by Kitchen Utensils on October 5, 2009
When choosing a knife there are so many different elements that need to be taken into consideration. Whether they are fully forged or stamped is one of those. Below is a brief description of the differences between forged and stamped knives, with a good rule of thumb being that the fully forged knives will most likely be more expensive.
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Forged Knives
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It is generally considered forged knives are the highest quality knives on the market. They take great craftsmanship as the process involves extreme heat and hand moulding to create the finished article. The blade, tang and bolster are one piece of steel and are hammered into knife’s shape, with the handle being either riveted or welded onto the metal. Following the process of heating and cooling, the forged blade is ground to create a full taper to the cutting edge. They are popular with chefs for being better balanced, and for the extra flexibility and durability they offer. Knife manufacturers who knives are forged:
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Zwilling JA Henckels
V. Sabatier
Stellar Sabatier
Mundial
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Stamped knives are lighter, more flexible and easier to sharpen but not as balanced or as strong as forged ones, but can still be of good quality. The name comes from the process where a sheet of metal is stamped out with templated cutters, and this process enables them to be less expensive than forged knives. The steel sheets are then cut into the shape of a blade. Stamped knives are either hollow ground or edged, with the hollow ground being the longer lasting of the two knife types as they will retain their edge for longer. While these knives are easy to sharpen they generally do not hold their edge for as long as forged knives. Knife manufacturers who knives are forged:
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Stellar James Martin
Sheffield Richardson forme
Sheffield Richardson Entertain
Sheffield Richardson Fusion
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This is just one factor in the differences in kitchen knives. As said earlier, fully forged knives tend to be more expensive and at the premium end of the knife range, as the process is also a longer one and follows the more traditional knife manufacturing process. However, as technology has improved and different blade materials have come about and tested there are many kitchen knives which are stamped and of a very good quality, whose edge will last and will be with you for many years.
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James is a keen chef who works on the the award winning online cookshop,
www.blueshoots.com. With his
love of cooking he has investigated the different types of cookware available today.
WP Robot
by Kitchen Utensils on October 4, 2009
If you take great pleasure in cooking, you must also take great pleasure in using the best kitchen tools there are. However, the issue does not go down to merely choosing the best kitchen tools as it goes down to choosing the most appropriate kitchen tools. In other words, the best cooking tools are the most appropriate. To what should they be appropriate? Logically, they should be fitting the type of activity that you are going to perform with them. Let us take the example of kitchen knives.Cooking knives rank amongst the most adaptable kitchen tools that anyone has. You can use them for an incredible number of activities when cooking. You can use your cooking knives, for instance, for cutting off, shaving, carving, paring, shaping, chopping, coring, peeling, slicing, slashing, sawing, hacking, and so on. The amount of things that you could do with a cooking knife is, in other words, remarkable. But what can you do when it comes to choosing between plain and serrated blades for your kitchen knives?In most cases, the plain edge is preferable to a serrated edge when the function for which it is used is made of force cuts. What are these force cuts? With such cuts, the core cut function takes place by forcing the blade all the way through what you want to cut. For instance, when you want to peel a pear, you are actually forcing the blade in the peel of the pear. In addition, plain edged cooking knives are preferable when it comes to outermost power over the blade, when it comes to precision, and, finally, when it comes to sharp cuts.To what concerns kitchen knives with serrated edges, they are preferable to the plain alternative in the case of sliver cuts, particularly into rigid surfaces, where the unevenness of the blade seizes and incises the material without difficulty. Sliver cuts involve application in which you pull the knife-edge transversely what you want to cut. For instance, you want to slice some type of dessert. Visualize it: you actually pull the edge crosswise the cake as you slice through it. In other words, the plain edge is many times preferable for activities that involve shaving, peeling some fruit or vegetable or skinning some lamb or other type of animal. This happens because these activities call for force cuts or for great command over the blade. For the applications where the material is hard and even seems unyielding, kitchen knives with serrations are preferable. They are also preferable when you are cutting whole loaves, if you have a special delight in buying uncut loaves of bread. This happens because these activities need a sawing motion for their completion – which goes hand in hand with the serrations on the edge.
by Kitchen Utensils on October 4, 2009
Chicago Cutlery Walnut Tradition 3 Inch Paring Boning Knife
Chicago Cutlery 3in Parer/Boner Knife
Carbon Steel blade is Rust, Stain & Corrosion Resistant
Hand Ground To Produce A Taper Ground Edge
Full Tang for balance and strength
Walnut Handle With 3 Brass Rivets.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great Little Knives
After using these little paring knives, I was hooked. The first, I wore out, literally. I have used them not only for kitehen work as a paring knife, but in many other areas where a small knife is handy, inside and outside in my garden.They are very easily cleaned and they don’t rust and the handles of wood are great and have had NO problems with them coming apart, as is the case with other knives of simular category.
