Where To Buy Kitchen Knives [HOT]
Vanessa Greaves is a Senior Editor at Allrecipes with nearly two decades of experience helping home cooks gain confidence in the kitchen. A self-taught cook who grew up reading cookbooks for fun, Vanessa lives and breathes the challenges faced by busy everyday cooks to get dinner on the table.
where to buy kitchen knives
It performed very well on all of the cutting tasks with little effort; we were particularly impressed with how precisely it cut raw, boneless skinless chicken breasts into strips with minimal effort. As with the other knives, we needed to apply some extra pressure to cut a sweet potato in half, but not as much as some of the other knives. Overall, this knife performs well and offers good value at a mid-range price point.
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What makes some knives sooo much more expensive than others? It comes down to the materials used (is the handle plastic or wood? how is the steel treated?), the way the knife is crafted (is it finished by hand or by machine?), and the level of detail and perfection (some knives are essentially works of art).
Our knives come direct from knife makers in and around Seki City, Takefu City, Sakai City, Sanjyo City Japan, which are widely known as the Japanese knife and cutlery capitals. The good news is that we can ship our knives to you in the world quickly for minimized flat rate shipping fee!
JapaneseChefsKnife.Com (JCK, Established in 2003) is the direct internet sales division of The Kencrest Corporation. We supply a wide range of top quality Japanese Chef's knives at lower than Japanese Retail Prices direct from Seki City; the Japanese cutlery capital where fine knives are produced using over 800 years of Samurai sword-making tradition and history.
Japanese knives are some of most well-crafted kitchen implements in the world. They offer strength, beauty, and with proper care will last a lifetime. If you plan to purchase a Japanese-made kitchen knife while visiting Japan, it's important to know some basic information about carrying knives on your person.
There are many important laws in Japan that differ from other countries. Like most first world countries, the laws are clearly written and communicated to citizens from birth. But tourists visiting Tokyo and planning to purchase knives should know there are specific laws governing blades.
Tokyo is an incredibly safe city by any standards. Even more remarkably, the millions of people that call Tokyo home enjoy lives nearly free of the fear of theft, assault, and other crimes many other countries find commonplace. This is in part due to strict controls on weapons or - more appropriately for this blog - knives.
Japan has some pretty strict laws when it comes to kitchen knives. In fact, if you are not a chef or other tradesperson that requires a knife for daily work activity, you must possess a permit to own any fixed blade over 15cm (5.91 inches) in length.
Because most Japanese chef's knives are at least 15cm along the blade, it is important to understand that you may not own one in Japan without seeking a permit. But what about tourists or visitors to Tokyo's famous Kappabashi kitchen town?
The short answer is yes, tourists may purchase kitchen knives of any length while visiting Japan. The knife laws, while strict, recognize and have provisions for tourists wishing to take home a piece of legendary culinary art.
Here's how it works: When you purchase a Japanese kitchen knife in Japan, the knife will be carefully wrapped and sealed in a box and then a bag. This is to indicate the knife was purchased by a tourist and not for use inside Japan.
Tourists must resist the temptation to open the package and immediately admire their new kitchen knife. Once the seal is broken, a tourist could be in violation of any number of Japanese laws regarding possession of a weapon. Even without any intent to harm another or erratic behavior, the Japanese government takes these rules very seriously and will enforce them if they become aware of a violation.
If you are caught with a knife that has been removed from it's sealed bag and exceeds the fixed blade length of 15cm (5.91 inches), you will likely be detained until it can be determined who you are, where you purchased the knife, and your intentions in possessing said knife. If everything checks out, you may be asked to pay a fine and released - likely without your new purchase.
In conclusion, play it safe and keep Japanese kitchen knives sealed in their original packaging for the duration of your stay. Japanese kitchen knives are crafted with the utmost skill and respect, so please return the favor!
If you already have a preference for either Western or Eastern cuisines, though, your choice of kitchen knives should reflect that. For example: The ultra-thin blades of Japanese knives make them better suited to making precise cuts on delicate fish. But a heavier-handled German knife will give you more weight for breaking down chicken, pork, and beef.
Carbon steel blades are on the hardest end of the Rockwell scale. They make for the sharpest and most precise knives, but require greater skill to use well. Both German and Japanese producers use high carbon steel for their best knives.
Full tang knives have one piece of steel that extends from the tip of the blade through the butt of the handle. This provides the most durable and long-lasting construction of any knife design, at the cost of a heavier weight.
German stalwart Zwilling Henckels is one of the longest-running kitchen knife makers in the world, with their trademark registered way back in 1731. Today, they carry on their traditional Western-style knife making with the assistance of modern testing technologies. You can be sure that every Zwilling knife will be consistent in its quality and attention to detail.
When restaurants are looking to outfit their kitchens with sharp, durable, affordable knives, they often turn to Mercer Culinary. Their knives are almost strangely affordable for the performance they offer, making them a fantastic choice for home chefs on a tight budget.
Wisconsin Cutlery & Kitchen Supply features a wide selection of knives, as well as cooking and baking supplies and gadgets, food storage, and other essentials for both professional and home cooks. The cornerstone of the business is the while-you-wait sharpening for knives, scissors, and garden tools.
Whether you're a novice or accomplished cook, having a good set of knives at your disposal is essential. There are many different types of kitchen knives available, each with its own purpose. To help you decide which is the best option for you, we've put together this handy guide.
By storing your kitchen knives properly, you can increase their longevity. Most knife sets come with a storage block of some type. These have slots cut into them to keep the blades of your knives dry and protected. Alternatively, if you prefer to keep counters clear, opt for a magnetic knife rack that mounts on a wall.
Like any sharp object, kitchen knives must be handled with care and stored safely. They should also be kept as sharp as possible, as a dull blade is more likely to slip. When carrying a knife, always keep the pointy end down and the cutting edge away from your body.
If you are disposing of old kitchen knives, first wrap them up in newspaper, cardboard or bubble wrap, then use tape to secure the wrapping in place. This will help reduce the risk of injury to anyone handling them. You can then put them safely in a bin or take them to the scrap-metal section of your local recycle centre.
As enjoyable as the process may be, it can also cause a little bit of anxiety if you do not know what you are looking for. This guide will help you to better understand what makes a kitchen knife high quality, and what to keep in mind while you search for one.
An old standard, stainless steel kitchen knives are about the most common that you can find. Stainless steel is a relatively affordable metal with rust resistant qualities that have made it a classic for chefs and home cooks of all levels.
Blades made from this metal are certainly worth considering, they are standard for a reason. With that in mind, stainless steel is a softer metal than some of the alternatives. These knives might need to be sharpened more often and can be more prone to bending and losing their edge.
Quickly becoming more common and revered by home cooks, carbon steel knives are another great option for quality kitchen knives, and professional cooks swear by them. By combining steel with carbon, the blade that comes out will be much stronger and maintain a sharper edge for longer.
A sort of happy medium between stainless steel and carbon steel kitchen knives is the Damascus steel blade. Real Damascus steel knives are hand forged with a carbon core that provide additional strength, covered in the signature wave pattern that Damascus steel is known for.
These knives maintain their sharpness incredibly well and are still somewhat flexible and rust resistant. There is little in the way of downside for true Damascus blades, with the exception being that they tend to be on the far more expensive side.
There are generally two ways that a knife is made, at least for metal blades, and those are either forging or stamping. For the layman, forged knives are made by taking a red hot piece of metal and hammering it until it has formed in the desired shape. Stamped blades usually have their shape cut out of a larger sheet of metal before being inserted into a separate handle. 041b061a72