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I got a Wusthof Classic 8" as a wedding gift, as well as a Wusthof knife block with kitchen shears and honing/sharpening rod. They were NOT sold together in a set or anything like that. Since the honing rod is Wusthof can I assume that the honing rod steel will be harder than the knife steel and it will work as intended? Sorry if this is a dumb question but this is my first real knife, I have been getting by with 20 dollar Walmart knives until now.
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Oct 11, 2013 03:40
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ironlung posted:I got a Wusthof Classic 8" as a wedding gift, as well as a Wusthof knife block with kitchen shears and honing/sharpening rod. They were NOT sold together in a set or anything like that. First of all, this is not a dumb question. Your honing rod is not a sharpener, but you corrected your mistake in that latter half of your post. You will often see people (celebrity chefs) smack the edge of the knife on the hone and slide it along quickly - this will chip your knife's edge if you don't know what you're doing. They are able to do this because they have honed the edges of tens of thousands of knives and are comfortable with the motion. Note that there are two metal nubs on your honing rod near the handle, keep them in a position that will block the blade from cutting you. Slide the knife slowly from its heel to the tip from the end of the rod towards you at an angle of ~20 degrees while keeping the edge perpendicular to the rod. Do this on both sides of the knife a few times. Voila, your knife is now honed. You should make a habit of honing your knives after you've washed them so that you know they are ready to go the next time you need them.
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Oct 11, 2013 05:55
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Gotcha, thanks. And yeah, the Alton Brown method seems like it will give me the best chance of not bleeding out in my kitchen.
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Oct 11, 2013 06:19
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ironlung posted:Gotcha, thanks. And yeah, the Alton Brown method seems like it will give me the best chance of not bleeding out in my kitchen. His method works, too. Note that he is honing Shuns, which have a harder edge than your knives. When he says 15 degrees, you want 20. As long as you don't use too much force, you will be okay. If you use this method, try to maintain a mental log of its sharpness. Do the loosely folded paper cutting test every once in a while to see if your knife is dulling.
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Oct 11, 2013 07:22
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TATPants posted:His method works, too. Note that he is honing Shuns, which have a harder edge than your knives. When he says 15 degrees, you want 20. As long as you don't use too much force, you will be okay. If you use this method, try to maintain a mental log of its sharpness. Do the loosely folded paper cutting test every once in a while to see if your knife is dulling. I just got one of their chef’s knives and honing steel as well, but mine came with instructions on the packaging. It says to hold the blade at a 14 degree angle. But it also says that it’s done to sharpen the knife, and the product is actually named sharpening steel, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. I’m going to have a hard time telling the difference between 14 and 20 degrees by hand either way, but I figured it was worth mentioning.
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Oct 18, 2013 22:14
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I'm no expert, and definitely not as serious as most of the folks in this thread, but I've had a Wusthof for 12 years and I've found I get good results honing it by imagining that I'm trying to shave very thin slivers from the steel, ymmv, but its easier for me than trying to eyeball 20 degrees.
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Oct 19, 2013 00:00
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Zemus posted:I just got one of their chef’s knives and honing steel as well, but mine came with instructions on the packaging. It says to hold the blade at a 14 degree angle. But it also says that it’s done to sharpen the knife, and the product is actually named sharpening steel, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Sharpening steel and honing steel are interchangeable terms from what I've found, which makes no sense. "Sharpening steel keeps your knives honed back to their original condition" is actual ad copy from Wusthof.
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Oct 19, 2013 00:22
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Edit: nevermind, read it wrong.
rockcity fucked around with this message at 00:48 on Oct 19, 2013 |
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Oct 19, 2013 00:46
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I've got a global 8" chefs knife that I've had for about 6 years now. I use a sharpmaker on it but even with diamond rods, I've never been able to emulate the sharpness it had out of the box or when I sent it out to get professionally sharpened. What's the preferred way to sharpen these? As a second question, I'm quasi in the market for a new knife sometime in the next year. My cutting style is a lot of rocking...I don't really do much chopping up and down motion. What style would be preferred for this method? I know I gotta get my hands on some but I am just looking for recommendations based off what my style seems to be. Also...third question. I've made Gordon Ramsey's crispy skin salmon and in the video, his knife just moves SO drat smooth through the skin. Not mine. It involves going over the same spot a few times and I usually get plenty of scales coming off with it. Not really sure if that's a question, but drat it's frustrating!
