Have a Knife Day....

I like knives. Which means that because I appreciate what they are and the workmanship necessary to turn out a premium item, I also have no use for cheap poorly made knives that won't hold an edge.

There are some very decent knives that do a decent job - Wusthof/Henckels, Zwiling, etc. I own a few individual knives, but I've never had any inclination to buy knife sets, usually with a knife block to stick them in. I tend to buy individual knives that suit my taste and uses.

There are a certain basic number of knives that every cook needs, and a few more that are optional that you may or may not give space to - the total number is really up to you and how acquisitive you end up being. I'll run down what I have ended up with over the years and ask for suggestions about what has pleased others.

First, you need a chef's knife. I have two, a Sabatier 10.5" and a no name French or German high carbon steel 8" I haven't been able to force myself to abandon to the miscellaneous cutlery drawer.



Well, OK, in case you were starting to think I was perfect and kept a stripped clean purist equipe of knives, I am forced to admit that my chef's knives were expanded by a Calphalon 7" suggested by Jenise (and very decent, too).

Then you need a good paring knife - back to Sabatier for mine, a 4" super sharp carbon steel (think Frodo's Sting, if you are a Lord of the rings fan).

After that, there are a few knives that while not absolutely vital, do nicely fill out the old knife drawer (I prefer a magnetic strip mount in a drawer to the knife block, particularly with high carbon steel knives, as the blocks can result in blde tarnish if put away wet).

I have a vintage (1924-1935) Boker Solingen made 6" boning knife that is excellent. They are the ones that have a very narrow blade and ar sharpened right up to the final tip curve. You can slide it down a bone or cut with the tip like a scalpel when needed. It is similar in shape to a filleting knife, but is thicker and more rigid.

That's it for the usual run of European blades, but I also have a Saiun 8.5" blade that is made of VG-10 cobalt steel core (a favoured material for many Japanese knives) sandwiched in 33 layers of Damascus stainless, with a Damascus finish.



and as recently given a 4.7" Masakage Kiri Petty



They make excellent vegetable knives - they both pass my test of slowly drawing the knife over the skin of a tomato with no force but the knife's own weight bearing down. Both will slide right through the tomato. If you have duller knives, the alternative is a serrated blade.

Other knives like thin slicing knives used for fish are optional - I have a half century old Anton Wingen Solingen made 11" slicer that is good for slicing salmon, ham, etc.



I lack a chestnut knife (yes, the do make them) have only an inexpensive serrated bread knife, and don't use a thin tomato knife.

What are your very favourite knives? Mine are the old boning blade and the no name French chef's knife among the vintage stuff and the two Sabatiers in the modern end.

I have a block and it is filled with knives, mostly Sabatier. What do I reach for? Most often, either the 6" or 8" Sabatier chef knives. There is also an 8" Henckels that I occasionally use.

Most of the rest are special-purpose blades: one cleaver, one bread knife, one tomato knife (all Sabatier). I have a slicer from Tel-Tru that I use. I have no idea about the quality thereof but it is sharp and it was a wedding gift given to my parents that they kept but never used.

I almost never use the paring knives; anyway, that is Pumpkin's preferred knife so they've gotten dull. There's some large serrated thing I never touch, some kitchen shears I never use, and the block also has room for the set of Laguiole table knives.

PS. I would never put a knife away wet! They are stainless, not stainproof.

Sounds like we enjoy the same sorts of knives.

I shudder every time I see someone take a decent blade and subject it to one of those horrid grinding wheels.

I do have a honing stick (4000 grit ceramic rod) that realigns the edge like a steel does, but I still prefer to use a flat stone (fine is ~8000 grit) as it is easier to keep the edges in alignment once you get the hang of it.

Amazing how many people believe that a steel is for sharpening instead of just turning an edge - you see them whaling away at the poor knife like they were trying to wear through it, and you also see the results of those infernal electric wheels as once useful knives that have been ground hollow and are now useless.

I also have a couple of vintage Laguiole folding knives for away from home pocket use as well as another French folding knife from the Savoie, for picnic use - a carbon steel Opinel #9 that shaves hard sausage like it was cheese and costs less than $15.

I love knives and have had to work to keep myself from buying more than we will use or be able to properly store. We have a block, but I'm meticulous about putting them away clean and dry.

We have two 8" chef knives that get the bulk of the work. One is your basic Henckels and the other is a beautiful Japanese one with a Damascus pattern that my wife bought me for Christmas years ago. (She got it from the Japanese Woodworker, which has some pretty nice kitchen knives.) The Japanese blade is thinner than the Henckels, so it's easier to handle for vegetables and such while the Henckels is better for getting through big pieces of meat. We have an 8" Henckels slicer that I like a lot for trimming meat and other chores that require careful cutting. There's an old Gerber 6" serrated bread knife, a longer super-cheap serrated knife, a 6" slicer that I picked up at a yard sale, a lightweight Sabatier cleaver, and a bunch of paring knives. My wife has a couple of long serrated knives that she uses only for slicing cake into layers. (Those don't go in the block.)

I have one real knife-geek knife, and that's a Takeda "Banno Funayuki" that I ordered from Japan eight or nine years ago. The blade on it is not terribly stout, so I use it mostly for slicing vegetables and such. It's maintained an extremely sharp edge for years and is only now feeling like it needs sharpening.

Like the Sabatier cleaver. My cleavers mostly sit unless I am butchering and breaking down a large hunk of beast, which is rarely.

We have a huge Chinese population here in Vancouver, and I've watched Chinese chefs use a cleaver for everything - all purpose utility tool that hacks large hunks of meat as well as slices and dices everything all the way down to herbs. Amazingly adept as a one toll that serves all purposes.

In the category of knives I've lusted after but so far resisted are things like this take on a traditional mezzaluna by Global.

Some of the choppers done by the artisanal knife guys look nice too.

Wow! That's quite a pattern on that one.

Sounds like we enjoy the same sorts of knives.

Yes. People do look askance at me when I admit to enjoying the 6" knife a lot. But it's really flexible and easy to use. (If I need to crack a joint or something then, of course, I pick up a bigger knife.)

Amazing how many people believe that a steel is for sharpening instead of just turning an edge....

Yes, I have a steel and I give the blades a couple strokes every now and then.

The annoying part about Sabatier -- as for Laguiole -- is that there are numerous makers allowed to use that brand. So, the pieces can vary in quality.