The Kitchen: December 2007

Wednesday 26 December 2007

Fujiwara Kanefusa 150mm Yo-Deba

The performance just isn't there, the blade height is too short to use useful and the steel is still too soft to perform up to standard. Such it's a deba, being that it has a thick spine to provide some weight behind it.

Fat santoku with minimal belly, or faux deba with no substance.

Here I'd polished the back bevel to a mirror finish with a King 6K waterstone, but not completely flat.

Sold the knife off to someone else to make god use of it, not me.

Original post:26DEC07, Updated:16OCT08

Waterstone holder from Carba-tec

Bought on special from Carba-tec for $30 but the design lacks a centre block to support a thin stone from possibly slitting under pressure.

I like this brand of rubber waterstone holder stocked by Carba-tec mainly because it has good rust resistance since oiling the stone holder can lead to stone contamination.

Original post: 26DEC07, Updated: 16OCT08

Dexter-Russell 6" Sani-Safe stiff curved boning knife

Bought it for the shape of the blade and handle for a good price on eBay, but I don't like the roughness of the handle and the shiny smooth pinch grip area which gets slippery when coated with fat. Good for functionality but the blade is surprisingly flexible for "stiff boning knife". Replacement will be a Swibo with a straight handle.

F. Dick-Johnson and Wales Knife Case Set

I bought this Johnson and Wales 'Light series' knife kit on eBay back in July this year, costs a fair $207 including shipping. It was sold without the 8" Chef's knife.

Most of the knives are from the stamped Superior series made by F. Dick and specially marked for the Johnson & Wales University (J&W) and some other stuff that's I think is not really part of the original set, personally don't care about J&W but I do like the F. Dick because of the stamped blade without the bolster return and the riveted handles. The case is really quite gimmicky and horrible waste of space especially compared to for example a simple Victorinox case, I could use the case a really bulky knife block... The kit includes:

10" Superior Chef's knife

12"regular cut steel (Regular cut by F Dick standards, fine by say Mundial standards)

10" Superior Serrated Slicer

9" Palette knife

8" Superior Slicer

Boning knife

7" Carving fork

3" Superior Paring knife

2.5" Superior Bird's Beak

Zester

Channeller

Fixed peeler

Melon Baller

Out of the whole set, I've used the serrated slicer and chef's knife the most, as well as other nice items like the boning knife and bird's beak. Nice set, probably not worth the retail price especially

King S-45 4K 'Home' waterstone

Not so good for value, $35 for this stone that's size is similar to the Masahiro stones.

Very irritatingly narrow stone to use especially with the bonded plastic base. Glazes over easily but provides a bright near mirror polish with some scratches especially with stainless steel knives. Very soft and dishes easily.

I’m about to use it up all the way down to the plastic base soon, and since the base is getting in the way of easy sharpening knives, I’ve reserved it to sharpen with woodwork chisels and plane blade.

Being replaced with the Shapton Japanese GlassStone 4K, big difference jumping to that high density, ceramic sharpening stone.

Original post:26DEC07, Updated:16OCT08

King 1200x medium Deluxe waterstone

Another purchase during the Carba-tec sale, again $35.

Good size, decent cutting, ok finish, good price. The biggest positive point of this stone is the amount of feedback you get without the stone being too soft.

To be superseded from Japan Tool in the form of 1K Sigma Power stones to replace both the 800x and 1200x King stones.

Original post: 26DEC07, Updated: 16OCT08.

King 800x medium-size Deluxe waterstone

Another King stone from Carba-tec at the special price of $35, this is a medium size Deluxe stone in 800 grit.
Good value compared to the smaller King Home stones sold at certain kitchenware stores that sells for more or the same money.

Similar to the King 1200x but with a little more bite.

Being superseded with a Sigma Power 1K from Japan Tool.