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Oct 24, 2013 22:48
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nwin posted:I've got a global 8" chefs knife that I've had for about 6 years now. I use a sharpmaker on it but even with diamond rods, I've never been able to emulate the sharpness it had out of the box or when I sent it out to get professionally sharpened. Japanese water stones are the best ways to do this. There are a few options and it can be as basic or as complicated as you want it to be. Generally you only really NEED one stone if you only have to do basic resharpening. Something like a 1200 grit stone would be great for modest sharpening duty. If you need to remove nicks or do any tip repair or reprofiling you will want something more aggressive like a 500 or so and a 1200 for finishing. Then you can also polish as much or as little as you want. something in the 2500 range will give you a nice polish but the knife will still have a decent "bite". You can go up to 4k or 6k and further, even use strops and abrasive compounds for even sillier polish levels. Some people really like them, others think that it eventually gets so polished that the bite of the edge disappears and the knife isn't as pleasant to use. ymmv. You probably only really need a 1.2k grit stone to start though and build up your waterstone collection as you need. I have a bester 1.2k stone that I really like. http://www.chefknivestogo.com/bester1200.html It's great but it needs a good deal of soaking before using but the grit cuts well and is easy to use. A bit more convenient but also a skosh more expensive are shapton stones. They are ceramic stones that don't absorb the water so all you need to do is splash them with some water and get to sharpening. http://www.chefknivestogo.com/shgl10gr.html quote:As a second question, I'm quasi in the market for a new knife sometime in the next year. My cutting style is a lot of rocking...I don't really do much chopping up and down motion. What style would be preferred for this method? I know I gotta get my hands on some but I am just looking for recommendations based off what my style seems to be. Gyutos are good for rock chopping, specifically one with a good belly. You should decide if you want stainless or carbon steels and also what kind of handle you want. Also price range. from there a recommendation will be easier to give. quote:Also...third question. I've made Gordon Ramsey's crispy skin salmon and in the video, his knife just moves SO drat smooth through the skin. Not mine. It involves going over the same spot a few times and I usually get plenty of scales coming off with it. Not really sure if that's a question, but drat it's frustrating! You should descale the salmon before fileting.
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Oct 24, 2013 23:14
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GrAviTy84 posted:Japanese water stones are the best ways to do this. There are a few options and it can be as basic or as complicated as you want it to be. Generally you only really NEED one stone if you only have to do basic resharpening. Something like a 1200 grit stone would be great for modest sharpening duty. If you need to remove nicks or do any tip repair or reprofiling you will want something more aggressive like a 500 or so and a 1200 for finishing. Then you can also polish as much or as little as you want. something in the 2500 range will give you a nice polish but the knife will still have a decent "bite". You can go up to 4k or 6k and further, even use strops and abrasive compounds for even sillier polish levels. Some people really like them, others think that it eventually gets so polished that the bite of the edge disappears and the knife isn't as pleasant to use. ymmv. You probably only really need a 1.2k grit stone to start though and build up your waterstone collection as you need. First on the fish, if there's an emote for smacking your own forehead, I need that. I'm new to cooking fish (always hesitated because I would overcook it or just mess it up in the pan somehow) and I figured since I was buying the filets at the store that it would have already been done. For the knife, I don't want all metal like the global...that thing gets too slick and slippery for my liking. I'd like to keep it under $150-200. As for carbon vs stainless I'm not sure. I've never thrown a knife in the dishwasher, I always hone it prior to use and wash/dry it meticulously so I don't mind spending 200 since I plan on it lasting longer than the global (but would like to spend under if possible...looking at chef knives to go, prices are ranging from 100-1000 and I'm not sure of the difference in quality). I'm definitely going to take your advice on the Shapton stone-figure I'll pick up the 1k grit you linked first and try that for a while. Thank you!
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Oct 24, 2013 23:53
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Another question on the stones. What is the difference between these two? Both seem to be the splash with water and start sharpening type: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/shgl10gr.html http://www.chefknivestogo.com/shpro10.html
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Oct 25, 2013 11:15
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nwin posted:Another question on the stones. Pros are more expensive usually because they are a big block of ceramic, the glasstone are half ceramic half glass (so they are the right size but cheaper).
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Oct 25, 2013 16:32
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deimos posted:Pros are more expensive usually because they are a big block of ceramic, the glasstone are half ceramic half glass (so they are the right size but cheaper). Only 3 bucks difference at regular prices though?
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Oct 25, 2013 17:08
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I just bought a 240mm Tojiro DP Gyuto from Amazon for $80, $20 cheaper than chefknivestogo.com. I don't have a MAG BLOK or space to put it, so I'm gonna need to keep it in a drawer/cabinet. What do I need to buy to protect the blade? Also, do I need to buy a honing steel while I'm at it? Which one? Also, what use would a paring/petty knife be? As it is I never really use anything but a chef's knife. I don't eat potatoes for example do I don't ever peel them (and when I need to I have a peeler).
