Hello all!
I'm a little late to post here as I did another before my formal introduction.
My name is Angela and as the title suggests I live in Utah. I've just barely ordered my first "real" kitchen knife. I was recommended a site and ended up purchasing a Tanaka Ginsan (Ginsanko, G3) Nashiji Gyuto 240mm. It's due for delivery on Monday and I'm super excited to get it! Previously I was using a Cuisinart set that I got from Target. For most hack-n-wack jobs in the kitchen it seemed fine. However, I've recently got into making my own sushi and the knife set just wasn't cutting it -pun intended - so I decided to look for a "sushi knife". Once that can of worms was open I found my way here.
I am a little ashamed that it's taken me this long to actually get a decent cooking knife. I've grown up with a love of blades-but that mostly stayed within katanas, daggers, and pocket knives. I did grow up (from 9-16) living in a hotel that had a restaurant in it. I remembered the knives in the kitchen there being nice and saw the chefs there honing the knives often. I, however, don't remember them using any whetstones or doing any stropping. Maybe they did and I just didn't notice. It wasn't until I started looking into buying a better knife that I didn't know that honing/steeling wasn't sharpening the edge. I thought it was one in the same from the restaurant. Maybe that was just because I was too young to pay much attention when in the kitchen.
Before coming here I had a study buddy of mine trying to insist that cutco knives were the way to go. (He is/was a rep?) I, however, had heard they were not of good quality for the asking price. I'd love to hear your opinions on this subject. I, also, have a hard time condoning serrated blades for chopping. Don't get me wrong, I love serrated blades when they're called for but it just seemed wrong to me to use them all the time. Another one of my friends suggested Bob Kramer's knives-which look beautiful but also were out of my initial price zone. I would rather step up to a $350+ blade then start there. Maybe that was a mistake and I should have just sucked it up and bought one. Oh well, there's always another day to spend my money.
Cooking aside, I am a soon-to-be mathematician with a minor in physics. I graduate in less than 2 weeks! YAY!! I, also, have a wider range of hobbies than any one person should dive into. I've done everything from paper crafts, gourd carving, cake decorating, jewelry making, etc all the way up to making soap from scratch. My newest hobby (aside from adding kitchen knives) has been the production and selling of nail polish. My other hobbies include plants (not the 420 kind ), gaming, traveling, hiking, and foreign languages.
I've already written a mini-novel (kudos to you if you've bothered to read this far) so I'll end it now. If any of you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
I'm a little late to post here as I did another before my formal introduction.
My name is Angela and as the title suggests I live in Utah. I've just barely ordered my first "real" kitchen knife. I was recommended a site and ended up purchasing a Tanaka Ginsan (Ginsanko, G3) Nashiji Gyuto 240mm. It's due for delivery on Monday and I'm super excited to get it! Previously I was using a Cuisinart set that I got from Target. For most hack-n-wack jobs in the kitchen it seemed fine. However, I've recently got into making my own sushi and the knife set just wasn't cutting it -pun intended - so I decided to look for a "sushi knife". Once that can of worms was open I found my way here.
I am a little ashamed that it's taken me this long to actually get a decent cooking knife. I've grown up with a love of blades-but that mostly stayed within katanas, daggers, and pocket knives. I did grow up (from 9-16) living in a hotel that had a restaurant in it. I remembered the knives in the kitchen there being nice and saw the chefs there honing the knives often. I, however, don't remember them using any whetstones or doing any stropping. Maybe they did and I just didn't notice. It wasn't until I started looking into buying a better knife that I didn't know that honing/steeling wasn't sharpening the edge. I thought it was one in the same from the restaurant. Maybe that was just because I was too young to pay much attention when in the kitchen.
Before coming here I had a study buddy of mine trying to insist that cutco knives were the way to go. (He is/was a rep?) I, however, had heard they were not of good quality for the asking price. I'd love to hear your opinions on this subject. I, also, have a hard time condoning serrated blades for chopping. Don't get me wrong, I love serrated blades when they're called for but it just seemed wrong to me to use them all the time. Another one of my friends suggested Bob Kramer's knives-which look beautiful but also were out of my initial price zone. I would rather step up to a $350+ blade then start there. Maybe that was a mistake and I should have just sucked it up and bought one. Oh well, there's always another day to spend my money.
Cooking aside, I am a soon-to-be mathematician with a minor in physics. I graduate in less than 2 weeks! YAY!! I, also, have a wider range of hobbies than any one person should dive into. I've done everything from paper crafts, gourd carving, cake decorating, jewelry making, etc all the way up to making soap from scratch. My newest hobby (aside from adding kitchen knives) has been the production and selling of nail polish. My other hobbies include plants (not the 420 kind ), gaming, traveling, hiking, and foreign languages.
I've already written a mini-novel (kudos to you if you've bothered to read this far) so I'll end it now. If any of you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.