Knife Thread

Sujihikis are probably my fave, I love slicing. Which line though? To me Masakage just isn't really worth it, I'd rather buy other makers and 15% isn't enough to entice me. And I don't really like Knifewear.

Speaking as a professional cook their knives have had the most comfort and efficiency for me so far. Not to mention they look damn nice. Balance is great, nice and tall for easy cutting, good feel in hand.

Though if you're just a home cook or something I probably wouldn't bother.

I'm going for the Yuki. Thought about the Koishi but I've heard AS steel is kinda hard to sharpen.

And I mean everyone has their preferences its all good. But what don't you like in particular?

I got my dad a Wusthof 4582-7/20 8" Chef's knife for Christmas. He loves it; tells me how sharp and nice it is every time I talk to him.

I picked it up and I can see why its $100+, its extremely sharp (cuts phonebook paper without tears), retains its edge (at least so far) and is balanced very well.

amazon.ca/gp/product/B00009ZK08

That's my current chef's knife, but the 26cm 10" version.

It's a good knife but i'm thinking of getting a nice japanese steel 6-8" blade.

You want to replace a 10" knife with a 6" one?

No i want to supplement my collection with a 6" one.

I already have the 10" one, it's not going anywhere.

The country of origin thing is kind of a meme, especially Japan

Japan actually has shitty coal and ore. Germany & the Great Lakes states have the best resources to make steel.

What knife should be used to split a watermelon in half?

Fuck off, find me a German steel that holds the same edge of Aogami Super for the same price.

Some German company that makes sharp knives.

lmfao, is that a joke?

...you're kidding right?

There is a reason professional chefs buy high carbon steel blades, it's because they retain an edge longer than stainless steels.

High carbon steel isn't a meme you dip

High carbon is >0.5% Carbon up to 2%, then they use powders

Any forged knife before being alloyed is high-carbon

Not that user, but 1084 is what we generally use in the US for high carbon blade steel, and most US blade smiths will tell you they wish they could get their hands on Aogami Super from Hitachi metals. But they basically only sell to blade smiths in japan, and large corporations who can afford to make connections.

It's very sought after steel and for good reason, it's pretty amazing stuff.

>judging knives by the factory sharpness
Opinion discredited

I have a Yuki, I just think the finish of their knives is inconsistent (maybe it's the lower lines because I haven't tried anything higher-end). Mine is super thick behind the edge to the point it wedges anything tall. That can be remedied by thinning, but I don't have a high grit stone and probably won't get one to do it anytime soon. Also, the spine/choil is incredibly square, I'm probably going to take some sandpaper to round it out nicely.

I've found some people have no complaints and others do, hence what I think is inconsistency. If you can get a good deal and work on your knives they're great, but I'd just be wary of online because you can't check the finish well.

I feel the need to post this in every thread: youtube.com/watch?v=7dFFEBnY0Bo

Really sharpening is what matters, the rest is minimally better performance, preference, and aesthetic.

And if you dont want to sharpen every fucking day, or even every week. You get a nice quality high carbon steel japanese knife that you sharpen once every 2-3 months.

What exactly do you think the word 'meme' means?

Everything is a meme, you dip. Keep up

What cutting board is that?

Bought a shun miyabi when they went on sale a few months ago.
I love the fucker.

>shun miyabi
Shun is different form Miyabi.

Miyabi is actually made by J. A. Henckels a german manufacturer.

You're right, its been a long day. Was going to buy a Henckel but saw the miyabi for 100 dollars off and went with it.

You're good, just figured i'd correct you before someone else threw a shit fit.

Miyabi are good for their price, and on sale they're pretty hard to beat at anywhere near the price they go for on sale.

If you really like that sort of knife you might look into higher end japanese knives at some point, though their minimum cost to entry is closer to $200-300 for anything decent.

Think I'm good with my knife setup.
Besides the miyabi I have a bunch of crappy Syscos so no one else fucks with my baby.
And a big saber for cutting ribeye loins.
Next expense is a decent food mill for mash taters and tomatoe sauces.
Robo coupéin that shit is getting old.

