i heart knives

[aashbourne]

tonight at work (i work in a kitchen of a higher class restaurant) it was fairly slow for my job, i was cooking for the bar, and it wasn't happenin there, so i had to do prep for Mondays shift, my job was to cut up stale bread for crutons. i was cutting a lager piece of bread down the middle when i notice the cutting board was slightly red and then my finger was stinging, i look at it and my pinky finger was bleeding all over the place, i had cut a fair chunk of the tip off. well... it bled steady for a good 15-20 minutes and it is still bleeding slowly. man it hurts like a motherfucker whenever i hit it on something... so to all off you who have to cut crutons in the near future... protect your pinky fingers.

[Cem]

Take care, Mr. Ashbourne. Can you get it sewn up? Is it the tip only? It ought to heal, right?

More people than you would think slice open their palms & digits, while slicing bagels. This invention is supposed to help.



I'm responsible for the dumbest self-mutilations with sharp objects. When I was 5 or 6 years old, I stuck my finger under the tail of a toy helicopter. The metal had not been folded in, so I sliced my finger & couldn't get it off, so ran down the hallway to get help with the helicopter at the tip of my index finger, with my arm above my head and waving. No stitches, one prominent scar.

More than 25 years later, while opening a package of smoked meat with a serrated knife, I sliced open the EXACT same scar, in the EXACT same angle!! Half of the last segment of my index finger was hanging over! I remember 7 stitches, but was probably 4. I got even more embarrassing ones...

[aashbourne]

there is no where to stich because its a missing chunk, but its all good, its stopped bleeding a healing up now.

4 or 5 years ago i was cutting a bagel and i sliced right through the tip of my middle finger, all the way to the bone, man that hurt so much

[patricia]

I have good, expensive knives [two men Henckel] sharpened to a fare-thee-well, housed in their very own block on my counter.
This is mostly because I actually believed somebody, years ago, who told me that I was more likely to cut myself on a dull knife than on a sharp one.
Something about not having to saw things.
Of course, that doesn't take into account my being a total, thoughtless klutz.
For example, while thinking about something much more interesting than slicing bread, I managed to cut the palm of my hand while slicing the last slice on a loaf of French bread toward it.
I had been doing just dandy until then.
But, it seemed like a good idea to take the heel of the loaf and slice it in my hand, toward the palm, instead of on the cutting board.
Why, you ask? No reason.
Blood everywhere.
My girls hold their breath when I pick up a knife to cut anything at all.

[Sandi22]

A good thing to keep on hand for cuts is super glue. It tends to stop the bleeding and if clean, you can glue your self back together, taking care to get things aligned well, but make sure you leave the down side, the down end, open a bit so it can drain. a tiny opening is all that's needed. We've used it after reading about how the medics and doctors were using it by the bucket full on injured men in Vietnam. They got it in in barrels so they could use it on plastic tarps, etc, and the doctors were using it on shot up and terribly damaged livers, smashed broken legs, etc, even brain and head injuries. When the doctors who had used it there came back to the states, they were using it again as it was superior to many old methods, but were made to stop by the FDA I believe.

I just know we've used it on animals and on ourselves and it does work wonders.

Once done you may need to re-apply it again, just to keep it holding, but remember to leave an opening for any injury to drain. Using Super Glue, you'll have very little scaring and no stitches to endure or end up having marks from.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Sandi22

A good thing to keep on hand for cuts is super glue. It tends to stop the bleeding and if clean, you can glue your self back together, taking care to get things aligned well, but make sure you leave the down side, the down end, open a bit so it can drain. a tiny opening is all that's needed. We've used it after reading about how the medics and doctors were using it by the bucket full on injured men in Vietnam. They got it in in barrels so they could use it on plastic tarps, etc, and the doctors were using it on shot up and terribly damaged livers, smashed broken legs, etc, even brain and head injuries. When the doctors who had used it there came back to the states, they were using it again as it was superior to many old methods, but were made to stop by the FDA I believe.

I just know we've used it on animals and on ourselves and it does work wonders.

Once done you may need to re-apply it again, just to keep it holding, but remember to leave an opening for any injury to drain. Using Super Glue, you'll have very little scaring and no stitches to endure or end up having marks from.

You can bet your buttocks that I will cut myself again.
Thanks Sandi.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by patricia

I have good, expensive knives [two men Henckel] sharpened to a fare-thee-well, housed in their very own block on my counter.

I hope you use a steel to keep the edge sharp.

Originally Posted by patricia

IFor example, while thinking about something much more interesting than slicing bread, I managed to cut the palm of my hand while slicing the last slice on a loaf of .

