Kitchen Cutlery!

[thewap]

As a custom knife and Randall collector, your run of the mill cutlery just won't do. The best place to learn about knives, edges, sharpening, blade shape etc.. is in the kitchen. My knives of choice are 1940's Murphy, Tungsten Tool Steel (high Speed) with aluminum handles cast from Ford pistons. VERY sharp!, great long lasting edges and WAY ahead of his time (Murphy that is). I use the large carving set everyday (4 pieces different length) and they have been by far the sharpest kitchen knives I have owned. These are hard to find, and it took me a while to source every piece for a Master set!. I have almost finished restoring the steak knives set and original black Walnut box. I will post pics soon.

What do you like to use in the kitchen? pics? your experience using them?

[tunefinK]

Marc,

I do all the cooking around here.... not because Joan can't... I just like it..... and she does the dishes.

I don't have "great" knives, but they are good. I have an assortment of Wusthof classics which have been pretty good knives over the years. I hit the steel most every use and have never had to have them sharpened.

I have had the itch to take a step up..... I need to do some learnin'.....

[Sufler]

I do all my food preparations with a single blade. This kitchen knife came in a set for about $25, and I must say that it's probably the best knife I've ever used in the kitchen. I also own a $30 Henckel's that I've never managed to sharpen too well, don't know, maybe the steel's too hard or I'm just not pressing hard enough.

[thewap]

Mitch, I can relate! very similar set up with me and my better half! I like to cook as well, and I'm the fast figure how to make anything out of anything short order Cook. My wife is the gourmet gala Cook, so I let her take over on the weekends or special occasions.. I do not use the steel on the Murphy knives.
After a while the edge can get worn and be uneven. I use flat ceramic bench stones once a week. But the Wusthoffs are pretty high tempered, so they would hold up well under the steel. Some of the best Cookin' knives I have ever used were the old SABATIER French knives in carbon. These can get pretty pricy. But they are really nice in weight, balance, and get scary sharp! Edge retention is good.

It would be great to get some feedback from Gary H. AKA "Escapement" as I think he stated that he was first an affecionado of kitchen cutlery before Randalls?

Suf! I hear you about your woes with the Henkel. But first I have to say they are a very good knife option...that is if you edge it correctly.. I have an old Henkel that once was junk. It was beat by a hammer on the spine, the edge was thick and rounded, and the handle had a burn melt, the size of a dime. I bought it for $1 at a flea market (flea markets can be dangerous you know..) so that I could use it to hone my skills at refinishing and sharpening. The original condition was such that even when I attempted to sharpen conventionally , it would not cut butter. So it was a candidate for a major ovehaul.

Using 150 grit emery cloth wrapped around a bench stone, I ground the flats of the blade (push stroke)
until the edge went to zero. Once at zero (pretty sharp!) I refinished the flats the same way, building up to 600 grit (which is a good utility finish), I then buffed it out with a leather flat and polish. Once that was done, I put on the secondary edge with my Medium Diamond stone, at a 15-18 degree angle.
The honed it with the ceramics. I also along the way re-sanded the handle and buffed it, and filed/sanded the hammer marks.

Result?: Super sharp! the knife just won't quit. I only have to lightly hone the edge with super fine ceramic once a month! and that one gets used a lot! It also taught me a lot about knife finishing.

If the knife cuts and looks like junk, you might want to try and give it a refurb. If you don't like the results, it's no big deal because you considered it junk anyway!

