Knives

[bill_schubert]

Last year I went with my sister to a knife shop in Seattle.  I've been piddling around with my knives and finally have decided to go to one in Austin hoping it will be as good as hers in Seattle.  I've got a couple of very good Henkel knives that need to be sharpened and a bunch of mediocre ones that also need to be sharpened but may not deserve it.

And I need to buy a primary chopping knife.  I know what I want (and can't afford it but never mind that) and have been putting up with mediocre ones for ages.  I think it is time to upgrade.  I use five knives for various purposes but the same one for 80% of my kitchen work.

The downside is that the store is in Austin.  But there is another stop I want to make on the way back at a Woodworking store.  Now that Covid is gone in Texas (the governor said so) I'm wanting to investigate shop classes again.  

So an hour round trip not including stops at the two locations.  Quite the trip for me.

Comments

[bill_schubert]

So the trip was very different from yours. Guy that ran the shop was pretty much like me, a curmudgeon. He sharpen four knives for me on the spot for $26 and said I didn't need to buy a new one.
It will be interesting to see how long these stay sharp. I don't mind paying what amounts to $7 per knife to get it sharpened on the spot but the drive is kind of a pain in the neck.

I would have said a serrated knife never gets sharpened. But the internet disagrees so I think that gives us a good reason to visit the new knife shop in your neck of the woods.

[susandennis]

wow. on the spot! and wouldn't sell you a new one. that's wild. and great idea about the excuse to visit. works for me.

[msconduct]

You can definitely get serrated knives sharpened! I have a Wusthof bread knife that gets a beating from my crisp-crusted sourdoughs and that thing definitely needs regular sharpening. I keep my straight bladed Zwilling chef's knife sharp with a steel, but I'm not game to try and sharpen a serrated knife. My knife sharpening guy deals with that and also my serrated Wusthof tomato knife.

I absolutely love knife shops. The last time I visited my one I bought several Wusthof knives and the guy asked me what I did - I think he thought I was a tech billionaire or something! But they'll last forever and they make my life better every single day.

I've had my Zwilling knife for about 25 years now. The price made me wince at the time, but I use it every day. The benefit I got from buying it at a knife shop was that the knife guy gave me such good advice. I initially thought the Zwilling knife was far too heavy, but he told me that when you get used to that the heaviness works in your favour to cut through things. He was absolutely right. He also showed me how to use a chef's knife properly, keeping the tip down, and made me cut up carrots until I had the hang of it - another incredibly useful tip. I'm always amazed when I see people using knives on TV how few of them, apart from trained chefs, who use a chef's knife correctly. It takes most of the work out of it.

I hope the two of you enjoy your knife shop visit!