Choosing Cutlery
Overall Advice
All the lines of cutlery we
carry are true commercial knives and extremely well made.
We set apart Benchmark
knives. Our Benchmark knives have near perfect
construction and are the place to begin your understanding of cutlery.
Our Benchmark Knives are Messermeister
San Moritz Elité and Messermeister
Meridian Elité, one of Europe's finest knife lines.
Basic Advice
If you want to buy superb knives in an extensive knife
collection for a reasonable price, choose Messermeister - San
Moritz Elité or Meridian
Elité.
Our Benchmark Knives
We have two Benchmark knife
lines: Messermeister
San Moritz Elité and Meridian
Elité. Messermeister knives have near perfect knife
construction. Other knives can be compared to these outstanding
knife lines.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian:
high carbon stainless steel (.5% carbon, 13% chromium) with a
Rockwell hardness of 57.
- Forged taper ground blades.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian
are hand-crafted by skilled artisans in Solingen, Germany:
hand-forged, hand-tapered, beveled, glazed, honed, and polished.
- Handles made from polyoxymethelene.
- Messermeister San Moritz have seamless
molded handles; Messermeister Meridian have classic handles attached
with three rivets.
- Each blade shaped for specific
function. Examples:
Utility knife has a thin blade for precise slices.
Bread knife has a slightly curved edge to penetrate the last bit of
crust.
- Metal proportioned differently in
various types of knives for perfect balance based on knife function.
- The Messermeister line is extensive
with many specialty pieces.
Messermeister
San Moritz Elite and Meridian
Elité have several advantages over other cutlery.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian
have unique large forged bolsters that fade into the blade so
the knives can be sharpened along the entire blade length.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian
knives have a super-sharp cutting edge ground to a 15º
angle, instead of 20º.
- The Messermeister San Moritz handle
has a unique embedded plate for the chef's initials.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian
are reasonably priced, a bargain for the quality they embody.
- Messermeister San Moritz and Meridian
knives come in beautiful gift boxes designed by an award
winning graphic artist.
- Messermeister is one of the
finest knife lines made in Europe!
Runner-Up for
Benchmark Knife
Chef'sChoice
is America's finest knife, and our runner-up for the Benchmark
distinction. It has a distinctive metal formulation.
- Chef'sChoice: very high carbon
stainless steel (1% carbon, 13% chromium) with a Rockwell hardness
of 60.
- Chef'sChoice uses a special Trizor
metal. It has twice the carbon (1%) and six times the
molybdenum (over 3%) of Solingen knives, such as Wüsthof and
Henckels. The metal composition gives it excellent strength
and flexibility.
- Handles are molded, made from acetal
copolymer (a very tough plastic used in plastic gears).
- The bolster on Chef'sChoice chef
knives is ground down so the knife cuts and sharpens the full
length of the blade, like every Messermeister knife.
- Chef'sChoice is the finest
line of cutlery made in the USA.
Want to Spend Less Than
Our Benchmark Knives?
Choose one of these fine knives:
Want to Spend About the Same as Our Benchmark Knives?
Choose one of these fine knives:
Able to Spend More Than
Our Benchmark Knives?
Choose one of these fine knives:
If you want a really
elite knife, choose: Kershaw
Shun knives. Made
in the ancient samurai sword making center of Seki City, Japan, Shun
Knives are stunningly beautiful cutlery. The knives are clad from two
metals. The cutting edge is a very high grade high carbon stainless
steel known as VG-10, specially developed for knives. It is SUPER hard,
with a Rockwell hardness of 61. These knives will stay sharp a long,
long time before needing resharpening. Beautiful Damascus
stainless steel is clad to each side of the VG-10. It is formed by
folding and forging sixteen layers of metal upon metal, resulting in a
unique, elegant wavy pattern. The metal is hard but also flexible, so,
it can be honed, but rarely needs sharpening. Shun knives have
resin-impregnated Pakkawood handles with a stainless steel bolster and
end cap that look and feel like wood but are as durable as plastic.
A step up, Ken
Onion knives
feature a special ergonomic handle, specially angled bolster and unique
blade sweep that are specially designed to eliminate wrist and hand
fatigue during long usage.
