Hi,

Im over due for a good knife block set and i don’t know what to get so if you have any recommendations i would be happy to hear them.
I have had global in the past and just never been overly happy with them.
cheers

I bought a set of these to replace the Global knives my wife broke.

http://www.amefa.co.uk/richardson-sheffield/premium-knives/rvision.aspx

Absolutely superb get a very good edge.

Don’t keep knives in a block.

Don’t keep knives in a block.

True (though if you can turn them upside down you’ll slow the blunting of them).

Better still, don;t buy a block of knives. Buy one each of:

Chef’s knife (doubles as carving knife)
Paring knife
Veg knife (optional – just use the paring knife)
Bread knife

Unless, for example, you’re regularly filleting fish, most home cooks will be fine with the above.

We have Global knives (Mrs North’s choice). We keep them in their boxes.

So what you’re saying is putting them in knife block blunts them but cutting things doesn’t?

Don’t keep knives in a block.

Interesting and fair, but where do you keep them instead? I used to keep mine in a knife role but I got fed up digging it out, unrolling, etc. (yes, I am aware how lazy that sounds when written down), now they’re back in a block.

What’s the consensus for keeping them sharp and easily accessible?

ive always used the magnet thingys…i got some from ikea…up above the cooker..

I use one of those knife blocks filled with little plastic sticks (rather than slots) as apparently they don’t blunt blades. No idea what the proper name for them is though!

So what you’re saying is putting them in knife block blunts them but cutting things doesn’t?

No, Drac. That’s your (incorrect) inference. I’m stating that knife blocks contribute to the blunting of them.

I do have some (old) serrated knives in a wooden block: they’re turned upside down to slow down the rate at which they are blunted.

The decent knives (all two of them – see my post above) are kept in their boxes in a drawer to help maintain their edge.

However one stores knives, it’s important that they’re sharpened properly.

I’m still not seeing how sliding them out and back in, although I tend to lift them but can’t speak for the wife, has an such a dramatic effect compared to when in use. If I’m using them a knife can go through 100s of slicing action preparing a meal so taking them out and putting them back into the knife block will be minimal in comparison.

Is this the latest knife-snob thinking? So let me get this straight, sliding it gently into a block dulls the blade significantly?

Utter codswallop. Cutting through something and pressing hard into a cutting board once would cause far more dulling that sliding it into a knife block a hundred times!

🙄

I suspend mine in jelly.

My good knives all have a blade saver fitted and are stored in a knife roll.

My Gran use to have a good knife set too, they never seen the light of day. 😆

Knife block and a few swipes of the Global sharpener before use.

I agree with the above – I can’t see how keeping knives in a block would have any more than a minimal impact on the blunting of them.

FWIW, my block holds the knives sideways anyway so the flat of the blade is what slides in and out, not the tip.

I suspend mine in jelly.

Brain jelly?

I’m with Drac & the others.

Global knives in a Global block, blades upside down. I can’t see how this could possibly blunt them.

But the OP doesn’t like Global .

Robert Welch

+1 for Robert Welch.

Also get a RW pull through sharpener thingy and give your blade a couple of strokes through it on a fairly regular basis. We’ve had 3 RW knives for 4o 5 years now and they’re very good.

…and store them on a magnet strip and don’t even think about putting them in a dishwasher*.

*Mrs Wombat is a kitchen knife specialist with a fancy kitchen equipment supplier and this would be her recommendation.

FWIW, I still really like the original Sabatier set that I’ve had for 30 years but they were made before the brand was sold and quality took a dive.

Wustof. I have a set similar to this and it’s fantastic:

http://www.wuesthof.com/germany/products/Product-details/knife-set-9746

I keep them in a block (http://www.wuesthof.com/germany/products/Product-details/in-drawer-knife-organiser-7270), as storing them in a block is better than letting them rattle around loose in a draw. The only better way to keep them is in a roll and that’s a massive faff. Sharpen them every time you use them and they’ll last forever.

20 posts and only about 2 useful answers!
Good to see that STW can always digress no matter what the subject is.
EDIT: 2 more useful answers snuck in in the time it took me to write this while being distracted by choc hobnobs.

Personally I have a Richardson Sheffield Sabatier set that lives in a block.
They get slid in and out and occasionally sharpened with a generic sharpener and still manage to cut through stuff! Although the tip of one is a bit bent where Mrs p for reasons unknown shoved it in to the slicer bit of the Kenwood while it was running! 😯

Anyway, I’ve previously read good things about Victorinox kitchen knives on here.

I suspend my knives in a vacuum chamber using magnetic levitation – I wouldn’t want to rick them being blunted by coming into contact with anything.

I bought a set of Sabatier knives as the interwebz said good things. The finish grinding was pretty poor so I had them re-ground at work, we are a machine knife manufacturer. The conclusion was the quality has taken a dive, cheap Steel and poor grinding, was also as soft as cheese.

I’m Steel looking for a decent set of knives that don’t cost the earth. 😆

Look after the cutting edge and they will last a lifetime.

I’m still impressed with our new knives Eden knives, had them over 12 months now, easy to keep sharp.

Lost custody of Globals in a block – but never that impressed with them other than the bread and tomato knives
I have a set of Maxim Guiraud Sabatiers (one of the better brands.

But the knives I use all the time now are from ProCook and some of the higher end Ikea ones.

The Procook ones are avaiable in various levels – but I love the X50 Santoku knives I got free with other stuff.

My knives now go in a dray or on a magnetic strip, and never the dishwasher.

Sabatiers here. I’d get David Mellor knives if I had cash to burn.

Global knives strike as a bit chavvy, like those big reg SMEG fridge freezers. They were de rigueur when I worked in restaurant kitchens about 17 years ago though.