Ummmmmmmmm... I would highly recommend getting out of the habit of cutting toward you hand or toward your body.

Originally Posted by patricia

But, it seemed like a good idea to take the heel of the loaf and slice it in my hand, toward the palm ............

See comment above.

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.... a couple of ideas to keep in mind while chopping:

Keep your fingers curled, so you don't cut the tips off:



And cut AWAY (with blade out) from your body, not toward it:



I mostly use the Wusthof Culinair with the 8" blade, the second from the bottom below:



And what's wrong with using a bread knife with a serrated edge when cutting bread?

[patricia]

Thanks Rollie.
I already do all those things.
In fact I taught both my daughters the safest, most efficient way to use the knives in my kitchen.
The problem arises when I let my mind wander and forget everything I ever knew about knives.
The knife-toward-the-palm-of-my-hand incident is typical of the kind of tragedy that can happen, even when you know what you're doing, if you let your mind wander.
A half-dozen incidents like that in a lifetime can result in a half-dozen serious slicings.
I couldn't believe that I would do such a thing, when I know better.
The look of disbelief on the faces of my girls, as they ran for the necessary emergency supplies made me feel even more stupid.
And, wouldn't you know it? The First Aid Kit was not in the kitchen, where you're most likely to need it, but in the bathroom, where you never cut yourself, except while shaving, if you don't use an electric razer.
Go figure.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by patricia

Thanks Rollie.
I already do all those things.
In fact I taught both my daughters the safest, most efficient way to use the knives in my kitchen.
The problem arises when I let my mind wander and forget everything I ever knew about knives.
The knife-toward-the-palm-of-my-hand incident is typical of the kind of tragedy that can happen, even when you know what you're doing, if you let your mind wander.
A half-dozen incidents like that in a lifetime can result in a half-dozen serious slicings.
I couldn't believe that I would do such a thing, when I know better.
The look of disbelief on the faces of my girls, as they ran for the necessary emergency supplies made me feel even more stupid.
And, wouldn't you know it? The First Aid Kit was not in the kitchen, where you're most likely to need it, but in the bathroom, where you never cut yourself, except while shaving, if you don't use an electric razer.
Go figure.

I am sure I have done worse that you did. I nearly put the tip of a chef's knife all the way through my palm (while trying to put the knife in the blade guard), requiring a trip to the emergency room and several stitches.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by rollhead

I am sure I have done worse that you did. I nearly put the tip of a chef's knife all the way through my palm (while trying to put the knife in the blade guard).

For a time I worked in the housewares department of a retail store and part of my job was selling Henckel knives. I loaded the display cases and flogged the product.
One day I was loading some stock and I dropped a knife, point first, onto my wrist.
For some reason it had no plastic sleeve on it and I didn't notice.
Blood spurted as I held a Kleenex on the hole in my wrist and raced toward the back of the store to the nurse's little room.
I still remember how amazed I was that although there was a fairsize trail of blood from the knife case, all the way down the store, I didn't get a drop on the very nice suit I was wearing.
I ended up going to the emergency room at a nearby hospital and getting those dissolvable stitches.
I still have a small scar on my wrist from that incident and another on my palm from the previous one.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by patricia

For a time I worked in the housewares department of a retail store and part of my job was selling Henckel knives. I loaded the display cases and flogged the product.
One day I was loading some stock and I dropped a knife, point first, onto my wrist.
For some reason it had no plastic sleeve on it and I didn't notice.
Blood spurted as I held a Kleenex on the hole in my wrist and raced toward the back of the store to the nurse's little room.
I still remember how amazed I was that although there was a fairsize trail of blood from the knife case, all the way down the store, I didn't get a drop on the very nice suit I was wearing.
I ended up going to the emergency room at a nearby hospital and getting those dissolvable stitches.
I still have a small scar on my wrist from that incident and another on my palm from the previous one.

Henckels, like Wusthofs, are great knives, but after I nearly killed myself with my 8" chef's knife, I went out and bought a 6" LamsonSharp chef's knife, which I thought I could handle better.

I ALMOST bought a Messermeister, which sells a chef's knife with a 4" blade:



But professional kitchens are very macho -- you can't afford to have a blade that is TOO short.

The sous chef at the restaurant I used to work at liked to use a Henckel with a 12" blade for most jobs:

[patricia]

Originally Posted by rollhead

The sous chef at the restaurant I used to work at liked to use a Henckel with a 12" blade for most jobs:

My favourite.

