Crash Test Dumbass
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ffc what now
Posts: 7,058
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Nov 5, 2020 14:37:57 GMT -5
Why not have a thread about our stabby collection during the season of cooking, politics, and plague? This is my knife rack (a magnetic toolbar from Lowe's). I usually have a pair of kitchen scissors on there, too, but they are drying right now. I'm looking for a new pair of those that separate because I understand those are better for cleaning?
The santoku is a Henkel, as are the utility knife and paring knife, though the latter two were part of a set. The chef's knife was my grandmother's, which I inherited after my grandfather died and my grandmother became too ill to cook. It says "4?92 Dexter" on the handle, but the knife was old when Grandpa died 19 years ago.
The thingy on the top is a knife sharpener/steel. A dull knife is one of the most dangerous tools in the kitchen, after all.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 5, 2020 15:52:40 GMT -5
It's funny, my DuoLingo right now is all about kitchen tools & food and I keep getting sentences like "do you know where the knives are?"
And TWBE likes to bleakly joke that my big chef's knives would be good for stabbing him (I would never).
Anyway, I have a set of Chicago Cutlery in a block; I know blocks aren't necessarily the best but they're good knives, I got them for Christmas right after we got married (hey, they were one thing we didn't get as a wedding gift) so they've held up well for 13 years. They're the one-piece all-steel kind - serrated, chef's, carving and three smaller paring knives plus a steel.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 5, 2020 16:54:48 GMT -5
I've also got my knives in a block, PET, so we can have our own knife-block club or something.  When I outgrew the basic block, I received one of those "boxes of bamboo skewers" blocks as a gift. It works just fine for me. https://www.instagram.com/p/CHOXBoxHVHA 20 years ago I started my own kitchen out with a set of Wusthof knives, the kind that has one chef's knife, one long knife that I primarily use for slicing layer cakes, a bread knife, two paring knives, and then a "free gift" inclusion of a small serrated knife. I've since added a twin for the chef's knife and a santoku. I feel like you can never have too many good knives, so Hugs sometimes surprises me with new ones for birthdays/Christmas. My Wusthofs have been joined by a bunch of Shuns, including a huge chef's knife; a smaller chef's knife; and a santoku, and I got a fancy-ass chef's knife that's one of those "Bob Kramer!!!!! (um, actually Zwilling, with a Bob Kramer stamp on it)*" models a few years ago (I love it). And I have a small chef's knife from Bloodroot Blades, which is supposedly custom-made just for my hand (I had to send them hand measurements), but I find it sort of awkwardly small so I rarely use it. Oh, and we have a set of Shun steak knives filling out the knife block, and a random decorative cake knife that was randomly given to us as a Christmas gift that I feel bad tossing out but have nowhere else to go with it despite my never ever ever using it (I should just toss it). So that's all there is to know about my knives. *I get these all professionally sharpened once or twice a year. I used to be able to drop them off at a kitchen goods store in town, but they went out of business this past spring, so instead I had them done by a knife-sharpener guy who was in residence at my CSA farm for a weekend. When he unwrapped the "Bob Kramer" knife he got SO excited, and whipped out his phone to take pictures of it while murmuring that it was the first one he'd ever seen. I didn't have the heart to tell him this was mass-produced, and if I had a real Bob Kramer knife I sure as shit wouldn't bring it to a random neighborhood dude to sharpen it. |
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Nov 6, 2020 0:08:46 GMT -5
We do a fair amount of auction buying, and over the last year or so we've picked up quite a bit of kitchen stuff, some deliberately, but mostly when it was bundled with other stuff in a lot. Anyway, I now have two flats of knives squirreled away for future sorting, sharpening and using. I also have several sharpening stones and sharpeners. I haven't gone through the knives yet, but several appear to be brand names, and some others quite old and made with good steel. I'm hoping to get time over the winter to work on them.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 6, 2020 9:39:06 GMT -5
We do a fair amount of auction buying, and over the last year or so we've picked up quite a bit of kitchen stuff, some deliberately, but mostly when it was bundled with other stuff in a lot. Anyway, I now have two flats of knives squirreled away for future sorting, sharpening and using. I also have several sharpening stones and sharpeners. I haven't gone through the knives yet, but several appear to be brand names, and some others quite old and made with good steel. I'm hoping to get time over the winter to work on them.
