By: Mudassir Malik
Submitted: 2009-12-24 02:19:42 | Word Count: 706
When you're looking out for a great kitchen knife set, you need to take under consideration cost, the material of the knives, the kinds of knives that come with the set, and the maintanence of the knives.
Cost is something that cannot be helped, in other words, your financial position is your position. keep in mind that a top quality knife set will last for longer, perhaps 10 years, while a more cost effective knife set will need replacement after perhaps two years. A set will cost between fifty US dollars, and up to 1000 greenbacks or more for a top of the line set.
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kitchen knives are generally made from one of the four following materials : stainless steel, carbon steel, laminated ( mixture of carbon steel and stainless steel ), and ceramic.
The carbon steel knife is 99% iron, and 1% carbon. These knives are prone to rusting, though, and are higher upkeep than stainless steel knives. They're normally sharper though, than chrome steel, though also more bittle. Famous top makers of carbon steel kitchen knives are Sabatier, Kikuichi, and Forshner but these knives are being distcontinued and less common. Toughness on the C scale for Carbon Steel knives is between 60 and 62.
chrome steel contains around 11% chromium, and is very well known as a material used for cutlery manufacturing. Type 420 and 440 stainless steel is used for cutley, 440 being harder. 440 has a hardness on the C scale of fifty five. Within 440, there are three grades of steel used in cutlery. Going from more less carbon, and softer, they're a, B, and C.
The famous stainless steel manufacturers include worldwide and Kasumi among the japanese makers, and european makers like Wusthof.
Laminated knive blades will try to make a balance of the properties of carbon steel, and immaculate steep by having a sandwitch of the knife materials. Ceramic knives are even sharper than normal knives, but they are more crisp. Kyocera and Yoshi knives are among the ceramic knives available on the market.
cook's knife - This is the most significant knife in the knife set and may be used for most general kitchen tasks.
hatchet - this is used to chop and pound food. This is a heavy knife.
Bread knife- this is a special knife that's useful to cut tomatos, and bread without crushing it.
Filet knife - used to filet fish with a thin and flexible blade.
Paring knife - used to cut or peel small fruits and vegetables.
Steak knife - either serrated or straight, these are used on the table for serving steak.
Maintaining carbon steel knives is more lengthy than stainless steel. After cleaning carbon steel knives, it is suggested to coat them with some plant oil, gently, to stop oxidization. Avoid putting knives in the dishwashing machine, with a high variability in temperatures and powerful detergents, the steel blade and even the handle can get affected.
The sharpness of the blade may decrease if the knife is dropped in the dishwasher.
once you are done using the knife, clean it straight away so that the quality of the blade is maintained. Once the knife is clean, it should be stored in a knife block made from polyurethane, or wood. Make efforts to use a cutting board of the same material to offer protection to the blade.
Knives can be sharpened with a sharpening steel which appears like a circular rod, or a block of stone called a sharpening stone. Modern electric sharpeners are safe to use on quality knives. When using an electric sharpener, confirm not to grind away far too much of the knife. You want to sharpen your knives every three to {{half a year.
Author Resource:-
Victoria is the owner of Wusthof Forged Knives page - part of a cool site about kitchen knives
