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What are my options for a "buy it for life and be happy with it" general chef's knife for my kitchen? I only eat at home and make every meal from scratch so this will be a much appreciated workhorse knife. I currently own a Miyabi Fusion 600D and J.A. Henckels "International" line knife that I found in my drawer a while back. They seem okay but my birthday is coming up and I want something that is great for all sorts of types of cutting and cooking. My friend in the industry recommended this: http://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Cutlery-Renaissance-Chefs-Knife/dp/B002R1CGVQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1405124838&sr=8-7&keywords=mercer+10+inch Any thoughts? Knot My President! fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 01:08
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Armchair Calvinist posted:What are my options for a "buy it for life and be happy with it" general chef's knife for my kitchen? I only eat at home and make every meal from scratch so this will be a much appreciated workhorse knife. I currently own a Miyabi Fusion 600D and J.A. Henckels "International" line knife that I found in my drawer a while back. They seem okay but my birthday is coming up and I want something that is great for all sorts of types of cutting and cooking. I've used one of these at a friend's house. I don't know how often they have it sharpened but it's definitely a nice fit in my hand, cuts well and they love the thing.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:28
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Armchair Calvinist posted:My friend in the industry recommended this: http://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Cutlery-Renaissance-Chefs-Knife/dp/B002R1CGVQ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1405124838&sr=8-7&keywords=mercer+10+inch Any thoughts? Mercers suck, that Miyabi 600D you have is a great knife, just keep using that.
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Jul 12, 2014 22:58
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Thanks for the insights. I put the money toward a King 1200 grit waterstone and a flattening stone. I'll get a 3000 or 4000 grit stone if I like the results from this. 
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Jul 12, 2014 23:39
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Armchair Calvinist posted:What are my options for a "buy it for life and be happy with it" general chef's knife for my kitchen? I only eat at home and make every meal from scratch so this will be a much appreciated workhorse knife. I currently own a Miyabi Fusion 600D and J.A. Henckels "International" line knife that I found in my drawer a while back. They seem okay but my birthday is coming up and I want something that is great for all sorts of types of cutting and cooking. Seriously, if you're thinking of plonking down more than a couple bucks on a beater knife, go to your nearest Bed Bath and Bullshit or whatever and handle as many knives as you can then go with whatever you like the best. No major manufacturer is going to be producing a knife with mysterious hidden defects that are only going to show up a couple years down the road. About the only up front ideological decision you really need to be making is general type of steel---mostly whether your going to go with stainless or a high carbon steel, poo poo like that. Otherwise fit and finish on the individual knife and how well you like the feel are way the gently caress more important in determining how happy you're going to be with it long term than any other stats-driven horseshit that gets talked about on internet forums.
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Jul 13, 2014 01:04
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Yeah, totally. I have 3XL hands and really found the Shun line of knives to fit the contour of my hand well when using traditional pinch grips but I don't know of any other knives in this style that are recommended. I don't mind oiling knives every time I use them-- everything I own is pretty high maintenance, for better or worse. I had a Japanese exchange program hosted at my house and a pharmaceutical statistician / Tokyo sushi chef stayed at my house for a few weeks and I absolutely fell in love with his knives. He said some of them were upwards of a few thousand dollars, but I really did enjoy the grips and handles, similar to this (but far more magnificent):  But being able to feel it bite into my cutting board after effortlessly cutting tuna belly from being so loving sharp sent literal chills down my spine. I assume with this style of cooking he used different types of grinds for proteins and vegetables, though, right?
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Jul 13, 2014 01:44
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Armchair Calvinist posted:But being able to feel it bite into my cutting board after effortlessly cutting tuna belly from being so loving sharp sent literal chills down my spine. I assume with this style of cooking he used different types of grinds for proteins and vegetables, though, right? That being said, that isn't only the province of ultra high end everyday professional use gear, so if that's what you want you can definitely find decent working knives built that way in the US$100-300 range (so basically where you find most high-end consumer grade kitchen knives). As far as the fit and finish goes, that's something that tends to vary more by manufacturer than by price. The basic octagonal bone/wood handle is probably the most common handle choice in everything above the food service grade stuff, so if that's what you're looking for that's not hard to find at all at a reasonable price point.