I have a Wusthof as well. 6inch classic kochmesser in vanadium stainless.
The bolster extends down much further down to the hell of the knife.
I really like the deep belly and thick, smooth transition bolster combo. Helps me feel much better where the knife is in my hand and precisely where the edge begins.

I bought the Miyabi Evolution two weeks ago. It's my first knife after using a no-name for 6 years. I like that it's slightly wider than other brands so there's room for my fingers.

Peel it off, i got a full kit of these guys when I started studying, it will end up in a dish eventually

I bought a whole bunch of expensive knives including a couple made of aogami super. I spent a lot of time using them and a/b testing and it turns out I prefer European knives to the Japanese knives.'

I prefer the wusthof ikon 8" chef knife to all of them. It's design is perfect. It becomes part of your arm when using and is comfy as duck while getting to 90% of the sharpness of the Aogami knives. It stays very sharp if you steel it regularly.

You need to learn how to sharpen knives with stones otherwise a expensive knife is not worth it. The factory sharpenings almost always suck.

Can you explain the thought process that led you to this decision?

Show it.

Currently looking for a 180mm chef's knife. If money isn't really an issue would there be a knife you would recommend?
My last knife o used daily was a 160mm yaxell but after taking a massive chip out of it I'm looking for something a little bigger

Want to get a 10" classic sabatier. The following website is coming up in my research. Are they any good?
thebestthings.com/knives/sabatiercarbon.htm

>thebestthings.com/knives/sabatiercarbon.htm
I have a few old Sabs. They're good work knives, medium flex, not overly reactive and sharpen quickly. They need to be steeled constantly though. Sometimes you'll find some carbide deposits in the steel that have to be ground out. My advice would be to grab one that doesn't have a full bolster, but the rattails are a great lightweight option.

Is there one you'd recommend specifically?

I have a couple nogent (rattail) knives, including my go to pairing knife, that are great because of how lightweight they are. The knives they have listed under New Old Stock don't reature a full bolster, which is nice bacause it will make sharpening a touch easier. All in all you can't really go wrong as long as you're into that style of knife. I will say that, across the board, they're not very stiff knives and only so thin. Depending on your job requirements/ preferences you might have to pair something like a 10" nogent with a thinner 01 toolsteel or Japanese laser so you have the most options.

I'm just looking at those old, janky knives and I have a lot of questions about them that the website is not answering.

Ask away!

>2017
>Spending around $100 on a chefs knife
>RRREEEEEEEEEE

I have the discontinued 26cm version of that Cordon Bleu chef knife series, must be one of the last ever made.

Te cuidado aver si vas a matar a alguien

Is there one you'd recommend specifically?Well, for starters, what's the hardness of the edge? Are they going to be chippy, or will the edge roll, like a German blade.?

>spending $40 on a $20 knife because it became a meme

I bought it long before it became a meme, you must be new here..............

Yea, I'm sure

A bunch of shitty knife.
I used a sharpening tool at work, mostly because everything has to go trough the dish washer, and we are too lazy to handwash all the knifes

OP here. So far, it looks like I've got one vote to keep the sticker on, one vote to remove the sticker, and one vote is nullified for being nonsensical. Can we get a tiebreaker?

What is the Veeky Forumsonsensus on Cutco? My mom really loves them for some reason, and most of her knives are serrated, but I've always wondered what real chefs and cooking enthusiasts think of them.

remove

Utter shit backed by a fancy multi-level-marketing campaign.

There was a major knife test done several years ago that featured Cutco. Despite being among one of the most expensive knives tested it performed the worst by far.

The various sales tricks that Cutco marketers use work for any serrated knife.

Don't intentionally take the sticker off, dum dum. It will look stupid and tryhard if you do. If, over years of use, the sticker begins to peel off on one corner, then yeah, pull it off and scrub off the sticky shit. For now just let it be; it's part of the aesthetic of the knife.

I'm just trying to figure out what most people do. I have other knives that came with a sticker that was more obviously intended to be removed. Also, it's possible that the area covered by the sticker would show wear/discoloration at a different rate than the rest of the handle if it's not removed immediately and is actually intended to be removed.

