Great Googly Moogly wrote:
>
> Has anyone run into Cutco? I was scammed into selling it briefly. The
> knives are excellent, but they were way overpriced. I kept my
> starter set, and think it was worth it because I use them so much.

I've had Cutco in the past. My ex got them in the divorce years
ago. I kept the hunting knife only and have still never used
it hunting. Cutco are the best serrated blades around. I had a
couple of their straight edged blades and was unimpressed.

Every kitchen should have one, two, maybe even three serrated
knives. If you want good ones, consider Cutco for those. Forget
Cutco for the straight edged blades as their are plenty of
better brands.

I like a medium long serrated blade for slicing veggies, a
short serrated blade to go with my short straight edged blades,
and a serrated bread slicer with a long uncurved edge. For
serrated blades, that's all I ever use so if I were to go with
Cutco those are the ones I'd get. Since I already have a
serrated bread knife from another brand, that's two Cutco blades
I would get for my kitchen, no more.

I also like their steak knives.

My main advice for buying good knives: Don't even look at sets.
When you first start out, buy a set that's reasonably cheap.
use it for a while. Then once per year look at your old set and
see which one is the most worn. Go out and buy ONE knife of
that type and get the best one you can. Eventually you will
still have some new looking knives from your original set that
you never use and will never need to replace. Then one by one
buy whatever specialist blade you really need. In a dozen years
you'll have all the blades you'll ever need in the kitchen
except to replace wearing ourt paring knives.

Each time you go shopping for a knife that once per year, hold
them in your hand and make some cutting motions with them. See
how they feel. Try several slightly different styles, and a
few different sizes. Maybe the worn one from your cheap set is
a little light/heavy, rounded/straightened, small/big, thick/tihn
compared to the one you actually should have.

Also expect your tastes in knives to change a little over the
years so after a while you'll want to buy a new one even after
you have your "complete" non-set. For years I preferred my
8 inch chefs knife (triangular blade rather than rocker arched
per my tastes) for most cutting. Then I tried a friend's
santoku and I was hooked. Now the chinese cleaver and chefs
knife rest in the block and I use the santoku most of the time I
want a large blade.