welcome friends welcome back to the
kitchen I'm here again with gage from
sharp knife in Hamilton yes sir
and today we're going to talk about
choosing a knife I don't want to
overemphasize that it's the most
important decision that you're going to
make in your kitchen but it is a very
important decision because it affects
almost every operation that you do in
your kitchen yep I would agree with that
you have to be comfortable with a knife
in your hand in order to get the most
out of it
percent so when I come into your shop in
Hamilton how do you guide me through
choosing the correct knife yeah so first
I start off just by asking what it is
you're looking for what are you get what
are your needs but like what what is it
that you want and the most common
response that I get is an all-purpose
knife sort of in and around the $200
range okay so I'll start off by trying
to figure out there the level of
maintenance that they're that they're
comfortable with so the two big
differences are whether we're gonna go
with a stainless steel with a carbon
steel or something in between
so stainless steel as the name implies
will never rust will never discolor or
get any sort of spots on it whereas a
carbon steel has has advantages like
better edge retention and sharpen
ability but could rust and discolor if
it's not kept dry and clean patina
patina which is a good thing some people
don't like it and and if you don't want
your knife to change and sort of develop
character over time go with the
stainless steel but if you kind of enjoy
things that kind of change and tell a
story sort of well in that patina
eventually protects the knight it does
yeah exactly so you know it's the first
couple months using a carbon steel knife
that you really have to be diligent to
your point once that patina is formed it
does a lot to protect the knife and
makes it much easier to to care for so
you know if we don't want to totally go
stainless steel and we don't want to go
totally carbon steel there is an
in-between which would be a stainless
clad knife and those are made in a
process called sanma or or forged
welding where they take three layers of
material forge them together normally
putting two softer pieces of stainless
steel on the outside
of a course core layer of steel that's
made from carbon steel okay so if we
look at the knife it's a little bit
tough to see on some of them but there's
a yeah there's a little wavy line close
to the edge of the knife there and
that's where the carbons are part of me
that's where the stainless steel layers
on the outside are coming to an end and
the carbon steel is just poking out
beyond that okay so only you know those
two to three millimeters right at the
edge of the knife could rust if not
properly maintained so it gives you to
sort of dip your toes into the carbon
steel without going all the way in and
just kind of test the water and if you
like the edge retention in the end the
way it cuts and sharpens and all that
sort of stuff and you think you want to
move into a fully carbon steel knife you
can make that decision
go that I go that way yeah so if I come
to you and say I want a knife but I'm
not someone who's going to sharpen it
that often yeah so I like to say that
I've taken sort of some of the guesswork
out of it
because of the way that I test the
knives and I and and the the steel types
that we work with so even if you go with
a stainless steel knife that arguably
has less than desirable edge retention
in comparison to two carbon steel like
for instance if we look at a knife like
this made from our two which is a type
of stainless steel okay you could even
argue that the edge retention on this is
better than some of the carbon steels
out there you may have a more difficult
time sharpening this knife stainless
steels can be notoriously difficult to
get a really nice keen edge on but in my
experience are two is one of the easier
stainless steels to sharpen because it
has that higher rockwell rating hardness
durability it's even got to sharpen up a
little bit easier you know every knife
is gonna need to be sharpened so that
that's something to keep in mind and and
you know I would I would say if if if
you feel like you're gonna get into
sharpening if you if you think it's a a
or or or like something you want to
learn carbon steel is definitely the way
to go in my opinion it's way more fun to
sharpen there's more to it there's more
you can learn about it stainless steel
sharpening is is good like it's it's
it's still fun to sharpen
any knife in my opinion but stainless
steels require a couple extra jumps in
your progression of water stones to get
them to the same level but I generally
will set a home cook just getting into
Japanese knives up with a stainless
steel knife and that way they don't have
to worry about maintaining it and
they'll still get really good good edge
retention just maybe not quite as good
as with some of the carbon steels okay
so now what we've we've decided on
material yep and we've decided that say
I want to send kuku or which style of
knife I want what is the next step to
actually choosing the night yeah so
we're so to your point we've decided
steel type we're gonna say go with we've
decided that we're a home cook we feel
more comfortable with the santoku over
say for instance the Guto which is just
a little bit too long and now I just
pull down a whole bunch of knives from
the wall and I get people picking them
up and feeling them the the balance in
Japanese knives is going to be a little
bit further forward on this particular
knife pretty much right smack dab in the
middle but for instance something like
this gonna be balanced a little bit
further forward but there's going to be
differences between every knife right so
balance point is a big one it kind of
determines where the weight and the
knife is and and some people feel more
comfortable with a blade balanced
further forward and some people feel
more comfortable with the balance for
their back me personally I like
