Show your knives

Show your knives

I have a kitchen stocked with a lot of fun stuff—mandolin, juicer, blowtorch, vacuum sealer, microplane, antique sausage stuffer…you name it. But, like most people around here, if I had to choose one weapon in the kitchen, it would be a good knife.

To pay proper homage to this indispensable tool, I thought this might be a good place to introduce our cutlery, and share their stories. New. Old. Cheap. Rusty. Razor sharp. Broken. Dull. Big or small. Even lame knives have a story. And I like seeing other people’s knives. So post pics here, please, and tell a story about your knife.

***

These cleavers were liberated from a lopsided, 30-year-old barn that was built out of two chicken coops, scavenged corrugated tin, and the trees downed to clear room for it. This barn, in Moseley, VA, is a treasure trove of miscellany. Crusty, old farm tools and flea market impulse buys. Endless lengths of heavy-duty chain. Every size and type of screw, nail or nut in the world, except the one you need. It’s where about seventeen lawn mowers have gone to die, slowly. Little by little, we have rescued rusty, forgotten pieces to refurbish and put to use. Giant wood-and-rust pulleys, a vintage Sun Crest Soda clock that lights up, and a sharpening stone, to name a few. These cleavers are our latest find.

What these cleavers have cut in their day is anyone’s guess, but the cracked handles, pockmarks and dings suggest a hard-earned living. We figured the best way to honor such fine tools would be to get them back into circulation. So we had them cleaned up and sharpened at Northwestern Cutlery—where Chicago’s knives go for some good lovin’.




NC did a great job, as usual. I love watching those guys, in a Zen-like state of grace, grinding and polishing knives on the wheels and coaxing the edge with a leather strop. In less than 10 minutes, the cleavers had a menacing, Shining-esque gleam.

As much as I'd like to keep the cleavers, we plan to return them to the previous owner. The best kind of re-gifting.

I use pretty much only one knife regularly in my kitchen, a chefs knife. I bought a Wusthof Culinar Chefs knife a few years ago, and have not looked back or for another knife since. Perfectly balanced, heavy, and sharp. Perfect for dicing, cutting up a whole chicken, splitting a lobster, etc. I like the stainless steel look of the Culinar series, and am a big fan of German knives as well. I have only owned, or do own JA Henkel, or Wusthof knives(not that any of my other knives get taken out of the drawer much anymore).

Heres a couple of pics of my knifework, and potential lobsters to be easily split by my chefs knife. These are the best pics I can access from work.

Here are the knives I use:



From the top:

--Forschner carving knife. Supremely sharp and holds an edge perfectly. This is probably my most infrequently used knife as it is mainly used to carve roasts. This is the only knife of mine with a story. It belonged to my father and no one else was ever allowed to touch it due to it's fabled super-human sharpness. When my father passed away, my mother asked me if there was anything of his that I wanted. I think I said, "the carving knife" before she finished asking the question.

--Forschner serrated knife, about $20 at NW Cutlery. A perfect, inexpensive knife for slicing bread, cakes, and tomatoes.

--Wusthof Grand Prix 8" Chef's Knife. My most frequently used knife. It was expensive and I often regret not buying the 10" model. Otherwise it's great.

--Global Utility Knife. A nice knife that keeps an edge very well and is useful for many little tasks like chopping garlic, herbs and other little things. My 2nd most frequently used knife.

--A good Wusthof paring knife with a nice, long handle. Very useful to have.

--An inexpensive cleaver for, well, cleaving.

This collection serves me well.

i could take a photo but you could just as easily go to w/s and look on their site for photos- i have an entire set (minus one or two) of shun knives.

I've owned many knives. Kyocera ceramic knives have been the best by far.

No pics, but take a look here:
http://global.kyocera.com/prdct/fc_consumer/kitchen/

The knife in the foreground is my workhorse, more on this later, and probably the main purpose of this post.

The chef knife behind it is my former workhorse and still the knife Mrs Ramon is most comfortable with. It is a 7" Henkels purchased for around $50 about 12 years ago. The handle broke around four years ago. It has not affected its performance. It is professionally sharpened once a year. I would not spend this amount of money on a kitchen knife again.

