Member
WA
Some of you guys may be aware that I moved across the country a year ago. From MA to WA. 
One of the logistical issues with a cross-country move concerns how much it costs to move a household that distance. We decided to pare down a lot, but still keep some of the stuff we really liked.
Since I like to cook, kitchen knives are important to me. I had my own set of really good Japanese handmade carbon steel kitchen knives. I only had the four of them, but they were excellent knives. I knew that they were important to me, so they were to make the trip across the country in the car with me.
Unfortunately, I was in such a muddle as we left MA that I actually forgot to put them in my car.
I tried to get my landlady from MA ship them to me, but that didn't work out. So I was left without my favourite knives.
Not having a ton of money to spend on kitchen stuff, I decided to take a different approach to putting together another set of knives. I decided to look at the antique stores around here and see if I could find some that would work. While Japanese Steel is excellent, American steel is no worse and I was hoping that I could find something that would work.
What I did find were a motley collection of knives that all have character and take a great edge. Some are no-name, others have manufacturer stamps, but they were cheap and they work well. Here they are:
[Image: IMG_20160424_1122299.jpg]
In the pic above, the lowest one was the first one I bought. I had yet to find any decent carbon steel knives around here and this one was $7. It has a big frown, but actually took a nice edge. It is unnamed. I have thought of honing out the frown, but it works well as-is, so I've left it alone. It has a little flex in the blade.
The one in the middle is another unnamed blade with an 11" chef's blade. This is my go-to knife these days, I can chop like a demon with it.
The one on the top is an interesting knife. It is probably not a kitchen knife because it has a large very flexible blade, but it actually is a lot of fun to use - especially for chopping veggies. It is a Russell Green River Works blade - potentially from the mid to late 1800's.
[Image: IMG_20160424_1123212.jpg]
These three knives are also pretty cool. The 'cleaver' is really a veggie chopper that just has 'Carbon Steel USA' on it. It is good for light meat cutting and chopping. The second blade is a lovely blade, the Old Hickory made by the Ontario Knife Company, which still exists. The third one is a small blade that I bought to use as paring knife, because I couldn't find anything else that work work for that purpose. It has a stamp, but I haven't been able to decipher it.
All those blades together cost me $30 - which I consider to be a decent deal.
They have actually served me well, and I have no intention of wasting any more money on re-purchasing the Japanese knives I used to have. Those were way more expensive, and while they were beautiful, they didn't really cut any better than these.
I may have found a new hobby, though.....which is not a good thing.
Of course, since I restore and hone straight razors, I have some hones that are suitable for knives too. Here they are.
[Image: IMG_20160421_1733468.jpg]
They include a DMT 220, 325 combo, a DMT 1000, an old 'knife' combo hone (that does a pretty good job), as well as a chunk of Asagi for a final polish and two unnamed hones that I found that put a really nice, long-lived edge that works really well for cutting meat.
All-in-all, while I wasn't happy to lose my Japanese kitchen knives, I'm glad I was able to find more than adequate knives that I enjoy using, that only cost a fraction of what I paid for the Japanese ones.
______________
So, post some pics of your kitchen knives here.
One of the logistical issues with a cross-country move concerns how much it costs to move a household that distance. We decided to pare down a lot, but still keep some of the stuff we really liked.
Since I like to cook, kitchen knives are important to me. I had my own set of really good Japanese handmade carbon steel kitchen knives. I only had the four of them, but they were excellent knives. I knew that they were important to me, so they were to make the trip across the country in the car with me.
Unfortunately, I was in such a muddle as we left MA that I actually forgot to put them in my car.
I tried to get my landlady from MA ship them to me, but that didn't work out. So I was left without my favourite knives.
Not having a ton of money to spend on kitchen stuff, I decided to take a different approach to putting together another set of knives. I decided to look at the antique stores around here and see if I could find some that would work. While Japanese Steel is excellent, American steel is no worse and I was hoping that I could find something that would work.
What I did find were a motley collection of knives that all have character and take a great edge. Some are no-name, others have manufacturer stamps, but they were cheap and they work well. Here they are:
[Image: IMG_20160424_1122299.jpg]
In the pic above, the lowest one was the first one I bought. I had yet to find any decent carbon steel knives around here and this one was $7. It has a big frown, but actually took a nice edge. It is unnamed. I have thought of honing out the frown, but it works well as-is, so I've left it alone. It has a little flex in the blade.
The one in the middle is another unnamed blade with an 11" chef's blade. This is my go-to knife these days, I can chop like a demon with it.
The one on the top is an interesting knife. It is probably not a kitchen knife because it has a large very flexible blade, but it actually is a lot of fun to use - especially for chopping veggies. It is a Russell Green River Works blade - potentially from the mid to late 1800's.
[Image: IMG_20160424_1123212.jpg]
These three knives are also pretty cool. The 'cleaver' is really a veggie chopper that just has 'Carbon Steel USA' on it. It is good for light meat cutting and chopping. The second blade is a lovely blade, the Old Hickory made by the Ontario Knife Company, which still exists. The third one is a small blade that I bought to use as paring knife, because I couldn't find anything else that work work for that purpose. It has a stamp, but I haven't been able to decipher it.
All those blades together cost me $30 - which I consider to be a decent deal.
They have actually served me well, and I have no intention of wasting any more money on re-purchasing the Japanese knives I used to have. Those were way more expensive, and while they were beautiful, they didn't really cut any better than these.
I may have found a new hobby, though.....which is not a good thing.
Of course, since I restore and hone straight razors, I have some hones that are suitable for knives too. Here they are.
[Image: IMG_20160421_1733468.jpg]
They include a DMT 220, 325 combo, a DMT 1000, an old 'knife' combo hone (that does a pretty good job), as well as a chunk of Asagi for a final polish and two unnamed hones that I found that put a really nice, long-lived edge that works really well for cutting meat.
All-in-all, while I wasn't happy to lose my Japanese kitchen knives, I'm glad I was able to find more than adequate knives that I enjoy using, that only cost a fraction of what I paid for the Japanese ones.
______________
So, post some pics of your kitchen knives here.
- Yohann
