Cutlery Chioces-need help makihg up my mind

You need to go into the store or stores that carry the various brands and try each piece. Pick it up. Hold it the way you would to actually use it. How does it feel? Is the handle too big or small for your hand? It is too heavy or too light? You may find that a variety of brands is the best answer for you. You do not have to have a matched set.

I have an old set of Sabatier knives which are wonderful.

However, I'm not sure they're still being made.

HOWEVER, the thing you should look for is that the knives you get are made out of carbon steel. Yes, this is the metal that stains, etc., but knives made of carbon steel are easy to sharpen and seem to work better than stainless steel ones.

But, maybe you know that already!

Thank you...I did that last night which is the first time I looked at the Wusthof. I do like the way they feel.

D~

I will keep this in mind

Thank you D~

Alan snipped-for-privacy@visi.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

There is also now "stainless carbon steel" used by many companies that make cutlery. I've not had a problem losing the edge on my Henckels of same material.

Good advice, *BUT*, be prepared for a difficult, exhaustive search. Virtually no retail stores carry carbon steel knives because it would seem most consumers have a difficult time getting over the staining problem. Sabatier is the only quality company I know that makes a full line of carbon-steel knives. Most of the stores that carry Sabatier only carry their stainless knives, except by special order. So it's not enough to ask for the brand name "Sabatier". You have to ask *specifically* about their carbon steel knives, using precisely that terminology, and if at any point the salesman inserts the word "stainless" you must correct him.

The overwhelmingly prevalent material these days is "high-carbon stainless" steel. It doesn't sharpen as readily as carbon steel nor does it hold an edge as well, but it is vastly better than low-carbon stainless, which you usually find in such-a-deal knives. Gerber, Wusthof, Henckels, and Chicago Cutlery all use high-carbon stainless.

It's easy to spot carbon steel, because it has a dull, blue-grey colour to the blade as opposed to the bright, shiny silver blade of a high-carbon stainless. If you use it to cut tomatoes, lemons, and other acidic items, be sure to rinse it off *immediately*. And never run it through the dishwasher.

High-carbon stainless is OK, and certainly avoids the cleaning problem and the need to be obsessive about care. I'd stay away from Henckels if you decide to go this route because they are now using sintered blades as opposed to forged blades (a little less blade strength, shorter time keeping a sharp edge, more difficult to sharpen)

It comes down to how much effort you're willing to put into the buying process. If you have no difficulty spending several weeks tracking down the carbon-steel Sabatiers and then perhaps waiting several more weeks while they arrive, by all means do so because the performance will reward the effort. OTOH, if that sounds like too much work to you, a high-carbon stainless knife from Wusthof, Sabatier, or Gerber may be more practical.

The Japanese continue to make high quality knives of carbon steel. They also have the advantage of using half bolsters that don't get in the way of sharpening the edge.

Fred Knife Outlet