I thought I read, here or elsewhere, that many restaurants use the cheap, plastic-handled knives from a restaurant supply warehouse, perhaps with a contract for an outside company to swap them out regularly for newly sharpened ones. In short, that many restaurant pros don’t bring expensive personal knives to work, partly because they might get stolen by someone else.
Eh, but that’s for 2 knives, plus the stand. A deal if there were ever any.
Depends entirely on the environment. When I worked at Applebee’s, my knives stayed very much home. When worked at some high end restaurants, I brought my knives, and when I worked at some others, I left them home.
I had one hotel job that was kinda crappy, but I was the only one in the kitchen for 10 hours a day, so I brought my knives since there was no one else there to mess with them.
I also have a few different knife bags. One big one that can fit nearly my entire collection, a smaller one that holds what I would usually want to bring, and a small one that just fits two or three. Depending on environment, once again, would determine which I brought.
Sometimes I didn’t feel comfortable bringing in any of my knives, sometimes it was worth it to risk my Mercers, as the store knives were complete crap, and sometimes it was worth bringing in my Wustoffs, even if only for bragging rights.
Too much glitter. You can’t be afraid to use your knives and these are more art than utility, it seems.
No one advocating for those teeny little blades the folk at Subway seem to be required to use? 
I believe that’s likely an “idiot-proofing” tool.
I got the Rada in the mail today and, I do have to say, it is quite nice for the price. The blade is thinner than I like, but I suspect it will actually be useful in some applications. It’s brand new, so we’ll see how it goes over time, but I’m extremely happy with it so far. I didn’t buy the sharpener to go with it, but for about eight bucks, it sounds like it’d be a good idea from what you say. I typically get my knives professionally sharpened, but if you say that sharpener works well, I’ll put it in the cart.
Congratulations on making a great purchase. Yes, I do recommend the sharpener. The knives hold their edge pretty good, but do get less than razor now and again. When that happens, two even pulls through the sharpener brings them right back. The thinness of the blade, which I like as I find a thinner blade gives one more options for how to use a knife, means it can be sharpened over a longer time, life span-wise.
And when they make a huge fuss about parts being “food safe” i wonder what else they are making too much of.
Also, i don’t care for upturned knife tips. And i think it’s weird that the utility knife is more rigid than the chef’s knife. I like my utility knife to be a bit flexible.
FYI, I also ordered a Rada with the sharpener on your recommendation. It should arrive tomorrow - I’m looking forward to testing it out!
According to Amazon, my Zwilling/Henckels sharpener is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It would have been here today if they had shipped it the usual way, via their own delivery service, but for some reason they mailed it. I’m looking forward to trying it out and will report back on the results.
Yeah, it seems like it will be handy for stuff like boning. I ended up ordering the sharpener as well. Used the knife to chop some veggies for eggs bhurji (South Asian scrambled eggs) today, and it’s a delight to use.
Got the sharpener delivered yesterday. Why has no one ever told me about this before? I have a set of stones and all that crap, but this little $10 gadgety looking thing is so easy to use and works a treat lickety split. Sharpened up all my kitchen knives very well with little effort. How can something so cheap and flimsy looking work so well? Thanks again for the new additions to my kitchen, @Oly. Always nice to find affordable tools that work.
I got the sharpener in on Saturday night. Used it on a “Grand Gourmet” knife first. Probably the first time it actually had a cutting edge. Then moved up to some Chicago Cutlerys, and it did well with them as well.
Ran my Mercer through it, then (after wiping the blade to remove any metal shavings), cut a tomato into thin slices.
Finally I put one of my Wustoffs in, and after about 20 seconds, had it reconditioned like new. Just let it swing a few inches down, and that cut an onion 3/4’s of the way through. I then managed to cut the tomato into slices thin enough to read through.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Huh. I was in a cutlery store recently, and they had all kinds of whetstones for sale, from 800 to 8000 grit. Are you saying those are useless?
ETA is “the sharpener” that thing with the steel wheels? I actually have one of those.
No, moreso a pain in the ass. (My stone set-up is three different stones of various grits from coarse to extra fine.) This thing seems to get me 90-95% of the way there in a fraction of the time. A seasoned stone user will no doubt do a better job, but this does the job as good enough as I need it to keep me happy when cutting stuff up in the kitchen.
Two buddies were hanging out together. Both were martial arts practitioners. As men are wont to do, they started with the stereotypical braggadocio stuff.
The first guy puts a half dozen boards on two cinder blocks, draws his arm all the way back, and chops all the boards in half in an instant.
The second guy, standing in calm repose, looks around without moving his head. A fly is buzzing around his head. He slashes at the air in a powerful chopping motion.
The fly flutters off, away from the second guy, with an obvious absence of drama.
The first guy says, “Yeah ? So ? What was so awesome about that ?”
The second guy replies, “That’s a fly that’s never going to f*** again.”
[annnd, scene]
Thanks for the update. Glad to hear there’s new life in some old steel. Next time you want to demonstrate the keeness of the edge and the deftness of your knife skills … don’t forget the above 
You convinced me to try it, I just ordered one. (And a pair of vegetable peelers, as ours are getting old, and they are a PITA to sharpen, and very cheap to buy.)
Eh… I’m not one to pass judgement. I learned how to sharpen knives the old-school way with oiled whetstones literally at my grandfather’s knee. I’m decently good at it in fact.
But like you, I’m fairly slothful when it comes to regular sharpening, and I got one of the “Work Sharp Ken Onion Edition” motorized knife sharpeners. Works a treat- variable speed, has adjustable angle guide, abrasive belts anywhere from 80 to 12000, with most of the ones that are regularly used ranging from 400-6000.
Plus it sharpens scissors and pretty much anything else I want to sharpen.
Ken Onion Edition Knife & Tool Sharpener - Work Sharp Sharpeners (worksharptools.com)
I’m also decent with a whetstone, but i almost never get around to doing that with my kitchen knives. It’s a lot of work.
Glad you guys are enjoying your new knife sharpeners. The reason I have no report on the Zwilling/Henckels sharpener is that Amazon missed their “guaranteed delivery date” due to using the post office this time instead of their own delivery service. There’s some chance I might get it tomorrow. Canada Post’s idea of what “expedited parcel” means is a joke.