ottawa foodies

After breaking two chef's knives in the past three years (including a Wusthof), I have decided to go for a good and cheap one. I have heard good things of the thai Kiwi brand www.wokshop.com

Does anyone know if I could find them somewhere in Ottawa ?

Thanks !

How on earth are you breaking them? The actual blade or the handle? My Sabatier has taken a serious beating and as a result the tip of the knife is blunt. My Sanelli has been awesome, good value, ergonomic and can be sanitized.

The first one, the handle broke God knows how while I moved houses. I didn't drop the box or anything. I didn't have the receipt anymore, so no warrantee. The Wusthof, the blade broke while chopping... salami slices ! The warantee doesn't cover "personal usage". I'm noting the Sanelli. Will look into it.

Yeah, no kidding! I've got a variety of half-decent knives from very cheap to very expensive, and I don't treat any of them very well but the only one I've ever broken is my Lee Valley French Peasant's knife, and then only chipped the tip off doing something really stupid with it. But it is carbon steel, and "more brittle" is the price you pay for "way sharper" than stainless.

The original knife thread

www.ottawafoodies.com

I echo chimi
how in blazes do you break a knife
I've been cooking for 38 years
never seen a coworker break one
break the tip off, yea but never where it was useable

I vote for Sanelli as well. I have 2 and they are my favourites.
Melodie: do you by any chance put your knives in the dishwasher? That would weaken and dull them for sure. Knives should always be cleaned right away and never soaked in water for long period of times, especially the ones with wood handles.

As mentioned in the previous thread, I swear by my Shuns. They fit my hand like a glove, and when they're sharp they make me feel like a samurai warrior. (I don't sharpen them as often as I should, so most of the time I feel like a bumbling peasant.)

At one point or another I'll finally upgrade to a 10" chef's knife.

chef Obi: I may have exagerated a bit. One knife is still usable (the one the handle broke). I'm sure one day it will completely fall off, but it is still solid. The Wusthof though is dangerous to use with a big chip off the blade.

Poutine: I don't put them in the dishwasher. I'm so careful! I wash and dry them right away. That's why I was so peeved. But I have calmed down a bit and even though I haven't bought a new one yet, I went to C.A. Paradis on Bank and I'm pretty sure I'll buy a Sanelli.

any knife can be a good knife or bad one, no matter the cost
depends on up keep
my arsenal is about 12k $ but when doing everyday work at the resto I rely on a 12$ Russel chef's knife and a 20$ 7" serated chef's knife by Victorinox

why? they are easy to re-hone and I sharpen them once a month

Hi Melodie,

I just ordered a set of kiwi knives from the wok shop. They are very inexpensive. They will ship to Canada, and while my Canadian VISA did not work on their checkout, my Costco American Express Card did.

www.wokshop.com

On the knives on a budget thread they are reviewed here:

www.patiodaddiobbq.com

The wok shop order fell through because UPS wanted to charge me exhorbitant duties, however this weekend I was in Montreal and saw kiwi knives on sale. None was over $8, so I bought one of each.

These really are incredibly sharp. I can slice an apple like it was butter. A cantaloupe this morning the same. The blade just GLIDES through the item effortlessly. Be careful with them. :-)

www.patiodaddiobbq.com

kk.org/cooltools/archives/4140

chowhound.chow.com

Dunno about that one but just go to Russell Food Equipment for good inexpensive knives that you won't worry about breaking from time to time.

I started going to capital cutlery and buying a bunch of used knives ( you know the restaurant ones with the yellow or blue plastic handles ) for the hunt camps . Now I find I'm using these knives in the house all the time ,they seem to keep a real good edge and they are so cheap that if you break / chip one you throw it away and grab another. Have a couple of good old henckle chefs knives with the wooden handles probably 30 years old each but these cheapies are just as good any day.

There is finally a place to buy kiwi chef's knives online without international shipping in Canada. I love these knives so started selling them online for us Canadians.

www.kiwiknife.com is based in Ottawa, $3-9 CAD.

My go to is the 6.5" chef's knife.

www.kiwiknife.com

Nice, I did manage to get a full set in Montreal. I'm very careful with them but my wife did cut herself when we first had them. They are still our go to knives most of the time. You need to sharpen them periodically of course.

Inspiration . . .

It slices tomatoes so thin your inlaws will never come back!

Hi folks,

I was shopping at the Kitchen Hut (an Asian kitchen store) on Merivale (across from Target) - was there looking to buy some more bowls for homemade Pho - and they carry a couple of the Kiwi knives. I bought a 6" chef's knife... cuts everything like butter.
Pricing was about $4 for that knife.

Just in case anyone is looking for a brick and mortar store that carries this brand of knife.

What is the best sharpener for a kiwi knife ?

I use the one at the right:

www.amazon.ca

I just make 4-5 passes one way, then again as many in the opposite direction.

I passed by the Kitchen Hut today and figured I'd try these out. Picked up a couple of paring knives ($2.39 each), a 6" chef knife that's kind of santoku-esque with a more aggressive tip ($4.49) and an 8" knife that's a bit like a pointy cleaver (though it's very light, like the others, I wouldn't use this to hack at bones like I would with a proper Chinese cleaver, likely to be on veg-chopping duty, $6.99). Damage was $18.37, taxes in -- reminder: that is for FOUR knives.

First impressions are pretty positive (obviously, tempered by the price), they're sharp out of the gate, and apparently really easy to hone back without a full sharpen. I'm going to try to use them for a week or two and see how they do.

(the grubby sticker on the middle one, and the darker bit on the paring knife, are my doing -- serves me right for trying to peel them off when they were cold out of the car)

I should get that paring knife . . . I have the other two. Besides it looks mean !

All right, trip report, two weeks, give or take.

Have used the Kiwis to trim and slice veg, slice raw chicken/beef/pork, slice cooked chicken/beef/pork, slice onions, dice onions, mince garlic, cut a sandwich or three, daily use...they're still sharp and a joy to use. The only maintenance has been a quick swish up and down a hone before using (same as any of my other knives), and an overnight slather of mineral oil on the handles when I first got them.

Basically at this point I'll use a $150 handmade Japanese knife to impress a date, but for day-to-day prep, these knives are a ridiculous bargain.

tl;dr: how?! $5!

When you sharpen a knife, do you need to rinse the blade before using? I do that, but perhaps I don't need to. Are there metal filings from sharpening and are they harmful ?

Not harmful, might even help if you are Iron deficient. Definitely not pretty if you're slicing light colored items.

Best to wash after both honing on a steel or sharpening on a stone.