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Nov 17, 2013 08:22
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Boris Galerkin posted:I just bought a 240mm Tojiro DP Gyuto from Amazon for $80, $20 cheaper than chefknivestogo.com. The most common application I have for a paring knife is cutting the innards out of a bell pepper. Second most is for deboning small stuff, I have a pretty tough paring knife (probably actually a boning knife but w/e). You can do this with a kitchen knife, but it's not as quick in my hands to skip out using a smaller blade.
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Nov 17, 2013 18:36
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Breaky posted:The most common application I have for a paring knife is cutting the innards out of a bell pepper. Second most is for deboning small stuff, I have a pretty tough paring knife (probably actually a boning knife but w/e). Ah, gotcha. How's this honing rod sound? It's the cheapest one on Amazon Prime with a labeled grit count (800). Edit: There's also this one on chef's knives to go labeled as a best seller. It's 1200 grit, though I don't know what the difference it makes is.
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Nov 18, 2013 06:12
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Boris Galerkin posted:I just bought a 240mm Tojiro DP Gyuto from Amazon for $80, $20 cheaper than chefknivestogo.com. I use a paring knife to pare.
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Nov 18, 2013 07:23
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I've been researching my first good chef's knife and started to read the specialist forums. Man what a rabbit hole. Those Japanese knives are so beautiful I want everyone I look at. The people on those forums are so nice and helpful.
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Nov 23, 2013 00:09
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My husband decided to surprise me with a new bunch of kitchen knives...mostly Victorinox (sp), as well as some cutting boards, oil for the boards and a ceramic honer and an accusharp sharpener for the knives. I have never had decent knives before, they have all been crappy miracle blade poo poo. I want to take care of them so they last a good while, and I don't want to ruin them. I was reading earlier about honing and sharpening etc, but I got confused on the oiling. What kind of oil should I be using on the blades? Seems that most places I looked recommended to oil the blades to keep them from rusting, I guess? I am just a bit confused...I have never had good knives, let alone ones I needed to sharpen before.
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Nov 25, 2013 06:43
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Mineral oil from the pharmacy. Cheap, readily available, food safe. Edit: An Accusharp? Please don't use that thing if you actually care about the knives. Scott808 fucked around with this message at 06:51 on Nov 25, 2013 |
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Nov 25, 2013 06:46
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Disco Salmon posted:My husband decided to surprise me with a new bunch of kitchen knives...mostly Victorinox (sp), as well as some cutting boards, oil for the boards and a ceramic honer and an accusharp sharpener for the knives. Victorinox are stainless so you wont need to worry about oiling them. I'm not entirely sure, but I'm almost convinced that's what the "INOX" is at the end, since inox is generally short for "inoxydable" or "doesn't oxidize". Honing is truing the edge of the blade. For the victorinox, you will want to do this pretty much every time you use them. Here is a guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICUULOJ4DSI I would not use an accusharp. They're not very good. Though, I suppose they're better than nothing, and also beginner friendly. Some tips for free since you said you've never had nice knives before. Don't wash in the dishwasher. Don't keep them in the bottom of the sink with dirty dishes (surefire way to get cut). I would hand wash right after using and dry with a towel and put away. Not completely necessary for stainless knives since theyre pretty forgiving, but it's just a good thing to get in the habit of. Especially because if you default to washing, drying, and storing immediately then you are by default not doing the things you shouldn't be doing like dishwashering, sink soaking, leaving poo poo caked on them for long periods of time.
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Nov 25, 2013 06:56
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GrAviTy84 posted:Victorinox are stainless so you wont need to worry about oiling them. I'm not entirely sure, but I'm almost convinced that's what the "INOX" is at the end, since inox is generally short for "inoxydable" or "doesn't oxidize". For the record, this is completely correct. Victorinox is a Swiss cutler, chiefly famous for being one of the two official brands of Swiss Army knife manufacturers. Well, at least until they bought the other one (Wenger), and are now the only official manufacturer. According to wiki anyway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorinox Fun fact, the 'Victor' part is after the company founder's wife 
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Nov 26, 2013 00:23
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thespaceinvader posted:For the record, this is completely correct. Victorinox is a Swiss cutler, chiefly famous for being one of the two official brands of Swiss Army knife manufacturers. Well, at least until they bought the other one (Wenger), and are now the only official manufacturer. According to wiki anyway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorinox hmmmmm. That's actually good to know, and changes the way I will furthermore pronounce "victorinox"
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Nov 26, 2013 00:43
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Thanks for the advice...I will take it and use it well. I feel better knowing a little of what to expect and to do to take care of them. I can't wait to actually use them! They are supposed to come tomorrow. It's sad....the knives I have at this moment  I think I get a better cutting edge on my butter knife than on them. I certainly won't miss them!