Our Best Buys:
The Finest Knives for the Money. We have several lines of
superb knives that are really good buys: Victorinox,
Schaaf
International and F.
Dick Premier; and F.
Dick Superior, Messermeister
Park Plaza and Messermeister
Four Seasons.
Victorinox
knives are stamped and fully taper ground. They have been made
since 1855 in Switzerland by the company that invented the Swiss Army
Knife. They are known for their unique serrated knives.
Their Fibrox 3.25" parer and 8" chef's knife was rated #1
among stamped cutlery by Cook's Illustrated. Victorinox
is the most widely used knife by chefs world wide! Important
note: Dishwashing is hard on cutlery metals. If you
are going to use a dishwasher to clean your cutlery, don't buy expensive
knives. Victorinox Fibrox is the best for dishwasher
cleaning.
Schaaf
International knives are designed in Germany and made in Portugal.
They are fully forged with heavy bolsters and polyoxymethelene handles.
The line is extensive with many specialty pieces. All the chef's
knives are extra wide.
F.
Dick knives are fully forged and taper ground,
perfect examples of classic German cutlery. They have been made in
Esslingen, Germany since 1778. The collection of F. Dick knives is
extensive. They make the Competition Chef's Knife for the U. S.
Culinary Olympic Team. They also make the finest and most
extensive line of honing steels. 95% of the
knives used in culinary schools are F. Dick.
Knives with a Special Feature
Messermeister
San Moritz Elite and Meridian
Elité have unique large forged bolsters that fade into the
blade so the knives can be sharpened along the entire blade length and a
super-sharp cutting edge ground to a 15º angle, instead of 20º.
Schaaf
Goya knives have a distinctive beautiful stainless steel handle
with a precisely fitted black polyoxymethelene insert. They
are elegant slicing and serving pieces designed for cheese boards,
buffets, and table carving.
MAC
knives have a thin blade and a warm pakkawood handle.
Global
knives have lightweight hollow metal handles, thin blades,
extremely sharp edges (sharpened to a 10% to 15% angle), and Japanese
and Asian shapes.
Kyocera
knives have ceramic blades. They are super-sharp and
super-hard; they hold an edge much, much longer than metal knives.
The smooth ceramic blade has no drag when cutting. They are
excellent for garnishing, because they allow for precise cuts and very
thin slices.
Ken
Onion knives feature a special ergonomic handle, specially angled
bolster and unique blade sweep that are specially designed to eliminate
wrist and hand fatigue during long usage and repetitive tasks.
For further information on
features of each knife line, see our discussion, Knife
Profiles.
Key Knife Features
In choosing cutlery,
personal preference is important. Consider cost, handle size, and
weight. Also, feel free to own knives from several lines; most of
us do. Each knife line has its own advantages. All of our
knives are superb works of craftsmanship.
The first major difference is this:
taper ground vs. hollow ground
blades
- A taper ground blade
tapers gradually from (a) the handle to the tip and (b) the back of
the blade to the edge. All of our knives are taper
ground.
- "Hollow ground" has two
completely different meanings.
(1) An ordinary hollow ground blade tapers
from the middle of the blade to the edge. This is an
inexpensive way to shape the blade. We do not carry any
ordinary hollow ground knives.
(2) In addition, there is a knife known as a "hollow
ground" or "granton edge" slicer. It both (a)
is taper ground and (b) has hollow ground concave dimples to cut
down on drag so the slices can be thin. We carry these
specialty hollow ground knives in most lines.
The second major difference concerns only
knives with metal blades: stamped or forged
- A stamped
knife is relatively inexpensive. Each knife is cut from a
sheet of metal and then machined. Victorinox and some MAC
knives are stamped. MAC Professional and most Global knives
are stamped and welded (sintered), making them more expensive than a
purely stamped knife.
Global knife construction is unique. The knives are welded
from three pieces: blade, left side of handle and right side
of handle. The handles are hollow.
MAC knives have bolsters that are welded onto the stamped blade.
Stamped knives with no bolster are lightweight. One advantage
of Global knives is their light weight, which reduces fatigue when
used for an extended period of time.
