All about knives

Actually I should title this, “a little bit about knives” because otherwise it would have to be a book, and I’m not really all that into it.

I decided to buy a good set of knives for the townhome, so John and I have been doing research. Here’s a photo of Global knives, which is a Japanese brand that sells well in the US.

 

Basically, your options are German knives or Japanese knives. In general, the German knives are heftier and withstand more abuse. They are a slightly softer alloy, which means they are less brittle and less likely to chip or break. They also get duller faster. Two big names in German knives are Wüsthof and Henckels, with Henckels being more affordable and probably the better value.

There are also differences with the angle and shape of the blade. I believe that some traditional Japanese knives only bevel one side, but I don’t have a picture example of that. What I do have is a photo of the difference between a Global bevel and what would be a typical German bevel on the right:

I went with the Global knives (in the top photo), even though that is clearly going to be a more delicate blade. I’ll need to put up a sign in my kitchen, “Do not twist or pry with my knives!! Do not slam blade against a hard surface!!”

The other issue with Global is they will rust, and they will rust quickly, and I don’t think there’s much you can do about it once they have rusted. Here’s a photo off the internet of what happened to someone’s Global when they tossed it in the kitchen sink for a few hours. Oops! And it goes without saying that these are not dishwasher safe.

So I’ll need another sign that says, “Hand wash and dry knives thoroughly, IMMEDIATELY!” And pretty soon my kitchen won’t be a homey, warm and welcoming place, it will be full of threatening signs about keeping your paws off my knives.

But in reality, we don’t do much entertaining, and if we did, we’d probably do it at the house in Placitas (if the remodel gets finished in our lifetime). So it’s just a few family members I’ll have to train. They’re up for it, right guys?