Home cooks: Do you switch to stainless for final cooking tasks?

[CodyJ]

Since succumbing to this hobby I have used mostly wrought clad carbon knives and I have found for the most part they aren't terribly reactive so just a wipe down in between prep is fine. There have been a few instances were they I've been hosting and gotten busy but I have some bar keepers friend to take care of any surface rust so all in all not too big of a deal.

 

[PeterL]

These days most of my knives are either mono carbon or wrought/iron clad and they will stay out for as long as I'm cooking. If the knife for the meal has been washed, cleaned, and put away and I've forgotten to do something then the Bidinger Magnacut 200mm comes out and it never disappoints.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Whether I switch is more dependent on my mood than anything else. Some days, I just want to get everything done and I'll use the same knife from start to finish. Other days, I'll switch knives frequently, mostly to compare performance or just because I'm in the mood to pull out some blades I haven't played with in a while. I don't think I ever switch to stainless at the end to avoid leaving a knife to rust. I am pretty good about wiping any knife, carbon or stainless, before I put it down.

 

[Nemo]

I would use stainless here to if i can find a stainless convex SG2 workhorse

https://www.knivesandstones.com.au/...nagashi-r2-damascus-gyuto-240mm-by-shiro-kamo
Maybe a convex middleweight but a pretty good food release to wedging ratio. It's a pretty tall blade and is fairly blade heavy. The Shinko Kurokumo versions have a darker etch, very nice F&F and handles. The handles are also more suited to the blade as they counter balance the blade heaviness to a greater degree.

 

[Jovidah]

Up front, I don't think carbon is necessarily better. Some of my knives happen to be carbon, some are stainless.
Washing and drying a knife does not take minutes if you have flowing water in your house and don't have to walk to the river. For me it's usually less than 30 seconds, though I do usually leave knives to airdry after the towel just to make sure it doesn't go on to a magnetbar or into a saya still being somewhat moist.

For slicing meat it's not a huge deal; yes you might get some patina formation but it's not like it'll rust or anything... though I do usually try to clean it up within the hour. If for whatever reason I suddenly need to cut some stuff last minute I usually end up grabbing the first stainless closeby because I might end up leaving it and forgetting about it.

 

[yoyoma]

I never wipe down my Aogami Super (clad in Stainless) knife. It has sat wet on my cutting board for an hour or more and never rusts. Granted it has a strong patina, but I've never ever seen rust on it.

 

[TB_London]

Wipe as you go- I’m not giving it the full clean but wipe with something wet then something dry. Takes no time.
Most of my carbons have patina though and I’m fine with it.
Shig is the only exception as that cladding is reactive af so that gets hot water thorough dry and oil after use

 

[Cliff]

I am a clean-as-you-go cook. But with big parties, there can be crowds in the kitchen. In those situations I often just don't want to worry or deal.

ETA: I made a big leap in getting a bar with ice bucket out of the kitchen. Made last minute touches much easier to manage.

 

[Rangen]

I'm almost all-carbon at this point, but this idea never occurred to me. I always wash and dry and put away after using the knife -- as others have said, it does not take long.

Rust is not the only issue, or even the most important one. The worst case is a guest comes into your kitchen in your absence, sees the knife, and does something bad with it, like hit bone or cut on a ceramic plate or other unspeakable things, including cutting themselves because they are not used to truly sharp knives.

Stainless wouldn't fix that. Only using knives you don't care about would fix it, and I don't want to do that.

 

[Cliff]

It's true. The idea that a sharp knife is a safe knife is only true for people who know how to use one. Still, there are compromises. This is a situation for my Kanehide TK or a Mac. They are plenty sharp and perform more than fine. But I don't worry about the knives if a guest grabs one to cut some citrus.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Most of my collection is carbon. On heavily patina'd knives I don't worry about herbs or meat juice on them while we eat but I still usually just rinse and wipe with a towel real quick. Takes literally 10 seconds. I do a full wash after supper