“Yeah, I think a half-bolster is a better design.”
I agree, Chem, and not just for sharpening. Since my first Wusthof, almost seven years ago, all my knives have either some version of half bolster–or no bolster at all.
My last full bolster was on the hunting knife I prized as a pre teen.
Ray
I know many professional knife sharpeners offer service to reduce bolsters. Actually, any good professional knife sharpener would probably point out to you before you need to bring this up. However, you can preemptively ask to further reduce the bolster. At a quick search, it seems to be about $5.
The prices seem very reasonable to me.
The professional place nearest to me has stopped doing walk-ins (either it was the pandemic or they were too backed up, I guess). Thanks!
I use those carbon steel knives most often. They were inexpensive yet maintain a great edge
Bingo. It’s easy. The only challenge is not to lose the temper when grinding the bolster down. The more elegant way to do it is to grind a small choil at the bolster bottom, so you spend that $4 only once.
Hi Scubadoo97,
What kind of prep work do you usually do with your knives?
I wonder what is the main reasons. I can think of two reasons. First, the belief that carbon steel knives take more effort to take care, which is not entirely wrong. Carbon steel knives cannot be left in a pool of water to rust. Carbon steel knives cannot be put in dishwasher. Second, the belief that carbon steel knives look dirty and old. A one-week old carbon steel knife will look older than a year old stainless steel knife.
The usual. Prepping vegetables, breaking down a chicken, removing skin from a side of salmon or other fish and portioning
I love CS and used to be CS exclusively, until I found some Kiwis. They sharpen like CS. No more of the drudgery of what I replaced with the CS: Henkel’s. Real pain to sharpen, and really didn’t hold the edge for much longer than the Kiwis and CS. I enjoy my wet stones, so CS and Kiwi were a natural fit. I realize the Henkel’s have a western angle. Just took too long to get the sharp I wanted. I also like the boring Kiwi handles much more. CS is hard to clean, if that’s important to you. My old Thai street cleaver looks like a murder weapon. Anyone who goes through my knife drawer notices that thing. “Where’d ya dump the body?” is a common question when people see it. I folded the blade on a wild turkey. Never use CS nor Kiwis for processing wild game. Bones will bend them, so I use and older SS cleaver, made in Japan for my game processing needs. I worked the fold out of the Thai cleaver with a stone, and still use the street cleaver frequently. Best pizza cutter made.
So, the only knife I would want right now would be a strong SS cleaver. It would be abused. WILL be abused. Hate to spend the $ on something that might fold under the pressure. The old Japanese one still holds.
I think it is that the prevalent offerings are sleek looking offerings of complete sets with blocks from known names, generally names known for things other than knives, at attractive prices. Generally these buyers are not even aware of CS and, hence, have not learned about it. The sleek knives they buy go in the dish washer. When I have tried them, they did not seem to have been sharpened or even honed. A few households got a pull through sharpener, and it was certainly a big positive step. One family I know has a red theme…red pots and pans. red handled tools, red mixing bowls, even a red Frances Frances espresso machine, and KA knives with red on the handles. I am guessing the households buying knives at Target or BBB far outnumber those buying at WS or SLT. In fairness, the few households I have known that actually maintained their knives were good cooks, and those knives, properly sharpened, worked quite well.
Hi Vecchiouomo,
Carbon steel knives in the USA were once popular foundational knives because:
and I’ve got one–my Sir Lawrence–that is called a butcher knife.
I’ve even managed to substantially restore it’s appearance.
but
in the “cheap” market, as you’ve noted, the SS has completely taken over.
I think Chem explained why.
The re-emergence of carbon steel in the pricier marketplace has been due to harder steel materials that could be cladded and custom ground to yield exceptional performance.
It’s been a tiny market because carbon steel knives are seldom permitted in commercial settings, but it’s a lively one. Bob Kramer has promoted a version in his line of knives, and several enthusiast sites have promoted specific limited production Japanese producers–sometimes even specific blacksmiths.
In Europe, the German and Swiss suppliers have almost totally dominated the market with SS knives
I know that you’ve gone nearly totally French with your collection–and the knives are carbon steel–but I’m not sure if that would be the same in France today.
Within my interests, I haven’t even seen carbon steel alternatives offered, except for one blue steel line offered by Shun.
Except for Sir Lawrence, all my kitchen knives are SS.
I went all carbon circa 1970.
I didn’t get my first Japanese nakiri until about 1990, didn’t appreciate it until about 2000, and didn’t make it a foundation of my batterie until 2015.
I was born in the late 60’s and didn’t even know about CS. '84ish I got the cheap wok set many of you may remember ($10-cs wok, draining rack, lid and the Chinese cleaver, spatula.) I loved that cleaver soooo much. I loved using it, sharpening it, made food prep fun for me. To have a knife I can sharpen for 10 seconds go through a tomato like nothing was addictive for me. BUT, my dad was quick to point out the difference between SS and CS. Not just water you have to watch for. Dried blood really gives it an evil look.
Now I want a Sir Winston.
Morimoto’s batterie of Nenox knives. Deba, sujihiki/slicer, usuba.
Love the mallet and big knife!
Hi Ray,
I like the style of your Zwilling upright block. I am currently storing my 3 Chinese and one Japanese cleaver in a pile in a drawer and this way they are not all very grabbable.
My other main knives are stored in the same drawer, but well grabbable in Utoplike bamboo drawerblocks, which I think are a good solution. I actually like storing the knives out sight and don’t have much room on the counters, but I might be able to fit an upright block or two right behind the big end grain cutting board, to store my cleavers and perhaps a few other knives there.
From an upright block like yours, I suppose you grab the knives from the blade to get them out, right? How stable do they feel there? I notice there is apparently magnets on that block, are those directly towards the edge of your knives in the cavities or where are they placed?
Hi Pertti,
The slots in my Zwilling block are magnetized, and lock in the knife/cleaver blades. I put them in–slot first: I remove them handle first.
Works especially well with cleavers.
I have some cheap knives that hang from magnets over counters but the knives I want to protect all go into drawers.
Unfortunately I have 4 more knives I want to protect and need to find a place for them…so for now they just sit on the butcher table. Kinda convenient but I need to find a place for at least two of them. The other two can just sit on the table I suppose.
Yes, if it holds cleavers well in place, something like that sounds pretty good for my purposes.
