Kitchen Garden Forum

Ooo-err, i've been trying to pluck-up courage to broach this subject for some time and before the ladies set the dogs on me I know plenty of blokes who don't know what a sharp knife looks or feels like.

The only knife in our kitchen that stays sharp is the huge one that she doesn't use, this was exactly the case with the first lady in my life. I put up with that (Amongst other things) for 30 years.

I don't have many male pals that do stuff in the kitchen so i'm relying on you-lot to either put me in my place or maybe give me an understanding huggy.

My knives are sharpened so they slice a tomato nice and thin and with just a little to-and-fro for the blade, if you get it wrong with my knives you're going to loose a finger though I have never had an accident because I know and I have respect. I also think sharp knives are safer than nearly sharp knives.

The knife that is only ever used by me rarely needs honing, all the others need attention for each use and i'm not going into the reasons for fear of setting myself up with those who have no idea about sharp.

I sharpened some knives for my Mum today, but i'm not sure that has answered your Question, Richard!

I'm not sure either.

Let me elaborate just a little, other than my two life relationships I have three adult daughters who can't slice garlic or tomato because of their knives. In fact even the bread knife rubs it's way through the bread.

I'm also aware that people are spending decent money on good knives but are these good knives just kitchen trophies or are they honed instruments.

All I will say Richard is that all our knives are kept razor sharp and we both use them. I probably use them somewhat more as I do the more adventurous cooking. But neither of us would touch a blunt knife - they're more likely to slip and cut you than a sharp blade. My personal favourite is this nakiri which I use for very thin slicing and fine chopping.

I certainly appreciate a nice sharp knife. What's the point of a blunt one?

Ahhhh, now we're talking and thanks for the photo of of a classy kitchen tool Alan. I thought it was me, and i'm always being accused of being a perfectionist or suffering OCD type problems when I moan that someone has been using my knives.

Look at those lovely sliced onions that Alan has shown us, I only have one knife that could do that because all the others are knackered so I'll use a mandolin. The Mandolin blade is kept like you could shave with it.

List of horrors.

(1) Cutting through a sandwich or anything onto a ceramic plate.

Oh I appreciate a sharp knife but obviously not speaking on behalf of all the females out there! I spent way too much on some Global knives & they probably get a fortnightly sharpen.

I used to have a water sharpener that was fab but got a file type one now which is pretty good as well but always on the look out at kitchen shops for the water one with the ceramic wheels which was from Japan.

Also have a course file type one for my hoe! (Do wish I could use a steel though!)

Westi

Anyone touching my kitchen knives Beware!! that's all I can say.

And my chopping board come to that. John used it to slice on once and boy did he get it in the neck.

Beryl.

Dear Beryl.....

We love sharp knives. We must be the only people that go on holiday and take sharp knives and a knife sharpener. (This includes 11 days in Tuscany, we packed two in our luggage) Which was just as well as there wasn't a sharp knife in the accommodation. We would have had to cut our bread with a steak knife if we hadn't taken a knife with us.

I am baffled by my mother's knives, which have always been blunt and she's always liked them that way. She peels with a peeler, as do I, but chopping isn't so much chopping as fragmenting. Me, I have just one kitchen knife which I use for everything, á la Chinese chefs, which is carbon steel. It rusts when not used for a while, but the edge that can be ground on it, which I grind on a whetstone, is peerless and can slice bread.

Oh-lovely, I feel vindicated for quietly snarling at the ladies in my life. The bizarre thing is my three daughters have all inherited the ability to reduce a razor sharp knife and to keep it that way. Maybe just to show who's boss and that the collusion is still intact.

In recent years I have quietly re-sharpened my knives to avoid conflict in much the same way as I always did, fortunately the large blade stays sharp and is part of a set I bought 30 years ago. Kitchen Devils Professional range; Co50:Cr14:MoO25. They do get rusty spots if you don't dry them.

I have often fancied raiding the fun-fund for a set of laminated blades though the quality of the blades I have is well proven. The best blade in the world can suffer if the user has little or no respect.

I also sharpen on a wet-stone, I use a jig on a Tormek wet-stone machine so it isn't difficult. It's just irritating.

Thanks for sharing, I now feel less of a geek, a sort of counselling session.

Many moons ago, I helped to refurbish one of the top London hotel staff rooms. A rough weekend, one of the chefs would insist on trying his new dishes on us. Still getting away from the subject. watched him slicing beef. mentioned that the knife looked very sharp. His reply. You only suffer cuts to your fingers with blunt knives. Hope this helps.

Shallot Man wrote: You only suffer cuts to your fingers with blunt knives. Hope this helps.

I appreciate all the helpful comments, it's comforting but won't solve the problem.

How-about this then, when I have a sharpening session I always warn her that everything is razor sharp. All our knives are kept on a magnetic strip, the best knives are furthest away just to deter their use and mostly it works until the ones at the front start to loose their edge. So my question is answered, she prefers sharp knives. So why risk dulling the blade, I just have to look at a blade to see if it's been abused.

If I ever use the scissors she uses for dress making i'm in trouble. I'm told not to cut paper, just fabric.

And just sliding slightly off-subject, I have always wanted some of those shears the farmer uses for shearing sheep. Mostly far to expensive until I saw this advert from an e-bay trader for topiary shears. For £5 + something it was worth a gamble and they turned out to be excellent quality under the name 'Darlac'.

I bought a second pair that were more expensive and slightly smaller plus a tiny pair that she uses for snipping cotton around the sewing machine.

I love those shears and it's a recommendation, wouldn't be without them and the large ones are so tough and sharp I trim the sea buckthorn with them.

http://www.darlac.com/category/gardenin ... s/scissors

I never put sharp knives in the dishwasher I was always told that it blunts them. It always drives me mad that when we go away to holiday cottages there is never a sharp knife. That's why we always carry a sharp knife and sharpener with us.