They're arguably the most important tool one needs in the kitchen,
unless one's idea of cooking is reheating pre-prepared and processed
foods.
One thing I've noticed is the plethora of cheap
knives in thrift shops. It could be a matter of budget and affordability
but most knives that one finds are of really poor quality, not easily
sharpened (if sharpenable at all) and if sharpened, are too soft to hold
their edges. The answer seems to be disposing of the old ones and
buying a new set (hopefully of better quality). Not exactly economical
but maybe it's a sign of the value of disposibility in modern society.
Branding also plays a big role as one is starting to find knives carrying brands not of knife makers (messer schmidts
if you want to know where the name came from) but cook ware and cooking
appliances. Consumers get sold on the brand but not the quality, and
find themselves in the cycle of disposing and replacing, not at
insignificant cost.
The quality knives one finds
are sometimes virtually untouched, just needing a sharpening. For some
others, they have been subject to years of use and some shows sign of
abuse and improper use, bent or broken blades, or even rust for older
steel. Some have been sharpened, very crudely such as on stone wheels
or sanding which have taken so much off the blade that the good forged
steel is gone.
Still, it is worth searching for quality knives that can provide many more years of use with some restorative care.
Knowing what to buy helps. The knives one finds are generally made in a few countries: Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan, China, Brazil, Britain and the U.S.A.
Germany and Switzerland probably make the best mass-produced knives given the quality of the countries' steel. Swiss steel is softer. German cutlery is centered around Solingen and most German brands will carry that name on the blade (WMF isn't based near Solingen and is an exception). There are some marketers that put Solingen on the label with no brand, or use German words. Poor grade steel being marketed as German.
Henckels, the largest(?) German cutlery maker has a German-made line (J.A. Henckels) but also has lower-grade items (Henckels International) reputedly made with German steel in Brasil, Portugal and China. While they may be o.k., one can find the better items at similar prices.
Japan is an odd case. It has steel works but its good steel is artisenal, all hand made and very expensive in the hands of professionals. I have yet to see one in a thrift store. You'll only find mass-produced knives from the post WW-II era when Japanese industry was making middling grade consumer goods. Not much past the '80s and then you started to get the cheap, low grade knives from Taiwan and then China, some as branded goods and some as dollar store (or what should be dollar store) goods. I've seen knives offered by U.S. marketers first offered with German steel and then with no-name, presumable Chinese steel.
The U.S. used to have a cutlery industry but production has been largely off-shored. The quality was o.k. but not particularly stellar. What U.S.-made pieces one finds generally are for collector value.
The U.K. also had a steel industry based around Sheffield but the product wasn't of particularly good quality. The only sort of knives one sees from Sheffield are usually meat carving knives purchased as wedding presents.
It's been weeks since I bought anything larger than a paring knife but that's how rare good knives in decent condition are.
Face it, most people didnt traditionally buy high end stuff at high end prices. They couldnt afford it. They bought middle of road stuff for a middle of road price and expected good service from it. So in a thrift store dont expect piles of high end artesional knives. You are going to find what most people bought. The vintage USA made middle of road wood handle knives with names like Chicago Cutlery, Case, Ekco, etc are perfectly servicable. Same with the middle of road type knives from Japan from 70s. You dont tend to see the older European brands often but they are pretty similar despite the hype. Do watch out, some of old brands linger but now made in China and lot lesser quality. Also should mention Tramontina, a Brazil knife company. They make some pretty good middle of road type knives. Be aware cheap knives are profitable, you will find modern day crap sold by even high end names. Make the brand affordable to everybody, even while not making the quality affordable to everybody. One thing in common, the cheap lines are usually all made in China despite the brand.
ReplyDeleteUsed kitchen knives I see were either owned by somebody clueless how to sharpen a knife so they just wear the factory edge off and buy new, or else they had some super aggressive electric sharpener that eats the metal fast and they tend end up with a concave hump in middle of edge.
Hey avoid the obvious dollar store level stuff and take care of knife and you be ok. Oh the China made stuff is mixed bag, some of it is pretty good, some of it is really poorly made. The bad thing about the Chinese stuff, some of it is made to look really nice and almost high end, but wasnt tempered correctly so maintaining an edge is impossible. What I call the scam knives. I mean you dont expect some cheap looking knife with plastic handle to amount to much, but these look high end.
Hint look for anything with Molybdenum or Vanadium listed. Doesnt guarantee great knife, but it should be a servicable one. Dollar store knives dont use steel with such. Oh and if you want the edge to hold long as possible in any knife, you gotta treat the cheap knives just like it was $1000 exotic one. NO dishwasher, just dont, the harsh detergents and water banging edges into other stuff, well just dont. Protect edge of knife, use sheath if you want to put it in drawer. Or use a magnetic bar to hold your knives. And only cut on a hardwood cutting board.
You dont see many of them anymore, but vintage carbon steel knives can be real treat if you are smart enough to take care of them. They easily rust if you dont. They all turn grey, think of it as patina. The patina actually protects from rust. Anyway even the cheaper carbon steel knives can take and keep a very sharp edge. I have an old carbon steel Utica cleaver (1950s era) I rescued from scrap pile. Cleanded it up and put probably sharpest edge on it that it ever had. I use it like a chinese cleaver to chop up vegetables EVERYDAY. It stays sharp only touch it up couple times a year. Anybody that doesnt know, if you are using a cleaver as a bone ax, you dont want a super sharp edge, but a cleaver used as a chef knife to cut up veggies, sharp is good.