Cutlery

My Chef's Knives

OK folks, I've seen cutlery posts from time to time with varying degrees of information. I wanted to share my collection of kitchen knives and put out some recommendations on what to get if you are building a working kitchen knife collection from scratch or just want to start upgrading or improving your existing collection. My first set of "nice" knives was a wedding gift - an 8-piece set of Shun Classic knives. They were the sharpest cutting instruments I'd ever used and opened up a whole new level of cooking and appreciation for fine cutlery. Since those original 8 knives, I've bought, sold, and traded to get what I have now, an assemblage from various makers but each excelling in its niche. I'm by no means a brand snob; I have knives that were $5 on up to one that's worth about $5000. If it works for you and you can keep it sharp, go for it. I use my knives daily and love to cook. They are tools that make cooking more pleasurable. Kept sharp and cared for properly, they will last a lifetime.

From Right to Left:
14" Gustav Emil Ern high Carbon Steel Chef
10" Shun Classic VG10 Stainless Steel Chef
9 1/2" (240mm) Asai Gyuto Damascus stainless steel Chef
8" Mercer Stainless Chef
8" Bob Kramer Custom Chef 52100 high Carbon Tool steel
7 1/2" MAC Original Chef
6 3/4" (170mm) Asai Santoku Damascus Stainless steel
6" Mercer Stainless chef
5 1/4" Kansui Dojo fruit knife Stainless steel forge welded on blue steel (high carbon) core
5" MAC original stainless steel fruit knife.

The Sword

My brother gave this to me. A leftover from a previous room mate of his. This thing is a friggin' sword. 14 inches of razor sharp high carbon steel by Gustav Emil Ern, made in the famous Solingen, Germany. I occasionally use this to slice pizzas, saber wine bottles, or behead roving zombies.

10" Shun Classic Chef knife w/ banana for scale

From my original 8-piece set, I traded the 8" chef to Sur La Table for this 10-incher after the tip on my 8-incher broke off. The Shun Classics are a superb line of cutlery. If you have been raised using traditional European style knives, do yourself a favor and try out a Japanese pattern kitchen knife. The Shun classics are made by KAI in the famous knife-making center of Seki City, Japan. They are an entry level for Japanese cutlery. Prices start around $120 for an 8" chef knife, but the sets are often priced fairly reasonably. Steel is VG10 stainless. Can hold a keen edge but a little tricky to get razor sharp.

10" Shun Classic Chef

Thought I'd start using this little cutting board for these shots. Isn't it cute? My wife bought it for me last summer.

6" & 8" (aka Reality vs. Ego)

These two knives are the workhorses of my kitchen. Mercer is a commercial restaurant supply house brand, so to speak. That's the only place you'll find these. They are assembled in Taiwan from German steel, and feel and perform every bit as good as a Henkles or Wustof, on which they are based. The best part is the price - about $40 for the 8" and $35 for the 6". At that price, I can beat the shit out of them without worry, but so far, they've held up perfectly. Every couple of years I put a new edge on these, and I love them more and more every time I use them. Best value in a knife outside of the Forschner Fibrox line.

Asai Damascus knives

These were handmade by the late Japanese blade smith Masami Asai. They are damascus (not true damascus, of course) stainless steel blades with an edge hardness of Rc60-61. The bolster is pakka wood and the handle is macassar ebony. I absolutely love the feel of these knives in the hand. The octagonal handle is super comfortable, and the balance is absolutely flawless. Additionally, these knives are impossibly lightweight and nimble. I don't bang on these the way I do the Mercer Chef knives above. I use them for more delicate slicing work, when precision and fine cutting is desired.

Kansui Dojo Fruit knife

I friggin love this little knife. I bought this last spring sort of on a whim. It's only 5 1/2" long, so I can't use it to hack through a big squash, but I can use it to cut almost everything else. It's nimble and smooth, and just so accurate and comfortable. Puts you right into the food. The blade construction is special - a high carbon core surrounding by forge-welded stainless. Gives you the strength and durability of stainless on the outside, with the sharpenability of high carbon on the cutting edge. Probably my favorite knife. And only about $70.

MAC the Knife

These are my MAC knives. Well, the top one is actually my 9-year-old daughter's first chef knife. The bottom one is a 5" fruit knife. Both are super sharp from the factory, with thin, lightweight stainless steel blades and rounded tips for safety. Great, hardworking knives that would be just as at home in a restaurant as they would be in your home kitchen. The chef knife is about $60, and the fruit knife is about $40. Both terrific values.

