[Sca-cooks] A question about knives

[Bill Fisher]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 16:59:21 -0700 (PDT), Huette von Ahrens
<ahrenshav at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi!
> 

> pretty without the finish].  However, some of the
> knives with the black stain have been taking to
> rusting after every wash.  So I have decided to
> retire them after such long use.

Older knives are carbon steel and should not be 
left in the dishwasher.  Wash them by hand and
then dry them thoroughly.  You could probably fix 
them with some rubbing compound.

> I have taken a real liking to the Kershaw Shun
> knives and am gradually purchasing various of
> them.  The questions I have are these:
> 
> 1) What is a birdbeak knife and what do you do
> with it?  [And no wiseacre answers about chopping
> birdbeaks!]

It is a little paring knife, used for cutting things like 
veggies, decorative peices, etc.  I suppose you 
could use it for cutting birds beaks, but it is named
for the shape of the blade.

> 2) The cleaver is about $129.  How many of you
> actually use the cleaver on a regular basis?
> I have never owned one, so I am trying to decide
> whether it is worth it to spend this goodly sum
> or not.

Uhm, I don't own one, but I am planning on getting one.

Cleavers are handy for cutting meat on the bone, 
chopping up squash, etc.  Anything you need a blade
with some heft to chop.   Some smaller cleavers (like
the chinese ones) are good for slicing and chopping too.

Depends if you have a need for that sort of thing.


Cadoc
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