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Lets see your favorite chef's knife.

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
And then I was a chef and dreamt of having a life... (Don't deny it my kitchen professionals)

However,
I am enjoying the knife porn on this thread.
A chef's life (and a line cook's) is at around 2 am when the guys cleaning the kitchen are winding down, the bar is not being watched, and if you wanted to make something sinfully good to nosh on, no one is there to stop you. Sadly, you are too tired to take full advantage.
 
Another Black Lotus as the last one came with a chip.
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Kramer Shokunin nakiri 52100
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Shigefusa 300mm kitaeji yanagiba
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I use a 6 1/2" Kiwi vegetable knife (similar to a nakiri) or a Faberware 5" Santoku. Kiwi knives are very good as far as budget knives go, I've hardly had to sharpen it in the years I have owned it, though I steel and strop it frequently. They come from the factory shaving sharp.

The Japanese knives are a full hobby just to sharpen them. By the time you add it all up, it's cheaper for me to just buy a new knife.
 
I use a 6 1/2" Kiwi vegetable knife (similar to a nakiri) or a Faberware 5" Santoku. Kiwi knives are very good as far as budget knives go, I've hardly had to sharpen it in the years I have owned it, though I steel and strop it frequently. They come from the factory shaving sharp.

The Japanese knives are a full hobby just to sharpen them. By the time you add it all up, it's cheaper for me to just buy a new knife.
Lol no. I have Japanese knives I haven't sharpened for 2 years. Granted, I have a full sharpening setup. Depends on your steel used, what you use it on, and how often. Just like shaving.
 
Lol no. I have Japanese knives I haven't sharpened for 2 years. Granted, I have a full sharpening setup. Depends on your steel used, what you use it on, and how often. Just like shaving.

My sharpening ability ends with crock sticks, I am afraid. I never got into straight razors for similar reasons. I don't even use a pocket knife all that often now days, typically I reach for a ceramic boxcutter.

Perhaps if I lived in an area that had professional sharpening services for that sort of thing, it would be a different story.
 
My sharpening ability ends with crock sticks, I am afraid. I never got into straight razors for similar reasons. I don't even use a pocket knife all that often now days, typically I reach for a ceramic boxcutter.

Perhaps if I lived in an area that had professional sharpening services for that sort of thing, it would be a different story.
If you steel and strop, you do more to retain an edge then 95%+ people. It's what Japanese do too. See, you are much closer than you think.

Also, most of the best sharpeners are online, check Dave Martell for Japanese knife sharpening. Machine or hand.
 
If you steel and strop, you do more to retain an edge then 95%+ people. It's what Japanese do too. See, you are much closer than you think.

Also, most of the best sharpeners are online, check Dave Martell for Japanese knife sharpening. Machine or hand.

I have one of these, but I've only used it a few times (it's not very useful for pocket knives):


I can't keep a consistent edge with freehand sharpening, I'm not in tune with the feedback I get (the Thai-made Kiwi veggie knife is easy to steel because it will "sing" when you get the right angle). That setup does a fairly good job with kitchen knives, however. I have used it in the past to touch up rough factory grinds.

I tried it once on a cheap single-bevel santoku that I tried to freehand and I ruined the edge. Maybe it would work, in the end I threw out of the knife- it simply wasn't worth the trouble. Japanese knives are not small change, so I am wary of buying any more.
 

Tirvine

ancient grey sweatophile
I use a 6 1/2" Kiwi vegetable knife (similar to a nakiri) or a Faberware 5" Santoku. Kiwi knives are very good as far as budget knives go, I've hardly had to sharpen it in the years I have owned it, though I steel and strop it frequently. They come from the factory shaving sharp.