Being of the "if one is good, ten is better" approach to things, I feel like two flats of knives is juuuuust creeping up into being enough knives. You can't ever have too many! Now I want two flats of knives! Also, I was kind of hoping that "squirreled away for..." up there was going to lead to some kind of post-apocalyptic weaponry uses, but alas... just "sorting, sharpening, and using". Although I guess you didn't specify what the "using" was going to be, so hope springs eternal. |
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Crash Test Dumbass
AV Clubber
ffc what now
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Nov 6, 2020 10:00:45 GMT -5
We do a fair amount of auction buying, and over the last year or so we've picked up quite a bit of kitchen stuff, some deliberately, but mostly when it was bundled with other stuff in a lot. Anyway, I now have two flats of knives squirreled away for future sorting, sharpening and using. I also have several sharpening stones and sharpeners. I haven't gone through the knives yet, but several appear to be brand names, and some others quite old and made with good steel. I'm hoping to get time over the winter to work on them.
I'm surprised and maybe a little disappointed that you haven't been forging your own knives and tempering the steel in the blood of the vanquished. |
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GumTurkeyles
AV Clubber
$10 down, $10 a month, don't you be a turkey
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Nov 6, 2020 12:29:15 GMT -5
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GumTurkeyles
AV Clubber
$10 down, $10 a month, don't you be a turkey
Posts: 3,065
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Nov 6, 2020 12:34:49 GMT -5
When I was doing the farmers market, there was someone set up there that would sharpen knives. So I'd get mine done around twice a year; beginning and end of the outdoor market season. I didn't do it this year, so my Misen chef's knife is definitely more dull than it should be, so I've been using my bread knife to make a lot of initial cuts in veggies like tomatoes and peppers, then cutting on the inside of the veggies. I'll probably just get a new knife for myself for christmas at this point.
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Post by songstarliner on Nov 6, 2020 15:54:03 GMT -5
Knife Collection
1) Rada paring knife, older than my son. Maybe 18 yrs old. 2) Messermeister bread knife. 3) Spoon. 4) A knife that I took from my mother's kitchen when I left for college that could be older than me. So like 100 years old. 5) My newest knife, a Zyliss paring/utility knife that is sharp and easy to wield. It cost me around $8 and I love it.
6) A standard-issue Restaurant Depot/Instawares NSF chef's knife that honestly is too big for my hand. Sure is choppy, though. 7) Ruler.
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Post by ganews on Nov 7, 2020 19:17:56 GMT -5
When she was doing multiple jobs during the year between college and grad school, Wifemate sold Cutco knives. Pretty unbelievable now, and it was kind of crazy at the time too. But she did actually make money. We have a full set still. And the product actually is really good, all the serrated Cutco knives will still easily cut through anything. The French knife definitely needs sharpening; I should see if the free-sharpening-for-life offer is back on now that the pandemic is over*.
*it's not over at all |
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Nov 7, 2020 21:47:38 GMT -5
How about pocket knives and multi-tools? I got my first knives at for my second birthday, when our neighbor (who was a WWI vet, gunsmith, and world-class cantankerous-shit-stirrer) presented me with a boxed set which included a folding pocket knife, a belt knife, and a hatchet. I drooled with gratitude. Well, I drooled, anyway. I was two. I carried that pocket knife throughout grade school, and used it and the belt knife and hatchet when I was in the boy scouts. I don't remember ever having an official scout knife, but the one from the set had the same various blades and tools. Sadly, that entire set has disappeared in the sands of time. After I got out of tech school, I was always poking holes in my pockets from carrying screwdrivers until a cousin, who was in the navy, got me a navy electricians knife. I could trim insulation with it, and best of all, it had a straight slot screwdriver blade. This was a revelation, but I still had to carry a Phillips screwdriver. Then one day in the early 80's, my life changed forever: I bought my first multi-tool, the original Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool. I carried it daily for years.
I have since then bought and used several multi-tools, various Letherman tools, including the Super, the Wave, the Skeletool, and even some weird mini keyring tool. I have had a few other brands, Gerber, SOG, Victorinox and even a prototype Gerber (I think) a friend brought me back from the Shott Show one year, where he did some photography work. My favorites are the Leatherman Wave followed by the Skeletool. The first Christmas Mrs Floyd and I were dating, she got me an engraved Leatherman Wave. She told me she took it to one of those "Remember Forever" or whatever, places at the big mall near where she lived then, and they protested engraving a tool, trying instead to sell her a beer stein to engrave. She said she looked the counter drone right in the eye and said "I want him working, not drinking." I'll try to post a picture of my multi-tools when I get a chance.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 9, 2020 10:27:04 GMT -5
How about pocket knives and multi-tools? I got my first knives at for my second birthday, when our neighbor (who was a WWI vet, gunsmith, and world-class cantankerous-shit-stirrer) presented me with a boxed set which included a folding pocket knife, a belt knife, and a hatchet. I drooled with gratitude. Well, I drooled, anyway. I was two. I carried that pocket knife throughout grade school, and used it and the belt knife and hatchet when I was in the boy scouts. I don't remember ever having an official scout knife, but the one from the set had the same various blades and tools. Sadly, that entire set has disappeared in the sands of time. After I got out of tech school, I was always poking holes in my pockets from carrying screwdrivers until a cousin, who was in the navy, got me a navy electricians knife. I could trim insulation with it, and best of all, it had a straight slot screwdriver blade. This was a revelation, but I still had to carry a Phillips screwdriver. Then one day in the early 80's, my life changed forever: I bought my first multi-tool, the original Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool. I carried it daily for years.
