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pecuniumThere are, generally, two types of knife. Special purpose ones, which are meant to do one thing really well, and general purpose ones, which will do, almost, anything; though they may not be the best thing for the purpose.
If you can’t afford to buy a suite of knives all at once, a good general purpose knife will be more than enough to get by until you can find the rest of the cutlery you want.
I’d start with a 6” “utility” knife. Which is basically a small version of a chef’s knife. It won’t chop heavy vegetable as efficiently as a chef’s knife. It won’t mince as quickly either, but it will do both adequately to your needs.
It will also be handy for small scale boning, and jointing of meat. For cutting meat in to cubes; for chili, soup, etc, it's probably the knife you will come to reach for first.
Mine is the tool I reach for most. It’s quick, handy, and easy to use.
After that, an 8”, or 10”, chef’s knife is the next thing you'll want. It will chop, mince, and joint. In a pinch it can be used to butcher largish cuts of meat (an entire sirloin, or a tenderloin). If you need to, you can use it to carve; if you’ve gone to the trouble to roast a leg of lamb, or a prime rib.
A good bread knife, with serrations, not waves. The teeth make for clean cuts in breads with thick, or hard, crusts, which out crushing the crumb.
A cleaver. The thing for making chops, jointing chickens; legs of lamb, ox-tails, you name it. A heavy one is better than a light one, though a “chinese cleaver” is also handy in the same way as a chef’s knife, despite being, relatively light. If you want you can get one, and make it do double duty. I know people who gave up using their chef’s knives after getting a chinese cleaver.
A paring knife is useful, if you like them. I don’t use mine for anything but doing decorative garnishes. For peeling things, I use one of the slotted peelers.
After those, the sky’s the limit. Shashimi knives, carving knives, cake knives, larger knives, boning knives, flensing knives (specifically meant for trimming the fat from meat, but actually used by butchers for just about every bit of large cutting, even though the knife is small), filet knives, fish knives, quartering knives
What you need, in general, is to have at least one knife with a point, and one which has a slight curve to the edge, so it can rock.
Apart from the bread knife, all your knives should have smooth edges, not serrate. Serrated knives don’t cut, they tear. A really sharp one will cut, but when it gets dull, sharpening it is difficult, tedious, and not really worth the effort.
For a knife to behave, it has to be sharp. Any use of a knife dulls the edge a little. Look at a knife under a microscope and it looks like a saw. The teeth, however, are really small. So long as they are evenly spaced, and not bent over, the knife will make clean cuts.
But when the knife is used, some of the teeth get broken, others get bent. A steel will clean the broken bits Using a steel is easy. Place the knife’s edge against the steel, laying it down at a very sharp angle (ideally it will be no shallower than the edge of the knife), with the edge facing in either direction (toward you, or away. The classic is toward the user, and it is a little easier to keep an evenly balanced edge that way, but pushing it away also works), and draw the knife, from heel to tip.
Do that first on one side, and then the other, and with an even number of strokes to both sides of the edge.
The steel needs to be decent. The ones in most knife sets, suck. Go to thrift stores, antique malls, or (if you have one in the area) a good restaurant supply. It should feel smooth, the ridges shouldn’t grab at your fingers when you caress it. There are some steels which don’t have ridges, they are stippled. Some are so softly stippled they feel like satin. Those are the steels butchers use to get the keenest of edges on the knives they use.
If you are buying it at a second-hand shop, look to see that it isn’t nicked, nor too worn. If it looks good, and you are willing to pay for it, then buy it.
But steeling a knife won’t keep it sharp forever. Every so often it will need to be sharpened.
Sharpening is more work than dressing, but it only has to be done once, or twice a year, for most knives, even the most used, if they’ve been kept well.
There are three types of stones, as well as diamond hones. I’m not a huge fan of diamond hones. They are quick, but I find them to be coarse. If I were to use one, it would be to get past the earlier stages of stoning.
The basic technique is the same, regardless of the stone. The knife is laid on the stone, and drawn across it. The most common description is that one tries to shave a piece of the stone off.
That’s not a bad description, though it leaves out a lot; most of which can only be learned through practice.
There are three shapes of edge, two of them are decent for kitchen knives, the canell/ V edge, and the chisel. The hollow ground edge is problematic. Hollow grinding removes some of the metal from the side of the blade. This reduces weight, but it means the knife has a much greater wedging effect, which makes it harder to cut things especially vegetables, because the wider portion starts to force the food apart, more than the edge.
A heavy knife might have some relief ground in, to reduce weight, but it shouldn’t be so much that it’s obviously concave.
The chisel is also problematic. It’s easier to sharpen, if well designed, but it needs to be sharpened more often, and isn’t really suitable for dressing on a steel. It’s the shape of shashimi knives. It makes very flat cuts, but they have to be in fleshy things, or very thin, because they have the same wedging action of hollow ground knives.
So the “V” shape is what we have, by and large, as the most useful blade design.
It can be sharpened to a straight “V”. Using a guide, or a steady hand, the knife is dragged across the stone, as many times on one side, as the other.