The mezzaluna in the upper left corner was a gift. It is a Wusthof that I bet cost more than $50. I don't use it often, but I don't mind having it. The rocking motion is great for mincing, especially parsely. I only break it out when I have to mince a lot.

The cleaver in the upper right is a genuine (I hope!) Ginsu 2000 that I bought in a dollar store. I've had it professionally sharpened. It's heft is convenient when chopping through bone and using it and be quite dramatic. Again, something I don't use often but I am happy to have.

OK, back to the knife in the foreground, the knife I use everyday. The blade is is currently 9-1/2" long and 2-1/4" at its widest. It is stamped "Maestranzi" with a very local phone number on the blade. It is the knife used in every local restaurant (in my area) I know of. I paid $10 for it used several years ago. I wouldn't pay more. (They generally rent knives to local restaurants, picking them up each week while dropping off identical sharpened knives.)

Since I bought this knife, I've purchased about 10 more both new ($20) and used. I give them to family and friends. When I go to their houses, I am gratified to have a real knife avaiable for use. The recipient is ever grateful.

Here's a picture of a new knife, which measures 10" long and 2-3/4" at its widest:



(I note that I, and another pro, think the new knives are constructed differently, and we preferred the used.)

You can buy these knives too. Or get your knives sharpened here ($2.50 for a standard chef's knife). Keep in mind they keep standard office hours, have no showroom, and are closed at lunch. These people have been doing knives for 100+ years. While NW cutlery deserves its love, this is an under the radar place in my neighborhood that takes care of its customers (restaurants). Yes, these pro knives are available for your purchase $10 used of $20 new, no tax -- wholesale. I would call ahead though if you weren't already in the neighborhood.

If I sound like an info-mercial it is only because I'd hate somebody to pay $50 for a knife when they have other, IMO better options. And this place is truly in my neighborhood, about four blocks away from my humble abode.

The knives above have other stories I will tell as time abides, and I have many others. Great thread!

Maestranzi Bros
4715 N Ronald St
(~1 block East of Lawrence / Harlem)
Harwood Heights, IL
(708) 867-7323

-ramon

I'm a bit of a knife freak and really having trouble not buying new ones even though I don't "need" them. Here are the ones I'm currently using most often . . .



Top to bottom:

14" Forschner bread knife with rosewood handle
Cheap, stamped knife that does one thing -- slices bread -- very well. For around $30, once this loses its cutting ability (2-3 years), I'll just replace it.

4" Tojiro Flash paring knife
Great for little jobs that require a smaller blade and tip. Super hard VG-10 alloy steel with a 62 Rockwell rating, so it keeps its edge for a long time.

5.5" Henckels Twin Cuisine boning knife
Fine-point, highly flexible blade, which is great for filleting fish, as well as many charcuterie preparations. It's fairly soft, so it has to sharpened more often than most of my other knives.

6.5" MAC Professional santoku with granton edge
Excellent vegetable chopper. Extremely light and lively in the hand. The hollow edge keeps the edge moving freely through what's being chopped.

10" Bob Kramer 'Bladesmiths' chef's knife
My main knife and a favorite possession. High carbon steel, made by hand by Bladesmith Bob Kramer out of Washington state. I've had this knife for over 10 years and even back when my wife ordered it for me (right after a piece about Kramer appeared in Saveur), the wait was about 18 months. I can only imagine what the wait for one of these is now, although I'll bet his knives are even better now. It holds an edge very well but since it isn't stainless, it's got a patina, which I find kind of nice.

10" Henckels Four Star flexible slicer
The only knife I still use from the set we registered for back in 1995. Its long, flexible blade is great for slicing large pieces of meat. It's soft and needs sharpening fairly often.

5.5" Global cheese knife
I'm not crazy about the way Globals feel in my hand -- I could never use a Global as my main knife -- but this cheese knife is wonderful. The hollow sides are great for slicing soft foods of all kinds, especially cheeses and pates.

