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What do you have in your kitchen?

Dmax

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Originally Posted by iammatt
All knives cut the same.

Did you not mean all "sharp" knives cut the same? I would say that high end Japanese knives cut better than most Western knives. They are generally made thinner and sharper could be resharpen to a degree not possible with other knives. They also stay sharper much longer than other knives, due to better, harder steel.
teacha.gif
 

itsstillmatt

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Originally Posted by Dmax
Did you not mean all "sharp" knives cut the same? I would say that high end Japanese knives cut better than most Western knives. They are generally made thinner and sharper could be resharpen to a degree not possible with other knives. They also stay sharper much longer than other knives, due to better, harder steel.
teacha.gif

Yes, dull knives only cut hands
crackup[1].gif
. Japanese knives are great, and I love my Globals, but they don't make the food taste better. I can cut even pieces with any sharp knives, but the Globals are nice and light, look cool and, as you said, stay sharp a long time. As for harder steel, there are upsides and downsides. It is easier to hone a softer knife and no knife will get as sharp as an old carbon Sabatier or similar, but tey discolor food and need a lot of maintenance. The other downside to Japanese knives is the lack of a protector on the heel end like all of tehr knives have. It is not a roblem in and of itself, but if you are used to having one you can hurt yourself.
 

skalogre

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Originally Posted by Dmax
Did you not mean all "sharp" knives cut the same? I would say that high end Japanese knives cut better than most Western knives. They are generally made thinner and sharper could be resharpen to a degree not possible with other knives. They also stay sharper much longer than other knives, due to better, harder steel.
teacha.gif

There are a few problems with that assertion. SLim and a few others may have some knowledge of this already but I can give you the example of the nihonto, the traditional japanese blade. While it sound impressive having a super strong steel edge, it is a bad idea because those sorts of steel are brittle. They chip and snap under stress. Traditionally what would have been done was forge the steel with different levels of hardening at the cutting edge versus the body that is softer thus allowing some flexibility (the Mongol invasion was one of the things that spurred these changes in forging primarily using knowledge from Korean smiths) The hamon is a result of this differential hardening process. Oh and technically traditional japanese steel was not damascened per se. The tamahagane-ore based folded steel was a different animal, the folding was due to the crappy qualiy of the steel available in Japan. The more folding was done, the greater the decrease in impurities that would potentially affect the quality of the end blade. Anyway, the point is that while super strong and thin sounds great it is not durable and not necessarily "sharper" That is why something like a titanium sword or other such malarkey is hogwash basically. Those Kyocera ceramic knives are similar in that they retain for longer periods their sharpness but they are brittle - ie don't drop them! Hit bone and there is a good chance the blade will be damaged. Why? Very sharp and strong but inflexible compared to good well forged steel. And as for the whole steel deal... Wusthof and Henckels have been doing this for a long time in Solingen, a centre of metallurgy for a long time. They know what they are doing. Edit: As per iammatt, I agree that the Global look very nice but that does not mean they are functionally better. I did not like their lightness and lack of a bolster. Plus it is easier to crush garlic with my heavy Wusthof Grand Prix, which is also found online at very low prices
smile.gif
 

GQgeek

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I keep waiting for Bateman to reply "a nail gun and a human head next to the sorbet."
 

Dmax

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Originally Posted by iammatt
Yes, dull knives only cut hands
crackup[1].gif
.

Japanese knives are great, and I love my Globals, but they don't make the food taste better. I can cut even pieces with any sharp knives, but the Globals are nice and light, look cool and, as you said, stay sharp a long time.


Funny you mention that. I distinctly remember a post by a gentelman on a knife forum who claimed he found a whole another layer of appreciation for his vegetable salad since he started slicing his onions paper thin using his ultra-sharp Japanese chef knife. I don't know if you are a sushi fan but the traditional Japanese cuisine is made possible by very specialized and very sharp knives of specific shape and size. These knives have to make very clean and precise cuts of fish and vegetables.

The Yanagiba, a long slicer used to make precise slicing cuts in fish, certainly a knife you see in every Japanese restaurant:
Img302.jpg


The Deba, a heavier knife used mostly to clean fish and vegetables.
Img35.jpg


The Usuba, used to make precise slices of vegetables.
Img220.jpg


And finally, one of the most beautiful interpretations of the western chef knife:

Img548.jpg


Originally Posted by iammatt
As for harder steel, there are upsides and downsides. It is easier to hone a softer knife and no knife will get as sharp as an old carbon Sabatier or similar, but tey discolor food and need a lot of maintenance. The other downside to Japanese knives is the lack of a protector on the heel end like all of tehr knives have. It is not a roblem in and of itself, but if you are used to having one you can hurt yourself.