I prefer to round the edge. I think is lasts longer, and cuts more cleanly. I set a sharper angle than I want to keep. That makes the edge very keen, but so narrow an edge is delicate, so behind that I round it, so that it’s stronger. The same profile can be seen in axes.
Ceramic stones are used dry. The steel is merely rubbed across them. Most are cleaned with water.
Natural/arkansas stones, use oil as a lubricant. A small amount is placed on the stone, and then spread around. A small amount of oil is used to clean them when done.
Water stones are different. They are softer than ceramic, or natural, stones. They are soaked in water. When the steel is rubbed on them, they break down, which makes a paste of very fine grit. It’s that grit which removes the metal.
Diamond stones are used dry. They don’t need to be cleaned.
With all of them one stone isn’t going to be enough. If the knife is only a little dull, a hard/fine stone will be enough. Even if you never let one go so long untended that it becomes dull, there will come a time you buy a knife which needs more work.
It can be done with just a hard/fine stone, but that will take much longer. A medium stone will remove metal faster. Once the knife is to the point the medium stone isn’t making it sharper, just move to the harder stone.
There are lots of tools/kits, etc. which can be used. Like every other thing about cooking, what makes your life easier, is just fine.
If you can’t afford to buy a suite of knives all at once, a good general purpose knife will be more than enough to get by until you can find the rest of the cutlery you want.
I’d start with a 6” “utility” knife. Which is basically a small version of a chef’s knife. It won’t chop heavy vegetable as efficiently as a chef’s knife. It won’t mince as quickly either, but it will do both adequately to your needs.
It will also be handy for small scale boning, and jointing of meat. For cutting meat in to cubes; for chili, soup, etc, it's probably the knife you will come to reach for first.
Mine is the tool I reach for most. It’s quick, handy, and easy to use.
After that, an 8”, or 10”, chef’s knife is the next thing you'll want. It will chop, mince, and joint. In a pinch it can be used to butcher largish cuts of meat (an entire sirloin, or a tenderloin). If you need to, you can use it to carve; if you’ve gone to the trouble to roast a leg of lamb, or a prime rib.
A good bread knife, with serrations, not waves. The teeth make for clean cuts in breads with thick, or hard, crusts, which out crushing the crumb.
A cleaver. The thing for making chops, jointing chickens; legs of lamb, ox-tails, you name it. A heavy one is better than a light one, though a “chinese cleaver” is also handy in the same way as a chef’s knife, despite being, relatively light. If you want you can get one, and make it do double duty. I know people who gave up using their chef’s knives after getting a chinese cleaver.
A paring knife is useful, if you like them. I don’t use mine for anything but doing decorative garnishes. For peeling things, I use one of the slotted peelers.
After those, the sky’s the limit. Shashimi knives, carving knives, cake knives, larger knives, boning knives, flensing knives (specifically meant for trimming the fat from meat, but actually used by butchers for just about every bit of large cutting, even though the knife is small), filet knives, fish knives, quartering knives
What you need, in general, is to have at least one knife with a point, and one which has a slight curve to the edge, so it can rock.
Apart from the bread knife, all your knives should have smooth edges, not serrate. Serrated knives don’t cut, they tear. A really sharp one will cut, but when it gets dull, sharpening it is difficult, tedious, and not really worth the effort.
For a knife to behave, it has to be sharp. Any use of a knife dulls the edge a little. Look at a knife under a microscope and it looks like a saw. The teeth, however, are really small. So long as they are evenly spaced, and not bent over, the knife will make clean cuts.
But when the knife is used, some of the teeth get broken, others get bent. A steel will clean the broken bits Using a steel is easy. Place the knife’s edge against the steel, laying it down at a very sharp angle (ideally it will be no shallower than the edge of the knife), with the edge facing in either direction (toward you, or away. The classic is toward the user, and it is a little easier to keep an evenly balanced edge that way, but pushing it away also works), and draw the knife, from heel to tip.
Do that first on one side, and then the other, and with an even number of strokes to both sides of the edge.
The steel needs to be decent. The ones in most knife sets, suck. Go to thrift stores, antique malls, or (if you have one in the area) a good restaurant supply. It should feel smooth, the ridges shouldn’t grab at your fingers when you caress it. There are some steels which don’t have ridges, they are stippled. Some are so softly stippled they feel like satin. Those are the steels butchers use to get the keenest of edges on the knives they use.
If you are buying it at a second-hand shop, look to see that it isn’t nicked, nor too worn. If it looks good, and you are willing to pay for it, then buy it.
But steeling a knife won’t keep it sharp forever. Every so often it will need to be sharpened.
Sharpening is more work than dressing, but it only has to be done once, or twice a year, for most knives, even the most used, if they’ve been kept well.
There are three types of stones, as well as diamond hones. I’m not a huge fan of diamond hones. They are quick, but I find them to be coarse. If I were to use one, it would be to get past the earlier stages of stoning.
The basic technique is the same, regardless of the stone. The knife is laid on the stone, and drawn across it. The most common description is that one tries to shave a piece of the stone off.
That’s not a bad description, though it leaves out a lot; most of which can only be learned through practice.
