What is your favorite chefs knife ?

[Nick Niacaris]

oh just a little comment about that Santoku in the picture. it is a real cheap one I picked up at bed,bath and beyond for only $9.99 made by Sabatier. Believe it or not it is now my sharpest knife in my kitchen as its my main knife I've been practicing my sharpening skills with it on the 1000/6000 stone and my strops. It is sharper than my new Tojiro DP Gyuto and my Shun Premier Santoku.

[Karen Kale]

OK Nick, you convinced me, I'm taking the plunge too. I picked up one of those Sabatier santokus at BB&B, and found it completely unusable out of the box, my hand hurt after chopping one carrot. If a stone and strop made that knife sharper than your Shun and Tojiro, this is something I need to learn to do.

[Nick Niacaris]

I just added a Tojiro Nakiri forged knife and a Mercer Yanagi knife for my sushi and sashimi that I'm going to start making at home.  ;D

[Nick Niacaris]

just added a 10 inch scalloped bread knife from Dexter to the arsenal. All I had around the house was an old ginsu that is dull. The Dexter came highly recommended from a few Chef's on a knife forum. This is the one below.

http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell-S47G10-PCP-Traditional-Scalloped/dp/B002C81PIY

[Nick Niacaris]

Now I'm goinf to have to make some real crusty sourdough bread when the knife gets here to give it the real test.  ;D

[Nick Niacaris]

something like this loaf I made a while back should be a good test.

[Karen Kale]

Nick, I thought about going back through this thread and counting all the knives you've bought since the thread started, but all that would do is convince me that I don't have enough, and I don't want to go down that road!  ;D

I've begun learning to use my new waterstone (I got the 1000/6000 combo stone too), practicing on some cheap knives to get a feel for the angles and to experiment with different techniques. This really is the way to go, I'm glad you encouraged me to give it a shot.

[Nick Niacaris]

Nick, I thought about going back through this thread and counting all the knives you've bought since the thread started, but all that would do is convince me that I don't have enough, and I don't want to go down that road!  ;D

I've begun learning to use my new waterstone (I got the 1000/6000 combo stone too), practicing on some cheap knives to get a feel for the angles and to experiment with different techniques. This really is the way to go, I'm glad you encouraged me to give it a shot.

Yes Karen its not the only way to sharpen a knife but its by far the best way. Next you will be stropping lol. ;D

[Jeff Parsons]

The chef knife I use the most is a Hideyuki Tanaka (the father, has two sons in his shop in Japan) 190 mm (7 1/2 inch) gyuto with a VG10 cobalt stainless steel core and 8 laminations each side of a softer stainless, probably 420. Very thin, light, very generic-looking laminated wood handle. To me, the more specialized the handle design, the less versatile for other positions. I paid about $80 from their site on Ebay about 3 years ago.

Also have in my drawer-style knife block:
   1.  4" parer - I bought the 440 stainless blade from a knife-making supply, and made a handle from our local ironwood (hornbeam, very light, dry wood, splits terribly until dry, then you pick and choose your piece). Oil finished with linseed oil.
   2.  6" utility - bought the AUS-8 blade, handled it with Bocote.
   3.  6 1/2" Santuko - bought the laminated stainless blade with VG-10 core and handled it with a nice piece of Sambar stag. Still have to finish the back end of the handle.
   4.  The 7 1/2" Tanaka Gyuto described above.
   5.   A 9" Panini knive, carbon steel, modified from a stag-handled serving knife, by reducing the height of the front of the blade so it could be wiped without trying to cut back into the cloth. The stag had a couple of cracks and voids, filled them with Superglue and polished it back to the surface.
   6. A 12" Carl Schlieper, Solingen, Germany, carbon steel carving knife modified with 1/2" serrations to use as a bread knife. This wood handle also required some filling with Superglue in cracks in the wood, and voids between the tang and the wood.
   7. A 240 mm (9 1/2") Kanetsune laminated stainless Gyuto with VG-10 core. I very seldom cook big enough to need this. Usually used if I go chop veggies, sausage, etc. for a friend cooking a benefit jambalaya. I can take a couple of hours off the cook.
   8.  A 10 1/2" Dexter Super Stainless ham or roast slicer with a NICE stag handle.
   I also have a couple of elegant stag-handled stainless serving sets, the smaller one when I'm invited to eat turkey, and the larger, when I'm invited for ham or brisket. My friends know my knives are sharp.....

   Betwen the belt sander, the polishing wheel, a 10" fine diamond whetstone, a 14" Friedrich Dick (German) steel, and a leather belt (it hangs, all I have to do is grab the bottom end), imbedded in two areas with 1 micron diamond dust, and 0.1 micron diamond dust, all those knives will shave.

