Thanks! I just may check that out one of these days, though it’s a bit of a haul from my place. But hey, it usually doesn’t take much convincing to get me into any given kitchen supply store. 
(And yes, on general principle, I do want to learn to sharpen my knife. I presume that place sells proper knife-sharpening gear as well?)
Oh…forgot to add…an offset serrated edge bread knife…great for slicing sandwiches.
Also a MUST READ for anyone in the biz…
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
The answer is so obvious! The Ginsu Knife!
It can cut through an aluminum can! A radiator hose! And then cut through a tomato with ease!
It has a 50-year warranty!
All for an incredible low price!
But wait, there’s more!
You know, I actually don’t know, since I’ve never been in the market for a stone. One would think, but I’d give them a call.Here’s a tutorial on knife sharpening. It’s probably not all that difficult, but it still seems too much trouble for me to learn for something I’m going to do at most twice a year.
There may be other dependable ways of sharpening a knife, I don’t know. From what I understand, sharpening stones are the classic choice for good results. There may be something new fangled that works, but all the consumer-level knife sharpeners I’ve used did not produce satisfactory results.
I agree with this 100%, I have a drawer full of steely death and the only knife I use is the chefs knife unless I have to cut bread. I have one Henkel (the chefs) and one big serrated for bread and thats the only 2 knives I ever reach for. I have a henkel parring knife but with my hands it feels insanely small so never gets used at all.
Moderator Interjection:
Folks: Please note that all the posts in this thread are well over a year old, except for Critical1’s addition to revive it. We’re not overly concerned with “zombie” threads in Cafe Society, so if this topic has come up again, it’s fair game to continue the discussion after such a long hiatus. However, remember that some of the people who posted earlier are no longer with us, so you may not get a two-way conversation going.
It took me about 15 years to get a roll I am happy with, and I dont think any 2 are of the same brand…and they all have different uses from my favorite sabatier chef knife, a generic chinese clever from a chinese grocery that cost me $4US through a serious butchers sabre that is 14 inches, and made back in about 1840 and is german. I have dick, wusthof, generic, sabatier of 3 different companies … IF I cook at an SCA event, or at someones house, I take my favorite parer, my sabatier, and the third depends on what I plan on cooking=)
Someone makes the greatest backpack for your personal toolset… Fisher maybe? beats a knife roll all to hell - one I have seen fits all the tools, not just knives.
Why yes, we are very picky about our tools … dont you realize that you can get cut worse from a dull or damaged knife than a well maintained one? Think about it, if someone thrashes your knife, and doesnt sharpen it… you go to cut through something and since it is dull, you use way too much force and it slips… instead of a light pressure you are now bearing down with a lot of weight and instead of a light slice you now have a gash… seen it happen more than once at an SCA event in the kitchen, and I have seen people doing it at home.
I love my knife set from Cuisinart. It’s a very basic four-knife set, but it does everything I need at home.
I’ve bought them for several people as gifts and they all give rave reviews.
My son, a personal chef in Raleigh, NC, has always used Henkel knives and insists that all of his pots are copper-bottomed, stainless steel with riveted steel handles. He won’t cook with anything else.
Know any recipes for brains?
This is what I use to sharpen my knives. The knife clamps into the aluminum clamp and the stones have the aluminum rods attach. The rods stick though holes in the clamp that give a 15 degree, 20 degree or 35 degree edge.
A perfect edge every time.
I think they’re overrated. Apparently women with small hands love them, but I really don’t get it. I’ve got an 8" Henckel Santoku and, while it’s not bad, it’s not really superior to my chef’s knife in any aspect other than dicing, and my chef’s knife still does a pretty good job of that.
Have you considered getting a hollow-point chef’s knife? You get the benefit of food not sticking to the blade a Santoku provides, and the benefit of a curved blade you can rock into a rhythm with.
edit1: So sorry! Linked to this thread from another kitchen thread and got confused. Don’t kill me.
edit2: Um, nevermind. Guess I didn’t revive the zombie thread. I’m in the clear!
But if you have a knife larger than 6", you have to re-adjust where the guide sits on the knife to get the entire length of the blade. Repeat twice for the other side, and you’ve just got a hassle.
A quality sharpening stone is considerably easier faster and easier. I recommend getting at least 8", with 10" being perfect for larger blades (I have a 10" chef’s knife, but couldn’t afford the extra $40~ for those extra 2"). I highly recommend DMT brand diamond sharpening stones. This is, without a doubt, the best value online in quality knife sharpeners. Don’t worry about getting some fancy holster, a wet rag laid flat works perfectly fine.
If you don’t have the money to spend on that, a Japanese water stone will do perfectly fine. My only gripe is that they have to be continually ground down with a big coarse block to keep them even and they aren’t as durable.
This sounds nuts, but I have a Corsican style vendetta knife that holds the best edge of anything I own and I prefer using this to chop veggies more than anything else in my kitchen. I know most chefs don’t use switchblades in their kitchens, but I swear by the thing. Or I was just inventing a use for a knife I like to play with, but this sucker goes through a tomato like it’s not even there.
You have a self-opening vendetta knife? Cool. The ones I’ve seen were all manual opening and didn’t even have a lock. They all relied on a really stiff backspring to keep the knife from closing on one’s fingers while carrying out a vendetta.
So no one like the sets Ron Popeil hawks that can cut through a hammer head?
I know you’re joking, but hammer heads are made from alloys selected for toughness and heat treated accordingly. It they are hard, they chip or shatter with unpleasant injuries from the fragments resulting. Even cheap knives, if they’ve been heat treated at all, are harder. Add in a serrated edge and you really can take one of those cheap TV knives and saw a groove in a hammer head.
this is what happens when you are still up at 4:30 am and posting…yeah I knew it was a mistake as soon as I woke up
And in the spirit of the thread, what’s the best tool for getting them out of their container?
Nope, there’s guide holes on both sides of the clamp. I’ve never had any real problem sharpening knives up to ~10" with a single guide. For really long stuff I just bought an extra guide and move the stone between the two.
For most folks a bench stone isn’t the best choice. Keeping a constant angle is tricky for someone who doesn’t sharpen knives often. I’d recommend some kind of sharpening guide for a novice who does want to use a bench stone.
My choice for every time I use a knife is something like this, with both coarse and fine ceramic sticks. 5 - 10 light passes on the fine side and it’s sharp!
CMC +fnord!