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Nov 26, 2013 03:00
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I'm a Miyabi fan, I started my upgrades from Wusthof early this year, and I'm using my 7" Santoku almost primarily. Picked up a 9 1/2" chef knife two days ago, yet to use it though because I'm not allowed to have it until Christmas -.-Disco Salmon posted:Thanks for the advice...I will take it and use it well. Be careful not to over hone with the ceramic. They are VERY good for honing, but are also VERY good at destroying knives  Boris Galerkin posted:I just bought a 240mm Tojiro DP Gyuto from Amazon for $80, $20 cheaper than chefknivestogo.com. I highly recommend skipping all of the bull poo poo with diamond steels, and spend $20-30 on a ceramic steel. These things will hone the edge of my Miyabi with little to no effort, while my diamond steel takes quite a few caressing swipes to get the edge back. Ironsolid fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Nov 26, 2013 |
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Nov 26, 2013 06:51
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Alright, as indicated earlier I picked up the Shapton Pro 1k whetstone and it works great. Still fine tuning my technique, but spending a few minutes with each knife has yielded great results. For moving up, I'm wondering what I should get next. In the same line, the following grits are available: 1.5k, 2k, 5k, 8k, 15k, 30k I'd say either 2k or 5k. 1.5 doesn't seem like enough and 8+ seems like wayyy too much. Advice?
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Dec 1, 2013 03:26
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nwin posted:Alright, as indicated earlier I picked up the Shapton Pro 1k whetstone and it works great. Still fine tuning my technique, but spending a few minutes with each knife has yielded great results. I'd go 5k then start getting into compound loaded strops. For all you know you may be plenty happy with just 5k. That is considerably more polished than the average cool ever goes. Past 5k you lose the "bite" of the edge which some people like, some don't. GrAviTy84 fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 04:02
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Regarding sharpening stones: I personally just own the one, and rarely use it, when my knives are in need of a more serious sharpening. I think the last time I actually used it was to give a quick rejig to my main "bruiser"/heavy use knife (a 28cm chef's knife) Usually I run it over a sharpening steel or if needed, a diamond steel. Edit to add: it's a dual sided one with a fine grit and a harsher one on the second side. The harsher one I've never actually used, yet. It's personal preference, but I found that once I was used to using a steel properly, it became much easier to have my knives keep/hold an edge. I must be doing something right because the other chefs are wanting me to be the one who sharpens their knives... Or asking if they can borrow. Sir Spaniard fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 07:38
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Sir Spaniard posted:Regarding sharpening stones: I personally just own the one, and rarely use it, when my knives are in need of a more serious sharpening. I think the last time I actually used it was to give a quick rejig to my main "bruiser"/heavy use knife (a 28cm chef's knife) Usually I run it over a sharpening steel or if needed, a diamond steel. It depends on the knife. Many of my knives' steel is so hard it would shave the spines off of a honing steel. These also do not bend and flop like softer steel does, so it doesnt ever need honing so much as it needs a new edge.
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Dec 1, 2013 07:47
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Any word on how hard/soft those Moritaka Hamano knives are? Can't wait till they arrive. (February is so far away.)
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Dec 1, 2013 08:01
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I love to cook but I always used cheap knives without even giving a second thought about it till I started reading this thread. Picking up a Victorinox Fibrox 10in Chef's Knife to start off my collection, then to buy another knife to add in to my collection every few months till I have a set of very good knives. My questions are regarding to purchasing a honing rod and a waterstone or oilstone so I can practice sharpening on my cheap set of knives before I replace or retire them. For a honing rod, should I go ahead and order a Mac Knife Black Ceramic Rod or are there others that those that have honed for awhile prefer? Cost is not a problem and I know that I will be using a honing rod in the future, especially after reading the sharpening section of the thread. Yes, I know you don't using a honing rod to sharpen knives. Which leads to my next question regarding sharpening. From what I'm reading in the sharpening section, I should either get two cheap waterstones (one 200-400 one 600+ grit) or get two grits of cheap oilstones (one 200-400 one 1000+ grit), both from Norton. Would that be a good choice to get either or for a beginning?