I have never seen or held one in person (germanfag here), but it is plain to see from the picture that the blade is made in the very cheapest way possible - stamped out of thin sheet steel, then had the minimum amount of material removed from directly behind the edge to make it not UTTERLY awful. They obviously used a real cheap small diameter grinding wheel for the hollow grind, too. Any Victorinox or IKEA 365+ blade will be vastly better. Plus serrated blades are acceptable only in a bread knife.

>I'm just trying to figure out what most people do

#1: Who cares what most people do?

#2: If you care for some odd reason, it's exactly what said.

Leave it on. It is a super tough sticker and will stay on for years unless you run the blade through teh dishwasher every day. And it will develop a nice patina over time. Once it threatens to fall off you can always remove it.

Signs of wear and discoloration are a badge of honour and are to be welcomed in a hardcore tool like a kitchen knife IMHO.

BTW awesome cutting board if you took the pic yourself OP. Much envy.

>RED HOT
>RED HOT
>RED HOT

>#1: Who cares what most people do?
It's usually an indication of the manufacturer's intended use, which is not always declared in the instructions.

It's a BoardSmith. The reason it looks like new is because I just got it. It's just their cheapest 12"x18"x2" maple block, but it's so beautiful that I'll be sad when I put my first slice in it.

Very nice. How did you find BoardSmith? IIRC I was the first one to mention him on here, though he is well known on the kitchenknifeforums.com.

Who cares what the manufacturer's intended use is? Why does it matter one bit? Understand the nature of the product and do what you want to do.

Well, it's a sticker.

Googling around, probably heard the name mentioned on ChefTalk.

Brand new knife with "hou wood" handle. I sharpened it once to put a better edge on it, and the grit/slurry from sharpening got on my hands which got on the handle, staining it gray. What's the best way to fix this/avoid this in the future?

Do I have to use sandpaper on the handle to expose the natural color again, and then apply lacquer to seal it?

I have that knife, too. I actually really like how wide it is. I learned on my dad's Henckels from the 80's, then when I moved out for school I learned how to use a chinese cleaver, and this was a great compromise. I had to get a knife when I had a internship in a different city and forgot to pack my knives; Sur La Table had the model on a big sale and I convinced them to sell me the floor model for even less because their stock was out. Turned out to be an excellent deal. Pic related

Well I sanded it down a bit and put mineral oil on it for now. Some improvement in looks - not perfect, but cheaper than rehandling to a higher quality wood that won't soak up water so readily.

god damn you fat fuckin niggers are stupid do any of you even work in a kitchen

Blade sharpness is a fucking meme, I've used the same wustoff for years and sharpen it once a year

None of you have to construct lattices out of carrots

None of you will ever need transparent slices of tomato

none of you home cooks will probably ever have to sharpen your knife unless you decide to slam fuck the cutting board or run it through the dishwasher every week

German-Japanese fucking whatever your blade isn't ever going to retain absolute razor edge in a commercial setting, at the end of the day I have the sharpest knife in the kitchen, despite my dumbass coworkers and their 300 dollar damascus miyabi blades and if I need an absolute precision cut I simply hone the blade

yes Japanese steel is harder but guess what that just means your knife is going to fucking snap in half if you drop it, and retain a perfect edge for less time

It's fucking redundant just get what fits your hand and looks cool

My dad is kinda poor and spent most of his later life cooking with extremely dull ikea knife set, like 10+ years old never sharpened used daily kind of blunt.

I got him 'that' victorinox knife on amazon, holy fuck is it sharp.

He doesn't really express gratitude but I like to believe he loves it, I don't really know.

They'd keep the rust off it that were true. Nip chefs use shiny knives.

I bought one of those because I was tired of fighting over house knives then bought a real knife later

Gave the vicky to my coworker they're actually pretty decent knives

Nip chefs generally use a knife with a nice patina from years of use.

Maybe the bad ones.

youtube.com/user/wbpstarscom/search?query=tokyo

The ones using traditional japanese blades do.

Sorry but high carbon steels WILL patina, and unless you're using a stainless cladding, or you're paying out the ASS for one of the few stainless super steels (HAP40/ZDP189, etc) then the blade WILL have a patina over time.