[jesus marion joseph]

I have a set of Dexter Russell knives, the Connaissuer carving series, which I received as a gift about 25 years ago, and have seen "hard time" in many professional kitchens, as well as my home kitchen or the past 12 years or so. The blades are high carbon steel, and though I would rather have the plastic sanitary handles, the cherry ones have held up well, even going through the dishwasher for the last several years (I was very anal about my knives, and insisted upon hand washing them until about 4 or 5 years ago).

[aashbourne]

my dad has both henckel and wusthof knives that i use at home on a regular basis, and they are beautiful knives to work with, they are very sharp and cutting through anything (anything you would need to cut through in a kitchen, nothing ridiculous... hehe) is a breeze. he is anal about his knives too, and they have never been through the dishwasher.

[Sandi22]

Just set the knives in a narrow jar, out of the way of children and accident prone adults and soak the handles in mineral oil. Works for me. Or I lay them in a shallow dish and leave for a few days, then put the mineral oil back in the bottle using a funnel. Try either way, if you have one or the other to fit it without it tipping over and do the same, leave in it for a few days to soak up the oil. You can set the knives and the jar in a deep pot and that way if they tip over, nothings there to worry about being ruined by the oil. Just wipe them off. You can start out with hot oil if you'd like and reheat once in a while to hasten the soaking up of the oil.

I want to get some of the ceramic knives, the ones with the white blades, which they say are so sharp and will hardly, if ever, need to be sharpened.

I have a few Wustohof's and a few Chicago Cutlery, and I like them both, but I had an old cheap knife that was for cannery workers that I bought at our local hardware store when we were first married. I had two, and they rusted so easily, but they took an edge beautifully, they cost next to nothing, and even though not long, I used them for most things. But I like my 12 inch knife for almost anything. The thing is, with bread and meats, to remember to draw the knife, using long
sweeps, remembering not to saw, and you get a faster and better slice.

I do have a Chicago Cutlery bread knife and I love it, however a good long knife like the 12 inch you've pictured will slice through a short bagette, a Hero type, or a Grinder type sandwich loaf in one slice if done properly.

[rollhead]

A few back, Japanese knives seemed to be the rage -- anyone have a Japanese chef knife made out of Damascus steel?

[clinthopson]

I almost exclusively use my Japanese knives. I have three Globals and three old handmade ones. They are all wedge sharpened which allows for very precise cuts. They seem to keep their edge quite well with regular honing with a steel (every time I use them).

My old Henckels don't get much use these days except for the cutting large pieces of raw meat with the 12" chef's knife.

Of course I do have two bread knives a Hoffritz and a Victorinox which work well. We only buy whole loaves of bread.

I store my knives on magnetic strips which are mounted under my kitchen cabinet. I have installed a wood strip underneath the holders to keep the knives from being knocked loose.

Someday I may splurge on a couple more Globals. There's a have a restaurant supply store in town which sells them at 30% discount.

[patricia]

Originally Posted by Sandi22

But I like my 12 inch knife for almost anything. The thing is, with bread and meats, to remember to draw the knife, using long
sweeps, remembering not to saw, and you get a faster and better slice.

Which brings us back to the absolute necessity of having really sharp knives.
People usually saw rather than draw their knives when cutting meat particularly because they're used to using knives that don't have a good sharp edge.
The best knife I've found for slicing meat really thin is the ham slicer from Henckel, though I'm sure that other manufacturers have a similar knife.
It looks a little like a bread knife, with a rounded tip and the blade is 12 inches long and has a slightly wavy, rather than a serrated edge.

[Sandi22]

When we sell this ranch, we're going to pick up a lot of things we've put off due to cash flow, ha!

We plan on buying Knives, wall mounted water heaters, a steam bath in the shower, a good artists easel, more custom cowboy boots, and even getting some of our older ones which have the better leathers revamped by a boot company in Texas who made our other boots, they will build a new boot and just stretch the decorative leathers over them, saving hundreds of dollars this way.

I would like to get enough to pick up some good area rugs, etc., but for sure we are going to pick up some great knives and other kitchen things. I have an ancient Kitchen Aid mixer, but need one with some attachements and more bowls. The one I have was my stepdads, and it must be 60 years old and the bowls are long gone, and it only has one set of mixer attachments. I do want to get the knives you're showing, the Japanese ones and others as well, being hand forged, they have to be fantastic

[walto]

You may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits--not only for lost time and medical expenses, but for any permanent loss of function and/or disfigurement. I'd check that out, if you haven't already.

[clinthopson]

Originally Posted by Sandi22

I have an ancient Kitchen Aid mixer, but need one with some attachements and more bowls. The one I have was my stepdads, and it must be 60 years old and the bowls are long gone, and it only has one set of mixer attachments.

