Best knife for gf/bf who hates knives?

At this point, roughly a year after i discovered KKF, my collection is pretty amazing thanks to BST but what I still find funny is that my GF refuses to come close to any of them, she is just plain scared of them. Still, I had to find a knife for her to use and after letting her try a bunch of knives in my collection, ironically enough the only one she would use and one she has become addicted to since she discovered it, is a 7.5" Victorinox Forschner Fibrox Serrated Chef Knife which I basically used only to cut sandwiches in half (quite good for that actually). It runs $24.95 on cutlery and more.. So for some reason she finds serrated knives safer to use than regular edged knives, is this common??

Anyway if anyone else is in this situation, this knife is so cheap, it might be worth checking it out...

Those are people who have never cut themselves with a serrated knife. Most painful, jagged wound ever.

Yeah I understand. I bought my wife a set of Wusthofs. She does not want to use mine. I was seriously thinking about getting her the big set of Victorionox, but the store I went to did not have them in stock, and I was pressed for time.

A cut from a serrated blade is invariably worse/not as clean as a cut with a sharp non-serrated knife. I don't use any serrated knives (cut bread with a gyuto).

I think a good choice for someone scared of super-sharp knives would be a 210 with "laser" geometry, kept slightly dull intentionally.

I know on the very rare occasions I cut myself with one of my knives, it's a clean cut, and so heals cleanly. But still why do people think serrated knives are safer for them?? Anyone have any conjectures??

In my experience, my girl is mostly intimidated because she is afraid to damage them. I believe this is due to the level of care and attention I give my knives; polishings, stones, cleaning, "always dry them afterwards", etc. I encouraged her to use them more and more; "they are meant to be used, they are just knives", etc, and she did but sometimes leaves the carbons sitting with water a little too long, so I have to call her out (very kindly albeit), and the "staining" freaks her out...

Anyway, so after I convinced to retire an old block of german knives she had, i got her a used pair of Mac's (stainless), which are fairly bullet proof, and she is very happy. I have to watch over her sometimes as she learns to not stick her thumb out!

Over the last 2-3 years that I've come into quality knives I find generally that girls I've dated find my thing for knives "cute" but they don't have any interest in them, therefore they are not vested in them..? Still searching for that "one"..

And they do have a thing for serrated knives...

Fear isn't about logic

I got my wife a tanaka vg10 petty. Small, affordable and a nice thin cutter , and .... I never comment on any abuse... ;D

Something small and stainless or at least stainless-clad with a tall height to length ratio.
-like a little Carter funa or that sweet Gesshin Heji petty.

Dardeau said:

Those are people who have never cut themselves with a serrated knife. Most painful, jagged wound ever.

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yep , second time I lost a finger, dull serrated knife.

sachem allison said:

yep , second time I lost a finger, dull serrated knife.

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Cut the tip of my thumb off when I was 17 w/ a serrated bread knife. Someone called my name while I was slicing chx breast; I looked up and off went the tip.

sachem allison said:

yep , second time I lost a finger, dull serrated knife.

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2nd time?

i got it back, same beautiful dr. that reattached the first one reattached the second one. I think I posted about some where on the forum aways back.

sachem allison said:

i got it back, same beautiful dr. that reattached the first one reattached the second one. I think I posted about some where on the forum aways back.

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She must think you're either incredibly clumsy, or have a very dangerous profession lol.

If I were you, I'd go with the latter...though the 'cute' factor in the first could get you points as well...

Hmm....

The girl I'm seeing right now hardly even cooks...which is one of the main reasons she sticks around I think, because I do lol. She thinks my knives are incredibly cool though...so the first time I cooked her dinner at her house I brought my own. Good thing too, she has two knives, both ginsu knock offs...one santoku, and the other a petty like thing.

Oddly enough she had a nice cutting board lol...go figure.

Girlfriends/Wives that are afraid of razor-sharp pointy knives tend to dig hallow-ground Santoku's, in my experience.

My wife doesn't like knives bigger than 6 inches (except for bread knives, for whatever reason), or so, but she likes sharp knives, so a 5.5 inch Shun santoku, 6 inch Shun petty, and a few French parers are what she uses, and they are all kept fairly sharp by me. I think big knives intimidate non-knife people more than sharp knives do.