- A forged
knife is expensive because each knife is shaped by smashing red hot
metal in a forge which contains a knife mold; then the knife is
machined. The forging randomizes the metal particles for a
slightly tougher knife. It also permits the differing
thicknesses of metal which is necessary for a heavy raised bolster
between the knife handle and knife blade.
Forged knives have more metal than stamped knives and thus are
heavier. The forging process enables extra metal proportioning
to give the knife perfect balance. Most prefer the weight of a
forged knife. It feels heftier and more substantial.
All of our knife lines are forged except Victorinox, MAC, and most Global; a few Global knives are
forged.
- A welded knife is also
expensive. MAC Professional and Global are welded knives.
MAC Professional have knife blades welded onto the bolster, and the
bolster welded onto the handle. Global stamped knives have the
two sides of the handle welded together and the handle welded onto
the knives blade. That is how they get hollow handles.
The third major difference also concerns
metal blades: carbon steel, carbon stainless steel,
and high carbon stainless steel
- A carbon steel
blade is softer than a stainless steel blade and thus sharpens
easier. However, it also dulls quicker and easily stains and
rusts.
Regardless, many prefer carbon steel, the steel of grandma's knives.
We currently carry no carbon steel knives.
- A carbon stainless steel blade
has chromium and vanadium to prevent staining and rusting. It
is harder than carbon steel and thus holds an edge longer, but is
harder to sharpen. Most of our cutlery is carbon stainless
steel.
- A high carbon stainless
steel blade has 1% carbon, which makes it
very hard. Chef'sChoice Trizor Professional cutlery, MAC, and
Kershaw knives are high carbon. The knives hold an edge the
longest of any of the metal knives.
The fourth major difference concerns the
handle: wood, plastic,
plastic impregnated wood, or metal
- A wood handle
is attractive, warm, soft, comfortable, and slip resistant.
The only drawback is that it cannot be put in the dishwasher.
However, no good knife should be put in the dishwasher.
Victorinox knives have durable, beautiful, rosewood handles.
- A plastic
handle is colder than wood but impervious to water and bacteria.
Various plastics are used, such as polypropylene, polyoxymethelene,
Delrin, and Hostaform-C.
- A plastic impregnated wood
handle has a colored plastic resin injected into the wood.
Kershaw and MAC knives have wood handles impregnated with plastic.
They are called "pakkawood."
- A metal
handle. Of our knives, only Global knives have metal handles
with special black dimples to give warmth and a non-slip grip.
The fifth major difference also concerns
the handle: rivets or molded
plastic.
- Handles secured with rivets
usually have full tangs. The tang is the metal extending into
the handle. A full tang runs (a) the entire length of the
handle to the very butt of the knife and (b) from the top of the
handle to the bottom. Full tang knives have their handles
secured by three rivets. Victorinox knives have a partial
tang.
Knives with riveted handles tend to be smaller than those with
molded handles, and are comfortable for those with small hands.
- Handles with molded
plastic handles have rat tail tangs. The metal
in the handle is a long rod which penetrates the center of the
plastic. Sometimes the handle is smooth; however, the Wüsthof
Grand Prix II and Chef'sChoice series have handles with texture for
a secure grip.
Molded handles tend to be wide and are comfortable for those with
large hands.
Most Used Knives in
a Home Kitchen:
3.5" or 4"
Paring Knife: Use to peel,
cut, and decorate fruits and vegetables, and all small cuts.
6" Utility Knife:
Use for cutting medium size fruits, vegetables, and pieces of meat.
Blade enables thin or thick slices. Sometimes called a
"sandwich" knife.
6" or 7" Chef's
Knife: The master of all kitchen knives. Cuts
everything: onions, vegetables, cabbage, fruit, herbs, meat, fish.
Wide blade facilitates rocking for chopping, mincing, and dicing.
Use to split game hens, chicken, lobster, and so forth. 6",
7", and 8" sizes are the most used in a home kitchen;
the 10" is needed for big jobs like cutting a watermelon.
For more information, see
our features:
Anatomy
of a Chef's Knife
Tips on
Using a Chef's Knife
|
Discussions