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Dec 1, 2013 11:28
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The idahone rod is a little cheaper than the MAC but either would be fine. The grits you listed for the waterstone seem really low, usually you'd only use a 200-400 grit stone for serious repair or edge reprofiling work, not maintenance sharpening. Most people would recommend getting a ~1000 grit stone and a ~5000 grit stone. Norton does a 1000/4000 combination stone and King makes one that's 1000/6000 and either can be had for very modest price. If you want to spend more money, Shapton glass stones are highly regarded. Another pair of well reviewed stones are the Bestor 1200 grit and the Suehiro Rika 5000 grit.
Thoht fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Dec 1, 2013 |
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Dec 1, 2013 19:33
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Sir Spaniard posted:Any word on how hard/soft those Moritaka Hamano knives are? Can't wait till they arrive. (February is so far away.) I have a 240mm ao super gyuto moritaka. It owns so friggin hard. Holds a stupid sharp edge for weeks. Super light to weild. Love it. They are super hard. Also very carbon steel. Be sure to keep it dry and if you live somewhere humid, oiled.
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Dec 1, 2013 19:56
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Thoht posted:The idahone rod is a little cheaper than the MAC but either would be fine. The grits you listed for the waterstone seem really low, usually you'd only use a 200-400 grit stone for serious repair or edge reprofiling work, not maintenance sharpening. Most people would recommend getting a ~1000 grit stone and a ~5000 grit stone. Norton does a 1000/4000 combination stone and King makes one that's 1000/6000 and either can be had for very modest price. If you want to spend more money, Shapton glass stones are highly regarded. Another pair of well reviewed stones are the Bestor 1200 grit and the Suehiro Rika 5000 grit. Ahh, something like this one regarding theNorton Japanese style 1000/4000 or the King 1000/6000? I mean, looking at the both of them, I'm simply undecided and not sure what to get. The Norton is on sale at Amazon right now but the bundle that King offers seems to be tempting.
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Dec 1, 2013 21:20
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GrAviTy84 posted:I have a 240mm ao super gyuto moritaka. It owns so friggin hard. Holds a stupid sharp edge for weeks. Super light to weild. Love it.
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Dec 1, 2013 22:52
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I wanted to get a CCK Small Cleaver on christmas, but shipping from chef's knives to go to my country is a bit eeeeh and I don't really see it available in other places. Could somebody point me to a nice alternative?
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Dec 3, 2013 12:30
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You know I really respect the guy and love his work but Kenji Lopez has a full-on hate boner for the Victorinox line of knives. He trashes it at every chance he gets. I've had mine for about three years now and it remains one of the best bang-for-my-buck kitchen investments. I actually won a Korin gyuto from Serious Eats in a giveaway and it's too light for my tastes, so I switched back to the Fibrox. I feel like he forgets that even a budget Victorinox chef knife is still light years ahead of what your average Joe Sixpack thinks is acceptable (like one of those hollow knives falling through tomatoes on infomercials or some poo poo). When I've got some more disposable income sure I'll waste it on a needlessly expensive full-tang riveted knife or some such poo poo, but drat dude it's not like Mr. Victorinox raped your mom and sister and shot your fuckin' dad.
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Dec 3, 2013 17:59
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The Midniter posted:You know I really respect the guy and love his work but Kenji Lopez has a full-on hate boner for the Victorinox line of knives. He trashes it at every chance he gets. I've had mine for about three years now and it remains one of the best bang-for-my-buck kitchen investments. I actually won a Korin gyuto from Serious Eats in a giveaway and it's too light for my tastes, so I switched back to the Fibrox. I feel like he forgets that even a budget Victorinox chef knife is still light years ahead of what your average Joe Sixpack thinks is acceptable (like one of those hollow knives falling through tomatoes on infomercials or some poo poo). I mean... they are pretty lovely knives. I'd still recommend them to anyone looking for a first 'good' 'knife', and I've bought several as cheap presents for people who I know would just appreciate anything sharper than the butter knives they've been using since their college days - but they're still flimsy, cheap, (decent) lovely knives. not saying a $125 dollar knife is lightyears ahead of a $30 victorinox for most people, but there is qualitatively a big difference between the two. Also, internet bandwagons can be pretty annoying - so given his 'serious eats' thing is his soapbox, I can understand raging against the machine in this case.
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Dec 4, 2013 10:34
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mindphlux posted:I mean... I guess it's just a weird definition of "lovely". But you could argue that it hasn't really hit the point of diminishing returns the same way a Tojiro DP has.
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Dec 4, 2013 13:43
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