New Chef's Knife!

bsman

bsman

b00b
After year's of making do with an el-cheapo Chicago cutlery stainless steel and ancient (probably 40 years old) Dexter chef's knives, I treated myself to a Ken Onion Rain Series 10" chef's knife. This series is apparently being replaced, to I got it for a good deal, and have been very happy with it so far. The "rain" finish works as advertised -- stuff doesn't stick to the blade as I'm cutting -- and so far the edge is great. The handle is uber comfortable in the pinch grip (my big problem with my older knives) and the belly of the blade is perfect for the rocking motion used to dice and chop veggies, etc. So far, I've used it to slice and chop veggies for steaming, cut a watermelon (and remove the rind from the fruit) and that's about it. It's a bit on the heavy side, but the ergonomics of the handle help minimize any issues with that.

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Lerxst said:
That's a nice one.

What's your sharpening setup?
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I use a steel for dressing the edge and have one a DMT fine grit diamond stone like this:

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And if a knife gets REALLY dull, I have something like this:

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The Chicago cutlery stuff (we got a block and several knives about 25 years ago) are pretty much the only knives I have that ever require the multi-grit sharpening. The rest tend to never get dull enough to require that, and the steel and diamond stone are usually enough.
 
I've got that same DMT fine grit stone. Its nice for quick touch up on chisels, planes and such but I don't really use it for anything else.
Whetstone sharpening is a skill to master all in itself to get precise bevels across the length of the blade.
 
Nice knife!

I lost pretty much all my kitchen stuff in the divorce so I now only have one knife - a nice chefs knife. I need to get a paring knife and a santoku and I'll be set.

Lerxst said:
I've got that same DMT fine grit stone. Its nice for quick touch up on chisels, planes and such but I don't really use it for anything else.
Whetstone sharpening is a skill to master all in itself to get precise bevels across the length of the blade.
Click to expand...

When I worked at a restaurant I was getting really good at using a whetstone for knives....now not so much.
 
Denverdave said:
Nice knife!

I lost pretty much all my kitchen stuff in the divorce so I now only have one knife - a nice chefs knife. I need to get a paring knife and a santoku and I'll be set.
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I pretty much use my gyuto 99% of the time. That, a boning knife & a bread knife are prob all I actually use.

Denverdave said:
When I worked at a restaurant I was getting really good at using a whetstone for knives....now not so much.
Click to expand...
I used to get into the 'zen aspect' of using progressive stones but anymore, I'm all about the paper wheels. Crazy sharp in seconds.
 
I have to admit I'm a "knife guy" -- everything from the classics (Buck folding hunter & special, Marine combat knife, Case chrome-vanadium small Texas jack, etc.) to modern (ESEE 3, BK-15, Benchmade mini-AFCK, Zero Tolerance 0160, Kershaw leek & scallion, etc.) I know my way around a variety of sharpening tools...
 
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I have only purchased two really good kitchen knives. A Forschner 9" chef's, and a slightly larger scimitar I used while working in a commercial kitchen long, long ago in Sun Valley. I still have the chef's. Not sure what happened to the scimitar. I got them with cherry wood handles the year before they went to white plastic for cleanliness.

Yours looks really nice. A good chef's knife lasts a long, long time.
 
bsman said:
I have to admit I'm a "knife guy" -- everything from the classics (Buck folding hunter & special, Marine combat knife, Case chrome-vanadium small Texas jack, etc.) to modern (ESEE 3, BK-15, Benchmade mini-AFCK, Zero Tolerance 0160, Kershaw leek & scallion, etc.) I know my way around a variety of sharpening tools...
Click to expand...

I dabble in pocket knives & smallish fixed blades myself. I think I have somewhere around 30 or so currently in my modest collection.
 
bsman said:
I have to admit I'm a "knife guy" -- everything from the classics (Buck folding hunter & special, Marine combat knife, Case chrome-vanadium small Texas jack, etc.) to modern (ESEE 3, BK-15, Benchmade mini-AFCK, Zero Tolerance 0160, Kershaw leek & scallion, etc.) I know my way around a variety of sharpening tools...
Click to expand...
I am also a knife guy.K-Bar Ontario Knife Co S3,a few buck and Benchmade folders.

My chef's knife is an Opinel 118. The brand was suggested by DdBob a few years ago.
It's a great knife,and doesn't break the bank.
 
I've had a few of those Opinel folding knives with the wood handles in the past, and the steel was pretty easy to get scary-sharp!
 
I love Chef's knives; I currently have a nice Zwilling Henckles 8" Chef that is my workhorse. For my birthday, my mum purchased me a set of Wüsthof Silverline II knives and while I really like the paring knives and utility knives, I only use the chef knife as a backup to my Henckles. I also have a Wüsthof 7" Santoku that I bought myself several years ago. It doesn't get a lot of use, but it's a great knife when needed. I really wish I was into Japanese style blades, but I learned on Euro-style blades and they feel more comfortable in my hands.
 
HNKD!

Ken Onion designs some amazing knives...

My main kitchen knife is an 8" Victorinox...

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...I went with the rosewood because I am a guitar player...:embarrassed:
 
The bottle opener is kind of a weird feature on a combat knife: "Well sheeeit! That Charlie sure was hard ta' keel! Guess I'll unwind with a nice, cold brewski!"
 
HNKD!

My wife chipped a notch out of the blade of my Henckels chef knife.
We had a set of Wiltshire's that came with the holders that have a sharpener built in. She threw away the holders because they were icky.

I curse and swear every time I need to use a knife in the kitchen.

So, I stay out of the kitchen.
 
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