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Jul 13, 2014 02:26
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Very cool. Thanks for the info. In your opinion(s), if I have the Henckels International 8" and the Miyabi Fusion 600D, would it be best to grind one finer for veggies and have the other for meat duty? Other knives in the block my dad gave to me: -Henckels Classic 3" paring knife -Henckels Professional "S" 4" paring/utility knife -Henckels Professional "S" 5" serrated utility knife -Wusthof Classic 4522/23cm carving knife Henckels international: -8" Bread knife -5" filet/boning knife -6" filet knife -7 -Various steak knives -Various other knives I've really only ever needed to use my chefs knives and the Wusthof carving knife for sushi cuts though. I feel like the others just sit there. 
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Jul 13, 2014 04:40
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I'm looking for a bread knife. The OP suggests the Victorinox Fibrox ones, but they're like $35 which seems excessive for a bread knife that I'll use only occasionally. Is this still what I should get, or is there something else people like? There's like a $15 (low-end) Henckel one that seems to be popular, and probably some others; I don't want to buy a knife I'll hate, but I don't want to overpay for something like a bread knife. I am probably already putting more thought into this than I ought to be.
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Jul 13, 2014 06:52
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Bread knives are really only useful for fresh bread. A standard chef's knife will cut bread just as well if not better and won't leave as many crumbs. At least from what I've noticed.
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Jul 13, 2014 08:06
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Armchair Calvinist posted:Bread knives are really only useful for fresh bread. A standard chef's knife will cut bread just as well if not better and won't leave as many crumbs. At least from what I've noticed. Yeah, that's one reason I don't want to spend much. I only make bread once in a while.
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Jul 13, 2014 13:05
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Generally speaking the answer to "I want x type knife but I don't want to spend much money" is "forschner" or that weird neon color Kai stuff.
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Jul 13, 2014 17:33
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Armchair Calvinist posted:In your opinion(s), if I have the Henckels International 8" and the Miyabi Fusion 600D, would it be best to grind one finer for veggies and have the other for meat duty? And even ignoring that, the theoretical optimal bevel is way more a factor of the knife steel than it is of the task, certainly in the home kitchen. If you've got a bunch of German kitchen cutlery, chances are you're going to be a lot happier with a somewhat less acute bevel than you'd want on the harder steels generally used in Japanese knives. So I'd say that you're better off just worrying about keeping your knifes sharp than fretting about wacky custom bevels for every task. Certainly if you're just getting started. When you want to start worrying about having a slightly different set up knife for every task is when you know enough about that poo poo that you won't have to ask about it on the internet. Or more likely once you know enough about it to make those decisions yourself you'll know better than to fret about it (or you won't and will want to do it just to do it). I use the same goddamn Chinese cleaver ground the same goddamn way to do about 90% of my kitchen cutting and it isn't from lack of other options. Armchair Calvinist posted:I've really only ever needed to use my chefs knives and the Wusthof carving knife for sushi cuts though. I feel like the others just sit there.
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Jul 13, 2014 20:50
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Thanks for the advice. Right now all my knives are ground to the same angle since I got them wheel sharpened (not knowing this is not advised, hence getting the waterstone to learn on). I'm just gonna keep them sharp, wrap the ones I never use in a drawer somewhere, and keep using my Miyabi as my main knife. Seems like the way to go from the consensus. Chinese cleavers sound intriguing though. Do you think they're worth it for doing a lot of work? I make every meal from scratch so I do a LOT of prep work throughout the day. Any recommendations on a good brand?
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Jul 13, 2014 21:41
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Armchair Calvinist posted:Chinese cleavers sound intriguing though. Do you think they're worth it for doing a lot of work? I make every meal from scratch so I do a LOT of prep work throughout the day. Any recommendations on a good brand? As far as brands go, assuming high carbon steels aren't a problem for you then the CCK small slicer is the canonical entry point into the Chinese cleaver world. CCK doesn't make fancy stuff, so if the fit and finish are a big deal for you you probably want to look elsewhere. But personally I use the CCK #1 small slicer I bought from a place in the local Chinatown for US$30 way the gently caress more than I use the theoretically much nicer Takeda cleaver I paid literally ten times as much for. The place on the English-speaking internet where you can order a CCK small slicer is chefknivestogo. They've always carried the #3 (which is 210mm) instead of the #1 (240mm) and they're now asking US$60 for one. So I'm reticent to recommend them now (as opposed to finding a store near you that carries them). But if you have US$60 to throw at something you just want to try out, it's still a lot of kitchen knife for the price.