5 Stars Nifty knife
This is one nifty knife. No sooner had I unpacked it and popped it into my block than it was put to task, along with my carpenter’s hammer covered with a plastic bag: “lobster acquisition” for salad, from claws and knuckles. I have been doing this for over twenty years and never has a blade been so elegantly suited. It sliced right through the small shells and its small profile just searched into all the narrow spaces. It really is unique, I think, in its daintiness…but with fairly substantial, and nice looking handle. I have other Chicagos and believe that the walnut is equal or better than the new rubber stuff, when wet. It’s more than a tool, or maybe exactly what a tool should be.
5 Stars satisfaction on paring knife
I am very satisfied with this paring knife. However, I have had one previously, but it somehow disappeared so I ordered another because I like Chicago Cutlery products and have other knives.
E. Josh
5 Stars So glad I found this
I call this my “little wonder knife”. I use it for so many things.
It’s a must for peeling potatoes and then slicing or dicing them,
or any other kitchen job needing a small knife. It stays sharp a
long time, and sharpens easy when needed with my honing tool.
I have some much more expensive paring knives than this one, but
this knife fits my hand just perfect, and does a better job !
4 Stars Good knife
Got our first Chicago Cutlery over 30 years ago. Broke and needed to replace the paring knife. Came quickly! However the steel used in the new one is not *quite* as good as those in the originals, but it was still worth it.
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by Kitchen Utensils on October 4, 2009
Shun Steel 9 Inch Slicing Knife with Scallops
Shun Steel 9″ Granton Slicer The Shun Steel line is for those who prefer the simple elegance and easy care of cutlery with pure stainless steel handles. The Shun Stainless Steel line offers the same grace and elegance as the Shun Classics, but with a seamless, one-piece stainless steel bolster, handle, and end cap. Like the Shun Classics, the Shun Steel line also features their uniquely stable “D” shape handle design as well as the clad VG-10 blade. The “D” shape precisely fits the way the hand curves around the handle. The asymmetrical bolster is ground out more on the right side to provide proper finger placement and an easy, secure grip. Like the samurai sword, the Shun blade is sharp and flexible – ideal for food preparation. Hard, flexible VG-10 “super steel” is clad in layers of high-carbon stainless steel that protect the VG-10 and give the Shun its Damascus-look pattern. Even the pattern serves a purpose, ensuring that foods stick less during slicing and dicing, which results in faster and easier food preparation. Features of the Shun Stainless Steel Series include: VG-10 stainless steel is clad with 16 layers of SUS410 high-carbon steel on each side, producing a 33-layer rust-free Damascus look. VG-10 “super steel” is composed of Carbon, Chromium, Cobalt, Manganese, Molybdenum, Silicon, and Vanadium. VG-10’s Rockwell Hardness rating of 61 ensures that it takes and holds its incredibly sharp edge longer. Shun Steel knives feature stainless steel handles with the unique “D” shape for stable, easy grip. Stainless steel bolsters and end caps. Dishwasher safe. NSF approved. Shun Knives were formerly known as Kershaw Knives.
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Weight is in the handle
It’s pretty, it’s sharp, blah..blah..blah. Guess what? It’s not balanced well. The knife is weighted in the handle which will cause fatigue, and can be potentially hazardous. There is a reason it’s so steeply discounted on Amazon.
5 Stars Great knife
Shun Steel 9-Inch Slicing Knife with Scallops: weight and balance is perfect, and it slices through crusty bread and/or tomatoes like butter! I love it! My wife is left-handed, so I previously bought her a Wustoff lefty’s 9-inch bread knife. I like the Shun better.
5 Stars excellent knife in every way
Received this knife a few days ago. Family has been treated to any manner of foods that require slicing. This knife is wicked sharp. Beautifully made and a joy to use. I have knife skills that I never knew! I bought a magnetic strip to display. My only worry was the stainless handle but this is a nicely crafted matte finish that is neither cold nor slippery. Grips like the warm wood versions. Love it!
5 Stars Excellent knife
This knife is beautiful both to look at and to use. Very comfortable grip, wonderful cutting.
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by Kitchen Utensils on October 4, 2009
Having a sharp quality kitchen knives is easy for you to use it for chopping, slicing, and dicing a variety of foods. But when your knives can’t easily cut through the skin of tomato, then you know it’s time to sharpen your kitchen knives again!
But there are some exception, some cheap knives are disposable so it’s doesn’t require any sharping, but for quality knives that last forever, you need to know how to sharpen them properly. If you want more tips about how to choose quality kitchen knives, you can visit my blog listed below or my listed branded best kitchen knives company here.
Anyway, I used to sharpen my quality kitchen knives using sharpening stone. But I found using sharpening steel is handier but it’s takes a bit of skill to do it properly.
Basically, how to sharpening your kitchen knives have 4 steps:
1. Hold the sharpening steel in your left hand steadily.
2. With another hand, hold your kitchen knife.
3. With the kitchen knife at a 10- to 25-degree angle to the steel, hold the steel rod steady and draw the knife blade down the steel.
4. Repeat the steps several times until the entire cutting surface of the kitchen knife has been drawn across the sharpening steel on both sides of the blade.
Well, there you have it!
Tips to remember and take away is to even pressure and have an equal number of strokes on each side of the blade.
Proper angle is also the key to properly sharpening your knive too.
All this will take some practice to make it perfect.