The Kramer

This is the crown jewel of my collection. This is an original Bob Kramer Custom chef knife. Not a Zwilling repro - this is the real deal made by Master Bladesmith Bob Kramer himself. I ordered this back in 2006 and waited 3 years before I received it. It was around $650 back then, but since he got famous and slammed with orders, if you can get a knife from him now, it will set you back at least $5000 for one of these. Recently, one of his fancier chef knives sold for $32,000. Anyway, this thing is the shit, and every ounce worth the $650 I paid for it. Perfect balance, razor sharp 52100 tool steel blade, and capable of things no other kitchen knife in the world is: like bending 90 degrees, able to slice through a 1" rope, a couple of 2x4's and still be able to shave the hair off your arm. Not that I'd do any of that because this knife is irreplaceable. I leave the abusive tasks up to my Mercers, and this one get's mostly onion and celery duty these days.

Sashimi anyone?

This is a Hon Kasumi 240mm single bevel yanagiba (Sashimi knife) that bought about 10 years ago. Good quality, stainless steel, sort of nice, entry level sashimi knife. Doesn't see a whole lot of use these days, but no knife collection is complete without at least one yanagiba. Cost was around $140.

Forschner Fibrox

If you're on a budget, spend your money on Mercer Chef knives and buy Fibrox knives for everything else. Seriously, I love these knives. I have a whole other set for camping, but these ones are in my kitchen drawer. The top one is a granton edge 12" slicer, and the bottom is a 6" stiff boning (Ha ha, I'm still 14 every time I say that) knife. I have two of the latter, and it has done everything from deconstruct raw chicken to slicing tomatoes to (I shit you not) cutting spray foam insulation from my walls. They are tough, sharp, comfortable awesome knives and I love them. Best part? They are cheap as fuck. The granton slicer was about $50, the boning knife was ~$20.

Opining about Opinels

These aren't really used in my kitchen, but they were in my knife drawer so I'm posting them nonetheless. I purchased these in France this past summer. The top is a picnic knife, the bottom is a mushroom knife. I used the latter quite effectively harvesting chanterelles in the Olympic mountains recently.

The Cheesiest

If you're like me and subsist on a diet comprising mostly cheese, then you need a cheese-specific knife. This mongrel I received from my late grandfather about 15 years ago. I have no idea what it is, but the blade used to be wholly coated in teflon. That's long worn away, but it still glides through cheese fairly easily. I use this knife a lot. I have problems.

Time to pare this post down

My paring and utility knives. The top two are high carbon Moraknivs, which are really stout, sharp, multipurpose knives. I take these hunting and camping, and they can really stand up to all kinds of utilitarian use, or simply be used as paring knives. The second one from the bottom is a sheep's foot paring knife by Henkles. I love this little knife. Great for tight-in, accurate work. Thin, nimble blade can cut fine details, and it somehow stays sharp with minimal maintenance. $12 new. The bottom knife is a Wustof Classic I found at Goodwill for like $5!

Banana for Scale is dead

This skull crusher is another gift my brother. Guessing the room mate left them because they put his moving van over the load limit. This beast weighs like 5lbs. The blade is 1/4" thick, and I have used this to break through lamb leg bones and coconuts. It's a carbon steel blade that I keep shaving sharp. Yes, this knife can shave the hair off your arm.

Bread Knives

The other half of my diet is good bread, so these knives come in handy quite often. A good bread knife is extremely useful. I've found the offset Dexter 10" knife to be quite comfortable and effective. It was about $45. The lower Wustof grand Prix is another Goodwill find that probably set me back $8. I tried my buddy's Global offset bread knife a little while ago and kind of fell in love, so that's likely the next knife I'll purchase.

Maintenance.  Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard the phrase, "My knives are dull, I need new ones." Maintain your knives people! It's not hard. You can keep your blades sharp indefinitely by using a ceramic hone like the one pictured. Fuck trying to hone on a steel rod. Get a ceramic hone for $25 and use it every time you use your knives. They will stay shaving sharp for YEARS. My grandpa always used to say that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife. That's certainly true, but also, why would you try to cut with a dull knife in the first place? It's like driving on flat tires or screwing without lube. You can do it, but it's so much more pleasurable to keep your shit properly set up, and 30 seconds of edge treatment each time you cook isn't going to kill you. The sparkly wafer below the rod is a cleaning pad. Use it when the ceramic hone gets clogged with metal.

Get a proper sharpening

Most butchers will sharpen your knives for free. They will use their electric grinder sharpeners, but you'll get an OK edge out of it. Maintaining the edge from there using a ceramic hone and you'll be all set. I use an Edgepro Sharpener like the one pictured above (sorry for the stock image - I don't have my sharpener handy to take a picture of). These will produce an absolutely perfect edge that will pop the hairs off of your forearm with ease. I re-edge my knives only as needed, for example if I ding the edge, or if I neglect certain knives for too long and can't bring the edge back with a ceramic hone. Sharpening removes metal and thus consumes your knife over time, so try to minimize resharpening and instead practice good knife maintenance by using a ceramic hone. Also, don't ever let me catch you cutting on hard surfaces or placing your cutlery in the dishwasher. Get a nice wood or plastic board, and handwash those deadly sharp motherfuckers.

Remy Tax

Remy is my cooking buddy. Remy likes football and carrots.