Impressive kitchen knife
Watch Bob Kramer put his chef’s knife through its paces, including chopping through three bottles of water, rope and aluminum cans. Wow. Kramer knives seem quite spendy. But, damn, that’s impressive.
And in an update to my kitchen knife bleg, I settled on Messermeister and have been quite happy with them so far. They cut through meat like butter, handle really well, and compared to comparable knives, come in at a lower price. I think my only regret is not getting the 23 piece set.
March 26th, 2012 at 10:25 am
Do you find yourself using the Santuko much? I just can’t seem to find a way it bests an 8″ Chef’s knife for anything.
March 26th, 2012 at 10:29 am
I go back and forth between the two depending on if I need a flat cut or angled cut.
March 26th, 2012 at 11:00 am
And did your new knives come with a cutting board?
March 26th, 2012 at 11:02 am
Yes, I managed to get a new cutting board.
March 26th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
My Forschners, sharpended with a mill file, will slice through a suspended tissue-paper table napkin. Haven’t tried the other tricks, but a push dagger I made from an old file and leftover walnut from a gunstock will punch through 1/8″ 01 flatstock. But they are tricks.
And, BTW, “Damascus” folded steel is mass-produced in India and China for a long time now. Profile it, bevel it, heat it with an acetylene torch and quench it in lukewarm brine. No need to temper it, usually. Bring out the pattern with any mild acid you have lying around the house, including lime juice.
March 26th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I find myself greatly doubting the value proposition of a $399 chef’s knife.
Especially a carbon steel one, even if it’s the finest carbon steel in the world (which it appears to be).
Any decent chef’s knife, sharpened, should cut through that stuff – great demo, sure. But a great demo that elides the fact that it’s not actually special (see Ginsu and tomato cutting) is the opposite of impressive.
March 26th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
The bottles are glued to the table.
March 26th, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Messermeister is Knife-master in German – they’re like the WMF Spitzenklasse.
I mainly use a 6-inch Japanese-made Santoku for everything now (especially a fine dice) and seldom use the big Chef’s knife anymore.
I also used to doubt the value proposition of a $2500 1911 much less a Commander – then I handled an Ed Brown and sold two Sigs and an M1 Carbine to get it. I really think I’m done buying pistols.
These are nice composite-material cutting-boards you can run through the dishwasher, and the silicon edge-nubs keep them from sliding around on granite.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Ah grasshopper, you have made the correct choice.