Old Henckels

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dennis7490

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I have an old Henckels, probably from the mid 70s. It was given to me, unused and new years ago, but I have only used it for the last couple of years. I am more impressed with this knife than I am with my 3 shuns and my brand new Moritaka Hamono KP 150 Blue.

Is it a fluke, or did they do something special back then?

Thanks,

Dennis
 
Yes, they are way better than the aforementioned knives, especially the Shuns(IMHO). The rest(for a real explanation) I would wait for a good answer from steeley or Son or Eamon.
Pics, I want pics too.
 
I will see if my son (13) can teach me how to do pics. if so, will send pics.
 
Okay, Try this link???
Photo%20on%202012-07-06%20at%2015.29.jpg
 
Do photobucket. It works great and is free. I'm no computer genius and it's the only thing I could get to work for me.
 
Dennis go to www.photobucket.com create an account for free, upload your photo/photos there. Once uploaded, if you hold your cursor over the photo, a box will pop up, you will see a tab that says direct link or something to that effect, copy that link, then paste it into the "image" tab in this forum, that you have been trying to use. It works better in this forum.

Or email it to me I'll help you out.
 
actually Henckels claims to be the first manufacturer of stainless steel blades.
 
Okay. Emailed it to you. I have to say that Moritaka Hamono is my first serious Japanese knife (aside from Shun) and I am not that impressed. Could be me. the handle is too small for starters, and as I said it isn't even as sharp as my old Henckels, which was sharpened with Chef's choice Asian sharpener and then honed with a steel. Is it me?
I do like the Shun handles. Do not like the small, octagonal handles of the Moritaka.
 
Old Henckels are beautiful!
I love mine, and always will. It's a stainless, from 1978 (I believe), so they have been doing stainless for quite some time.
Here's mine:

be133e80.jpg
 
If Rodrigue posts the photo I (hope) sent him, you will see the handle on my Henkels is different. more modern, rounded, etc. But, without getting too personal, my mother got sick in '82 and I know she did not buy this knife after that. Besides, she knew nothing about knives. She bought it because she was German and the knife was German. NOTE: My technical skills are lacking, so i may not have gotten the photo over properly. My apologies, if that is the case.
 
i think part of the reason youre not too impressed with moritaka is because youre using a chefs choice asian sharpener and a honing rod. if you can find a way to get it professionally sharpened using whetsones it should get quite sharper than the henckel and the edge retention should be better.
im anxious to see what this knife looks like!
 
Dennis go to www.photobucket.com create an account for free, upload your photo/photos there. Once uploaded, if you hold your cursor over the photo, a box will pop up, you will see a tab that says direct link or something to that effect, copy that link, then paste it into the "image" tab in this forum, that you have been trying to use. It works better in this forum.

Or email it to me I'll help you out.

Or go to www.imgur.com and you can skip the account, cleaner so less things for you to worry about.
And well, i much, much prefer it over photobucket, imageshack and the like


Just press "computer"

Then you navigate to the folder where the picture was posted (for you it's stored here file:///Users/dennismanuel/Pictures/Photo%20Booth/Photo%20on%202012-07-06%20at%2015.29.jpg )
and click on it, then just press upload

Right click on the picture "copy image url"
and then paste it in here.


So you can do it yourself the next time!
 
OMG. Wow I surprised you had a edge after taking it through that. Those only work (kinda) for soft metal knives. A Japanese blade is harder edged. No wonder you don't like it.
 
Yep, barring overgrinds the Moritaka should take a great edge in comparison to the Henckels...I have the same model Henckels and they are fine, but you will get a much better edge on a J-knife by comparison. I agree with sending it to one of the sharpening pro's here, they are priced fairly and will give you an idea of what type of edge you should be able to achieve. Then you can get a stone and figure it out for yourself.

Good luck!
 
The handle looks like a 4-star, a line that was first produced in 1976. Personally, I really like those knives a lot and yes, the quality of the old ones was a cut (har) above.
 
Just got back.

No, i did not put the Moritaka in the chef's choice. I put the Henckels, two shuns and two Dexters. I am moving my sharpening habits to a waterstone.

Rodrigue, thank you for posting the picture and the instructions on how to post.

the only thing i don't like about the Moritaka is the handle. I'm used to much bigger handles. I touched it up on a waterstone (1k / 6k) and it's very sharp, but not any sharper than the Henckels. Could be me. I have learning to do in the sharpening arena.
 
:fanning: Did you strop. after then? You get some refinement with stropping.
 
Yes, i did strop. it's a very good edge, no doubt, but I know there are a lot of you out there who would put an even better edge on this knife. I have to hone (pun fully intended) my skills. I can get a good edge on a knife, but I cannot (for instance) get the Shun knives to be as sharp as they are out of the box. The Moritaka was not as sharp as the Shuns out of the box. So, clearly this is my handicap.
 
The Henckels is an 8" chef knife. I very much like the shape and length (150mm) of the blade on my new Moritaka. It's the handle that gets me. Even the Shun handles are a bit bigger.
I think I'm just so used to European/American knife handles. I like the Henckel's big, round handle, and since i choke up a bit on the blade when I use it the heel doesn't get in the way. it's also way heavier than the Moritaka. So are my Shuns.
Mind you, I'm not complaining as i look at this as a journey that will give me nothing but joy and knowledge. I'm keeping the Moritaka at hand at all times and use it for everything so i will get used to it. Time will tell.
 
are you using a pinch grip or a hammer grip? you mentioned choking up on the blade, which makes me think pinch, but the fixation on handle size suggests hammer. i have large hands, and i really couldn't care less how big or small a handle is, as long as it weighs enough to give a little bit of counter weight to fine mincing.
 
Pinch grip. Yes it is a big handle, and it was one of the reasons I didn't use it for so long. then I got it out of the drawer (covered blade) and after I started using it, it became one of my favorites. Now, mind you, this is a habit of mine. The more I use something the more I like it...usually. I tend to shoot with the same shotgun, even though I have many. I tend to fish with the same rod, even though I have many. and I tend to reach for same few knives, even though I have many.
6" Dexter boing, carbon, classic, wood handle.
5.5 Shun Santuki
8" Henckels.

And now, in place of the Dexter I will reach for the Moritaka 150mm. And it might replace the 5.5 shun, too. I like a point on my knives, and have 2 Santuki shuns, 5.5 & 7" almost never use the 7". Just put the Shun boning knife in the drawer as I never used it. I get the feeling I'm leaving shun! But you never know.
 
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