The Japanese knives are a full hobby just to sharpen them. By the time you add it all up, it's cheaper for me to just buy a new knife.
While my Japanese knives are nothing fancy (Tojiro ITK nakiri, 240 gyuto, and petty) they are easy to keep sharp with an inexpensive three grit triangular block of water stones from Wusthof. My objective in sharpening is not to achieve perfection in sharpening but to have good tools for ease of use in the kitchen. My technique may be awful, but it works.
 
love my masahiro makes short work of onions and coming in at 300mm minces herbs with the slightest lift of the wrist. the real life saver is the r murphy narragansett, a lot of restaurants have passable knifes but every one has no oyster shucker or a super long bladed dexter shucker that makes shucking suck.
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I was a diehard Shun fan until I discovered Doghouse Forge. Beautiful knives made by artisan Jonathan Porter and his wife Emily in Florida. Stock comes and goes as he gets them made and posted, but the knives are worth the wait and very affordable in comparison to other small artisan makers.

The 8” and 6” chefs in this picture are my daily kitchen knives and are my favorite knives of the many I’ve owned over the years. The blades aren’t high-polished or fancy fake-Damascus, but they are made from AEB-L steel and maintain a fantastic edge. A very utilitarian looking blade, attached to gorgeous spalted maple scales that Jonathan selects and stabilizes in his shop. I also love the copper rivets!
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Old Hippie

Somewhere between 61 and dead
Y'all're gonna laugh, but here it is...

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I have a great fondness for ulu knives. This one just happened a week ago. I was at the scrap metal yard looking for some rod stock to make handles, and found two of these in a box. The guy who was helping me felt kinda bad he didn't have any rod at all, so we split the find and both walked away happy. Cleaned it up, sharpened it, flaxseed oil on the handle; good to go. I took a chunk of alder firewood out of the box by the cookstove and did some cutting and other work to make a simple stand, soaked it in flaxseed oil and there it is.

I was just using it today prepping some pork for dinner. It's my go-to for cutting around bones, trimming fat and other things, chopping, dicing, mincing, etc. Just a cheap piece of stainless, but it does what I need. We've got other knives, some of them quite good quality, but my ulus are always where I can grab them.

Pie added to enhance "kitchen" ambiance. :) Green Tomato Mincemeat with Rumtopf Cherries. I don't do birthday cake, I do birthday pie.

O.H.
 
My go-to is usually this 10" vintage Frenchy, which I found in a second hand shop and cleaned up.

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That is lovely! Seriously good find in a seconds shop, I always look out for old Sabs but haven't found anything yet.

We have a very similar 9" version, which my wife found when cleaning out her late grandmother's place. Was about to pack them off to the charity shop and I rescued. Seriously rusty and beaten up, but cleaned up a treat. Was almost identical to yours until I re-did the handle with some stabilized ebony, and slightly smaller pins:

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Legion

Staff member
That is lovely! Seriously good find in a seconds shop, I always look out for old Sabs but haven't found anything yet.

We have a very similar 9" version, which my wife found when cleaning out her late grandmother's place. Was about to pack them off to the charity shop and I rescued. Seriously rusty and beaten up, but cleaned up a treat. Was almost identical to yours until I re-did the handle with some stabilized ebony, and slightly smaller pins:

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Nice job on the handle. They take a good edge, huh?
 
Nice job on the handle. They take a good edge, huh?
My experience with Sabs is they take a good edge but it wears quicker than I would like. I'll find them, clean them up and plan on keeping it then someone offers me enough that I'm willing to part with it. Wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of the 12"... I have a 14 that I've been sitting on needing to redo. It needs a lot of blade work. It was ran through a mechanical pull through to put to a grinding wheel a lot without the finger guard getting taken down so there is a 1/4" or more difference between the heel and the rest of the blade. Should be fun once I get to it.
 

Legion

Staff member
My experience with Sabs is they take a good edge but it wears quicker than I would like. I'll find them, clean them up and plan on keeping it then someone offers me enough that I'm willing to part with it. Wish I wouldn't have gotten rid of the 12"... I have a 14 that I've been sitting on needing to redo. It needs a lot of blade work. It was ran through a mechanical pull through to put to a grinding wheel a lot without the finger guard getting taken down so there is a 1/4" or more difference between the heel and the rest of the blade. Should be fun once I get to it.
Yeah, but you would be putting your knives through a much heavier workout than I do. My Japanese knives are harder and hold an edge longer, but I can't just give them a swipe on a steel to touch them up.
 
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