Carbon Steel or Stainless Steel kitchen knives - what do you use?



Victorinox kitchen knives


I too have a couple of Global knives and the 10 inch diamond sharpening rod. It is critical that the sharpening angle not exceed 12 degrees on Global blades due to their design, but then you probably already know that. They are very good knives for home use. I don't know how the edge would hold up in a commercial kitchen. A couple of years ago at our local Gamm Vert I picked up a small, inexpensive stainless French butcher's carving knife. I am amazed at how well it holds an edge. I needed it for trimming the dechettes pour animaux that my butcher gives me for the dogs. It has absolutely no manufacturer's markings on it but it is a much higher quality tool than I had imagined when I purchased it.

I have one just like that, I use it in the garden and when trimming the vegetables when I pick them. Its pretty fine and soft and dull quickly, but conversely also sharpens easily. I wouldn't chose to use one in a professional capacity as they just don't hold up long enough.

Yonks ago a mate and Japanese missus told me about the Japanese rule of having only one very good knife which does everything and a couple of years later I got ![](upload://hBigwLKweAcu6TNvzDc1iGzaVz2.jpg)self a Chinese made carbon steel chopping knife, not hugely expensive, and it does indeed do practically everything, bread, meat, slice tomatoes, general veg chopping, cutting paper for showing off purposes, ....

It rusts in moments, tant pis, no big deal. This picture isn't the actual one but is pretty similar.

Why are knives practically always pointed? What day to day kitchen activity involves stabbing?

35 years in the kitchens, and always used stainless/inox. Carbon wears to fast. A good quality forged/folded inox blade takes time to get the edge just right on a dry sand water stone- never ever an oil stone!- but once the edge is right to the user its only a matter of occasional flick on the steel to maintain it.
My current set is a mix of brands, Mundial from Brazil make a good series of heavy shank blades which are great for the big jobs, Sabatier and Henckel make some nice lighter weight kit suitable for general chopping/dicing work and a nice fine bladed Salmon slicer and ham knives. If doing very fine delicate carving you can't go past Japanese gear, very fine thin almost razor like blades with nice handles that fit comfortably.
The golden rules with quality knives you wish to remain sharp:

Use a quality smooth full length steel to maintain the edge- a steel will not sharpen a blunt knife only freshen up a rolled edge on a properly sharpened one.

Hand Wash and Dry & store in a sleeved roll not just a box or draw rattling around loose

Never ever cut paper, cardboard or cheese.

Never lend out your knives, we all hold things slightly differently so the edge will dull rapidly if used by someone else.

The oldest knife in my tool kit is over 80 years old, as I inherited it from my Grandad, the last time I bought a new knife would be over 20 years ago.

I have an assortment of carbon & stainless steel, some French, some German, some Japanese, which all live together in a block, and a rogue ceramic one I got to see if it was any good. It is so sharp it has its own enormous Hannibal Lecter type muzzle and is hidden in a drawer where children can't see it. I sharpen them (all but Hannibal) on my trusty carborundum block, very therapeutic as it takes ages - worth it though in terms of results.

I agree with Brian the fine diamond plate is the best way to keep the edge, most steels just raise a burr, ok when you are mid cooking but inferior to a good sharpen and that is way more than most people know how to do properly. My Brother can blunt any knife with any sharpener in minutes.

Can any of the knives you own carry out the cutting demo'd on the JML video?

I have a variety of Wusthof knives … they are brilliant! I also have some Chinese knives including a cleaver, wouldn’t be without them.

Very interesting and, in the case of the relatively cheap Victorinox, quite surprising.

Although I come from a family with strong cooking genes, that gene didn't get passed down to me: I'm a good eater. Cooks need good eaters. But I do quite a lot of woodwork and some carving and, if you want a really good edge on a chisel or knife, you can finish by stropping it to a polish. Very useful when you're fighting curly grain.

Also nice to know that the Swiss have something bigger than those little penknives in their armoury when they go to battle.

