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deimos posted:Not enough love for Dexter-Russell or Lamson Sharp in this thread either. I feel that if you're going to go for softer steel you might as well go Dexter-Russell, I'd almost recommend them over Fibrox. Caveat: I haven't owned a Dexter in a while so my remembrance of their quality might be skewed. I had a completely different experience with the Dexter-Russell stuff, I used it cutting fruit for 6-8 hours a day and it was total crap. Wouldn't hold an edge, way too think, just generally useless. I would up bringing in my own beater knife, a big ol' Mercer 12" chef knife in 420J2 (among the worst blade steels) and just by virtue of blade profile it was miles ahead of the Dexter-Russell stuff.
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Jul 3, 2013 23:36
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:You're sharpening your dexter wrong. The thin steel can hold an aggressive edge. I've got an old dexter sofgrip that I sharpen with a cheap accusharp and it outperforms the average German knife. It's a work knife in a grocery store. All we have is a large grinder/knife ruiner in the meat department. I'm willing to acknowledge that my personal beater was better based on the fact that I did basic knife maintenance, but at the same time I've never managed to find a Dexter Russell I liked using, even with a factory new edge. Mostly we use the 12" butcher knife, and they're more or less considered disposable. They do have reasonably comfortable handles, though
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Jul 4, 2013 04:51
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adorai posted:Last year I bought the cheapest ceramic knife they had at bed bath & beyond (I think it was $20 or so on sale). I do not regret my decision. I use it only for cutting vegetables, and with no care other than a quick rinse under the faucet after use, it still slices through tomatoes, lettuce, and onions with zero effort. I have never used it on anything resembling meat, and it has not chipped. I still have my nice chef's knife that I use for real chopping, but for the more delicate things I cut I love the ceramic knife. Enjoy it until you accidentally use it on a brick of grocery store cheese, and the blade separates from the handle entirely. After that, I recommend a proper metal knife.
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Jul 22, 2013 05:59
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I just bought a good ol' no name carbon steel Chinese cleaver. I've been using a cheap stainless Shibazi cleaver now for about a month now. The Shibazi is a fantastic knife, despite the slippery metal handle and milquetoast steel. Also, it's better than any western knife for eleven dollars or less. I'm totally loving using the cleaver instead of my chef knife, and I have a whole heap of questions about my new one: It came with a reaallly rough convex edge that does not slice anything well at all. Is this by design, or is it safe to assume that it's a fit and finish thing? Is it proper to maintain a fairly obtuse convex grind, or would I do better to reprofile it and/or cut some bevels? If so, what sort of bevel should I put on this thing so that it slices efficiently but also stands up to its own weight? The blade is much thicker than what I am accustomed to. It is about 5mm wide at the base and tapers down to 2mm at the tip. My old cleaver is 2mm all the way through. Any recommendations for how to reprofile it, if that's what I should do? I've got everything from a belt sander to files to Sharpmaker to sandpaper, so I can do basically anything to this guy. Is there a difference between a "chopping" cleaver and a "slicing" cleaver? Will this one still work well for thinly slicing vegetables, if I fix it up correctly? What the hell did I just buy, basically? I'm just some gringo who really likes knives and I think I totally fell in over my head. I was just happy to find a carbon steel cleaver that wasn't obviously made for dismantling pigs, and I want to start using it. Here are some pictures, that somebody might actually read this post:  Anyone know if this says anything important?  Just as you suspected, it's a boring ol' Chinese cleaver  Here is the thickness of the new cleaver vs. the old Help me GWS, you're my only hope. What do I have? What do I need to do?
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Jul 31, 2013 06:05
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I have an update about my bitchin' new cleaver. I broke out the ol' belt sander and thinned the blade a little bit behind the edge and also sharpened it. I tested it on an old leek kicking around my fridge. It flew through the leek. Halfway through cutting the leek, I came to realize that I was all of a sudden missing a bunch of my fingernail and a little bit of my finger. Didn't even feel it. Thanks GWS. Chinese cleavers rule so much, I love this thing. Everybody go get a Chinese cleaver.
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Aug 3, 2013 18:24
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If you're that scared, would it be so bad to invest less than ten dollars in a chinatown stainless shibazi cleaver for general knockaround purposes? That way you could have your cleaver and use it too, and if anyone else wanted a stupid huge gigantor knife they could use the beater? The easiest way to make sure you are the only one to use your cleaver is to threaten your roommates with it.
