Henckels 10-piece Pro S knife set on sale for $175; Amazon wants $400

[Manton]

The narrowness of the boning knife comes in quite handy in certain tasks, and makes it better than a paring. At the FCI, FWIW, the instructors use boning and fillet knives and taught us to do so as well.

 

[unpainted huffheinz]

Originally Posted by Manton

Between the two most widely available German brands, I prefer Wusthof.

I am a recent convert to the stone, and I can tell you, they do MUCH less damage to a knife than any electric or mechanical sharpener. I was intimidated by the thing for a long time, but I found that I got the hang of it quickly.

Are there any instructions or guides online you can point me to? My Henckels chef's knife really needs a good sharpening.

 

[kwilkinson]

^For purposes other than boning?

When you're filleting a fish, of course you'll want the flexible knife. Other than that, for things like cleaning up beef or pork tenderloin, or for boning a chick or other poultry, you won't need anything other than your chef's and your paring knife.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by unpainted huffheinz

Are there any instructions or guides online you can point me to? My Henckels chef's knife really needs a good sharpening.

I started a thread when I bought my stone, and Thomas (among others) explained in detail how to use it.

 

[lbcgav]

Originally Posted by Manton

I have this set (about 15 years old now) and while they have held up OK, I have never loved them.

+1
I purchased this very set for my mother at Marshall Fields (now, sadly Macy's) back in the late 90's. While it was a vast improvement over what she was using at the time, I soon found that the knives became dull quite quickly as well. A couple years ago, I picked up a Wusthof Classic chef's knife that is almost identical aesthetically to the Pro-S. I found that the Wusthof holds an edge much better than the Henckel, and has a slightly better shape for cutting. The knife edge seemed to have more "belly", not unlike that of a well-shaped lapel.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by unpainted huffheinz

Are there any instructions or guides online you can point me to? My Henckels chef's knife really needs a good sharpening.

Do a search. Manton had a thread on it in which Thomas gave just about every piece of advice you could ever need.

 

[DocHolliday]

Everything I thought might happen when I posted this thread has, in fact, happened. It's really quite a marvel. I feel like Nostramadamus.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

Everything I thought might happen when I posted this thread has, in fact, happened. It's really quite a marvel. I feel like Nostramadamus.

I haven't mentioned Shun yet.

 

[DocHolliday]

Actually, you're right. I expected three things: set v. no set, steel v. sharpening and Henckles v. Asian knives.

Wait, wait, I expected *four* things: set v. no set, steel v. sharpening, Heckles v. Asian knives and Henckles v. Wustof.

And an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.

 

[Manton]

I made some comment about Shun on eGullet and got a dissertation on why they are like the Corneliani of Japanese knives, and only idiots don't move on from that phase quickly. Fun stuff!

 

[Dewey]

So ... is this thread over?

 

[DocHolliday]

Originally Posted by Manton

I made some comment about Shun on eGullet and got a dissertation on why they are like the Corneliani of Japanese knives, and only idiots don't move on from that phase quickly. Fun stuff!

Welcome to my world.

Originally Posted by Dewey

So ... is this thread over?

Now that the dust is settling, the knives are still available.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by DocHolliday

Welcome to my world.

FWIW, I like having a 14 knife set that I got when coming to school. Some of them I haven't used even once. Most I've used once, and I normally use the chef's and paring knife for everything I need.
I still like having all those knifes though, just b/c they're pretty and I like them.

 

[SField]

Originally Posted by Manton

I made some comment about Shun on eGullet and got a dissertation on why they are like the Corneliani of Japanese knives, and only idiots don't move on from that phase quickly. Fun stuff!

Hahaha that's funny... yea, knife snobs HATE Shun.

Back to the main point, however; if you need lots of different knives, you probably aren't very good with any of them and should work on technique rather than buying more useless ****. If you just like them because they look pretty, I can't fault you. To cut a tomato, make sure your chef's knife is well honed, slice heel to tip. Gravity will cut it for you and you will probably barely spill any juice. Those classes people take at cooking schools at Sur La Table are rigged. They make you use all that different **** so the yuppies taking the class buy enough knives to be Dexter Morgan's best friend. Looking at that $175 for the set, I'd buy it, then sell everything else you don't need. I agree with manton though, that Wusthoff are superior to Heinckel.

 

[Thomas]

Strangely I always wanted a Henckels knife, ended up with a couple of Wusthof, and forgot all about the Henckels. Now I have all the knives Mrs. Thomas and I can use in a big Thanksgiving, and I have no more knife wants.