I have since then bought and used several multi-tools, various Letherman tools, including the Super, the Wave, the Skeletool, and even some weird mini keyring tool. I have had a few other brands, Gerber, SOG, Victorinox and even a prototype Gerber (I think) a friend brought me back from the Shott Show one year, where he did some photography work. My favorites are the Leatherman Wave followed by the Skeletool. The first Christmas Mrs Floyd and I were dating, she got me an engraved Leatherman Wave. She told me she took it to one of those "Remember Forever" or whatever, places at the big mall near where she lived then, and they protested engraving a tool, trying instead to sell her a beer stein to engrave. She said she looked the counter drone right in the eye and said "I want him working, not drinking." I'll try to post a picture of my multi-tools when I get a chance.
For two years in college, I worked in the after-school program at the K-12 school I'd graduated from. So for two glorious years I got to experience the joys of "teacher presents" from the parents of the program's stalwart attendees. One of the parents was a single dad with hints of "wastrel ex who abandoned him and the kid", which was really unusual in the well-heeled community the school was in. In amongst the homemade gifts, the cookie bags, the coffee mugs, the candy boxes, he gave me one of those Leatherman keychain tools. At the time I had never heard of Leatherman and had no idea what it was. 20+ years later I can say that a Leatherman keychain tool is a FANTASTIC teacher gift, and everyone should give them. I still have that thing and use it regularly! |
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Crash Test Dumbass
AV Clubber
ffc what now
Posts: 7,058
Gender (additional): mostly snacks
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Post by Crash Test Dumbass on Nov 9, 2020 12:10:59 GMT -5
How about pocket knives and multi-tools? I got my first knives at for my second birthday, when our neighbor (who was a WWI vet, gunsmith, and world-class cantankerous-shit-stirrer) presented me with a boxed set which included a folding pocket knife, a belt knife, and a hatchet. I drooled with gratitude. Well, I drooled, anyway. I was two. I carried that pocket knife throughout grade school, and used it and the belt knife and hatchet when I was in the boy scouts. I don't remember ever having an official scout knife, but the one from the set had the same various blades and tools. Sadly, that entire set has disappeared in the sands of time. After I got out of tech school, I was always poking holes in my pockets from carrying screwdrivers until a cousin, who was in the navy, got me a navy electricians knife. I could trim insulation with it, and best of all, it had a straight slot screwdriver blade. This was a revelation, but I still had to carry a Phillips screwdriver. Then one day in the early 80's, my life changed forever: I bought my first multi-tool, the original Leatherman Pocket Survival Tool. I carried it daily for years.
I have since then bought and used several multi-tools, various Letherman tools, including the Super, the Wave, the Skeletool, and even some weird mini keyring tool. I have had a few other brands, Gerber, SOG, Victorinox and even a prototype Gerber (I think) a friend brought me back from the Shott Show one year, where he did some photography work. My favorites are the Leatherman Wave followed by the Skeletool. The first Christmas Mrs Floyd and I were dating, she got me an engraved Leatherman Wave. She told me she took it to one of those "Remember Forever" or whatever, places at the big mall near where she lived then, and they protested engraving a tool, trying instead to sell her a beer stein to engrave. She said she looked the counter drone right in the eye and said "I want him working, not drinking." I'll try to post a picture of my multi-tools when I get a chance.
