Knives & Knife sharpening

Woah! That's a lot of coin for knives that are going to bash into a ceramic plate constantly. They do look nice though. Thanks for the article Mark, it's the second one I've seen in as many months on Chef's Armoury. I was thinking about doing their sharpening course when I have the coin to do it and get my stones, it looks like a great way to take the guesswork out of learning to sharpen. I should pop down and have a look in the shop sometime, it's not so far from MensBiz. That could be a dangerously expensive journey.
 
I think I'll just stick with my EdgeFaux - less chance of operator error!
 
Mong. said:
Woah! That's a lot of coin for knives that are going to bash into a ceramic plate constantly. They do look nice though. Thanks for the article Mark, it's the second one I've seen in as many months on Chef's Armoury. I was thinking about doing their sharpening course when I have the coin to do it and get my stones, it looks like a great way to take the guesswork out of learning to sharpen. I should pop down and have a look in the shop sometime, it's not so far from MensBiz. That could be a dangerously expensive journey.
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It really isn't that hard. If you're a Japanese sword master who likes to cut tomatoes in half by dropping them on a knife edge from a height of 10cm (or whatever these knife weirdos do) then yes you'll probably need to spend a small fortune on stones. One of my sons just got a 1200 grit stone, spent an hour looking at sharpening videos, talked to me about it a bit and now has seriously sharp kitchen knives. He's otherwise pretty kack-handed too. The whole thing is very forgiving. Even if you are rocking the knife a bit what difference is it really gonna make? A coupla degrees from ideal means that instead of dicing an onion in 10 seconds flat it'll take you 12. If you've got a good blade and you're somewhere near the right angle on both sides your knife will be hideously sharp. Get yourself a standard 1000ish grit whet stone (King do a really decent one and it's pretty cheap), grab that shitty looking stainless knife that's been knocking around in the back of your kitchen drawer and just play around with it. As for flatting the stone, just use a coarse grit wet and dry sheet of sandpaper, make it wet and plonk it on the kitchen bench and grind your stone on top of it. Messy but easy as hell. It's fun and easy. And people think you're really handy!
 
I'm just wary about the Tojiro gyuto with it's thin blade. Maybe I'll abandon my plan for the Bester and just get the King, I've just seen a lot of comments about it dishing and I don't want to muck around with having to flatten it frequently. How often do you have to re-do yours? I'd have about 4-5 knives to do every two weeks or so.
 
I can't wade through the whole thread.

Can anyone recommend a decent cooks knife I can buy locally? Max $150.

Global's lasted well, but this Scanpan I bought last year is chipped to fark, despite never seeing the inside of a dishwasher or scourers.

A decent vid link on sharpening would be good too. I've a 1000/240 stone but never learnt to use it.
 
In the affordable, high carbon content, stainless steel range I've got two Icel knives, one cleaver and a chef's knife very similar to this one: Icel Platina Cooks Knife 25cm It'll pay to give the store a call before going in because I' don't see them stocking these all the time (yes, I know it's tragic but the ony store I'll ever wonder in to if I, horror of horrors, find myself in a shopping mall is King of Knives).

Really good steel and middle of the range price. I haven't had a huge range of other makes I can compare them to but I'm a bit of a knife tragic and I use these all the time inspite of stiff competition from some Japanese knives. One make I have had experience with is Scanpan and believe me it's hard to find anything worse than that so it's all good from now on! I'm sure there are others but that's the only make I've tried sofar that has somehow managed to find a permanent spot in my knife rack.

There are loads of of sharpening vids. This one's as good as any. Sharpening a knife with a wet stone (Whetstone) - YouTube
 
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The Scanpan was going at half price so was really cheap and has been ok. It's nicer to use, but the Globals have pissed all over it for longevity.

Thanks I'll give that a try. Oops 25cm? Way too big, looking at 16-18. My knife skills are superlative, I'd don't need a big V8...
 
Shame you missed out on the Henckels at Target a couple of weeks back. Not great, but decent enough knives going out the door for $9 a pop.
 
Have I posted a link to these yet? I can not remember.

I have no interest in them except I stumbled upon them a few years ago and think they loook pretty.

Demascus Steel Blades

They also have some nice goat skin journals that my wife would drool over.
 
Well the main thing with those blades is that they cut through European swords. I'm sick of not being able to do that.
 
15cm seems tiny to me.
Depends on the way you grip the knife I suppose.
 
Yeah it might be a bit small for general all purpose work. On the other hand my wife uses one that length all the time. And yes Drubbing, anything's better than a Scan Pan knife. They make decent pans. Pity they, in obvious error, decided that the left over steel from that process would make a kitchen knife. The ones I've had the misfortune to use/handle/sharpen have also been really clumsy, heavy and poorly balanced too.
 
I'm fine with 15cm. My global was 18, anything bigger than that is too much for me.

I got a really decent Scanpan steel wok, so that's why I tried the knife out. But never again.
 
It looks like an improvement. One big fault I have with mine is that the suction cups are crap and that makes the frame unsteady. This looks to improve that, and the stones are slightly different too. The 120 and 320 seem like a bit of a strange choice, I can't imagine many circumstances where the 120 would get used aside from really bad chips or bends. Looks like a good item overall though, I might pick up a second one. If I was to nitpick, I'd say that the plastic 'grips' that hold the stone are a weak point. One of mine has cracked slightly, but it works fine with a bit of super glue to hold it together. It's probably my fault for over tightening.
 
Mong. said:
It looks like an improvement. One big fault I have with mine is that the suction cups are crap and that makes the frame unsteady. This looks to improve that,
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Ditto and yes


Looks like a good item overall though, I might pick up a second one.
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Thinking the same thing ...
 
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