Anyone into knives?

Harpo,

I can imagine it's rare in a professional kitchen that one is splitting a sandwich for two or cutting a few mushrooms for a salad, a quality chef's knife may be the end all...

Cooking for the wife and I alone, the utility knife gets more use on a daily basis than just about any other.

The bread knife does double duty, bread and tomatoes. I make bread (don't own a bread maker), and buy fresh unsliced bread from a bakery.

A restaurant or deli may have the room and need of an electric gravity slicer, I don't. The 14” slicer get used a couple times a month, enough to justify having it.

For Frenching chops and ribroast, removing silverskin, opening chops that are to be stuffed etc. a 6” boning knife is much easer to use than a 14” chef's knife. Yes I use a chef's knife with a 14” blade, also the reason I use paring knives to peel fruit and veg.

I collected antique butcher tools and cutlery for years, had over 300 blades when I met my wife.

My heavy knives are carbon steel, made by the now defunked Gustav Emil Ern, and are 40 to 60 years old, all where unused when I acquired them (new old stock).

The paring, utility, fillet & slicing knives, are nogent style Sabatier. Recently ground from forgings that are more than 60 years old.

Check this http://www.thebestthings.com/knives/sabatier_nogent.htm