Hello from Vancouver Canada - K Dorken anyone?

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bonnyboy

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Hello all, I am a kitchen knife nut on hiatus since my days in college (80's) when my knives were my most expensive posession. A wife, home, kids, a real job and black patina'd knives my wife doesn't like in the kitchen put my being a foodie on hold (I kept my weight up so at least I look the part). A few months ago I ran across my old knives in the attic and realized how much I enjoyed cooking,

Since then I have joined this forum and got all of my knives sharpened. The kid at the sharpening store had never seen my exact knives, brand name "K Dorken" from France but was very impressed with the steel. I never really paid attention, They were sold to me as industrial Sabatier Ks made in the 20 - 30's for industrial kitchens and not pretty enough for display on department store shelves but perfectly adequate for the top chefs in France and abroad??? They look like old Sabatier K's, made in France and say "K Dorken, Acier Forge, Made in France" on the blades with no rivets in the handles. Has anyone heard of Dorken Knives.

The first thing I did when getting on this forum was learn how to hold a knife, then learned to chop vegetables (why don't they teach us that in school, I'm way faster now).

My current knife selection consists of (some well used and some never used but all very sharp now):
2, 10" Dorken Chefs (1 used - 1 still in oil)
2, 8" Dorken Chefs (1 used - 1 still in oil)
5 1/2" Dorken Chef
12" Dorken Ham Slicer (never used - still in oil)
Invicta 6" Butcher (never used - coated in a waxy substance)
10" Boker Boning (never used - coated in oil)
10" Boker General purpose
5" unknown shortened utility

I am looking forward to learning more about cooking and cutting foods properly and have discovered bandaids again.
 
i don't think Dorken made the knives. I think it was a company much like the original Hoffritz, l.l. bean and Abercrombie and Fitch. Companies that resold quality products under their own brand label. Dorken could very well have been a kitchen supply company.
 
do you have pictures? No rivets on the handles? do they look like Nogents?
 
Thanks all for the welcomes. Yes, the knives look exactly like Nogents with ebony handles.
Thanks,
Ian
 
I've been lurking for a while but am back now. I am looking for some help.

I have been hitting the garage sale scene and have gone a little overboard with my purchases. I have been practicing sharpening and watching lots of videos but find that I really don't know what to look for in a newer knife. I went to a couple knife stores and asked them if they could shed light on what to look for and they seemed to just want me to purchase knives that I wasn't sure I liked.

I have no oriental knives yet and even though I have gone through numerous threads I don't know what to look for to see if a particular style knife is what I want.

I have mostly old carbon steel knives so far and would like to move to the modern age (I think - why not)

Has anyone heard of anything in the Vancouver area where I could try out various knifes and learn how to cut at the came time. I checked with the Gourmet Warehouse and they said it sounded like a good idea but had no ideas themselves.

I have big hands (so I have been told) but am more of a knife collector so far and have been going after heavily used butcher shop knives that look pretty rather than ones that you would find in a better professional kitchen.

Any ideas out there or any videos you can recommend?
 
There's a Japanese knife place in Yaletown that might be of some help

http://santoku-office.com/

Other than that this is a wasteland-I live in Kits-Ming Wo and the like have No Clue and Don't Care.
 
Last evening I had a weak moment as I was unsupervised in the knife store and bought a Shun 8" classic chef's knife cause I don't know anyone who would lend me one. Reading through this forum I figured I couldn't really go that wrong with the classic 8" Shun Chef's knife. Being the very non technical type I am I decided to determine what was the best feeling knife I have by comparing similar knives while I am preparing dinner in the kitchen.

All knives were professionally sharpened by the kids at the House of Knives so I didn't expect that my poor sharpening skills would play a part. After the chores were done and all the leaves in the yard were put away nicely I went at it with a swack of potatoes. As I was cutting I was looking for comfort and ease of cut. All knives are 8"ish chefs knives in the following order:
9 3/4" Sabatier K carbon Steel France
8" J A Henckels 31361 (no stain) Brasil
8" Shun Classic Chef DM0706 Japan
8" Engel-Riviere Damascus HRC60 (bought it last month but wasn't completely satisfied)
8" Sabatier K Carbon Steel Chef France
8" Sabatier Lion Chef France
8" J A Henckel 31060 Germany (no stain)
I don't know the exact reason yet but that shun was hands down the most comfortable with the 8" Henckel 31361 in a close second (maybe its the bolsters). The Engel-Riviere was third and what I thought I liked in the other knives was gone. They will go on my wall now as decoration. I couldn't believe the difference. Now to save up and try some more knives. Got lots of Greek potatoes as leftovers - recipe worked perfect this time.
 

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