I can't read, and they all look equally impressive to visitors, but only two of them really excel in use.

So....there's that.

Edit: Some of that commentary may be uncharitable - all the knives are decent enough quality, but between the mysteries of online shopping, and not being able to read japanese, and it not necessarily being clear when different sites or dealers are selling the same knife, or just a similar knife, and the details of the steels....some of them turned out better than others - and had I been able to view them all in a store, some I would not have purchased.

[sak60]

Blue Paper Steel. Has Tungsten & Chromium added for toughness as compared to White Steel.
Very nice 

[Aloha]

Very nice.  One great kitchen knife is totally worth it.    

[Sparky415]

That looks very useable   

I forgot about this thread, I can show my latest carbon steel Sabatier

[Sea Monster]

Very nice.  One great kitchen knife is totally worth it. 

I don't know, I can make the same amount of mess in the kitchen with a Vic or Opinel chef knife, or really, even the $25 dollar three-pack Jamie Oliver set from the local grocery store....

I'm not sure you can taste the difference in beans and cheese on toast  by what kind of knife it was made with.

A subject of much debate in the house, but I personally prefer "German" style knives - the meatier blade, softer steel, with a larger bevel is more forgiving to my style of food-hackery. - over time my favourite blades have been Wustofs, Messermeisters, Swibos, (and an Icel which I believe is actually portugal?)

the she badger seems to have no problem with using eight different knives to make a boiled egg.


The on pictured above is the one I'm allowed to use

[Ron Who]

I never use my kitchen knives, that´s why they´re such a crappy lot (see pic a few posts above).
I mean, I have plenty of other knives to choose from.

The cleaver gets some use. Not in the kitchen though, I use it outdoors, for light wood chopping.

[Aloha]

Like any good knife its about the experience when using it.  For some there are tangible and intangibles experienced from a really good knife.  Feel in hand, ability to stay sharp, size and shape that lends itself to a variety of food to be cut, how you feel using it, among some. 

When I first began my career I had a inexpensive knife.  When I got into the kitchens I saw some well known nicer knives.  Every meal I prepared came out the same as theirs and I was able to do what they did, chop, mince, peel, slice.  I did have to steel mine more often than they did I was noticing.  Mine also did cause some fatigue as well. 

I got a nice knife and the experience was a lot better.  After a decade of making my living cooking and more than that cooking for my family I can report only my experiences.  My knives will be my kids one day.  While they are not super expensive they might cost more than your basic one.  Heirloom? No.  Just a quality piece of essential kitchen equipment.