I agree, there are certainly upsides and downsides. While there are still Japanese knives being offered in traditional high carbon non-stain resistant steel, most of the current excitement is concentrated in the new super steels (VG10, ZDP-189, Cowry-X) knives.
What makes these new alloys superior is the ability to take and retain an edge as well or better than traditional high carbon steel knives while offering good rust/stain resistance.

I agree with your point about the lack of bolster, present in traditional western forged knives. It does takes a little getting used to and I remember nicking myself a couple of times when I first started using Japanese knives.



More boring knife info may follow.
smile.gif
 

itsstillmatt

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Well, I am speaking from some experience and am not immune to buying new things. The various Japanese knives in this pic are at least 8 years old, and I never touch the ones other than the globals:
knives4dn.jpg
For sushi you are certainly right that it helps, but for a vegetable salad, I am a bit dubious. It is kind of like guns: knives don't cut, people with good knife skills do.
 

Luc-Emmanuel

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I have a bunch of these:

CT11129_1.jpg


http://www.couteaux-services.com/bou...g=lg_fr&num=12

I'm not a knife geek, they are sharp and they look cool.

I have a lot of stuff in my kitchen, but the stuff I use the most are my Cristel pans and my Staub cast iron oval "cocotte".
A KitcheAid Artisan and an old Magimix food processor.
China is a complete (inherited) Gien set from the 50's and Rosenthal "Love Story", flatware is (inherited again) silver Christofle.

!luc
 

Dmax

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Originally Posted by iammatt
It is kind of like guns: knives don't cut, people with good knife skills do.
lol8[1].gif
 

Renault78law

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Anyone know where to get a professional/commercial quality knife magnet rack? Similar to the one posted by Kent?

By the way, are there any reasons not to use said method for storing knives?
 

skalogre

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Originally Posted by Renault78law
Anyone know where to get a professional/commercial quality knife magnet rack? Similar to the one posted by Kent?

By the way, are there any reasons not to use said method for storing knives?


Accidents? That is my fear, accidentally pushing something off and ending up with ventilation ducts on my foot!
 

itsstillmatt

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Originally Posted by Renault78law
Anyone know where to get a professional/commercial quality knife magnet rack? Similar to the one posted by Kent?

By the way, are there any reasons not to use said method for storing knives?

Yes, they will keep your knives nice and dull. Not recommended.
 

Gladhatter

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I am at a fair disadvantage here and also an advantage as I can learn some new things.

I started building this project 20 years ago and still at it. While we have a small working kitchen down stairs with just stape goods, I had began the upper level with state of the art at the time.

Now all of it seems miserably failing. I just ridded the most of it all brand new 20 years old. We had a semi truck load of appliances all based on a single motor you mounted in the countertop . This is so antiquated that newtone does not even make them any more and fortunatly we found some one that wanted to replace broken parts on their old one and gave me a small fortune for the lot of it.

As for range top, I have a 48 inch Jen air gas with all the accessories and again 20 years old brand new unused.

Its a down draft and I do not any longe wish for this and will disable this and mount a hood above if we keep it.

Just added 5 feet addtion floor space on to the kitchen area so now its a massive sized project and we need help to design it properly and still fit the bill for my wishes of rustic.

I had a 1953 general electric frig once as a collectable and it was ultra efficient and had the compressor on top. I thus searched for years to find a northern brand that is made same. Its heavy commercial grade stainless and has removal panel doors you adapt to your cabinents, leave white or stainless as you wish.

The compressor on top also removes and is easy to replace and this last forever.

Problem is my wife hates it and it has no room inside and is not nearly as substantial as it appears.


I have a stock of 90 year old wormy chestnut lumber to build the cabinets from and will likely get to this next spring/summer.

Now we need a metal worker or a pre fab hood and maybe a complet new out look here and new every thing not sure. Looking for advise.

I choose a Kohler sink of heavy cast in white enamel that would go with the rustic charm I am after. I will not get to convert the two antique pitcher pumps into our fawcetts as my wife simply refuses so that is off. We choose a copper klad model in a platina based look instead now.

We plan to do some punched copper look in the cabinet work and intermingle this with also some wrought iron looks.

The oven is a repro from a 1800's oven and is solid black cast and has a matching microwave frame but not sure I want to use that and may hide the microwave behind things.

Any thoughts here?

Also doing a replica Hooiser out of the wormy chesnut and putting in all new repro hoosier parts for the deluxe model.

Cookware and knives for me have always been cast iron pots and pans and Old hickory knives but I could change.
 

spertia

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Originally Posted by Renault78law
Anyone know where to get a professional/commercial quality knife magnet rack? Similar to the one posted by Kent?

By the way, are there any reasons not to use said method for storing knives?


We don't use the Global knives that several others have mentioned here, but we do have a Global magnetic rack. I think it looks very cool (the magnetic dots match/echo the dots on the Global knife handles), and it comes in several different lengths. It's a simple/minimalist single-strip design:

global_g4240.jpg
 

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