Sandi,

I believe you can still get attachments for older KitchenAid mixers. Mine is 35 years old and still running like a champ. Check the net and I'll bet you can find anything you need. I've been told by restaurant people that the newer KitchenAids are not as well made as the older ones.

[Sandi22]

I've bought some great old bone handled carbon steel carving sets on eBay for next to nothing, they come up quite often and are usually more than reasonable. I had a great black silver mounted carbon steel knife, part of a carving set, but when I had cadmium posioning and my kidney's were shutting down; me having to be in bed before they hospitalized me, our daughter, who was 6, (I didnt' know she was doing this (sweet of her, but so dangerous), tried to make me something on the stove and had left the knife and a wooden spoon next to the electric burner, which she forgot to turn off, and the whole handle to the knife turned to ash, and the silver melted. I had loved to use that knife as it would sharpen up so well and even though it was for carving, I found myself using it for everything. We know a couple of fellows who make knives, and we keep thinking we'll have one of them put a new handle on it, the silver work is gone forever, but the handle would be fairly cheap to get fixed.

[Sandi22]

Originally Posted by walto

You may be entitled to workers' compensation benefits--not only for lost time and medical expenses, but for any permanent loss of function and/or disfigurement. I'd check that out, if you haven't already.

It was from my own doings, buying Rembrandt and other pastels and on some pictures I was using Cadmium reds, orange, and yellows, heavily, and I didn't like using stick blenders, so I used my fingers. When I paint or draw I get off in another world and could actually draw none stop without sleep for three days, I get so wrapped up in what I'm doing if it's going well, so I wouldn't quit for anything, so I would eat a sandwich with one hand, drawing and blending with the other, working in the heat, reaching up and wiping my face, getting as much on myself as on the picture, and I mean talk about getting sick. I did this to myself several times before realizing what was happening. 105 degree tempertures are horrible and this happened in separate events several months apart, about three times before getting to the bottom of it, figuring out what caused it. UCLA ran every test but heavy metals and didn't find the cause. It wasn't until we'd moved to Oregon that we figured it out. I still do artwork, but off and on, if and when things are so that I can, but I will never use cadmiums, or other toxic pastels ever again, I'll avoid those colors, but I do use them with oils, and water colors, but I'm so very careful now, as I don't want to ever go through that ever again.

Thanks for your advice Walto

[Sandi22]

Originally Posted by clinthopson

Sandi,

I believe you can still get attachments for older KitchenAid mixers. Mine is 35 years old and still running like a champ. Check the net and I'll bet you can find anything you need. I've been told by restaurant people that the newer KitchenAids are not as well made as the older ones.

Thanks Clint, I'll check this out when we sell. I think it might need some new brushes (a motor thing, as well as a tune up of sorts) It runs, but it seems a bit sluggish if I remember correctly, I haven't used it in years, just doing everything by hand or using the food processor. We're not into mashed potato's or sweets, so for the most part we don't have a big need for one, but I would like to get their meat grinder attachment, and their pasta maker, or maybe we should just buy ones that are used only for those purpose's.

We don't buy hamburger any more, instead I grind up the meat in the food processor and it would be fun to do your own pasta I would imagine. I also want to pick up a good mandolin and some cheaper small Japanese ones.

Oh, talking about eBay in one of the posts, it reminds me; there's a new outfit which pays you to sell, instead of charging such high fees as eBay does. I can't think of it's name, and haven't looked at their site yet, but saved the info somewhere. I think I may have even posted it here, or on AAJ, can't recall which. I need to start selling myself. I'm interested in seeing the response by buyers, but hardly anyone knows of them yet, so it could be slower than I'd like, however, one seller says he has entered a lot and has already made $30 with his .30 cent payment from the aution site. eBay got to me for $400+ when I first stared out and not knowing computers and not knowing a thing about eBay, I was a loser.

Thanks again Clint.

[rollhead]

Originally Posted by clinthopson

I almost exclusively use my Japanese knives. I have three Globals and three old handmade ones. They are all wedge sharpened which allows for very precise cuts. They seem to keep their edge quite well with regular honing with a steel (every time I use them).

My old Henckels don't get much use these days except for the cutting large pieces of raw meat with the 12" chef's knife.

Of course I do have two bread knives a Hoffritz and a Victorinox which work well. We only buy whole loaves of bread.

I store my knives on magnetic strips which are mounted under my kitchen cabinet. I have installed a wood strip underneath the holders to keep the knives from being knocked loose.

Someday I may splurge on a couple more Globals. There's a have a restaurant supply store in town which sells them at 30% discount.

I have one, small Global chef's knife.



