Question on steel for steak knife

Looking at a set of steak knives made from 1084 carbon....
Do you think these knives would stain from usage?
Don’t really want to constantly polish blades and don’t want to serve
guests who won’t understand “dirty” blades..
Should I steer towards stainless?

Yes

Many will consider the oxidation as dirt. Go stainless have your peace

And while you're at it get some wooden plates!

Yeah, for steak knives you want something stainless and tough. Unless as suggested you get wooden plates, which for most people is not realistic. Also, serations work well for this as even when dull they still cut.

Why would wooden plates be unrealistic? You can find affordable acacia plates for less than 10 bucks a piece if you're willing to look around...
Totally worth it to be able to use a sharp straight-edge knife instead of a serrated monstrosity.

Not arguing that it is a good way to go, but most people won't do it especiall when entertaining guests.

I have (used) some decent steak knives,
but I think they are over rated.

the reason is they are not suji...
ie, they are (almost always) too short,
so you still have to saw...a bit

If you have to saw-cut,
just use saw-teeth.


Sort of prefer serrated :jawdrop:

Barmoley said:

Not arguing that it is a good way to go, but most people won't do it especiall when entertaining guests.

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Why wouldn't wooden plates be realistic when 'entertaining guests'? They work just fine here...

And my issue with the saw teeth is that it tends to tear the meat apart instead of making a nice clean cut.

Speaking only from restaurant experience, serrated knives are a goddamn nightmare. I had to discretely break out a pocket knife at a steakhouse this evening because the provided serrated knife was turning a perfectly lovely piece of meat into ragged garbage. It made all the difference in the world to the texture of the meat. It's freaking precious and I feel like a bit of a... a Fraiser Crane-type Grade A Snoot... but I've taken to carrying a slimline Opinel #10 to restaurants where I expect to order something that needs proper cutting. I also sometimes use it at home, even though it's a folder. I also use my Misono UX10 120mm petty sometimes at home, but feel bad about using it on ceramics.

Serrated knives ruin food.

btbyrd said:

Speaking only from restaurant experience, serrated knives are a goddamn nightmare. I had to discretely break out a pocket knife at a steakhouse this evening because the provided serrated knife was turning a perfectly lovely piece of meat into ragged garbage. It made all the difference in the world to the texture of the meat. It's freaking precious and I feel like a bit of a... a Fraiser Crane-type Grade A Snoot... but I've taken to carrying a slimline Opinel #10 to restaurants where I expect to order something that needs proper cutting. I also sometimes use it at home, even though it's a folder. I also use my Misono UX10 120mm petty sometimes at home, but feel bad about using it on ceramics.

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swarth said:

Serrated knives ruin food.

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A nice, sharp serrated knife will not "ruin" food, and will produce a clean cut exactly as a straight edge will. The problem with steakhouse knives is that they are not properly maintained. For entertaining at home or personal use, a sharp serrated steak knife is quite usable and actually preferable as they won't mar the plate surface.

why not just serve pre sliced

The purpose of serrations is to tear... By all means, suit yourself.

swarth said:

The purpose of serrations is to tear... By all means, suit yourself.

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The serrated knife is closer
a yanagiba (one sided slicer).

It has elements that keep the edge
off the cutting surface
because the metal is softer
(on purpose).

It can be sharpened
very keen indeed.

You just need to know
what you are doing.

panda said:

why not just serve pre sliced

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+1

its way better done on the board
the messing around
on a plate

I tend to do both... preslice...and still give people a proper knife and a wooden plate.
That is when I'm not just eating straight off the cutting board...

I go back and forth on the options here. We have an old set of 12 stainless serrated Wusthof steak knives (stainless handles) and I'd like to upgrade. We've had them so long they're not cutting that well, and I'm not going to spend the time to hand-sharpen them.

My current thinking is that 1) we don't eat protein that needs a good steak knife that often, maybe a few times a month, so I can afford to spend time sharpening a straight blade, and 2) wooden plates are not an option for reasons of maintenance (no dishwasher, stains, oiling to look nice, etc). So I'll get a set of non-serrated knives and just sharpen as needed. Probably stainless to avoid the yuck-factor for guests. Maybe something cheap like this, for testing the idea:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006HAPHFA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

And then haul out the old stainless-on-stainless serrated knives if it's a big party or Turkey Day family dinner where we need more than 4 knives.

CKTG has a set of four Tojiro non-serrated steak knives in VG10, but it's more money than I want to spend for an experiment. At that price, I'd consider spending a little more for the Wusthof Classic set of four non-serrated steak knives. I'm comfortable sharpening our older Wusthof German steel knives, so I think those would work fine. Just a little pricey for a "steak knife."

just go with opinel if you have to have a set of cheap stainless

I have the Opinel steak knives with olive wood handles (#125), and though I like them for a budget option, I do have to admit the handles are a bit on the slim / small side. In the long term I'd probably prefer something more substantial...

Yeah, it's the handles on the Opinel knives that don't look good or comfortable to me.

Actually they look great (IMO); the olive wood is really nice. And it's not that they're not comfortable or perfectly usable... it's just that for some reason I prefer more substantial handles on steak knives. They feel too 'elegant' for eating steaks, if that makes any sense. I want something substantial and manly while I rip apart my dead animal before consumption...

Gotcha. I agree, a steak knife should look a little dangerous, to get in the mood for attacking meat. Like you could use it for self-defense if you had to.

Sometimes I whip out my Spyderco Para Military 3 when I cut my steaks.Now there is a substantial handle.

...but a tiny knife...

Jovidah said:

...but a tiny knife...

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How very true.

Paraffin said:

Gotcha. I agree, a steak knife should look a little dangerous, to get in the mood for attacking...

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I think historically this caused some problems, :rofl:
is why dinner-service knives are round and blunt

Grunt173 said:

Sometimes I whip out my Spyderco Para Military 3 when I cut my steaks.Now there is a substantial handle.

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Jovidah said:

...but a tiny knife...

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I've been advocating for Spyderco to make a folding knife for cutting food, but they don't seem to want to make any folders longer than 85mm or thinner than 5mm.

That's only a slight exaggeration.

Well there's the Opinel. They go up to 12 cm blades. I know people around me as well who bring Opinel folding knives in case they aren't provided with a proper knife in a restaurant.
The folding knives also have a much more substantial...and better grinds than the kitchen series too (you'd be surprised how well an Opinel folder cuts food). I just wished they made the exact same knife in a non-folding variant (so you don't have the cleaning issues that come with a folding model).

btbyrd said:

I've been advocating for Spyderco to make a folding knife for cutting food, but they don't seem to want to make any folders longer than 85mm or thinner than 5mm.

That's only a slight exaggeration.

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Yes I know. Besides the Para 3,I also have the Para 2 which is a little bit longer but I tend to carry the Para 3 more,especially in camp.The Para 2 collects dust and the Para 3 cuts my steaks.It is not how big the blade is,it is how you use it.