Knife porn thread

Does that classify as essential shopping?

If I had to go for 1 knife it would probably be a global - readily available, lovely balance and less of a faff than proper Japanese (I love the faff, most of the time)

I hated global handles (v slippy when hands wet or sweaty and wrong shape for me) and found the balance a bit off actually. Settled on tojiro after walking into nisbets and testing all there knives. Found most of the German shapes quite big, heavy and cumbersome.

blenheim forge in peckham if they're still a go.

not exactly chaeps tho.

I'm not a fan of the look of global knives, would prefer something more classic looking I think!

We have a set of the Robert Welch knives and have used them daily for about 9 years or so. Very, very happy with them.

Wusthof is also good for the money. More chonk than Victorinox.

Personally I don't like Global knives, I just can't get on with the handle, so I'd say it's something to bear in mind if you're going expensive.

Also a chance of picking them up at TK Maxx (if you go to one that sells knives).

Victorinox have tons of grip with their fibrox handles even when wet, and their blades are lighter than traditional German knives.

Not really a covetable knife though. If they made some with a Alox handle like the SAKs though...

My Mum has a set and they are quite nice!

Yeah I used an Alox for years before getting the Wusthof. Prefer it but it's useful to have the Victorinox for anything more dainty.

Lovely. You've clearly got more patience in carving the underside!

Sanded reasonably smooth (180 grade is finest I have), there are a couple of minor imperfections but otherwise this is much better than I thought it would be as a first go.

First coat of Flax Oil is on also.

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Fair enough - I'm not mad on the look but really get on with the handle and balance. Shows how much of a preference these things are and why it's always a nice idea to pick them up and get a feel for yourself

TK Maxx

Really happy with the cheap n cheerful "Paderno" brand Santoku & Bread knives I got there.

Yep! Think I'll stick with what I have for now but order a whetstone so that I can practice getting a knife properly sharp, then when I'm able to leave the house, try and pick a few different knives of different styles up and see what feels right.

Wusthof

Got my dad one of these (the more expensive ones) and it's great. But another eg of balance and weight as I tried a few out and really got on with it.

The Victorianox ones with fibrox handles are probably the best budget option, plus the handle makes it easy to file or shape to your preference.

@rhb I laughed at a wood work teacher at school (UK late 80's) that carved his own spoons, for the last few years I wished I paid more attention.

So today I will look round a photograph all the opinels in the flat

Then my kitchen knives, nothing porn worthy really as I live with people who don't know how to treat knives. Also have to sharpen the kitcken JA henkels knife pro kitchen knives.

How do you identify a good steel or a cheap poor one?

That sounds like a sensible idea.

Tricky question but to a point how long they stay sharp and how comfy they are in your hand. Steel that’s been heat treated and worked more is more brittle (harder) and so can be sharpened to a finer angle without deforming. Softer steels cannot be sharpened to the same angle but are less prone to chipping.

Cheaper knives tend to be made of softer steels so when sharpened to a reasonable angle so that you chop things easily, the edge doesn’t last long. Knives of harder steels can maintain a finer cutting edge for longer but before they deform but take more effort to sharpen. Knives made of very hard steel stay sharp for ages at normal angles or can be made very very sharp. But the brittleness means they’re prone to chipping against hard surfaces.

^ This.
My No.1 knife is Damascus steel with something like 164 layers. It takes a while to get decent edge on it, but it'll still halve cherry toms 4 weeks after sharpening using just the weight of the blade.

I've gone the other way, I use a £60 Eden santoku for everything. Its nice in the hand but doesn't hold an edge that long cos it's cheap steel, but it means I can use a pull through sharpener which takes 30 seconds and without worrying about damaging it and if it did get damaged it was cheap.

Had a play with the Old Timer knife yesterday, really surprised at how good it is for the price of the set.

Made a fork, although this has a hairline crack at the base of the V which will split as the wood dries it was a good learning experience.

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That's Hazel? Try cutting some Blackthorn from a hedgerow and letting it season for at least 6 months, it shouldn't split once seasoned and is much tougher.