I don’t have any specific questions, but I’ve encountered strong opinions, both here and elsewhere, about type, use, and care. I’d like people with those strong opinions to share them here.
Spend some decent money, get knives that fit your grip, keep them razor-sharp, don’t put them in the dishwasher, and don’t put your foot out to stop that expensive knife from landing on the floor.
Is this the voice of experience?
Sharp with a tight handle is all you need. You have to keep it sharp though, so you’ll need a sharpening stone. I don’t use sharpening steels, not worth the effort. You’ll get the best edge on carbon steel, but it won’t last as long as stainless steel. If you don’t feel like sharpening all the time get those thin stainless steel blades with serrations, they don’t cost much and they’ll stay sharp enough for a long time.
I’ve seen some disagreement on how best to do this. What’s your style?
Pretty much it. Some dishwashers have knife holders to keep the blades from banging around and getting dull, but if they have wooden handles, don’t put them in there. Knives rarely need to be re-edged. Keeping them sharp can be as simple as a few strokes on a steel. Also, store your knives edge up in a knife block (helps retain the sharpness), not in a drawer.
I like the Henckels knives I have because of the ergonomic handles and the balance. I’ve had them for over 20 years and never had a problem with them. I also have a Shun that I use for veggie preparation, but that was a gift to myself; you can use much cheaper knives and get the same result.
“Decent money” starts pretty low. I’ve got Victorinox Forschner knives (with the entirely utilitarian “fibrox” handles). They’re not fancy, but they’re made with good steel that takes a razor sharp edge and holds it well.
About once a year, I hand sharpen them with a set of diamond bench stones. I wouldn’t recommend this as a general method for most people, since good diamond stones are expensive and it takes time and practice to use them well. There are a multitude of sharpening gadgets that are easier to use, but many are reputedly terrible. (My FIL has a cheap knife sharpener that must be grinding at right angles to the edge, judging by how well it works…)
I maintain them with regular use of a “sharpening steel”, which really doesn’t sharpen anything but instead straightens the inevitable bent edges. It’s definitely necessary after doing something like chopping apart a chicken or a pork shoulder.
I have a few remaining cheapest-finest trash knives, which will take a pretty sharp edge, but you can almost feel them get duller as you use them.
My mom has foodie friends who buy $400 chefs’ knives and have occasionally brought them to my place to help cook a big meal. Those knives are certainly pretty and feel nice to hold, but if they’re indifferently maintained they’re a far worse tool than my well-sharpened ~$30 knives.
Lots of good advice in this thread.
The only thing I would add is, to help maintain the edges on your knives, don’t do what is like nails on a chalkboard to me and sweep your recently-chopped veggies into the pan from your chopping block with the knife edge. Take a micro-second to flip the knife blade side up. Then sweep.
Also (and this hopefully goes without saying), don’t use your good knives for cutting string, cardboard, plastic packaging or paper. That’s what scissors are for.
Or rose stems, like my wife used to do. :smack: She also has a bad habit of tossing a dirty knife into the sink, where it waits to slice the fingers of the next person to come along. I got a nasty cut from a santoku style blade, when the shape of the sink caused the knife to roll over onto its back, with the edge pointing straight up. Didn’t see it and ran my thumb down the blade. Felt about as bad as it sounds.
Pretty much all I ever use is a chef’s knife, so I bought a cheapo ceramic KitchenAid one for like $17.
Comfy handle and really slices nice. Not sure yet how long it’ll stay sharp, but I’ve been using it now about a year and it still cuts great.
Agree with everything here. Spend a couple hundred if you want it to look pretty, or for significantly less buy a Victorinox or a Dexter and take decent care of it and it’ll give you a lifetime of excellent service.
I agree with the advice of buying moderately priced knives and treating them well. Hand wash them, and don’t drop them into the drying pile, where you dump the rest of the dishes on top of them. Just dry them right away and put them back in the block.
My dad was a meat cutter for 40 years. He made a living handling knives. I never heard him say squat about super duper knives. He even scoffed at the (rare) meat cutters who brought their own knives to the job. Pretty much, as long as it wasn’t a butter knife, he could do the job with it. It was a thing of beauty watching him swipe a knife on a honing steel. The blade moved so fast you couldn’t see it. You just heard this efficient snick-snick-snick.
Been there, done that, except it was a MAC knife. (I am no longer married to that woman, BTW)
I used to work for a somewhat well known knife manufacturer, and they used to buy examples of their competitors knives periodically for ‘comparison’ purposes. General consensus among the engineers was that the Wustof Trident and the Henkel knives were the ones to beat. Personally, my favorite knives, and the ones I use the most, are the aforementioned MAC knife, and some cheap Italian(?) knives with rubber-ish handles that say “Sanelli” on them. I’ve heard good things about the Victorinox knives too, but I have so many knives now I don’t dare buy new ones.
Spend what you’re comfortable with, don’t be up sold. Sharpening tool is essential, (don’t be disappointed if the first you try doesn’t work for you), get something that you’re confident you can use. Start with a chef’s knife and a paring knife and save the rest for down the line.
But mostly, (and I cannot emphasize this enough), buy something that feels magnificent in your hand. Feels so good it almost make you want to chop some veggies, RIGHT NOW! Protecting and maintaining such a knife will come easily to you. It will bring a new joy to all your food prep and you’ll have a knife that will really see you through many years to come!
Keep in mind that some of the well-known brands, like J.A. Henkel, have various product lines. I mainly have knives from the Henkel “Professional S” line, mostly purchased from Macy’s, in which something like a paring knife might cost $40. But they have other lines available at places like Target, where forty bucks gets you a whole set of knives. And I have a newer serrated bread knife from Oxo, purchased on the theory that their kitchen tools are thoughtfully designed.
And I’ve heard that many restaurants just buy the inexpensive plastic-handled knives from restaurant supply stores. Sometimes, restaurants don’t even own the knives, but rent them from a service that regularly provides newly sharpened ones.
I completely agree with buying a moderately-priced, comfortable knife. It never even occurred to me to sharpen my own, though! I take them to the guy at the Farmers’ market. Any reommendations for a sharpening tool?
Our knives are a mixed set of Henkels, left-over pieces of Cutco I owned in college, and random carving knives I don’t mind tossing into the camp boxes.
Rule #1 is that knives never go into the sink. Dirty knives go on a dish towel next to the sink until washed.
Our knives get professionally sharpened every year or so, and steeled before every use. Just a few strokes is all it takes (That’s what he said!) The wife (and head cook) uses the whole block. I can get by with just the santuko chef’s knife.
More unsolicited sharpening advice:
When I only had a few cheapest-finest knives, I maintained the edge with a cheap diamond hone from Ikea. That actually worked pretty well. The grit on the hone was fairly coarse, meaning it accomplished a fair amount of sharpening on soft steel, enough to get rid of small nicks. It was probably also adding microscopic serrations, which are helpful for a knife with otherwise soft steel. The net result was fairly adequate.
I don’t use that hone anymore, since my diamond bench stones have a much finer grit. The hone would just add nasty scratches to my hand-polished edges…
There are finer grit diamond and ceramic hones, and I kind of want one like this one.
For sharpening gadgets, I’ve heard good things about the Lansky sharpening system. Basically, with a guide to hold each sharpener at a fixed angle to the blade, it’s much easier than trying to free-hand on a bench stone.
For a quick re-edging, the Accu-Sharp works about as well as anything. This is not for routine honing, but for serious material removal to put a new edge on a blade.
The Spyderco Sharpmaker is a good honing system, but it takes practice.
If you like ease of use, the Chef’s Choice gets good reviews for an electric sharpener.