A traditional blade is made from high carbon steel and wont have a stainless cladding as that is only really a recent convention. Some higher end restaurants will specifically avoid those blades as the patina can color certain foods which make them less appealing for presentation, which in home cooking wont matter, but at a high end restaurant does. These chefs will spend extra money on stainless super steels, or they use a stainless cladding and keep their blades very clean.

But MOST japanese chefs will have a traditional "normal" Aogami #1 or #2, or Shirogami #1 or #2. With higher end blades made from Aogami Super. With a reactive cladding and potentially a kurouchi (blacksmith), Suminagashi (marbled), or Tsuchime (hammered) finish.

Not every chef in japan is a 3 star Michelin chef.

This is incorrect. It's Western chefs who will force patina onto their knives and use knives covered in patina. Almost all Japanese chefs keep their carbon knives polished.

This video explains it, albeit from a Western perspective.
youtu.be/tza5pymb5yg?t=3m53s

Lol go to any japanese kitchen, not a restaurant, a real kitchen at a house.

I'm saying most japanese chefs as in EVERYONE WHO COOKS IN japan, Not restaurant chefs.

Now you're changing the goalposts.

>every housewife is a professional chef because they cook in kitchens - their own kitchens
That's a very different claim, and I don't think that even a highly skilled Japanese housewife would call herself a chef if she doesn't also cook professionally.

he addresses that in the video as well, faglord

Fine let me rephrase for you.

Take a fucking survey of every japanese high carbon steel knife being used regularly in japan.

How many have a healthy patina?

How many are kept in pristine condition and well polished?
My point is having a patina is nothing bad, it's 100% normal and many many japanese chefs leave it.

Two claims being made here:

>most knives existing in Japan aren't cared for very well
I have no trouble believing this.

>professional chefs in Japan allow patina to form on their knives
False.

Please actually watch the video I posted. It's made by someone who actually worked in a professional Japanese kitchen. Not just some user on the internet who may have done a foreign exchange and made stir fry in his host mother's kitchen a few times, thinking that she was the same as a professional chef.

>False.
lol well I know for a fact this simply isn't true, i've witnessed it myself on more than one occasion in VERY different parts of japan.

Again, i'm not saying the MAJORITY of chefs aren't keeping a patina off, but plenty still are fine with it.

There is a difference between a good patina, and rust from not taking care of your blade.

A good patina will not flavor food, is not dangerous, and has no real downsides besides some people not liking how it looks.

Now if you're retarded and are letting it rust because you aren't storing it properly or keeping it dry, that's another issue and rust should always be removed.

>i've witnessed it myself on more than one occasion in VERY different parts of japan.
No, you haven't. As you have said yourself, you are just conflating housewives who cook at home with professional chefs because you think that everyone who cooks food calls themselves a chef, in Japan or anywhere.

Kayyy I'll pretend those restaurants were fake.

Thanks for your input

>those homes I ate at were restaurants
K, dear. I'll let you save face by playing pretend, even though the rest of us know you are full of shit.

>sysco

Would be nice to get a second opinion, or at least hear another voice about this to know where I went wrong.

that knife handle is going to get fucked up sooner or later through regular usage. it's a fucking tool, not a show-and-tell piece.

Not knowingly know about hand rafting

Can someone recommend me a good beginner-tier 16cm cheff knife?

I want to steep up my level.

Nothing under 8''/20cm can really be considered a chef's knife.

Generally, if your handle isn't finished with some sort of wax or coating, then you'll have to maintain it yourself doing what you talked about. I don't really like Japanese handles much, but they seem to be easy to replace. I don't claim to be an expert, I much prefer a western handle. Much more robust for my needs.

I wish they made a kiritsuke with a western handle that wasn't either a mirrion dorrars or a custom request. This is the closest I've seen, but it's a Shun and the belly of the knife is too damn narrow anyways for a compromise.

get a belt sander and learn how to properly sharpen your knives in just a few minutes, you'll never go back to primitive methods again

I like my little cheap King combo stone. It's quiet and I get a pretty great edge. If I had my way, I'd get/make a 3-roller belt setup with a good amount of space above the platen for a slight convex with some fancy belts. But alas, I live in a highrise New York apartment.