We've had one ceramic knife - from Lidl - for two years and it's still as sharp as ever. Very highly recommended for vegetables. We bought two more about a month ago, one the same size and one bigger. I keep reminding myself NEVER TRY TO LEVER ANYTHING WITH THE BLADE, even an apple core. The blades stain if you cut certain foods with them, particularly turmeric root, but it fades.

Plus we have carbon steel for carving a joint of meat and stainless for general cooking, and some Japanese cleavers, and...

I say "we" but it's the OH who uses the more exotic knives. I just know that my biggest Stellar Sabatier knife will cut a full-sized 7 kilo Crown Prince pumpkin in half, and that's a monster job for a monster knife. I love the Stellar Sabatier set, I was yearning over them in Allders and then they went bankrupt and sold them off at 50% reduction.

As a chef it’s something I should know a bit about. I went to college in the 60s and was given a set of 3 carbon steel knives. 2 died many years ago but the one I have left is a large chefs knife. I have used and abused it for many years,I have even used it to cut turf with. It still has a great edge all be it rusty. Most carbon steel knives are not allowed or used in professional kitchens stainless being the preferred choice. The problem with these is that require professional sharpening as you can’t grind them like carbon as they get to hot. So you spend a small fortune on a good set of stainless knives only to find they do not. Hold an edge. I have a set of global which cost in excess of £1500 so I need them to last. So I have invested in a fine diamond sharpening plate which again was not cheap but it keeps them like razors. You have to be patient when sharpening by getting the correct angle and going slowly and smoothly.
So it really depends on budget what are best. Japanese stainless steel knives are great but not cheap plus there are many fakes out there a good alternative are WUSTHOF MADE IN GERMANY very good quality and just a little cheaper

Hello

I use mostly Vitorinox in the butchery because I find them a comfortable size for my hands but I also buy knives from the knife sharpener at the market brand name Pradel. He recommended to me to buy a good quality steel to keep them all sharp. If I completely lose the edge I take it back to the knife sharpener man. They are all stainless steel.

They could be but they don't have the patterning that you get on a genuine samurai sword (it's said that Japanese smiths did a roaring trade in post war Japan by converting vehicle springs into swords which were sold to credulous GI's so there are a lot of rubbish swords out there). I think it's more of a case of good quality steel and the fact that you only sharpen them by grinding one side only. You can get a neat little knife guide that ensures you always sharpen at the corect angle and always on a whetstone never bashing about on the traditional butcher's steel. I have seen Japanese kitchen knives which display the patterning of swords that you refer to but they are so hideously expensive that they are well out of my price range.

Carbon steel. I have a cook's knife that I bought whilst still working in Cambridge which makes it more than 11 years old. I have really sharpened it with a wheel twice, occasionally use the kitchen sharpener. I also have a Sabatier knife, that is ancient, part of a set that was used to its absolute end, bought when I left home and a bit, so about 1968.

The only thing to remember is do not let anybody put them in a dishwasher. The salt pits the steel. My OH ruined another knife by doing it continually despite raps over the fingers. Do that with stainless steel especially and they eventually break.

I’m using neither - ceramic. They seem really sharp. But I only bought them about a year ago, so time will tell!

I wonder if your Japanese knives are folded steel, this would certainly explain them sharpening well. An old blacksmith friend of mine was intrigued with this method (originally used for samurai swords, and much later for sushi knives)

Same age as mine then David!

Carbon steel is my preference. I've never been able to maintain an edge on inox. I have a couple of Japanese knives which are very sharp and which appear to be inox and they do sharpen well. Unfortunately the attachment to the handle is rubbish so I've gone back to my 1960's carbon steel sabatiers.

I use both.

I have an old carbon steel carving knife set and an old Sabatier set of knives.

I have a collection of stainless knives as well.

I also include a good set of stainless knives and a sharpener in our gite as well, as there is nothing worse or dangerous than blunt knives.