COOK FOOD GOOD - Blogging BDL's Cookbook
Part VIII O'The Blog - MORE KNIFE STUFF
MORE EDGINESS, MORE ANGST, MORE MONEY: MORE CHOOSING A KNIFE
OR, SOME THINGS YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT WHEN IN THE FLUSH OF ACQUISITION LUST, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD.
Thanks in advance for bearing with me as I try and cobble all this stuff together. On the other hand, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
For those poor souls reading this in the sort of piecemeal fashion in which it’s presented, and for those who have read me on the topic before, it bears repetition (and a good thing too, because it has and shall be oft repeated), that a good knife choice depends on consideration of the cook’s knife skills (not only now, but including her or his future plans), and sharpening regimen.
Just Scratching the Surface of Sharpening:
Still more repetition: All dull knives are pretty much equal. It doesn’t matter how good it is when it’s sharp – when it’s dull, it’s junk. Don’t spend a lot of money or invest a lot of hope in a knife you won’t sharpen. Keeping a knife sharp DOES NOT INCLUDE sending it out once a year and using a rod hone (aka steel), especially an inappropriate steel, during the interval.
Plan on learning to freehand sharpen, which includes purchasing an adequate stone kit; or getting a good jig and tool sharpener like a rod-guide plus clamp (Lansky and Gatco are both good, but very fussy); or a rod guide plus table (Edge Pro, also fussy but less so; considerably more expensive; and very highly recommended); or a good machine which pretty much means a Chef’s Choice – they’re about as good as machines get, incredibly convenient, but they’re a one (or two) edge profile fits all knives solution which may not suit your knife kit.
Less good (as in you won’t get as good an edge as you would with the previous options) options:
One type of pull through, like a MAC Rollsharp, or a Chef’s Choice; but not a carbide “v” groove pull through. You can actually get a pretty decent edge with the good sort of pull through, but they take forever and are limited in two of the three functions of sharpening. That is, they sharpen OK (but slowly) and are way too slow for repair or profile; and way too coarse to get a decent polish.
With one exception the carbide “v” guides which sharpen adequately also eat knives. So if you like your knife or have any money in it – stay away. The exception is the Meyerco sold by Blackie Collins.
Pretty much everything that can be said about the good pull-throughs, may said as accurately about the good “V” sticks – the best of which are the Spyderco “Sharp Stick,” and the big Idahone; with the Lansky “Crock Stick” and regular size Idahone right behind.
Getting a Grip on Knife Technique, aka Mad Skilz:
“Mad Skilz” at this point is propaganda. It’s a meal in itself, and deserves a thorough discussion which we’ll get to another time. For now I’m only going to touch on it insofar as it bears on knife choice, which it does considerably. As a preliminary to conceptualizing the subject, it’s not a bad idea to reduce all the topic into three parts: The Belgae, the Aquatani and the Celts (whom we call the Gauls). Oops. Wrong three, got carried away for a minute.
To all who got the joke, you’re old, the victim of too much education, or both. But I digress. Where was I?
Oh yes, three parts: grip, offhand, and squaring. For knife choice purposes the grip is most important – but again in the interests of getting the concept and getting preliminaries out of the way.
Don’t look for the word “squaring” in a book on knife skills, just go ahead and blame me. I like it because it unites a bunch of related things, which at first blush seem unrelated. Feel free to ask, “How?”
(1) It’s extremely useful for safety and precision to square the food off (i.e., “block” it), before cutting slices (aka planks, aka leaves) which can either stand alone or precede cutting sticks; which in turn may stand alone or precede cutting dice;
(2) For safety and precision, the food should be held square to the cook;
(3) The knife should be held square to the food; and
(4) Unless cutting on the bias, the knife should be held so its edge is square to the board.
In this list, 3 and 4 both relate to grip; and grip relates to the cook’s comfort with a given knife handle and blade length. A good grip makes the tip an extension of the forearm, so “pointing” the tip is intuitive, safe and accurate; and holds the edge square to the board as a default.
Any grip which works that way is a good one. The one most commonly taught is the “pinch grip.” It is by no means the one and only “best” grip. In fact, the cooks I know with the very best knife skills, either use a variation on it, or a related but different, Japanese-ish version. As a personal aside (please keep it to yourself), I use a very "correct" pinch grip; my own knife skills are good but by no means great.
