- Joined
- Feb 21, 2015
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Posted a couple of times, still fairly new to the forum though ... figured I should quickly introduce myself.
I am still fairly new to this madness, but advanced enough to have had knives shipped to the office so my wife wouldn't see them in the mail :lol2:
She's actually responsible for hooking me in the first place. I remember reading one of the early books of Anthony Bourdain (yeah, I know) and he mentioned that a serious (hobby) cook really only needs a good chefs knife, a global. Well, I was clueless ... (still am, but on a different level) and asked my wife for a Global for my bday. It just happened that we basically lived across the street of this guys' shop in Berlin: www.holzapfel-berlin.de ... my wife went there to grab a Global, but the guy talked her out of it and said that a gift should not only work well, but look nice. She bought a Kobayashi Santoku, I think it's white Nr. 1 (never checked), clad in stainless ... it has an ugly plastic ferrule (actually just asked Stefan if he would re-handle it, I am not really using the knife anymore, but it has sentimental value, as you can imagine).
Well, that started it. I bought two more at that store, then we moved to the US. Found out about the store not to be named soon after, then some of the other well known sellers, visited Joel in Brooklyn (never bought one though), been chatting with a co-worker who has been making knives for 30 years and just recently started contacting makers like Watanabe and Fujiwara directly.
I sharpen myself, but will have to upgrade to some serious equipment soon. Still working with the King stones (800/1200/6000) that my wife purchased with the 1st knife as well as a leather strop.
Currently looking to upgrade my board, have a solid end grain, but it's not the ideal wood (Acacia) as I found out recently. As I said, getting there ...
Will have to do some inventory on details about my knives, will post those with pics some time later this year. Some of the knives I added last year/this year are Masakage Shimo 240 mm Gyuto, Takeda Banno Bunka, Watanabe 210 mm slicer, Tanaka 210 mm Kurouchi Gyuto, Tojiro Kurouchi Nakiri and Petty (cheap knives I practiced sharpening on), Masakage Yuki Nakiri and a Hakata Santoku from Masami Asai (just bought from Epic Edge) ... well, and some others not worth mentioning LOL
Full disclosure: I am German, and the only German knives I touch are Herder Windmuehle paring knives. Love the small Yatagan
Cheers
Steffen
I am still fairly new to this madness, but advanced enough to have had knives shipped to the office so my wife wouldn't see them in the mail :lol2:
She's actually responsible for hooking me in the first place. I remember reading one of the early books of Anthony Bourdain (yeah, I know) and he mentioned that a serious (hobby) cook really only needs a good chefs knife, a global. Well, I was clueless ... (still am, but on a different level) and asked my wife for a Global for my bday. It just happened that we basically lived across the street of this guys' shop in Berlin: www.holzapfel-berlin.de ... my wife went there to grab a Global, but the guy talked her out of it and said that a gift should not only work well, but look nice. She bought a Kobayashi Santoku, I think it's white Nr. 1 (never checked), clad in stainless ... it has an ugly plastic ferrule (actually just asked Stefan if he would re-handle it, I am not really using the knife anymore, but it has sentimental value, as you can imagine).
Well, that started it. I bought two more at that store, then we moved to the US. Found out about the store not to be named soon after, then some of the other well known sellers, visited Joel in Brooklyn (never bought one though), been chatting with a co-worker who has been making knives for 30 years and just recently started contacting makers like Watanabe and Fujiwara directly.
I sharpen myself, but will have to upgrade to some serious equipment soon. Still working with the King stones (800/1200/6000) that my wife purchased with the 1st knife as well as a leather strop.
Currently looking to upgrade my board, have a solid end grain, but it's not the ideal wood (Acacia) as I found out recently. As I said, getting there ...
Will have to do some inventory on details about my knives, will post those with pics some time later this year. Some of the knives I added last year/this year are Masakage Shimo 240 mm Gyuto, Takeda Banno Bunka, Watanabe 210 mm slicer, Tanaka 210 mm Kurouchi Gyuto, Tojiro Kurouchi Nakiri and Petty (cheap knives I practiced sharpening on), Masakage Yuki Nakiri and a Hakata Santoku from Masami Asai (just bought from Epic Edge) ... well, and some others not worth mentioning LOL
Full disclosure: I am German, and the only German knives I touch are Herder Windmuehle paring knives. Love the small Yatagan
Cheers
Steffen