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Aug 5, 2013 03:35
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Skinny isn't as big a deal, if it's long enough. This applies to sharpening stones as well as jokes about what she said. If you had decent knives, it would be worth taking them to a professional. If you have cheap Farberware knives, it is probably better to get cheap Victorinox/Forschner knives, and learn to use them on the stone. Or, get some pliers and bend your chef's knife tip back, practice on the Farberware, and then get the Victorinox and enjoy having sharp (and sharpenable) decent quality knives for the rest of your life for a pittance. That is, until the knife bug bites you, then all bets are off. edit: grammar and spelling Stalizard fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Aug 15, 2013 |
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Aug 15, 2013 05:33
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bunnielab posted:What angle does a generic carbon Chinese cleaver want to be sharpened to? How thick is it? I have a pretty big one that tapers from about 5mm near the handle to about 2mm at the tip, I just convexed the bitch on a belt sander and I can mince onions and everything with it no problem. I highly doubt that a generic carbon cleaver is going to be pushing 60 rockwell, that's mostly going to be the high end Japanese stuff.
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Jan 9, 2014 23:21
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bunnielab posted:It is .08" at the spine. Oh drat, start that bitch at 15 degrees a side and take it down until you either lose a fingernail or orgasm
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Jan 10, 2014 04:30
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From the product recommendation thread: Guitarchitect posted:considering there isn't even a mention of K-Sabatier (or french knives in general) the last time I checked, I don't actually believe the Goon Hivemind knows its poo poo when it comes to knives I got a carbon steel K-Sabatier because I'm an rear end in a top hat. Seriously. I'm a giant pedantic dick, and among the reasons I got the Sabatier is that because to me it just seemed Correct. I have a giant soft spot for anything that claims to be The Original, and when I decided to learn how to cook I learned how to make French food thanks to a French guy. So it makes me happy to have what is at least allegedly an approximation of the classic French knife. I know that the Japanese knives have better stats, and I respect that. I also like that they mostly follow the traditional French blade profile (especially when precedent dictates that the Japanese tend to skew German). Some of those RC scores are just bonkers; I won't speak ill of Japanese knives. If you prefer them, I don't have an objective argument against it. I just like my Sabatier better. I've been a Knife Jerk since forever, and I don't mind that it's down a few Rockwell points, or that the steel has been described as "1080-ish?". It doesn't take very long to touch up the edge. I don't even have to do it as frequently as I thought I would. I just love the feel, the balance, the blade profile - my only regret is that I couldn't find a super old vintage one from a reliable place. Anyway, that's why nobody mentions Sabatiers. The only things going for them are the traditional French blade profile (which the Japanese do), and that some people insist that GENERIC CARBON STEEL is better than GENERIC STAINLESS STEEL (which the Japanese do better than anybody (both kinds of steel, seriously they're pretty on point)).  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get one and use it forever and love it, because they're the greatest.
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May 7, 2014 23:51
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SubG posted:The thing I hate about ye olde schoole French knife designs is gently caress a finger guard bolster. I'm honestly curious as to why you don't like it? It's just that you're usually right about things, and I went from a Henckels without any bolster to this one and I never really noticed that much of difference between bolster and not-bolster. edit: specifically this Henckels knife, which noticeably eschews the whole finger guard bolster paradigm: 
Stalizard fucked around with this message at 00:23 on May 8, 2014 |
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May 8, 2014 00:19
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:53 |
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I was an idiot and meant to say that the Henckels didn't have a finger bolster - it obviously has a bolster, sorry about that. Anyway, thanks! Everything you just said is valid! But you knew that already! Also for what it's worth, the bolster on my Sab turns pretty sharply away from the edge of the blade, almost a 45 degree angle. When I bought it the edge was pretty lovely up to about a cm away from the bolster, but I fixed that on a sharpmaker of all things. You can definitely put together a workable edge right up to the bolster, but some people might not have the skills or the stones to do that. Which is understandable. Even if you have both, it can be a pain in the rear end (ask me how I know!) I definitely agree that finger bolsters don't do anything for you for safety. And that they're a pain to sharpen - I like this one because it dramatically curves up out of the way. But if you like a lighter knife, obviously such a bolster will totally get in the way. You know what you like; more power to you! If any of you are reading this and aren't a forums superstar, I still got to recommend you at least try a Sabatier. If you like it, only ever buy a K-Sabatier or a Four Star/Elephant; the rest are garbage. If you don't, try a Japanese knife! If you don't like that one either, gently caress off!
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May 8, 2014 01:13
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