That was a good idea you guys, I combined the two of them, thanks and got lucky...

I showed her the picture of the OXO Good Grips Professional 4-Inch Mini Santoku Knife on Amazon (whose profile kind of looks like my carter funyaki if I bend my head right and don't think so hard) and she said oh cute, I love OXO stuff, can we get one?

I guess I will get it for her cause she thinks its cute :- ). Presumably, Chinese made out of similar steel to old german knives, i.e. soft but forgiving. The reviews are amusing to read....


It costs the same as about 1/4 of an inch of my Carter Funyaki I calculated!

gic said:

Presumably, Chinese made out of similar steel to old german knives, i.e. soft but forgiving.

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more or less. look out for weird grinds.

Gravy Power said:

Girlfriends/Wives that are afraid of razor-sharp pointy knives tend to dig hallow-ground Santoku's, in my experience.

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+1.. Wife is excellent in the kitchen and much prefers the santoku.

+2. My wife's been using the same Kiya s/s santoku since I met her, even though I bought her a Kono HD 210 gyuto. Go figure.

Interesting, my wife prefers the santoku as well. Even though a few times I have seen her do veg prep with a steak knife....:angel2:

Gravy Power said:

Girlfriends/Wives that are afraid of razor-sharp pointy knives tend to dig hallow-ground Santoku's, in my experience.

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+3
THIS. Doesn't always have to be hollow grounded, but it is always a santoku. I also usually have to stray women away from using a petty knife for everything, because thats a little dangerous for other reasons... I end up teaming up with the husbands to try to convince them that a 7" chef or santoku would be a lot easier and safer. lol...

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My wife shares none of my enthusiasm for knives or cooking, but she's happy that I get off on it. Like many here, I have too many great knives in easy reach. My wife goes for a Henkel tomato knife or and Oxi mini chef . I sharpen it often, while admiring her new pocketbooks. I don't try to force it on her at all.

Gravy Power said:

Girlfriends/Wives that are afraid of razor-sharp pointy knives tend to dig hallow-ground Santoku's, in my experience.

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+4 My girlfriend has a hollow-ground Wusthof santoku she loves, but won't go near my 240 gyuto. I keep the santoku sharp, so it's not that she's afraid of sharp knives. I think she find the extra length dangerously unmanageable

Yeah I think I phrased that poorly. The non-professional or non-hobbyists that I know think the edge that I out on their Santoku's is awesome, especially compared to what they're used to, but the size and profile of the knives that we carry can intimidate.

From my perspective, I think a lot of it has to do with being so used to crappy knife block sets that having a really nice sharp knife is intimidating. When I decided to stop wasting money on crappy block sets every other year I went with the German knives even though I really wanted japanese knives. Mainly because I was afraid of how sharp a Japanese knife can get, the thinness of the gyuto and how much more fragile they are compared to a German blade.

That being said, once I decided to take the plunge, I was in love and will never go back. A little extra care becomes second nature once you get into the habit. I recently purchased an upgrade from my 210 Misono 440 to a 240 Hirimoto AS. All I can say is I love this thing. I shouldn't have been afraid to go bigger and I'm totally digging the patina on the edge. I may go for a full carbon steel next time!

Oh and I hate my santoku. I never use that thing but oddly enough, it's what my husband reaches for when he needs a knife lol.

Santokus are fine. I had a steamy tryst with one, recently. It lost out to a girl-next-door 210 gyuto.

My wife uses parers for almost everything, so I got her one. She likes it a lot and "yells at me" when it's not sharp enough.

buy fantastic kitchen scissors. and make sure to warn them against running with them..

I have a 6 inch Harner Chef knife (kind of like a really tall petty). I planned on giving it to my parents about a year ago because they loved it when they came to visit me but it is the only knife my girlfriend has used since I got the knife close to 2 years ago. She loves the knife so much that I'm pretty sure I would have to cut and cook everything at home if I send this knife off. Needless to say, it's still in the knife block... It really is an awesome knife. I love using it and think I'd be disowned if it ever goes missing. But my parents who only use petty knives and a santoku fell in love with it as well...

-Chuck