My new favorite knife

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oldrustycars

Senior Cook
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
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Location
Naperville, Illinois
I'm a tool nerd, not bashful about tools in the garage or in the kitchen. I decided I couldn't live without a Chinese chef's knife. I got a Mercer for under $30. I love it. Great for chopping lots of vegetables, and works to scoop them up off the cutting board. The minor issue is if you use a pinch grip the heel and top of the blade are a bit sharp. A little emery cloth smoothed it out. I used it this morning to chop up The Trinity for a big pot of gumbo.
 

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Congrats! I've seen people do amazing things with that type of knife. It's very versatile.
 
I love that kind of knife. I have to think about getting one. I had one that my ex-DH bought in Chinatown in the late 1970s. Not a brand name knife, not as pretty as yours, but it was only $5 at the time and it worked well. Yup, I loved that I could scoop up the chopped vegis with it. One of the things the ex kept.
 
One of the things the ex kept.
The last time I got divorced I snuck my cookware out of the house before dropping the bomb. She was never going to use it anyway. Once when she was angry at me she got my favorite cast iron skillet scorching hot and dumped a bag of marshmallows in it.
 
The last time I got divorced I snuck my cookware out of the house before dropping the bomb. She was never going to use it anyway. Once when she was angry at me she got my favorite cast iron skillet scorching hot and dumped a bag of marshmallows in it.

Yikes! That must have been a pain to clean.

I didn't really mind him keeping the cleaver. The only thing he kept that I wanted (well, other than the house, but that's another story) was the pressure canner. He used it more than me, but never for canning. He cooked beans in it. It really bugged me that he kept it, because he didn't need anything as big or as expensive as a pressure canner for his purposes. He just used it because I had bought it (on sale), so it was available.
 
I'm a tool nerd, not bashful about tools in the garage or in the kitchen. I decided I couldn't live without a Chinese chef's knife. I got a Mercer for under $30. I love it. Great for chopping lots of vegetables, and works to scoop them up off the cutting board. The minor issue is if you use a pinch grip the heel and top of the blade are a bit sharp. A little emery cloth smoothed it out. I used it this morning to chop up The Trinity for a big pot of gumbo.

If you don't have a safe place to store the knife (such as a knife block), I suggest getting a knife guard/sheaf to protect the edge. Just search on Amazon (or your favorite shopping site) for either term.
 
Or, if you're a cheapskate, like me, cut some pieces of thick cardboard a little larger than the blade, and duct tape them together, to slide the cleaver in and out of. I did this with some of my early knives, as well as a few recently, when I gave a young friend a few extra knives I had put in the basement, including an early cleaver I had! He's setting up his kitchen, so I gave him a few things I had in my basement for many years, and he's obsessed with the knives - got his own sharpening items, and he loves demonstrating how sharp he got them by shaving some hair on his forearm.

Takes a while, but you'll get used to using the cleaver, and be reaching for it for many things. I love my cleavers - I had that extra one, that I gave my friend, over at my Mom's house, for when I would be cooking there. I also have a heavy cleaver, for cutting through bones, but that's another type entirely.
 
Or, if you're a cheapskate, like me, cut some pieces of thick cardboard a little larger than the blade, and duct tape them together, to slide the cleaver in and out of.

First thing a knife pro showed me was NOT to slide your blade in.

Place the point in and slice down, as if your were cutting something. (Or the heel.)

Prevents a big slice thru the palm of your hand. :ohmy:

This means, of course, that the sheath must be open on the top and down one side, but you can put a 1" piece of tape on the ends' opening parts to help keep it tight.

Hope y'all can figure out what I'm trying to say. :ermm:
 
So, dragnlaw, how would you get the knife into a sheath without "sliding" it? And as far as removing the sheath, it would be best to pull it out or put it in holding it from the top, for obvious reasons! :LOL: My friend still has those cheap cardboard sheaths on the knives I gave him, though now he is looking at magnets to put on the wall.

 
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OK, I stand corrected. Don't know why I suggested the tip first, bad girl! Perhaps because the sheath has both corners cut for left or right hand.

This is a hard plastic knife guard, which is great. I'm not talking about homemade - I also have some cardboard sheaths I got with several knives and still use them as well. But ideally... if you have this type, this is the way to put them on.

1. Knife & Guard (showing left & right corners off)
2. Starting the knife in with the heel of blade.
3. actually holding the guard and knife while trying to take a picture... awkward! :LOL::LOL:
4. Picture of back of guard that actually has printed on it from manufacturer.
(wish I'd seen this first! forgot it was even there :rolleyes: )
 

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...1. Knife & Guard (showing left & right corners off)
2. Starting the knife in with the heel of blade.
3. actually holding the guard and knife while trying to take a picture... awkward! :LOL::LOL:
4. Picture of back of guard that actually has printed on it from manufacturer.
(wish I'd seen this first! forgot it was even there :rolleyes: )

I see the problem. You'e trying to put a Henckels knife into a Wusthof sheath!
 
Most knives are in a block, this one and others in Messermeister edge guards from Williams Sonoma. Other than steak knives, which are stored elsewhere, I don't have any sets of knives.
 
Back when I used a knife block, I stored the knives cutting edge up. I felt it saved the edge from dragging on the wood. No one I knew did that.

For years now I have used a magnetic bar.

Ross
 
That's how I've stored them as well. Sharp up.

Amazingly, two people helping in the kitchen noticed and put them away like that! No questions asked!
 
My knife block holds the knives the other way, flat, even though slanted. The slots don't really have a way to put them sharp edge up or down.
 
Back when I used a knife block, I stored the knives cutting edge up. I felt it saved the edge from dragging on the wood. No one I knew did that.

For years now I have used a magnetic bar.

Ross
I insert most of my knives sharp side up, too. But two of them won't "sit" properly that way, my cheese knife and my boning knife. They both have curved blades combined with sturdy handles. If they go in sharp side up, they quickly fall out. :ermm: Not a good thing!

I'd like to use a magnetic strip, but there just isn't a convenient place to site one. Next house, maybe...
 
In the early days I had one of the old knife blocks, and also kept the edges upwards. Later J got too many knives, and had a 16" magnet on the wall, as well. Eventually, I decided to make a knife block, with the horizontal slots, using some wood from an old monkeypod table, they got in Hawaii, when I was about a year old. I went through all of my knives, and decided which ones I wanted to put in the block, including the part underneath, for 8 paring knives - the rest of the knives I put in the basement; still good knives, but I rarely used them, as I got other knives I preferred (you know, the new favorite knives!). Gradually I gave them to friends, who were setting up kitchens, and I knew would take care of them!

Unfortunately, there are still too many people out there that sharpen knives on a grinding wheel in the garage, like lawn mower blades! :ohmy:
 
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