If you like to cook .....

[FRJ]

If you like to cook It's important and fun to have lots of choices in prep knives.

I know some folks wont appreciate knives like this because of the tarnished carbon blades.
They wont rust and they get very sharp.
Mostly American and French.
Thanks for looking.

[americanedgetech]

I've been wanting to branch into both kitchen cutlery, and scissors myself.
I have my Great Aunt's cutlery, and I'll tell you what sir... You can castrate a knat with any piece I have.

You have quite the eclectic collection of pieces there, and the only thing I see missing is a couple of nice old cleavers!

[FRJ]

Look for the thread in this forum named "Show off your kitchen knives" if you care to.
Page one, I believe I have a couple of cleavers in there.

[americanedgetech]

Oh Course you do... I should have known

[Dinadan]

Great collection of carbon steel kitchen knives, Joe. We do a lot of chopping and slicing in our kitchen so we have about eight knives that we mostly use. I stay away from wood handles and carbon steel blades because I do want to be able to put the knives in the dish washer. My favorites are Henckles and Wushof, and I like wide blades like in your last photo. This six inch Wushof is my overall favorite knife right now

[mrwatch]

Utility and paring knives the red handle one in the middle has an interesting logo. Do you know who the maker is?

[FRJ]

Thank you, Mel.
That is a great kitchen tool you have there and a nice stone too.

mrwatch, I don't know who made this knife. It is quite old as are others with this Nogent style handle.
It is 11 inches long with a 6 1/2" blade. A good handy size for various tasks.
I bought it from a woman in Paris and I thought it would never get here. In fact I kind of gave up on ever seeing it until one day it showed up with hat in hand, so to speak.

[tongueriver]

...the only thing I see missing is a couple of nice old cleavers!

Cleaver has a 13" blade and an 18 1/2" handle (31 1/2" overall). The hand forged steel from the blade continues through the handle in one piece.The letters, LL, are stamped on the top of the blade near the handle. As you can see, this high carbon steel knife is in excellent condition. It is very sharp L. & I. J. White, 1837, Buffalo, N.Y. U.S.A. marked.”
From another source, an advertisement for an old chisel, a clue is given to the provenance of the above cleaver: “This is an antique Carpentry chisel marked “L.&I.J. WHITE BUFFALO N.Y. 1837” in a oval Company Logo. I found they were an edge tool maker from Buffalo NY with working years from 1837 to about 1928.” The cleaver is in outstanding condition with almost no signs of use. An even patina, untouched, with micropitting.

[FRJ]

That is a seemingly well made and beautiful old cleaver, Cal. And huge!
Thanks for showing that here.

[americanedgetech]

That is beyond insane!!!
My only thought on purpose must be in a processing house. Can anyone 1/4 a cow in less than one minute?
How about 45 seconds?

I've never seen anything like that TR!
Thanks for posting it.

[tongueriver]

Here are some I stuck to a shop magnet in my 'cave.'

[FRJ]

Nice old cutlery, Cal. Great stuff.

[Ote]

New guy on the forum.. Hi all..
I do some sharpening, mostly freehand on Waterstones.. however I don't spend much time in the kitchen. With the variety of blade shapes and sizes I would like to understand from a chef's/cooks perspective what style knife is used for what type of cutting..

ie..soft veggies, thin blade, hollow or flat grind?
hard veggies, different knife?
meats, thin or thick blade? extremely sharp or utility type edge..
8" 10" or 12" chefs knife? what is your preference and why.

As I sharpen it would be beneficial for me to understand the type of edge to put on what type of knife and be able to explain the in's and out's to my customers. Thanks all..

[Dinadan]

Ote - welcome to the forum!

Regarding your questions I am no expert. For my kitchen knives I use a soft Arkansas stone and nothing else to sharpen. I do not try to get a razor edge, just nice and sharp. I like wide chef knives for chopping stuff like onions, bell pepper, and celery, and for making coarse cuts of meat and splitting hard squash. For fine slicing of meat or any slicing of tomato or cucumber or other soft vegetables I like a thin blade Santoku knife. The Santoku knives work good on bread and cheese too, and I have a pair of small Henckels that are just perfect for cheese other small tasks. For carving a chicken or turkey I use a slender chef knife. The cleaver? I hardly ever use it but I figure a real man should have a cleaver in his kitchen! This photo is my Henckels kitchen knives which are the ones I use the most.

[tongueriver]

Love my expensive Santoku and my not-expensive fillet knives. I like a scary sharp edge and thin, but NOT with very fine abrasives- a coarse edge but VERY SHARP. Some folk will understand what I mean. "Toothy" is the word I was looking for. Word retrieval at my age is beginning to be a problem.

[eveled]

I know what you mean. I think of my knives as having very fine serations. How fine the serations are varies with the task at hand. I love it when a guest in my kitchen picks up a knife cuts a tomato and looks like they've seen Jesus.

[mrwatch]

we are in apple country. my wife just uses a common pairing knife to cut the to eat and keeps one in the car. after looking at the Wusthof catalogs is their a preferred type of blade for this? Thanks

[eveled]

Think you answered your own question paring knife for apples. For a folder, I'd say a stainless Opinel.