[Nick Niacaris]

The chef knife I use the most is a Hideyuki Tanaka (the father, has two sons in his shop in Japan) 190 mm (7 1/2 inch) gyuto with a VG10 cobalt stainless steel core and 8 laminations each side of a softer stainless, probably 420. Very thin, light, very generic-looking laminated wood handle. To me, the more specialized the handle design, the less versatile for other positions. I paid about $80 from their site on Ebay about 3 years ago.

Also have in my drawer-style knife block:
   1.  4" parer - I bought the 440 stainless blade from a knife-making supply, and made a handle from our local ironwood (hornbeam, very light, dry wood, splits terribly until dry, then you pick and choose your piece). Oil finished with linseed oil.
   2.  6" utility - bought the AUS-8 blade, handled it with Bocote.
   3.  6 1/2" Santuko - bought the laminated stainless blade with VG-10 core and handled it with a nice piece of Sambar stag. Still have to finish the back end of the handle.
   4.  The 7 1/2" Tanaka Gyuto described above.
   5.   A 9" Panini knive, carbon steel, modified from a stag-handled serving knife, by reducing the height of the front of the blade so it could be wiped without trying to cut back into the cloth. The stag had a couple of cracks and voids, filled them with Superglue and polished it back to the surface.
   6. A 12" Carl Schlieper, Solingen, Germany, carbon steel carving knife modified with 1/2" serrations to use as a bread knife. This wood handle also required some filling with Superglue in cracks in the wood, and voids between the tang and the wood.
   7. A 240 mm (9 1/2") Kanetsune laminated stainless Gyuto with VG-10 core. I very seldom cook big enough to need this. Usually used if I go chop veggies, sausage, etc. for a friend cooking a benefit jambalaya. I can take a couple of hours off the cook.
   8.  A 10 1/2" Dexter Super Stainless ham or roast slicer with a NICE stag handle.
   I also have a couple of elegant stag-handled stainless serving sets, the smaller one when I'm invited to eat turkey, and the larger, when I'm invited for ham or brisket. My friends know my knives are sharp.....

   Betwen the belt sander, the polishing wheel, a 10" fine diamond whetstone, a 14" Friedrich Dick (German) steel, and a leather belt (it hangs, all I have to do is grab the bottom end), imbedded in two areas with 1 micron diamond dust, and 0.1 micron diamond dust, all those knives will shave.

Nice collection ! I almost went that route with the belt sander with different grits and a polishing belt made of leather. Who knows I may still get one.  ;)

[Jim Glatthaar]

I'm betting on Nick having one by, oh, let's see, Memorial Day.

[Jeff Parsons]

I have a vertical belt sander with a loose belt section. I can stand over the belt sander and very carefully watch the angle, reversing direction with each stroke. I pull off the belt when the point reaches halfway across the belt, to keep from burning or rounding the point. I also keep a soapy water container at hand so I can dunk the knife for each stroke on the belt, to keep from changing the temper of the blade. You can get a knife sharp after overheating the edge, but it will be brittle, chip, and go dull quickly. The belt sander (usually with 400 grit) leaves a "foil". When your job is complete on the belt sander, you can read the foil with backlight (a light behind you) all the way down the edge. Reversing direction causes the foil to reverse all the way down the edge.

On the polishing wheel, I have green chrome abrasive (about 1400 grit) on a 1/2" sewed cotton wheel.  When the buffing wheel removes the foil, reversing direction with each stroke and reading the foil, all that's left is sharp. My panini knive was sharpened with 60 grit on the belt sander, then the buffing wheel to leave a micro-serrated edge for crusty bread.

PS: A sous chef I know asked his boss today if I could sharpen knives for the restaurant, boss wants to try me out. Previous sharpener was losing knives and not getting the rest sharp.

[Jeff Parsons]

The diamond dust is from:

Ted Pella, Inc.
1..800.237.3528
www.tedpella.com

I got the 5 gram tubes of 1 micron and 0.1 micron for my strop. It's a section of a belt, hanging from a screw at working height, with about 12" for each compound. Although not glued to a flat, I pull it tight as I use it. This produces a slightly convex edge, which is more durable than a perfectly flat edge.

[Lee Bowen]

It's  hard to beat Old Hickory knives.  I have two knifeblocks full to overflowing, from paring knives to my Grandmother's 12" butcher knife. Ten licks on a steel wheel sharpener or a hand-held steel sharpener and you are hot to go. And the best part is that they are products of the good old USA. ;D

[Duke Gilleland]

Memories of items that were used by close loved ones seem to always hold a special place in our lives. I am lucky enough to have my Grand Daddy's Foster sharpening steel and my parent's wet stone and old butcher knives.
My Daddy did not hunt or play golf, but to sit and sharpen  the knives seemed to bring him enjoyment & peace. I share that feeling 60 years later[smiley=thumbsup.gif] Sad but very little meat to cut nowadays :-[