something that's balanced quite forward
I like a knife that's light overall and
and very thin that's my preference I
know a lot of guys prefer something with
a little bit more heft to it and they
want it a little bit thicker at the
spine it just makes them feel like it's
it's more substantial well and and so
that that to me that feeling in my hand
is probably the most important to me
yeah when I'm choosing a knife yeah for
sure and you know buying online can be
tough for sure
I try to I do my absolute best to get
product videos of all the knives that I
carry done and and put up on the website
I'm still in the process of doing so but
what I try to convey in those videos is
is the balance point everything that you
may want
know about the knife I tried it to get
across in those videos yeah how it feels
how light it is how thin the blade we
look at the edge geometry how thin it is
behind the edge we look at the fit and
finish of the knife how the blade and
the handle come together is the handle
nice is it flush between the furrow and
the handle is it good for lefties and
righties or is it good just for
right-handed users what type of steel
isn't made from will it rust will it
will it not I try to get all that across
in the videos and make it as easy for
people as I possibly can online to buy a
92 finite yeah and I also make it very
easy to return knives if they're not
into it
we accept returns with no questions
asked and we pay for the return shipping
as well so cool you're not stuck with a
knife if you don't like it so pretty
pretty painless I like I try to make it
as painless as possible yeah yeah I'm
I'm here trying to get people set up
with the right knife for them is it
easier to do it in store probably but
can it be done online absolutely cool do
people show up with carrots I know they
don't need to because I have them
already there yeah you do I do it's it's
it's it's hard to know which knife
you're gonna like if you don't get to
cut with it a little bit right so
carrots are a good one
carrots in my experience really show you
what a knife can do and they're a little
bit on the harder more durable side and
they really seem to respond well to
knives that are very very thin behind
the edge that edge geometry is something
we haven't really touched on but the
thinness behind the edge or just the
sort of way the blade comes to a point
okay how high up on the blade does it
start for instance on most Japanese
knives it starts pretty much midway
through the blades
yeah it's angling in and then they put
what's called a micro bevel on it so
again right at the edge they'll increase
their angle a little bit more and
sharpen it again and that adds a little
bit of dirt durability to the edge of
the knife but a blade that's very very
thin behind the edge is not going to
wedge an ingredient apart or cause it to
sort of like push or accept air
that's a good yeah so these were again
I've made this point before but the
first time you cut with a Japanese knife
it just feels like it it needs to it
that's its life purpose is to go through
things with as little effort as possible
and that's a wonderful feeling in the
kitchen yeah it really it really is it's
one of those if you're fighting with
your knife cooking can be less enjoyable
oh 100 yes 100% I've had a lot of people
tell me that they just they like the
cooking aspect so that toss and stuff in
a pan baking stuff in the oven but they
don't like the the prep work
I love the prep work I love the prep
work and that's something that Julie
often yells at me she's like why did you
cut these so small stop chopping and
it's like but I enjoy yeah yeah I enjoy
that precision I enjoy that aspect of
the process of that's a great point
because you could easily do a lot of
what you do with a knife in an a food
processor if you're making mirepoix just
throw a bunch of stuff in there and have
it done in 30 seconds but as that is fun
no I would also make the argument that
that like mulch definitely doesn't have
the same don't feel as beautifully
chopped vegetables as well and so so
yeah so we've decided on the knife we're
getting people picking up and feeling
stuff I've talked a little bit about my
personal preference and I always
incorporate that into the the knife
buying process it shouldn't I always try
to empower people to make their own
decision no I I never push people
towards anything I don't try to push
people towards a more expensive stuff or
you know whatever
and I I empower people give people the
knowledge that they need to make their
own informed decision so when we're
talking about expense in knives does a
costlier knife necessarily mean a better
knife in a lot of cases it does and I
know it sounds like I'm just trying to
sell you a more expensive knife but the
more you're willing to spend them
typically the more you're gonna get out
of the knife there are definitely some
of those like value picks out there that
for whatever reason they're they're very
affordable and they're very high
performing I typically find the value
picks and more if like the carbon steel
range so you have to be able
bit more diligent with their maintenance
okay a finish that's commonly found in
those more affordable ranges is what's
called a crew chief finished this guy
here with this black part here the most
difficult knife to maintain but because
of the finish the labor required to make
it is quite a bit lower and therefore
the price gets down I think though this
knife looks will look really cool I mean
it looks really cool right now but it
will look really cool when it when it
develops that patina yes absolutely and
that goes back to the if you're if
you're interested in something that's
going to change and develop character
carbon steel is for you if you want it
to look the exact same forever stainless
steel is for you cool so we'll end that
here check it the online store and we'll
come back and talk about knife
maintenance perfect thanks for stopping
by see you again soon
you
