Product recommendation
Mar. 1st, 2010 12:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumThe three places people get cut, with kitchen cutlery, tend to be the drawer, the sink, the dishwasher.
All are preventable.
The sink and the dishwasher are easy (don't put knives in them). The drawer is a little harder. A block works, as do drawer inserts. It may be one doesn't have a block, and the aesthetics, or space, of the kitchen preclude. Drawer blocks exist, but older kitchens may have drawers too small to support them (they tend to need about 4" internal clearance).
Which leaves knife guards. They come in a few styles. Sleeves, plastic lockets (I don't know how else to describe them,, they have clasps, and completely enclose the blade), and edge protectors. I've been a fan of the last. Sleeves slip, and that can wear at the edge. The lockets are great for some knives, so-so for others, and absolutely impossible for some (e.g. my gokujo [which is an interesting knife in that it's not a traditional japanese style of prep knife. Honestly, it's not ideal for the function it's designed for. Since most of us aren't going to use it for the design function {breaking down quarters and sides of beef/pork} it's not a problem])
So I've been a big advocate of the edge protector. I have half a dozen by Messermeister. They are a sleeve, which pinches onto the blade, and leaves the edge in a hard fold of plastic. The only downside is they do rub on the flat, and leave a little bit of wear.
Which is a nuisance if you have a really pretty knife (or have a carbon steel one you have "passivated" [with an acid wash... I like lemon juice; and yes I know that's not the proper term, but it's not really blued either]) that you don't want marks on.
Enter my recent discovery.
Magnetic blade guards from Bisbell.
They come in three widths, can be cut down (in length) to fit the knife in question (they say to use scissors, don't. A sharp knife, and a steady press is the way to go) and are a flexible magnet, in a vinyl cover. They fold over the knife, stick to it, and I don't think I am ever again going to open my knife bag to discover that the cover has slipped off one of the knives.
I also no longer worry about distracting scars on the knives. Which means, when I buy the 1731 I want, I can put it in the bag without worry.
All are preventable.
The sink and the dishwasher are easy (don't put knives in them). The drawer is a little harder. A block works, as do drawer inserts. It may be one doesn't have a block, and the aesthetics, or space, of the kitchen preclude. Drawer blocks exist, but older kitchens may have drawers too small to support them (they tend to need about 4" internal clearance).
Which leaves knife guards. They come in a few styles. Sleeves, plastic lockets (I don't know how else to describe them,, they have clasps, and completely enclose the blade), and edge protectors. I've been a fan of the last. Sleeves slip, and that can wear at the edge. The lockets are great for some knives, so-so for others, and absolutely impossible for some (e.g. my gokujo [which is an interesting knife in that it's not a traditional japanese style of prep knife. Honestly, it's not ideal for the function it's designed for. Since most of us aren't going to use it for the design function {breaking down quarters and sides of beef/pork} it's not a problem])
So I've been a big advocate of the edge protector. I have half a dozen by Messermeister. They are a sleeve, which pinches onto the blade, and leaves the edge in a hard fold of plastic. The only downside is they do rub on the flat, and leave a little bit of wear.
Which is a nuisance if you have a really pretty knife (or have a carbon steel one you have "passivated" [with an acid wash... I like lemon juice; and yes I know that's not the proper term, but it's not really blued either]) that you don't want marks on.
Enter my recent discovery.
Magnetic blade guards from Bisbell.
They come in three widths, can be cut down (in length) to fit the knife in question (they say to use scissors, don't. A sharp knife, and a steady press is the way to go) and are a flexible magnet, in a vinyl cover. They fold over the knife, stick to it, and I don't think I am ever again going to open my knife bag to discover that the cover has slipped off one of the knives.
I also no longer worry about distracting scars on the knives. Which means, when I buy the 1731 I want, I can put it in the bag without worry.
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no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 09:46 pm (UTC)My parents have this thing, which I'm envious of.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-01 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-02 02:58 am (UTC)I have a mixed mind on magnets. There are a few things to consider when getting them.
1: How strong are the magnets. If they aren't strong enough the steel will not hold well (esp. because modern knives tend to be various flavors of stainless, with decidely variable magnetic affinity).
2: Spacing. If there isn't engouh room to get a hand around the handle of the knife you want, without touching any other knife, there is a strong possibility of one of them leaving the magnet. This is independent of the care/skill of the user. I have scars from this happening. The most recent nick I got was on Saturday. We have strong magnet bars, but we have too many knives on them, and not everyone is as attentive as I am to where they are replaced.
3: Continous, or spaced? The bars we keep the display knives on, at work, are discontnous magnets. Some of the smaller knives won't stay where they are put. This causes them to jump to where an actual magnet lives. This often means they are too close (if not in actual contact) to other knives.
4: Handling. It's really easy, with a strong magnet, to have the edge hit the bars solidly, and chip.
None of this makes magnets bad, per se, but it does mean they are low on my personal list of ways to store knives. <lj user =tenacious_snail has one, and I keep a really large butchering knife on it. It's a quirk of her knives that my monster is more stable than the, much smaller, knives she has on the strip.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-02 04:08 am (UTC)