w00t!!

Both my two fave chef knives are now sharper than a Wall Street
metrosexual on Friday night. Some guy in town, allegedly also a chef,
got tired of trying to find a knife sharpening biz for his knives, so
bought a commercial grade Swiss water-stone sharpening machine and he
does sharpening of most everything as a sideline. Only cost me $5 per
knife and they are now scary sharp. He's partial to Solingen knives,
which these both are, so he took extra care. No more dicing tomatoes
from the pulp side. Yay!

nb

On 6/20/2014 1:34 PM, notbob wrote:
> w00t!!
>
> Both my two fave chef knives are now sharper than a Wall Street
> metrosexual on Friday night. Some guy in town, allegedly also a chef,
> got tired of trying to find a knife sharpening biz for his knives, so
> bought a commercial grade Swiss water-stone sharpening machine and he
> does sharpening of most everything as a sideline. Only cost me $5 per
> knife and they are now scary sharp. He's partial to Solingen knives,
> which these both are, so he took extra care. No more dicing tomatoes
> from the pulp side. Yay!
>
> nb

Sharp knives, that makes such a difference. Glad you found someone to
sharpen yours. We have a couple of knife sharpeners that we use, the
latest one is a Presto EverSharp that has different slots. He has used
it, bit I have not. It does a good job.

Becca

On Friday, June 20, 2014 12:34:25 PM UTC-6, notbob wrote:
> w00t!!
>
>
>
> Both my two fave chef knives are now sharper than a Wall Street
>
> metrosexual on Friday night. Some guy in town, allegedly also a chef,
>
> got tired of trying to find a knife sharpening biz for his knives, so
>
> bought a commercial grade Swiss water-stone sharpening machine and he
>
> does sharpening of most everything as a sideline. Only cost me $5 per
>
> knife and they are now scary sharp. He's partial to Solingen knives,
>
> which these both are, so he took extra care. No more dicing tomatoes
>
> from the pulp side. Yay!
>
>
>
> nb

I love your analogy!!
My favorite knives are Hinkels. Sometimes DH or guests do something to them that messes up the edge. It takes a while, but I can get them back to where I want them. I use an Accusharp for day to day touch ups on the edge. I have a stone for when I have to get serious. My S-I-L has such crap for knives!! When I am going to be cooking at her house (Thanksgiving or Christmas) I take my own knives with me. Many years ago she was slicing a brisket, and I thought it was vary tender as she had no effort to slice it. Turns our she was slicing with the grain!! Simple is as simple does. But I love her.

DaleP

"notbob" > wrote in message
...
> w00t!!
>
> Both my two fave chef knives are now sharper than a Wall Street
> metrosexual on Friday night. Some guy in town, allegedly also a chef,
> got tired of trying to find a knife sharpening biz for his knives, so
> bought a commercial grade Swiss water-stone sharpening machine and he
> does sharpening of most everything as a sideline. Only cost me $5 per
> knife and they are now scary sharp. He's partial to Solingen knives,
> which these both are, so he took extra care. No more dicing tomatoes
> from the pulp side. Yay!
>
> nb

I have a Chef's Choice that does a good job, but...I use the "Edge of Glory'
the most, one of those as seen on tv things and it works great.

Cheri

Yall really need to get away from those crazy kraut knives. Invest in some good Forschner Victornox models and get the sharpening steel which goes with it. I have pretty close to a full set that are prob 15 years old and if they aint sharp..you just slap in on the steel a few licks and a person is back in business. No need to call the Tinker. Old butcher had a big Foschner scimitar steak knife he used dairly for 20 years and never saw a whetrock or grinding wheel. Thats the brand all the butchers use.

On 6/21/14, 4:38 PM, bigwheel wrote:

> ....if they aint sharp..you just slap in on the steel a few licks
> and a person is back in business....

Steels (except diamond) don't sharpen; they simply re-align the
curled-over edge. Even butchers re-sharpen periodically.