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Jul 13, 2014 22:00
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martinlutherbling posted:Can anyone recommend some decent knife skills videos on youtube? Most of the ones I've found are intended for total beginners (not that I'm an expert, but I don't need to be told not to hold my fingers under the blade), and generally focus on rock chopping with Western style blades. I feel the urge to share these... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOtPn-N8HlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InsFtTVMX1o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arOHmHYhEaY More seriously, Rick Theory's channel has some from inside a restaurant https://www.youtube.com/user/PCCkitchen And Japanese knife skill videos are always fun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC7EUa-S_qs
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Jul 14, 2014 09:57
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Some sharpening questions for a newbie sharpener. I want to learn to do this myself and mostly I expect to be sharpening three knives for the time being: the standard-newbie 8" Victorinox Fibrox chef's knife, a small (3 1/4") Victorinox paring knife, and this 8 1/2" Mac Professional French chef's knife. The questions: 1. The Victorinox knives should all be sharpened on a 20 degree angle, right? And I can sharpen the parer the same as the chef's knife? 2. The Mac knife is a French style but as I understand it Mac is a Japanese manufacturer and this blade is meant to be sharpened on a 15 degree angle. Is that correct? (Same angle for honing, right?) Any tips on getting this right? I know this is hard to answer, but how important is it to be precise about this, and will I gently caress my knives up permanently if I do it wrong? 3. Can I use a DuoSharp on the Mac or do I need to get water stones? I assume it's fine on the Victorinox knives, right? I have no real grasp of steel hardness and couldn't tell you what alloy is used in the Mac with a gun to my head. I'm interested in sharpening knives myself in order to get the job done quickly without going anywhere, but I don't actually care about the sharpening process beyond the results (and didn't want to drop $250 on an Edge Pro or whatever) so the idea of doing this way faster and more easily appeals. 4. I'll be practicing for a while on the Victorinox before I trust myself not to destroy the Mac, but any general tips? The links in the OP to sharpening videos don't seem to go anywhere useful anymore -- I couldn't find any sharpening videos on that site, just ones breaking down types of Japanese knives and basic cutting techniques. (EDIT: Here are the videos, they've moved http://www.chefknivestogo.com/knife-sharpening-tutorials.html) guppy fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 14, 2014 12:32
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Just got my Mac black ceramic honing rod. The thing rocks! Knives are as sharp as the day I got them ground. My King stone will arrive today too and I'm gonna practice on one of my non-use knives. update: King 1200 grit stone came in and I managed to get the knives sharper than before! I cut through paper effortlessly, just like when I first got them back from being professional sharpened.  I'm having way too much fun with this. Knot My President! fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 14, 2014 23:21
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I got my DuoSharp and have been practicing on some of my grandmother's old, unusably dull knives. I just put a pretty good edge on a knife that would previously have had difficulty cutting butter. This rules. I wanna get really good at this and be able to do it for my friends. I think I am sick.
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Jul 16, 2014 01:55
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Armchair Calvinist posted:update: King 1200 grit stone came in and I managed to get the knives sharper than before! I cut through paper effortlessly, just like when I first got them back from being professional sharpened. Serious hardcore sharpness testing is done using a bunch of hydraulic horseshit that is way beyond the scope of the home hobbyist. But if you're interested in doing semi-rigorous testing you can just get like a bunch of tomatoes or something and cut them on a scale: the less force you have to apply to accomplish a given cut, the sharper the edge.
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Jul 16, 2014 02:07
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I drop cherry/grape tomatoes on my knives to see if they're sharp.
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Jul 16, 2014 02:28
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There's also the hanging hair test. Us straight razor users use it to measure sharpness.
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Jul 16, 2014 02:49
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Cutting hair to test a blade you're going to use to cut hair makes a lot more sense than cutting hair to test a blade that's going to be used to chop veg. If you're going to do any sort of binary `will it cut this' testing, the thing it makes the most sense to test with is the thing that you actually want to be able to cut. Using a scale (or a CATRA tester) has the advantage of offering a quantitative measure for comparing different degrees of sharpness. This may or may not be useful in a given application---presumably you're always going to be predominately concerned with the question `will this edge cut what I want to cut with it?' which is something that can most meaningfully be answered by direct experimental investigation.