If you use a naïve grip for chopping, one that orients your knuckles down towards the board (like holding a tennis racket or index finger along the spine by way of examples), you’ll find the act a lot more comfortable if you learn a grip which orients your knuckles out. If you keep your wrist straight with your forearm and the knife tip, the knife will point more accurately. A soft grip is better than a tight one. If you hold your knife very tightly, you’ll find the knife points more accurately, and is ultimately more secure. Because of the elbow joint’s structure, a grip with opposed thumb and forefinger orients the knife so the edge is square to the board during a normal chopping action. Grip is a homo habilis thing – it’s a way of becoming one with simple tools, which is an important part of craftsmanship.
Craftsmanship counts in the kitchen.
(To be continued)
OR, SOME THINGS YOU DON’T THINK ABOUT WHEN IN THE FLUSH OF ACQUISITION LUST, BUT YOU REALLY SHOULD.
Thanks in advance for bearing with me as I try and cobble all this stuff together. On the other hand, you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
For those poor souls reading this in the sort of piecemeal fashion in which it’s presented, and for those who have read me on the topic before, it bears repetition (and a good thing too, because it has and shall be oft repeated), that a good knife choice depends on consideration of the cook’s knife skills (not only now, but including her or his future plans), and sharpening regimen.
Just Scratching the Surface of Sharpening:
Still more repetition: All dull knives are pretty much equal. It doesn’t matter how good it is when it’s sharp – when it’s dull, it’s junk. Don’t spend a lot of money or invest a lot of hope in a knife you won’t sharpen. Keeping a knife sharp DOES NOT INCLUDE sending it out once a year and using a rod hone (aka steel), especially an inappropriate steel, during the interval.
Plan on learning to freehand sharpen, which includes purchasing an adequate stone kit; or getting a good jig and tool sharpener like a rod-guide plus clamp (Lansky and Gatco are both good, but very fussy); or a rod guide plus table (Edge Pro, also fussy but less so; considerably more expensive; and very highly recommended); or a good machine which pretty much means a Chef’s Choice – they’re about as good as machines get, incredibly convenient, but they’re a one (or two) edge profile fits all knives solution which may not suit your knife kit.
Less good (as in you won’t get as good an edge as you would with the previous options) options:
One type of pull through, like a MAC Rollsharp, or a Chef’s Choice; but not a carbide “v” groove pull through. You can actually get a pretty decent edge with the good sort of pull through, but they take forever and are limited in two of the three functions of sharpening. That is, they sharpen OK (but slowly) and are way too slow for repair or profile; and way too coarse to get a decent polish.
With one exception the carbide “v” guides which sharpen adequately also eat knives. So if you like your knife or have any money in it – stay away. The exception is the Meyerco sold by Blackie Collins.
Pretty much everything that can be said about the good pull-throughs, may said as accurately about the good “V” sticks – the best of which are the Spyderco “Sharp Stick,” and the big Idahone; with the Lansky “Crock Stick” and regular size Idahone right behind.
Getting a Grip on Knife Technique, aka Mad Skilz:
“Mad Skilz” at this point is propaganda. It’s a meal in itself, and deserves a thorough discussion which we’ll get to another time. For now I’m only going to touch on it insofar as it bears on knife choice, which it does considerably. As a preliminary to conceptualizing the subject, it’s not a bad idea to reduce all the topic into three parts: The Belgae, the Aquatani and the Celts (whom we call the Gauls). Oops. Wrong three, got carried away for a minute.
To all who got the joke, you’re old, the victim of too much education, or both. But I digress. Where was I?
Oh yes, three parts: grip, offhand, and squaring. For knife choice purposes the grip is most important – but again in the interests of getting the concept and getting preliminaries out of the way.
Don’t look for the word “squaring” in a book on knife skills, just go ahead and blame me. I like it because it unites a bunch of related things, which at first blush seem unrelated. Feel free to ask, “How?”
(1) It’s extremely useful for safety and precision to square the food off (i.e., “block” it), before cutting slices (aka planks, aka leaves) which can either stand alone or precede cutting sticks; which in turn may stand alone or precede cutting dice;
(2) For safety and precision, the food should be held square to the cook;
(3) The knife should be held square to the food; and
(4) Unless cutting on the bias, the knife should be held so its edge is square to the board.
In this list, 3 and 4 both relate to grip; and grip relates to the cook’s comfort with a given knife handle and blade length. A good grip makes the tip an extension of the forearm, so “pointing” the tip is intuitive, safe and accurate; and holds the edge square to the board as a default.
Any grip which works that way is a good one. The one most commonly taught is the “pinch grip.” It is by no means the one and only “best” grip. In fact, the cooks I know with the very best knife skills, either use a variation on it, or a related but different, Japanese-ish version. As a personal aside (please keep it to yourself), I use a very "correct" pinch grip; my own knife skills are good but by no means great.