Original post: 26DEC07, Updated:16OCT08

King S-3 6K waterstone

Neat price ($35 on special) for a 6000 grit waterstone of this size in Perth. Sure as hell beats the $116 for the larger S-1 stone sold at Wellington Surplus which you can get from Japan Tool for $46.

I hate bonded plastic bases for sharpening stones, they don’t easily fit most rubber stone holders and they flex under pressure.

I like this stone, very easy to use. It’s soft but it cuts even at its 6K level, and depending on how much you soak the stone you can achieve different cut-polish results.

On single bevel Japanese knives, it can achieve a foggy (kasumi) finish depending on the softness of the jigane.

This stone will be superseded by a medium finishing natural stone sourced from So at Japan Tool.

Original post:26OCT07, Updated:16OCT08

Carba-tec Economy Large Diamond stone set

I think I got a little impulsive when I bought these diamond stones.

Sure they're neat long 300x and 800x equivalent diamond stones, but they're quite low quality compared to the DMT, Eze-lap brands. They are not accurately level, the yellow 300x is noticeably concave when used as a stone flattener; the hollow dimples in the diamond plate seemed like a good idea to speed up cutting and clear swarf but more or less just scratched knives or stones. I use the 800x orange stone since it's flatter than the yellow one and leaves less scratches as well.

This stones have been replaced with DMT D8XX and D8C for heavy stock removal and stone flattening (more of the latter). I killed the yellow bench stone flattening a Imanishi ‘Pink Brick’ 220x.

If you’re looking for good quality diamond stones in Australia, Everten Online stocks a lot of DMTs and Japan Tool carries the more expensive but very advanced design Atoma diamond plates.

Original post:26DEC07, Updated:16OCT08

Masahiro 600x waterstone

Masahiro Arato 18cm L x 17mm T Coarse Grit 600 waterstone. My second sharpening stone, bought from JCK.

Same size as the 1500x Masahiro and this stone is very soft and creates alot of mud (swarf) when sharpening. Very soft and according to some more comfortable to use by beginners, creates a rather smooth finish for a 600 stone because it's so soft it creates a hack of mud.

I had issues with the rubber feet; not bad a stone but expensive for it size and sharpening qualities.

Used for less than 5 knives, sold to someone else in it’s fairly new state.

Original post: 26DEC07, Updated:16OCT08

F Dick 10" Superior Chef's knife

Part of the Johnson & Wales tool kit.

A nice 10" Chef's knife from F Dick, part of the stamped Superior series. A nice large handle which I prefer to the Victorinox Fibrox and has a slightly lighter to my feel compared to the Victorinox.
A very nice knife to use.

Edit: In the process of being rehandled; African Blackwood with Mangowood spacers in the style reminiscent of the 1905 series done hidden tang.

Original post:26DEC07 , Updated:16OCT08

F Dick 12" Regular cut steel

Part of the Johnson & Wales tool kit. Another very nice steel from F Dick. Regular cut according to F Dick, but compared to the evil Mundial Regular cut steel, this feels like a fine cut.

F Dick Superior Serrated Slicer

Part of the Johnson & Wales toolkit. Currently the most used item in the set, a 10" F Dick Superior Serrated Sicer. Fairly gentle serrations more of a meat carver than crusty bread knife, but it's gentleness helps on super soft white bread outer sandwiches.

F Dick Superior Slicer

Part of the Johnson & Wales tool kit. An 8" F Dick Superior Slicer, quite a nice slicer with a usable amount of flex when pressed sideways.

F Dick Palette knife

Part of the F Dick-Johnson & Wales tool kit. A very nice 9" F Dick palette knife, highly flexible and has a nice thin edge. Should be great for spreading ganache

F Dick 4" Boning knife

Part of the Johnson & Wales tool kit. A shorter 4" F Dick narrow boning knife with the ergogrip handle almost like short poultry boning knives, another nice boning knife from F Dick. It has a slightly more pronounced concave in the pinch grip area of the handle which I like.