10" Shun Classic, Ken Onion chef's knife
I love the mixture of Western and Japanese elements on this knife. It's extremely hard, so it holds an edge well and the blade is very rounded which produces an extreme rocking motion, which is great for certain jobs, like mincing herbs. It's VG-10 stainless wrapped in high-carbon stainless so it's got that damascus steel look (hard to see in this pic) but is relatively rust-proof.

I also have a Kyocera ceramic knife but I'm not loving it these days and it's been mostly sitting in the block. It doesn't do any job better than one of the knives in the picture above. Beyond that, the blade's too short and also not high enough, so when using it on a cutting board, it's hard not to bang my knuckles on the board. I feel like I always have to be careful with it, too because of how brittle it is. It's a cool novelty item but beyond that, I have very little use for it these days.

=R=

Ramon: Thanks for the valuable information on Maestranzi! My knives were in desperate need of sharpening and they did a great job. I also purchased one of the "used" knives after reading your description and I will attest to it's heft, balance and value. Still $10 and a screaming bargain!

Marc

As long as we're on the subject, for anyone who's really into knives, I highly recommend An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro, by my former eG cohort Chad Ward. It's an extremely informative read and, as far as I know, the only book of its kind.

Novices will appreciate the clarity with which the abundance of salient information is laid out. More experienced cooks will appreciate the specific guidance regarding composition and maintenance. The book is big on myth-busting, too, which makes it an especially satisfying read.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:10" Bob Kramer 'Bladesmiths' chef's knife
My main knife and a favorite possession. High carbon steel, made by hand by Bladesmith Bob Kramer out of Washington state. I've had this knife for over 10 years and even back when my wife ordered it for me (right after a piece about Kramer appeared in Saveur), the wait was about 18 months. I can only imagine what the wait for one of these is now, although I'll bet his knives are even better now. It holds an edge very well but since it isn't stainless, it's got a patina, which I find kind of nice.

I checked on Kramer's website after reading a profile of him in The New Yorker (abstract here; full text available to those with accounts) a few months ago. He is not taking any new orders at present, although you can email him to get on the waiting list once he opens it back up. Basically, there is a waiting list for the waiting list. Shun recently introduced a commercial line of Kramer knives that is available exclusively at Sur la Table, although based on some of Kramer's frustrations with the manufacturer as noted in The New Yorker piece (plus the hefty prices), I might take a pass.

ronnie_suburban wrote:As long as we're on the subject, for anyone who's really into knives, I highly recommend An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro, by my former eG cohort Chad Ward. It's an extremely informative read and, as far as I know, the only book of its kind.

I have Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual by Peter Hertzmann (he teaches knife skills/sharpening at Sur La Table). It's a great beginners/basics read. Edge in the Kitchen looks like an excellent upgrade.

My favorite knife, carbon steel, very sharp, sharpens and hones easily. Just like me, it's ugly and cheap (although it's up to $25+ now).

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.as ... 0733,40738
(I think I posted about this once before, but that was years ago.)

crrush wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:As long as we're on the subject, for anyone who's really into knives, I highly recommend An Edge in the Kitchen: The Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Knives -- How to Buy Them, Keep Them Razor Sharp, and Use Them Like a Pro, by my former eG cohort Chad Ward. It's an extremely informative read and, as far as I know, the only book of its kind.

I have Knife Skills Illustrated: A User's Manual by Peter Hertzmann (he teaches knife skills/sharpening at Sur La Table). It's a great beginners/basics read. Edge in the Kitchen looks like an excellent upgrade.

I received the Hertzmann book as a gift last month. It has a few tips, and is full of illustrations, but it doesn't seem to be teaching me much.

Ronnie, how do you use the Ward book? Is it more than just a buying guide? Specifically, I wonder if it has sharpening info (as I know that Chad had some legendary eG posts on this and many other knife topics).

gastro gnome wrote:Ronnie, how do you use the Ward book? Is it more than just a buying guide? Specifically, I wonder if it has sharpening info (as I know that Chad had some legendary eG posts on this and many other knife topics).