If you use a naïve grip for chopping, one that orients your knuckles down towards the board (like holding a tennis racket or index finger along the spine by way of examples), you’ll find the act a lot more comfortable if you learn a grip which orients your knuckles out. If you keep your wrist straight with your forearm and the knife tip, the knife will point more accurately. A soft grip is better than a tight one. If you hold your knife very tightly, you’ll find the knife points more accurately, and is ultimately more secure. Because of the elbow joint’s structure, a grip with opposed thumb and forefinger orients the knife so the edge is square to the board during a normal chopping action. Grip is a homo habilis thing – it’s a way of becoming one with simple tools, which is an important part of craftsmanship.
Craftsmanship counts in the kitchen.
(To be continued)
Total Comments 6
Comments
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I thought you were talking knife sharpening and then you went to knife skills. I wanted you to continue with sharpening.... Where's that?Posted 10-26-2009 at 05:20 PM by Scargod
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Scar,
Happy to either answer any question you have or say, "I don't know," as the case may be. If you'd like to see your questions addressed in the "Knives" chapter of a techinque driven cookbook -- then this is a great place to set them forth.
"Reader-driven content" is exactly the sort of feedack I'm hoping for. So ask away.
If what you're looking for is a primer on freehand sharpening; it's something I've been thinking about -- but there are some great ones out there; and some excellent DVDs as well. Look around for John Juranitich's book, Razor'Edge; Chad Ward's book, An Edge in the Kitchen; and the sharpening DVDs from Korin, Japanese Knife Sharpening (Dave Martell), Razor Edge ("Basic Knife Sharpening"), Murray Carter (2 DVDs: Introduction to, and Advanced Knife Sharpening), etc.
If you feel your questions are more immediate and more about your own specific issues, just start a sub sub-thread in the "Knives" sub-thread of the Equipment thread... Well, you know what I mean, because you posted your true steel sub sub-thread there. Anyway, I'll see it and tell you whatever it is I know about whatever it is you're trying to figure out.
BDLPosted 10-26-2009 at 05:40 PM by boar_d_laze - No, I think Scar's point -- with which I agree -- is that this bit wanders in focus. It's all good information, but you drift from sharpening questions to knife skills. There's an organizational difficulty here.
Of course, as I know to my cost, this is PRECISELY the problem in writing about knives: these bits and pieces are not neatly separable, so as soon as you start talking about one thing you find yourself talking about another. Once you see how it all comes together, it becomes deeply problematic to talk about little bits separately.
So, I sympathize -- but there is definitely a focus difficulty with this piece.Posted 10-27-2009 at 12:45 PM by ChrisLehrer -
You're right of course, but ...
It's a fair point. You guys deserve more coherence. Point taken.
The whole point of this piece, the previous piece and probably the next few pieces is to get through writer's block by just writing and posting; then fix it later.
Unfortunately, I've been stuck at aborted attempts at first drafts with nothing to show for it. If enough gets posted piecemeal, there will be plenty to go back to rewrite, reorganize, and rewrite again.
I guess I took it too far.
Ultimately, I'm going for a chapter/pamphlet length screed which covers a lot of related knife topics which is going to require a lot of organization and judicious editing. On the one hand, I'm not competing with Chad Ward; and on the other, not writing an inflight magazine article where everything, no matter what, is just ducky.
Where's Goldilocks when you need her?
BDLPosted 10-27-2009 at 02:20 PM by boar_d_laze -
BDL, while I agree with you on most everything I have read so far(more on your ideas of sharpening would be nice) I will have to say that holding a knife tightly or firmly is like holding a golf club to firmly. I was taught and have always followed the practice that you handle your knife with a gentle touch that is just firm enough to guide it where you want it to go. If you are holding your knife too tight you may begin to "bang" or cut with too much force thus flattening your balde prematurely.
A sharp knife needs no effort to find and cut its target, only the direction to get it there.Posted 10-28-2009 at 07:54 AM by chefhow - Chef,
We are in complete agreement that (normative) good knife technique includes a soft grip -- the softer the better. Your golf comparison is quite apt as well. Bobby Jones used to describe the proper pressure for holding a golf club as like, "shaking hands with your grandmother." Very apt, I think.
Thanks for the input,
BDLPosted 10-28-2009 at 08:29 AM by boar_d_laze
Updated 10-28-2009 at 08:40 AM by boar_d_laze
