A few years ago, Kapoosh and other similar knife storages where pretty popular and seen at many major department stores. They don’t seem to be as popular now.
I had one of those. The black little thread-rods disintegrated over time.
Ouch. That is too bad. I thought about getting one, but never did. I was interested in these (very similar idea), but looks to be more simple and more
This one is commercial:
This one is do-it-yourself:
Bamboo skewers! I have a tin box that a bottle of crème de cassis came in; filled with skewers, it could hold a couple of knives. I’m saving the box - it would be an interesting use.
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I considered several versions like this, Chem, but it became clear that this was a mostly short term solution.
Ray
Hi Vecchiouomo,
I’ve already had my knives sanitary, safe, and available with my two magnetic units, but I’ve reorganized so that my softer steel knives have a steel hone they can use–almost as part of using the knife. I also have a ceramic hone with my shears, but not so job ready.
Ray
And they were a nightmare to clean. Nevermind that a cabon knife in one pretty much guaranteed rust. Good riddance.
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I pitched mine very quickly, wondering why it had gotten such marketing hype.
Thank you for saying this. I don’t believe I could ever use a sharpening stone properly and I’m unwilling to mess up our knives trying to get it right. On the other hand, my husband is great at maintaining our knives with the stone. Years ago he surprised me by bringing home a stone one day and sharpening our knives—turns out he learned the technique as a kid.
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IMO, all the appeal was in the freedom in locations. Buyers loved the idea of there being no slots.
Hi Vecchiouomo,
I threw away my block quite a few years ago. It took up too much space, was too inflexible and became unsanitary. As you see, I’ve gone to magnets two times–but not this time.
The rubberized double slot system used in my new OOU red container is an interesting alternative. Only weakness so far is that this red container can’t handle knives shorter than about 5". Other than that, it’s a space saver and very flexible–as long as it doesn’t get over loaded.
There are competing products that are smaller and substitute plastic for rubber on their slot systems. It took me awhile to figure that out.
Ray
Yeah, that’s true. I’ve never found a block with the perfect allotment of slots. That’s even true with the drawer inserts. And some of us literally have no place to install a magnetic bar.
Very beautiful
The two in the middle were inexpensive but sharpen really well and hold an edge extremely well. The Tojiro on top is my everyday work horse
Three of your four every day knives are carbon steel (I think). It is interesting that many of us are not good representation of the general public. I bet most families rely on stainless steel kitchen knives.
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Hi Chem,
Except for my Sir Lawrence butcher knife, all my kitchen knives are SS.
Ray
You are spot on. I have never been in someone else’s kitchen (other than daughter and son in law) that was not either entirely SS or mainly SS with an odd CS that was inherited. I, too, am an outlier with all CS except for heavy cleaver and bread knife.
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I clean my block periodically by submerging it in a light bleach solution. After rinsing I oil the outside. I have never really thought of it as unsanitary, but if that is a concern I’d find a bundle of rubber strips equally unsanitary, perhaps moreso. As to taking up space, I think the amount of space taken up depends on how many knives you need to store. I find my block very efficient in terms of both space and ease of use, but my selection of knives is smaller than yours and aligns more with a typical western mix: slicer, large chef for me, 8" chef for my wife, a 6" for some inexplicable reason, a boning knife, three parers, bread knife, steel, scissors and six steak knives. I also stick my little spreader in there and have one empty long slot for the 12" Nogent that has become unaffordable.
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There’s a reason for that–they’re not inherently unsanitary. More anti-micobial than plastic, as spported by the studies comparing wooden and plastic cutting boards. Blocks have disadvantages, but this isn’t one of them.
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