I have been trying to work my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, now im trying to equip my kitchen with good supplies. I can’t seem to find good French Chef’s knives in any stores or online, at an affordable price. (if you know where i can get them i would appreciate if you told me) the ones I can find are for the most part over priced or are all stainless steel which is hard to sharpen. Julia Child recommends carbon steel which I cannot find.
Or a good brand of knives that I might try. Thank you for your help!
do you want hard or soft steel?
I know knives are ‘pricy’ but im talking about over priced such as a 0 12" chef’s knife by wustoff.

I don’t understand what’s so great about 420/440 stainless. Sure, it’s easy to sharpen and highly resistant to rusting. It’s a weak steel. Doesn’t hold a edge well.

1095 carbon steel is much stronger, holds a edge well, and is highly rust resistant.

How do I know 1095 doesn’t rust? Back when I didn’t care about my stuff, I used to throw my Ka-Bar around trying to get it to stick in a tree(I didn’t know only specially made throwing knifes are meant for throwing at the time). I’ve dug up weeds with it and left it outside for weeks at a time.

Basically, if it was going to rust, it would’ve already rusted. It’s 100% rust free. Somehow, it’s still razor sharp. The handle isn’t worth a shit, and a good bit of the metallic paint is been worn off.

Point is, why is stainless steel used much more than 1095 carbon? 1095 carbon is much better. Doesn’t sharpen as easy as stainless, but you don’t need to sharpen it as often.
Dude, in my part of GA, it’s so humid it’s somewhat hard to breath outside.

Most of the knives I see today are 420 stainless, not 440.

Carbon steel honing rod (the ones i see professional chefs using)

Whetstone

Handheld sharpener

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&q=wusthof+sharpener&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4500649364396623597&sa=X&ei=jn2sTY3mB8_pgAemnsnzBQ&ved=0CEsQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers

I want to buy a good sharpener, but not sure which is better or if there really is a difference.

thanks.

Hello, i just got a katana a few days ago. It’s new, not an antique. It isnt a really high class sword, i just saw it and decided i liked it. So i got it. Anyways, as expected it is dull. My pocket knife is sharper than it. It is made of HI carbon steel, and is differentialy hardened. It is a fully functional, handmade sword. Anyways where, and how would i go about sharpening it, if that is even possible. Dont say "use a knife sharpening kit". That will destroy it. I just need to know where to take it, and what they will do.
Also i dont know what the RC rating on it is.
http://www.twiggyssamuraitreasures.com/samurai-sword-masahiro-ma003b.html Cool, this is the one i got.
People are not reading the question. I do not want this to be sharpened by a knife sharpener. Knife sharpeners sharpen knifes made of stainless steel. This is made of HI carbon steel.
Jerry i disagree with you, dispite the fact the sword was cheap does not make it a stainless steel hunk of junk, there are some relativly good reviews about it that i’ve read. Just look on swordbuyersguide.com, Of course it doesent live up to an L6 Bainite, or Golden Orial blade. That still doesent mean it isnt any good. I’ll be testing it out tomarow, that will decide how nice the sword is, not a steriotipical price-tag.
Just for my sources, i have been collecting swords now for all of 10 years, and I also took some formal classes. Of course that isnt much compaired to some, but still i can spot a wallhanger from a decent one. I’m begining to rant now = ). My bad.
They sharpened it, it just wasent as sharp as i had hoped.

I am looking to get me a straight blade razor and I read that Stainless steel is no good because It doesn’t sharpen right. What about carbon steel?
why would a straight blade at one site carbon steel be 250 dollars and another straight blade carbon steel 15 dollars

I am trying to make a knife, or I should say knives. I am trying to make 2 identical (or as close to identical as possible) knives that will fit into one double sided sheath. And I have a few questions on how to do this, but first some facts.

1. I am going to try to make the blade 7-1/2 inches with a handle length of roughly 4 inches (I want a full tang). So I say the length of the steel piece should be roughly 16 inches so I have room to work. and thickness I say could be roughly 1/4 of an inch.

2. Now for the handle, I want it to have a kind of griping so your hand doesn’t slide, and maybe a piece at the top of the handle that kind of acts as a hand guard, so your hand can’t slide up easily but no big hilt or anything and I want it to be black.

3. The sheath I also want to be black, and it will be a double sided sheath, an opening at both ends so the knives fit into one sheath. Basically I am taking 2 sheaths and putting them together.

OK now on to the questions

1A. What kind of steel should I make it out of? I want it not to be all flexy and bendy and I want it to be strong enough to take a hit. But if possible I also want it to retain sharpness so I don’t need to sharpen the blade every other day. Now I don’t know if I should just go to home depot and buy a piece of carbon steel and cut it out of that, or should I try to order some (but that is highly unlikely I will most likely need to get something I could simply go to a store and buy)

2A. I know what I want the handle to look like, black and all that, but I don’t know what to make it out of. I was thinking wood but that can rot away, and isn’t exactly black, so if anyone has an idea of what I can use please tell me. Also a location as to where to get the item to make the handle will be much appreciated.

3A. The sheath, rather simple I think but what should I make it out of and where can I get the supplies to make it?

Alright so now you know what I want, please help me out here

Also I think I put this in the wrong section but I wasn’t sure what it should go under. So please just cope with me here

i decided to make my own straight razor but i don’t really know how to put on a razor edge or what would be the best metal to use. i thought a hack saw blade cut to the shape of a straight razor with a dremmel and than quenching it in water would be a good idea as because it is a very good metal for blades and the quenching to keep its temper but than i read an artical on midle eastern knifes saying that their blades though they arent crafted well are made of the best metal u can get. that metal being demascus steel. now im wondering if i should use demascus steel instead of carbon steel. and im also wondering where to get it. and despite choosing the best metal to use i don’t know how to put such an edge on a piece of un sharpened metal. i know its possible to do because i saw a bearded man sharpen a common house hold knife into a razor blade which he domonstraited its sharpness by shaving off his beard. he said that good knife sharpening consists of 99% skill and 1% equipment. right now im at 10% skill and 0% equipment. could somone tell me what equipment to use to achieve such an edge and where to get it as well as teach me how to sharpen the knife to achieve a razor edge. i know that learning such a skill takes a large deal practice and study to master the skill so i dont expect to learn anything major from yahoo answers so a book recomindation might help. it also would be of great help to know how to polish and preserve the blade. i dont have much money because i spent it on the hacksaw blade and dremmel cutting wheels which i might not even use for the blade so it would be of great help if we could keep the equipment costs low. however i do know the importance of knowledge so i wont mind spending alot of a good book on the subject. best wishes