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Cooking Equipment (rec.food.equipment) Discussion of food-related equipment. Includes items used in food preparation and storage, including major and minor appliances, gadgets and utensils, infrastructure, and food- and recipe-related software. |
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Fante's/Solingen knives - any helpful replies appreciated
was recently given a set of Fante's knives.
all 3 blades have on them -- "Solingen Germany / No Stain / X50CrMoV15" they are forged/bolstered they seem to feel good in my hand and cut well although i wish the 6" util had a little more 'heft' or weight. the 3 knives i received are - 6" utility, 6" chef's, 8" chef's ok - obviously if i ask a question such as "are these knives good?" a stock answer or reply might be "if you like them and they cut well then they are good for you..." however - since my knowledge of cutlery is rather limited i can only go by what seems to feel good and work good for me and have no real 'basis' on what is considered good quality (my previous knives were stamped stainless from china and went dull in like 5 seconds) so my question is: besides the 'feel' of these Fante's knives (which is a subjective thing) - are these knives of good quality ? are they something that is considered well made ? and what exactly do those high carbon code numbers mean ? (X50CrMoV15) and am I using just another set of high carbon knockoffs that are really trash but i just don't know i am using trash ? can these knives be sharpened and hold an edge (i have learned to use a steel and use it religiously but after time i know i'll have to get them sharpened) again - any helpful or insightful replies will be greatly appreciated. i hope i am not asking too many questions. thanks. |
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Fante's/Solingen knives - any helpful replies appreciated
> ok - obviously if i ask a question such as "are these knives good?"
> a stock answer or reply might be "if you like them and they cut well > then they are good for you..." This is true. The problem is that there is no real measurement of sharpness and different people have different tastes in knives. I personally like using a 10 inch chef's knife, but I know others who swear by a six inch blade, and others who would kill if parted from their Chinese knife <looks like a cleaver, but in experienced hands is a precision instrument> People can pay hundreds for a really good top of the range knife, but if they don't sharpen it and look after it properly, then its just a lump of expensive metal. I haven't ever used any of these, but I'll bet that many of them are more status and less substance as the price goes up. No dishwasher, no storing it in the cutlery drawer where it can lie in wait for an unsuspecting finger and bang against all the other metal in there. Wash it by hand, dry and store it in a block or on a magnetic rack. I recently bought a cheap supermarket paring knife. Only cost me £6, and after a few minutes with a steel was cutting beautifully. Look around the net or watch cooking programs on TV for ideas about knife technique. If your knives can do stuff like slicing a tomato cleanly without slipping around on the skin or crushing the flesh, or wandering off to one side, then they are sharp enough. If you can cut whatever you wish to easily without forcing the knife and hacking at the food, then they are good. The job of a knife is to slice the food without crushing it. Look at the surfaces of the cuts you make. If they are clean cuts, then the knife is working. There are variations on opinion, so I can only go with what I look for in a knife. A blade that is triangular in cross section. The stamped out ones are rubbish as you have found. A good solid handle. I prefer the ones where the handle is made of two cheeks riveted onto the shaped tang of the blade, but the all metal ones seem to be getting popular too. On a chef's knife, a deep blade so I can chop things like garlic without loosing my knuckles. If you are using a steel and they are cutting well, and you are not having to sharpen them every month, then they are good. No idea what the letters on the knife mean. But generally, the higher the carbon level, the harder the steel, so the sharper the blade can be. John |
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