I’ll do another thread on my home kitchen testbed with more examples like the above.
Knives in this thread are really good candidates for both updating and repurposing:
They certainly don’t fit in very well in my multicultural SOCAL world . . .
Ray
Hah, yes I guess they are just too French for SOCAL 
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Our most famous French restaurant near Hollywood closed down after about 70 years. Will reopen on a reduced scale.
However, Americanized “European” cuisine at the highest level is available, and many of us still love “the French Chef,” and cook her recipes. After all, she spent her last years in Santa Barbara.
Pertti,
My life experience starts and ends with cultural fusion and the changes it brings about in my life. The things one eats at a restaurant or is served at a home, the raw materials and supplies one finds nearby, and the tools one acquires to create one’s own fusion in a home kitchen are all a part of that for me.
One additional element for me personally is an ongoing interest in the technology supporting or affording change–especially information technology–and the business model that underlies the process.
My collaborator on much of this, Dr. H, who participates in our comparison prepping, is from Japan, and another local collaborator, Dr. F, is from Hong Kong and translates/explains Chinese for me. I’m also in contact with Chef Panko in the Netherlands who has his own very interesting cultural fusion experiences.
Hey, that sounds great, Ray! It’s nice that you have this interest that you share with your collaborators. I haven’t been thinking about these things with much intensity, but perhaps there is fusion in my kitchen now as I have knives and pans from across the world from different cultures, even if the pans and knives themselves would not be so fusion for the most part.
So in my tools I have wanted some degree of originality. For my knives for example I have chosen the CCKs from HK/China, Sabatiers from France, Japanese knives from Japan and Finnish puukko + fish fillets made in Finland.
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Fantastic!
Hi Pertti,
The knives from my childhood were almost entirely for meat, mostly wild game. By the time I was ready to start my hobby, I had been to Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand–it was a completely different world. I also had moved to SOCAL. The two “founding” knives I was using were my Sir Lawrence carbon steel butcher knife, and a Kai Seki Magoroku nakiri.
My cooking preps had already changed enough that I was ready to embrace the European heritage I grew into with a Chef’s knife. After consultations and cutting a few carrots, I chose the Wusthof classic ikon Chef’s knife and a paring knife. My Sir Lawrence was repurposed as a backup.
My collaborator, Dr. H, also wanted to develop his own version of cultural fusion, so I gifted him with an 8" Shun classic chef knife.
This began our mutual efforts at cultural fusion, focused on Asian culture: a mixture of repurposing and updating.
Ray
I purchased this knife, which is the closest I’ve ever had to a true Petty knife. I’m using it more than I expected. I still might have gotten the Shun, but the double beveled Shun is only available for right handed users.
Ray
My Sir Lawrence has been repurposed back to slicing English muffins nearly every morning. That’s one thing my petty can’t do well.
Ray
There really aren’t any new prep methods for knives. The only things new are some people’s awareness–not to be confused with knowledge.
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Great discussion, pilgrim,
but let me add a note about cognitive style.
My natural inclination is to be a “chopper”–and that’s a vertical “chop.” When I bought my Wusthof Chef knife, I learned about “rock chopping”, but it was not completely satisfying. My Japanese collaborator tamed me a bit, and I learned to push cut–especially with my Japanese nakiri–but it still didn’t feel right.
Then I discovered the Chinese vegetable cleaver, and everything came together for me. It could do everything–the weight of the knife doing much of the work–but for me the thrill was that I could finally chop the vertical way I always wanted.
My nakiri had become repurposed as a push cutter, and teamed quite naturally with a cleaver that supported my need to chop.
Ray
Well, I “repurposed” an old granny parer to open Amazon boxes. The rest of my knives - I (hopefully) keep sharp. I’m world-travelled and over-educated. I avoid getting over-precious, hopefully. All cuisines are fair game.
Sure, a linoleum knife can be repurposed to do callus care, too. But I don’t think that’s what Ray meant.
Hi Meekah,
Brought any knives back from those world travels? Learned any new tricks?
The nakiri given to me in Japan on one of my trips eventually got me thinking a completely new way . . .
Ray
Knives? No. I brought back observations, experiences, exchanges, knowledge.
No advice on repurposing knives. If it’s special to me I would just hang it for posterity or nostalgia. Otherwise if a knife reaches the end of its use it’s evicted.
Agreed!
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Hi RD,
I have a a used knife morgue for the two knives that no longer work for me. One is a flexible blade slicer with a partially burnt plastic handle, and the other is a pseudo chef’s knife with a metal handle and a bent tip. I may use them to test my new diamond sharpening plates.
I have two others, that I’ve repurposed–and still use. The most recent repurpose, though, is a deba that is typically purchased for fish–and I’m using it for many other things.
What is important, and good, IMO, is that I’m growing and improving knife skills in a world culture that presents many new alternatives.
I’m not staying the same.
Ray
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Hi Meekah,
How did those “observations, experiences, exchanges, and knowledge” improve your food prep skills and knife selection, and tweak your cultural awareness enough to try new things in the kitchen?
Ray