-- Larry

I like the straightening theory and have heard it all my life. I have reached the conclusion it dont apply to soft knives like Forscheners. Have seen some old Forshner curved boners which had been laid on the steel so many times the blade was about a half inch tall..meaning they were wearing away material in the sharpening process. Now on super hard Kraut knives the theory might be correct. Aint never bothered to desire to own one. Before buying my knives I checked with every live butcher in the Metro Mess. They all say buy Forschners so I did..lol. Never been sorry about it. I got the 12" Granton slicer..the 9" Chefs knife..the 6" curved boner..the paring knife and the steel to keep all sharp as a razor for around a hundred bucks which made it qualify for the free shipping. Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.

On 6/22/14, 2:13 PM, bigwheel wrote:

>> Steels (except diamond) don't sharpen; they simply re-align the
>> curled-over edge. Even butchers re-sharpen periodically.
>
> I like the straightening theory and have heard it all my life. I have
> reached the conclusion it dont apply to soft knives like Forscheners.

All it takes is a good magnifying glass to see it for yourself on
Forschners or any other knife.

According to Forschner, their knives are made from X50CrMoV15 steel with
a Rockwell hardness of 55-56. The standard or "classic" knife lines from
Lion Sabatiers, Wusthof, and Henckel knives are all spec'd at the same
Rockwell 56.They all use the same X50CrMoV15 stainless steel. Basically,
the only differences among all these blades are thickness, curve, and
bolster design. So far as harness and ability to hold an edge, they're
all the same.

Most Globals and the more exotic lines from German manufacturers are 58;
VG-10, Eden Damask and Henckel Miyabi steel knives are 60; Shuns are 60.

Some other Japanese knives are even harder. They generally use more
exotic alloys, selected specifically to allow sharpening to a finer edge.

> ....Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.

Most lowly-paid kitchen staff use their own knife rolls, and choose
Forschner and the like primarily because of price -- that's all they can
afford, or all they want to put at risk in a commercial kitchen.

There are many high-end restaurants full of German and Japanese knives
with wood or similar (e.g., pakka or bamboo) handles.

I have several Forschners among my many knives. They're fine, but they
don't hold an edge any better than my German or French knives, and
certainly not as well as my Japanese knives.

What I like best about Forschner and Global chef's knives is that the
bolster does not come all the way down to the heel, so you can sharpen
the entire length of the blade.

-- Larry

On 6/22/2014 5:40 PM, pltrgyst wrote:

> What I like best about Forschner and Global chef's knives is that the
> bolster does not come all the way down to the heel, so you can sharpen
> the entire length of the blade.
>
> -- Larry
>
I use Forschner knives because they are the best quality knives that fit
my hand. To me, there is no use buying more expensive knives if they
don't fit my hand comfortably. I have small hands and the Forschner
knives always have the right balance and grip for me. YMMV

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com

On Monday, June 23, 2014 8:40:22 AM UTC+10, pltrgyst wrote:
> On 6/22/14, 2:13 PM, bigwheel wrote:
[...]
> Some other Japanese knives are even harder. They generally use more
> exotic alloys, selected specifically to allow sharpening to a finer edge.

.... or just high-carbon steel, which is hardly exotic. Can do HRC63 or so with high-carbon steel.

At those kinds of hardnesses, steels (i.e., "sharpening" steels) become pretty useless. But then the knives are hard enough so the edges don't roll.

> > ....Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.
>
> Most lowly-paid kitchen staff use their own knife rolls, and choose
> Forschner and the like primarily because of price -- that's all they can
> afford, or all they want to put at risk in a commercial kitchen.

Food safety inspectors/auditors can be pretty down on wooden-handled knives (and wooden cutting boards, and wood in general). That's driven a lot of the non-wood handles for commercial knives. That, and plastic being cheap.

> There are many high-end restaurants full of German and Japanese knives
> with wood or similar (e.g., pakka or bamboo) handles.