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Jul 16, 2014 03:02
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Well, after the paper test, I dropped an avocado pit on it, which managed to get about 25% through. Definitely scary sharp, at least to me, and the blades have no trouble going through anything in the hour of prep work I've done today, haha. I like the scale test idea, though-- I'll try that when I buy a baking scale.
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Jul 16, 2014 03:45
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I have a $50 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond. I want a good chef's knife. Is this the one I should get? I don't want to spend more than the gift card.
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Jul 20, 2014 19:53
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T. J. Eckleburg posted:I have a $50 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond. I want a good chef's knife. Is this the one I should get? I don't want to spend more than the gift card. http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/victorinox-swiss-army-classic-10-inch-chef-39-s-knife/1040113210?Keyword=victorinox+fibrox If you end up going 8", you can just get this one, it's 20 dollars cheaper than the one with the divots: http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/victorinox-swiss-army-classic-8-inch-chef-39-s-knife/1040113258?Keyword=victorinox+fibrox
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Jul 20, 2014 23:49
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That kinfe is pretty popular, I have a very similar knife to that one and its great.
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Jul 20, 2014 23:50
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Armchair Calvinist posted:Well, after the paper test, I dropped an avocado pit on it, which managed to get about 25% through. Every time while pulling the slippery pit off the blade, I feel like I'm one wrong movement away from missing a finger. I'm going about 0 for 100, but I don't know how long this streak can continue.
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Jul 21, 2014 05:49
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geetee posted:Every time while pulling the slippery pit off the blade, I feel like I'm one wrong movement away from missing a finger. I'm going about 0 for 100, but I don't know how long this streak can continue. you're doing it wrong. Pinch from behind. No danger whatsoever. edit for visual aid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKB-863wJSs&t=55s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-3Xa0ccM_Y&t=113s GrAviTy84 fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 05:54
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geetee posted:Every time while pulling the slippery pit off the blade, I feel like I'm one wrong movement away from missing a finger. I'm going about 0 for 100, but I don't know how long this streak can continue. Reach down from the spine of the knife and pinch the pit off. Much less grasping of the slimy pit and much more control.
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Jul 21, 2014 05:57
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Jesus Christ that makes so much more sense. My appendages thank you both.
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Jul 21, 2014 13:13
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I just turn the knife upside down and pop the pit off by knocking the pit into the edge of the counter. You don't touch the knife at all that way.
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Jul 21, 2014 13:42
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You can just whack your knife against a trash can or some kind of plastic/rubber thing to pop them off. You'd get laughed at pinching pits in our kitchen, we go through 2-3 cases of avocado a day.
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Jul 21, 2014 20:58
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One day I'm going to encounter a rotten pit or something and I'm just going to slice my hand clean in half.
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Jul 21, 2014 21:01
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:You can just whack your knife against a trash can or some kind of plastic/rubber thing to pop them off. You'd get laughed at pinching pits in our kitchen, we go through 2-3 cases of avocado a day. I'd laugh at you when you chipped the edge off your weeaboo knife for whacking it on a trash can because you were too proud to spend the extra 1 second to pinch.
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Jul 21, 2014 21:01
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good jovi posted:One day I'm going to encounter a rotten pit or something and I'm just going to slice my hand clean in half. 
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Jul 21, 2014 21:43
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Whacking my knife against the trash can doesn't seem very sanitary 
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Jul 21, 2014 22:37
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Not sure why you're cutting so hard into avocado pits anyways... is there a movement I'm not aware of? I always thought sliding all the way around with a paring knife was the easiest move.
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Jul 21, 2014 22:41
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No Wave posted:Not sure why you're cutting so hard into avocado pits anyways... is there a movement I'm not aware of? I always thought sliding all the way around with a paring knife was the easiest move. You cut around, thwack the knife into the pit, twist to remove, and pinch the pit into the trash.
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Jul 21, 2014 22:43
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good jovi posted:You cut around, thwack the knife into the pit, twist to remove, and pinch the pit into the trash.
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Jul 21, 2014 23:40
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