Victorinox's are great buys. I paid $99 for my Wusthof's chef's knife almost 10 years ago. I can get a Victorinox 8" chef's for $19.95 through Amazon.com.

[rollhead]

Since the cooks are all gathered here, I have to ask what kind of cookware everyone likes.

I have a jones for All-Clad, but it is too damn expensive. Any ideas for stuff that is ALMOST as good, but much cheaper?



I have a Sitram braiser, which I love -- while cheaper than All Clad, Sitram is still pretty damn pricey.



This is what I REALLY want:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=138266

[clinthopson]

I used to buy the expensive stuff, but lately I've been picking up pots and skillets at the aforementioned restaurant supply store. It good, heavy duty stuff that holds up very well and costs about a third of the fancy labels.

Any body's Teflon pan will only last about 3-4 years with the kind of heavy use I put them to.

I do use my La Cruset enamel pots a lot. They are the best for slow simmering. There's one copper sautee pan I picked up in France 23 years ago that I use regularly.

[patricia]

I have Lagostina pots Clint.
I bought them over the course of about 5 years, piece by piece, rather than buying a set which inevitably has pots you never use and doesn't have pots you would use, if you had them.
The ones I use most are the deeper, 12 in. frypan with the lid and the four quart [I think] pot with the loop on the opposite side from the handle.
I have small copper frypans [8, 10 and 12 in., bought at a flea market] which, after cleaning, were like new.
I suspect that whoever had them originally fell out of love with them when they discoloured.
Although I polish them occasionally, they are the workhorses in my kitchen.
Lovely, even heat.
These are heavy, beautifully made and were probably very expensive when they were new.
Copper discolours unless you polish it almost as often as you use it.
That makes as much sense as polishing the tires on your car, every time you take it out of the garage and drive it.
I also have a very deep cast-iron "chicken cooker" with a lid that I've used for slow-cooking stews and such for years.
It never looked new, but like the copper pans, heats really evenly.

[Sandi22]

I have some old mismatched pots and pans and then two good sets. One is a set from Belgium with thick heavy bottoms, stainless and they rarely stick, I do have a set of non stick that is tough as can be, so I use it for sweet things and cooking starchy foods like pinto beans.

I'll go look and see what they are. I've forgotten the name as you don't see it very often. .... took a look, It's Ultrex and it works great. It has the heavy thick bottoms, and glass lids. I got it several years ago on HSN, the Home Shopping Network on web, but back then they were on television where we are. Not any longer though. I wanted to buy some more of it, and went on line and Ultrex isn't being sold by them now, or at least at that time they weren't. Maybe it will come up again.

My other set is too worn on the bottom from shaking the pan to read the makers mark. I just can see the made in Belgium part of their trademark. It is fantastic stuff. I would like to enlarge this set and the Ultrex as well. With Ultrex, their coating isn't the kind of coating that peels away, nothing like the Teflon ones do. I can use metal utensils in them, but I prefer to use the non scratch kind and wood.

I think that HSN is selling Wolfgang Pucks pots and pans now, and then there's another manufacturer who's selling a set with 14 kt. gold handles, which is pretty, but how long would it take for them to begin to show wear and tear? They have the thick core as well, and they are nice heavy duty stainless like the sets I have, and are as pretty as can be, but the gold on the handles will wear away eventually, but new they're really pretty with good sizes and styles. This set is great for stove to table, the ones with double handles, their roasters, etc.

I still could use a lot of bigger pots and roasters, in the set from Belgium, and maybe a few things in Ultrex, and a few more sauce pans of different sizes in both types. Geeze, want, want, want. That's me.

[Sandi22]

I looked it up on the Internet, the name I believe it Belgique, I may be wrong but go here to take a look at their Tools of the Trade Belgique Stainless Steel 14 piece Cookware set for $249.99:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ima...558870&sr=1-19

Mine has a bell shape, but? It looks different from mine, as I got mine back in 1993 or so, and if its the same company, they've changed the design, however, if it still has the same core, and number count on the stainless, you'll love it. I'm just not as wild about how it looks. They have it with exposed copper bottoms like Revere Ware as well, but I get tired of polishing copper up all the time. Belgique sells a copper cleaner as well. With Belgique,, my cast iron and the Ultrex, along with all of our odds and ends, I have no desire to have any other brands. They're expensive enough. It just seems so awful to pay over $299 for a pot, or a whatever. Not at this stage of our lives.

I prefer Cast iron for most things, but there's times when it's best not to use it. Go to Macy's.com site or do a Amazon.com search, it's on both of them. Or just type in the brands and see what you come up with.