Kitchen Garden Forum

Although I have a very good set of chefs knives that have a hardness of 58 (Rockwell) ever since Alan posted a photo of his Wusthof Santuko I have wanted one, it's the blade shape for cutting veg and salads in particular that I felt it was a need though have batted it back for two years.

Traditional western chefs knives have a curved cutting edge which is terrific for chopping herbs with a rocking movement from the tip, the Santuko has an almost level cutting edge.

Ok-ok, I didn't need another knife. A regular drink and swearing are the only vices I have left though tools for the job are an obsession. I have tools to operate tools, it makes life easy sometimes.

Look at this baby, it isn't Wusthof but it is Damascus steel and yes, it does shave the hairs on my arms it's so sharp.

Nice looking knife.

Not meaning to derail your thread, but his just caught my eye:

How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?

Are you telling me I can't count each glass of wine as one portion of fruit

Tony I count cider as one of my five a day or is it seven a day now

Tony.

God (Or whoever) gave the grape (Fruit) to all men great and small, little fools drink to much, big fools not at all.

Seems I'm in good company. I never drink tea or coffee after midday, it's bad for you because both stop the absorption of something though have been proven to be beneficial. (Smile)

Same with wine or other booze, someone is having a laugh.

It must be the Viking in you Richard!

Can't trust the water as it will kill you so go with some ETOH that is much safer. As for your knife - looks cool to me but the prices are too prohibitive for cutting a few veg. And don't know about you but I really can't master the correct cutting technique the chefs have so prefer something that will leave me with a finger or two!

I don't have the knife skills of a chef though I improved over the years to such an extent I stopped using the mandolin which I found dangerous because I'm so tight fisted I don't like to waste a lump of veg to hold onto. The mandolin I bought was a professional type, I would have been better buying a more domestic type with a safer holder.

The scolloped sides of the Santuko are to stop stuff sticking, I thought it might have been exaggerated but wet veg just falls away as you cut. I cut potato stacks as thin as I could with the mandolin. With some veg I would rather use a chefs knife.

It's taken me fifty years to stop kitchen knives being dropped in with the wash-up, in some cases my knives got into the dishwasher. Sacrilidge. The handles on my knives are not up to dishwasher detergent and you wouldn't want your hand in a sink full of wash up with one of my knives lurking.

The first Mrs R was quite resolute that I was the idiot for having knives so sharp they were a danger in the wash up, unfortunately my daughters inherited that view.

These days my knives just get wiped and stored though the bread knife has been in the wash up a few times, that also has a very sharp blade but scolloped and she did take a slice of the end of the first finger on her left hand. I glued it back. It's fine, but a lesson learnt.

Yes, I had those knives fifty years and whilst the handles are showing signs of wear by loosing the original patina they are sound. The blade steel have that perfect hardness so they retain an edge but don't chip which is what a Damascus steel blade might do if it dropped accidentally onto a hard floor.

I suppose the perfect combination are the Global knives with steel handles, how do they fill those handles with sand ? An investment, yes.

You can buy knife steel and make your own knife if you can't find what you want and a choice of scales for the handles.

Are there no Sheffield made knives worth having these days? My wife likes her Global set our son gave her.

The Global knives are to be aspired to. They also do a Damascus range.

I think Sheffield is making knives but they don't market themselves like the Germans and now Japan. The blades or steel on my chefs set were made in Sheffield and stamped with the Rockwell hardness and metallurgical make up but under the Kitchen Devils name which suggests cheap tack though these were branded professional.

I think the ranges made for well known chefs and perhaps Lakeland are made by Sheffield cutlers, I never bought a knife if the manufacturer won't tell me what the still is made of and how hard it is.

If you always cut your veg and whatever else onto wood a good blade might not need honing for six months, even then just a quick polish over a ceramic stone.

I use butchers knives for filleting fish mainly a boning knife compared with chefs knives which for me are well over priced they are cheap and easy to get a good edge on, when I was working you could buy a full set of the best chisels made ,cheaper than one chefs knife

Geoff wrote:Are there no Sheffield made knives worth having these days? My wife likes her Global set our son gave her.

Richardson 1839 range are still made in Sheffield. I don't think their other ranges are though.

This may be of interest, Sabatier.

We have one Sabatier knife, as far as I can remember Sabatier were a top brand though I recently found that the name Sabatier is used by many manufacturers. Sabatier doesn't seem to be a protected brand name. Ours is called Lion Sabatier, because that didn't mean much to me I did an internet search. What a surprise, and I always thought they were the top knifes for steel quality.