[thewap]

Finally got my proverbial b.tt in gear and took some pics of the Murphy set I restored. When I found it, the blades were in fair but stained shape, some chipped slightly, the handles corroded and dark, the box felt was falling apart into powder, the box was coming apart at 3 seams, and the finish chipped, flaking and powdering off. But I recognized the potential and quality in the 1940's Murphy set, and the real killer was that it was a 12 person Master set, which is really hard to find. Also killer was the fact that the original pamphlet was still intact inside the box. I bought the whole deal for $40. Each knife was cleaned, buffed, repaired, finished and honed. The box I took apart, stripped, sanded, and refinished with 4 coats of Tung oil and a beeswax buff. The old felt had to be scrapped off, and new felt was installed. The mounting pieces were also restored and finished in Tung oil. Now the old deep black Walnut shows really well, and the set looks mint. I use all the carving knives when duty calls, and only use the 12 steak knives for special guests who understand cutlery and knife collecting. Reason? the little steak knives are killer sharp like scalpels...In the following pics I also show the 6" Murphy and a steak knife, sheathed in a double hunter sheath. The knives are so sharp and so well designed, that they are a natural as hunters as well. The profile of the handle at the rear is very agressive. Just like Murphy's pamphlet explains how the tradition of the old West was to have a knife that could do it all, including survival, these knives are built upon that tradition.

The last pic shows the Henkel I restored , and is my main veggie knife, and a 1934 Shapleighs Hammer Forged 11" knife. This my big Kahuna! I have used it to cut carpet, branches, bread and whatever calls for dirty work. It stains till black in a couple of weeks, then I clean it with 600 grit under water and buff with 1500. Takes me 10 minutes. The edge holds really well, and this one gets equally sharp as hell. Hope you enjoy the pics, and my rather long description of these knives.

[thewap]

Finally completed..

[thewap]

Hunting sheath set up..

[thewap]

Pamphlets..

[thewap]

The big Kahunas..

[Moosehead]

Hi Marc!

It's fascinating to see how you were able to restore these old knives. You have a definite talent and thanks for sharing some examples of your work.

I know first hand (as a prize winner), just how well you give these old blades a second life.

Our kitchen cutlery is pretty run-of-the-mill, with one exception. I gave my wife a custom made kitchen knife with a 6 inch Damascus steel blade and a Bocote wood handle, crafted by Ray Rantanen of Idaho for her birthday a couple of years ago. It's beautiful to look at, and after it's been sharpened, it can cut up tomato into the thinnest of slices.

Moosehead

[thewap]

Hi Moose, thank you for the compliments! I don't know about talent , but after many knives ruined, fingers cut, and hairs pulled, I think I have reached an acceptable level of maintaining my own blades . I only will restore knives that really need it, and in the end, I like the restored ones even better becase of the hard (I mean hard) work involved as I do not use power tools. I approach it like the old Japanese bladesmiths do. The sharpening is accomplished Through the finishing process. One day I would love to build a small forge and give that a try. I tried it once at a friend's house who had a forge. I could not believe how hard it is to forge shape anything!! My first attempt at forging anything that looked like a blade, turned into a study of curved and angled sculptural mess..

But the real reason I wanted to reply to your post was not to talk about myself (delusions of grandeur..)
but to ask you to post a pic of that Damascus kitchen knife!! I'm dying to see it!

[Moosehead]

Will do Wap!

I'll try and take some photos of it tomorrow.

Moosehead

[Moosehead]

The sun finally appeared today, so I was able to take some photos of Ray Rantanen's custom kitchen knife, as promised.

I'll present it in two posts of 5 photos each.

I hope you like!

The knife and sheath:




The blade:




Closeups of the Bocote wood handle:








Moosehead

[Moosehead]

Here are some more. These are up close and personal looks at the Damascus steel which Ray forges himself.







A touch of blue by Photoshop for effect: :cool:







And the knife sheathed, with a curious #####cat looking on:




Moosehead

[thewap]

Nice knife Moose! that is a perfect knife! looks like around 150 layer damascus, random pattern. Beautiful handle and blade shape, Looks like a winner that can do it all! That knife design also looks optimal as a hunter! sure looks thick enough at 1/4" or 3/16"?? Thats the kind of knife I would not hesitate getting down and dirty with for practically anything. The Damascus is pretty easy to clean and keep pretty. You have good taste Moose!