My ex got me a black Leatherman Super Tool 200 and a leather sheath sometime in the early 2000s, and I've worn it to work pretty much every day since at least 2010 but my memory is only so good. You would think that a librarian wouldn't have much call for a multitool, but I've used it at least twice a week. I had a Gerber first, and I think that actually fell apart, and I have a generic one in my tool drawer at home. I've been thinking of getting a new one, partly because there are newer and easier-to-use ones out there, partly because the sheath is starting to red rot, and partly because my ex and I have been divorced for almost six years and maybe I should get a new thing without the baggage? But this is still really good and very serviceable -- the only complaint is that I didn't know it had a hanging ring until 20 minutes ago when I looked it up on the Multitool Wiki. 
click to embiggen |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2020 12:30:13 GMT -5
My dad would love all of you - he has a collection of pocket knives so vast that I don't even know where all of them are. Those who visit and express even the smallest bit of interest can easily wind up ensnared in an hour-long monologue about all his pocket knives, weird antique pharmacy and medical ephemera, antique weaponry (knives, guns, swords, even a freaking bayonet), and - of course - kitchen knives. I have a few pocket knives of my own and have the scars to prove it.
I swear to god we're not serial killers.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 9, 2020 13:29:20 GMT -5
I swear to god we're not serial killers.
::skeptically raised eyebrow:: |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 9, 2020 14:08:50 GMT -5
I swear to god we're not serial killers.
::skeptically raised eyebrow:: We're more likely to kill each other than anyone else, if that helps? |
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Post by pairesta on Nov 12, 2020 11:26:45 GMT -5
I have a couple full knife blocks but really only use a global 8" chef's knife we got from a Friend with Connections for a wedding gift. I also have a sorely neglected Henckel's 10' with a slightly curved, ergonomic handle. Because plague, I haven't been able to get my knives sharpened for over a year. I was all set to go to a somewhat nearby Sur La Table and dump my collection on them, then they up and closed. I found a local guy who will come pick up your knives, sharpen, and drop them back off again in a day. I had set up an appointment with him, then was perusing his facebook page and spotted a COVID IS A HOAX YOU PUSSIES video he posted and noped out of that one. So now my options are shipping off to some place and being without knives for a week or more.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 12, 2020 11:31:45 GMT -5
I have a couple full knife blocks but really only use a global 8" chef's knife we got from a Friend with Connections for a wedding gift. I also have a sorely neglected Henckel's 10' with a slightly curved, ergonomic handle. Because plague, I haven't been able to get my knives sharpened for over a year. I was all set to go to a somewhat nearby Sur La Table and dump my collection on them, then they up and closed. I found a local guy who will come pick up your knives, sharpen, and drop them back off again in a day. I had set up an appointment with him, then was perusing his facebook page and spotted a COVID IS A HOAX YOU PUSSIES video he posted and noped out of that one. So now my options are shipping off to some place and being without knives for a week or more. I take mine to a nearby independent kitchen supply store, after looking for a good reliable place for a few years. I know hardware stores can do it sometimes. I forget where you live exactly? I wanna say Dallas area? But I could be confusing you with one of our other Texans. I feel like you have to have some options locally though. |
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Post by pairesta on Nov 12, 2020 11:50:21 GMT -5
I have a couple full knife blocks but really only use a global 8" chef's knife we got from a Friend with Connections for a wedding gift. I also have a sorely neglected Henckel's 10' with a slightly curved, ergonomic handle. Because plague, I haven't been able to get my knives sharpened for over a year. I was all set to go to a somewhat nearby Sur La Table and dump my collection on them, then they up and closed. I found a local guy who will come pick up your knives, sharpen, and drop them back off again in a day. I had set up an appointment with him, then was perusing his facebook page and spotted a COVID IS A HOAX YOU PUSSIES video he posted and noped out of that one. So now my options are shipping off to some place and being without knives for a week or more. I take mine to a nearby independent kitchen supply store, after looking for a good reliable place for a few years. I know hardware stores can do it sometimes. I forget where you live exactly? I wanna say Dallas area? But I could be confusing you with one of our other Texans. I feel like you have to have some options locally though. Was Dallas, now Houston. We have no independent kitchen stores close by; it's a drive in town. I called a nearby Ace Hardware and they had no idea what I was talking about with knife sharpening despite coming up on a google map search for that term. They only do things like garden tools and lawnmower blades. |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 12, 2020 11:53:28 GMT -5
I take mine to a nearby independent kitchen supply store, after looking for a good reliable place for a few years. I know hardware stores can do it sometimes. I forget where you live exactly? I wanna say Dallas area? But I could be confusing you with one of our other Texans. I feel like you have to have some options locally though. Was Dallas, now Houston. We have no independent kitchen stores close by; it's a drive in town. I called a nearby Ace Hardware and they had no idea what I was talking about with knife sharpening despite coming up on a good map search for that term. They only do things like garden tools and lawnmower blades. That's a bummer. Yelp might be helpful for this. I don't know how close these places are, but: www.serenityknives.com/service/sharpening-services/premiersharpening.com/good luck  |
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 12, 2020 13:39:57 GMT -5
I have a couple full knife blocks but really only use a global 8" chef's knife we got from a Friend with Connections for a wedding gift. I also have a sorely neglected Henckel's 10' with a slightly curved, ergonomic handle. Because plague, I haven't been able to get my knives sharpened for over a year. I was all set to go to a somewhat nearby Sur La Table and dump my collection on them, then they up and closed. I found a local guy who will come pick up your knives, sharpen, and drop them back off again in a day. I had set up an appointment with him, then was perusing his facebook page and spotted a COVID IS A HOAX YOU PUSSIES video he posted and noped out of that one. So now my options are shipping off to some place and being without knives for a week or more. One recommendation I've heard (maybe even I heard it here?!) is to call around to local hair salons/barbershops. They should be able to let you know who sharpens their scissors for them. Because many hairstylists are basically contractors, and good haircutting scissors are expensive, they'll generally have names of really reliable people. |
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 12, 2020 14:07:36 GMT -5
You could also call a restaurant you like and ask who sharpens their knives. When I worked as a prep cook, the service would come once a week and take a whole batch, leaving the previous week's newly sharpened batch.