Yes, there is a lot of easy-to-follow sharpening information, including color photos, covering several different sharpening systems. I recently purchased some sharpening tools and will give it a shot very soon, hopefully this weekend. Knife storage and maintenance are well detailed, too. Beyond that, there's great information about how a multitude of different knives are manufactured and what truly distinguishes them from each other.

As you mention, it is also a useful buying guide. Even for a knife geek like myself, there is new information that advances knowledge. Additionally, some resources for finding knifes and related equipment are provided, which is really valuable because, with few exceptions, the brick and mortar retail scene just doesn't accomodate serious knife-o-philes (there probably is a real term for us folks). It was also gratifying to have so many things I'd long suspected about knives confirmed, denied, debunked and demythologized. I was saying "yes, yes, yes" to myself over and over as I read this book.

For more experienced cooks, the detailed definitions of and instructions for making different cuts -- along with color photos -- may be mostly unnecessary but there's still some useful information in those sections, too. Some recipes are provided but their primary focus is on knife use, rather than any other aspect of cooking.

It's probably just my love of knives but I could not put this book down and am now reading it for a second time. I received it for Christmas/Hanukkah just last month and truly appreciate it because it fills a critical gap in my food book library. I have hundreds of books about food, cooking, farming, food-writing and other related topics. This is the only one I have that focuses solely on what is arguably the most important tool in one's kitchen. I use my knives everyday but other than what I'd read here and there or heard from various (possibly questionable) sources, I knew so little about them. After having read this book, I feel so much better informed about knives, which has only increased my appreciation of them.

=R=

.
Purchased 12-15 years ago at Soko Hardware in San Francisco's Japantown. Never used, seldom taken out of the box, I seem to have a phobia about actually putting it to use.



Soko Hardware
1698 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
415-931-551

This, link seems appropriate here: Pictures from NYT of chef's travelling kits, featuring knives, as well as other sundry items (Caliper, Pliers, Knobs, etc).

wak wrote:This, link seems appropriate here: Pictures from NYT of chef's travelling kits, featuring knives, as well as other sundry items (Caliper, Pliers, Knobs, etc).

OK, two things puzzle me about this picture of the knife case:

1) Why is everything in the lid, instead of on the bottom? Wouldn't stuff fall out when opened?

2) What is the caliper for? I've got 3 of these in my workshop, but never found a need for one in the kitchen. Any one actually use a caliper in the kitchen? Any one care if that Porterhouse is 1.33" thick or 1.37" thick?

I do have a number of tools where duplicates have migrated from the shop to the kitchen. They seem to be medical instruments I use in my hobby projects. They include syringes with large needles, scalpels, hemostats, bandage scissors.

But the photo does have me thinking about a foam insert for an old briefcase to take a few knives and other kitchen tools on "road trips"...

j r wrote:OK, two things puzzle me about this picture of the knife case:

There are actually six pictures if you click through the site.

j r wrote:1) Why is everything in the lid, instead of on the bottom? Wouldn't stuff fall out when opened?

The picture is taken of the case upside down. That is the top on the bottom. NYT taking their poetic license with the photos.

j r wrote:2) What is the caliper for?

I can't help you there, but then why does Jacky Pluton need five pairs of pliers for deboning fish? There are lots of odd things in those pictures.

wak wrote:The picture is taken of the case upside down. That is the top on the bottom. NYT taking their poetic license with the photos.

If the picture is upside down, then some mysterious force is holding the towel in the lid.

the case is upside down. not the picture.

that is, the part with the towel is actually the lid of the case.

nr706 wrote:My favorite knife, carbon steel, very sharp, sharpens and hones easily. Just like me, it's ugly and cheap (although it's up to $25+ now).

http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.as ... 0733,40738
(I think I posted about this once before, but that was years ago.)

Love it! We have a set of old c.s. knives, and they do sharpen up great! We've sharpened some old family "heirlooms" that weren't beautiful, but were still very functional and it was really nice to see the man so excited to be using his Grandpa's knife again!

I can't help you there, but then why does Jacky Pluton need five pairs of pliers for deboning fish?

They're actually the only things left from his last venture.