Pakka-wood, being a resin-wood composite, is usually fine with food safety people. Not wood in their eyes.

I like wooden handles (a I don't have to worry about food safety inspectors).

> What I like best about Forschner and Global chef's knives is that the
> bolster does not come all the way down to the heel, so you can sharpen
> the entire length of the blade.

All-the-way-to-the-heel bolsters is a funny way to make knives, but sort-of popular. At least we only have to deal with it in classic Western knives, not Chinese, Japanese, etc.

On Sunday, June 22, 2014 3:40:22 PM UTC-7, pltrgyst wrote:

>
> According to Forschner, their knives are made from X50CrMoV15 steel with
> a Rockwell hardness of 55-56. The standard or "classic" knife lines from
> Lion Sabatiers, Wusthof, and Henckel knives are all spec'd at the same
> Rockwell 56.They all use the same X50CrMoV15 stainless steel. Basically,
> the only differences among all these blades are thickness, curve, and
> bolster design. So far as harness and ability to hold an edge, they're
> all the same.
>
>
>
> Most Globals and the more exotic lines from German manufacturers are 58;
> VG-10, Eden Damask and Henckel Miyabi steel knives are 60; Shuns are 60.
>

> > ....Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.
>
> Most lowly-paid kitchen staff use their own knife rolls, and choose
> Forschner and the like primarily because of price -- that's all they can
> afford, or all they want to put at risk in a commercial kitchen.
>

The cheap restaurant supply I went to sells Dexter Russells as well
as Forschners. They used to sell F. Dick (a little less chrome) but
no longer.

The trouble with wooden handles is that they absorb moisture, and then
they can gap away from the blade tang.

On 2014-06-22, bigwheel > wrote:

> shipping. Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.

Well then, I'm glad I'm not a pro.

My two fave knives are a LamsonSharp Rosewood and some unknown carbon
steel paring knife with an OXO-huge wooden handle. The handles
encounter enough grease/oil to keep them preserved. But, if I think
the wood handles might be drying out, I oil 'em with walnut oil. The
Lamson is now almost 20 yrs old and shows no signs of splitting,
drying, etc. I've owned Forschners, Fibrox, Globals, Shuns, Tridents,
Wustofs, Messingmeisters, Sabatiers, etc, and the Rosewood line is
still my fave handle of them all. The only wood handle knife I ever
gave away was a 12" Sheffield bread knife, but only cuz the negative
scalloped blade was pain to sharpen. Also, since it never cut meat
and saw no fats, the wood had dried out and a small piece had split
off near a rivet. This knife was given to me and was the first
commercial knife I ever owned.

nb

On 6/23/2014 11:18 AM, notbob wrote:
> On 2014-06-22, bigwheel > wrote:
>
>> shipping. Get the Fibrox handles. Pros dont like wood handles.
>
> Well then, I'm glad I'm not a pro.
>
> My two fave knives are a LamsonSharp Rosewood and some unknown carbon
> steel paring knife with an OXO-huge wooden handle. The handles
> encounter enough grease/oil to keep them preserved. But, if I think
> the wood handles might be drying out, I oil 'em with walnut oil. The
> Lamson is now almost 20 yrs old and shows no signs of splitting,
> drying, etc. I've owned Forschners, Fibrox, Globals, Shuns, Tridents,
> Wustofs, Messingmeisters, Sabatiers, etc, and the Rosewood line is
> still my fave handle of them all. The only wood handle knife I ever
> gave away was a 12" Sheffield bread knife, but only cuz the negative
> scalloped blade was pain to sharpen. Also, since it never cut meat
> and saw no fats, the wood had dried out and a small piece had split
> off near a rivet. This knife was given to me and was the first
> commercial knife I ever owned.
>
> nb


My knives are Henckels, so are George's and mom's, so when we got
married, we had a bunch of Henckels. When I had youngsters, at home,
they used Chicago Cutlery. When my firstborn got married, we have them
Henckels of their own, because he liked mine.

Becca