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Baron von Costume
TI Forumite
Like an iron maiden made of pillows... the punishment is decadence!
Posts: 4,683
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Post by Baron von Costume on Nov 12, 2020 18:58:35 GMT -5
I thankfully have a neighbourhood dude at the farmers market who does mine while I go have a pupusa and beer.
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Post by Floyd Diabolical Barber on Nov 12, 2020 21:20:21 GMT -5
I thankfully have a neighbourhood dude at the farmers market who does mine while I go have a pupusa and beer. Pupusa sounds like a magazine for young American dogs. |
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LazBro
Prolific Poster 
Posts: 10,278
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Post by LazBro on Nov 13, 2020 8:42:49 GMT -5
I get mine done at one of those knife stores you only find in malls. It's always the same old dude working the place, and he is never friendly. But eh, sharp knives.
Just checked, and I'm glad to see he's still open after all this. But then, the knife stores in malls are one of those kinds of stores that you wonder how they stay in business even at the best of times. Like, they're always empty. So really, what's a plague to the local mall knife store?
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Post by Powerthirteen on Nov 13, 2020 12:53:31 GMT -5
I have maybe 15 knives of various kinds, but I don't really know why because the only ones I ever use are my 10" chef's knife, my paring knife, and my serrated bread knife.
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Post by Liz n Dicksgiving on Nov 13, 2020 15:42:30 GMT -5
Pupusa sounds like a magazine for young American dogs. Hugs is a librarian, and one of her all-time favorite customer interactions was when someone came to her to ask for the book pronounced "Med: You Ess Ay", like Med: United States of America. It took her FOREVER to figure out it was the Clive Cussler book:  |
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Nov 15, 2020 23:07:31 GMT -5
This morning I was slicing a bagel and stabbed my finger with the bread knife. It was just a minor wound but that poor finger (left index) has born the brunt of my knife fails.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 19, 2020 11:14:45 GMT -5
I mostly use the Yaxell paring/utility knife in the upright knife block, a Shun santoku from the upright block, and a short-handled utility knife by Boker in the flat knife block. Most of what's in the upright knife block is Shun, as we have a full set. (Not the steak knives - those are Cutco and they are just as sharp as the day they were bought about 15 years ago.) The orange-handled knife in the upright block is actually an oyster knife, and its blade is about 2" wide, so it gives much better leverage than a traditional oyster knife.
And one complaint: we have a Rosle peeler, of which the blades are ridged, and I hate that fucking thing so much that I bypass it and go for the old Henckel regular-type peeler every single time. (There's a full set of Henckels, made in Germany, in the attic, and they are mine upon moving out.) Or sometimes a ceramic paring knife is even better.
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Post by The Stuffingtacular She-Hulk on Nov 19, 2020 11:17:57 GMT -5
This morning I was slicing a bagel and stabbed my finger with the bread knife. It was just a minor wound but that poor finger (left index) has born the brunt of my knife fails. Same here, only I'm far more prone to accidental burns, so when I do cut myself, it's always that finger and it's always super traumatic. I have very little feeling in the tip of my left index finger as a result of two particularly bad slices. I think I fucked up the nerves. There's actually a huge dent in the pad of that finger, now that I look at it. |
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When I outgrew the basic block, I received one of those "boxes of bamboo skewers" blocks as a gift. It works just fine for me.