There are three shapes of edge, two of them are decent for kitchen knives, the canell/ V edge, and the chisel. The hollow ground edge is problematic. Hollow grinding removes some of the metal from the side of the blade. This reduces weight, but it means the knife has a much greater wedging effect, which makes it harder to cut things especially vegetables, because the wider portion starts to force the food apart, more than the edge.
A heavy knife might have some relief ground in, to reduce weight, but it shouldn’t be so much that it’s obviously concave.
The chisel is also problematic. It’s easier to sharpen, if well designed, but it needs to be sharpened more often, and isn’t really suitable for dressing on a steel. It’s the shape of shashimi knives. It makes very flat cuts, but they have to be in fleshy things, or very thin, because they have the same wedging action of hollow ground knives.
So the “V” shape is what we have, by and large, as the most useful blade design.
It can be sharpened to a straight “V”. Using a guide, or a steady hand, the knife is dragged across the stone, as many times on one side, as the other.
I prefer to round the edge. I think is lasts longer, and cuts more cleanly. I set a sharper angle than I want to keep. That makes the edge very keen, but so narrow an edge is delicate, so behind that I round it, so that it’s stronger. The same profile can be seen in axes.
Ceramic stones are used dry. The steel is merely rubbed across them. Most are cleaned with water.
Natural/arkansas stones, use oil as a lubricant. A small amount is placed on the stone, and then spread around. A small amount of oil is used to clean them when done.
Water stones are different. They are softer than ceramic, or natural, stones. They are soaked in water. When the steel is rubbed on them, they break down, which makes a paste of very fine grit. It’s that grit which removes the metal.
Diamond stones are used dry. They don’t need to be cleaned.
With all of them one stone isn’t going to be enough. If the knife is only a little dull, a hard/fine stone will be enough. Even if you never let one go so long untended that it becomes dull, there will come a time you buy a knife which needs more work.
It can be done with just a hard/fine stone, but that will take much longer. A medium stone will remove metal faster. Once the knife is to the point the medium stone isn’t making it sharper, just move to the harder stone.
There are lots of tools/kits, etc. which can be used. Like every other thing about cooking, what makes your life easier, is just fine.
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 06:29 am (UTC)I've used straight knives on bread, there are crusts (I recall a divinely thick, crunchy and malty crust in Munich) which a straight knife, IMO, won't do.
Then again, to cut that, the tool was a sort of guillotine, with a straight edge; and a lot of leverage.
TK
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 09:24 am (UTC)How do you sharpen a serrated bread-knife? (It's a Henckel, like most of my knives, and I just don't know how to approach it...)
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 06:00 pm (UTC)Doesn't that make you feel better?
The difficulty in sharpening them is that each scallop is, essentially, an independent knife.
If the blade is 1: beveled on one side only (not uncommon in serrated knived, even very expensive models), and it's not hollow ground, you can sharpen just the back side (as with any chisel shaped blade)[caveat, sahsimi knives are hollow ground, but the hollow is built with the intent of the blade being laid on the stone and, slowly, flattened. When the hollow is worn away, the knife needs to be replaced. An inexpensive sashimi knife, being used by a sushi chef, will last 2-3 years. The expensive ones (costing as much as $450 an inch) will last 10-15 years].
If, however, the blade is flat ground (a bevel angled from the spine, and ot the edge), you have to sharpen each scallop, or be very careful.
If you want to be careful, you need a small stone, and then rub small circles on the back of the blade (the side without bevels), until it's sharp,
If you make a mistake you will either cut yourself, or remove the tip of the serration.
To do it right you need slips, which are shaped stones (usually called india stones) made to nestle in the shape you want to sharpen.
The other option is to make leather hones. Get some vegetable tanned leather (at least 8 oz. weight) and make a paste of abrasive grit (several grades, working down to jewelers rouge) and work that into the leather.
Then take the coarsest, and rub the scallops. When they are evenly polished/sharpened, move to the next finer grit.
Repeat until done.
The other way to do it, is find a good knife sharpener, and pay her to do it. A good one will charge 2-10 dollars per inch to sharpen. To reshape, restore/repair, will cost more.
TK
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 07:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:29 pm (UTC)Take the point and nick the skin. Then cut on the nicked skin.
But better to just sharpen the knife.
TK
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 02:39 pm (UTC)K. [in addition to the various more upscale knives around here]
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 03:15 pm (UTC)A few years later, I've been using three knives non-stop for years (one's a bread knife). We did increase with the 4 star stuff, but still really good knives). When we moved, I couldn't figure out where the knives got packed. We spent a month using two crappy knives. It was horrible! I could barely slice a tomato!
no subject
Date: 2007-07-11 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 12:21 pm (UTC)I was taught that the best method of ensuring that you have a good edge on a straight blade was to sight along its edge. If you can see the light reflecting off that edge at any point along it, it's not sharp enough at that point (the angle is different than that of the rest of the knife).
(Here via
no subject
Date: 2007-07-12 04:34 pm (UTC)The easiest, safe, way to test an edge is to take a piece of paper, and try to slice it. If the edge of the knife, at right angles to the paper, slides into it; without real effort, then the knife is sharp.
TK
no subject
Date: 2007-07-18 06:29 pm (UTC)