Welcome To Chefknivestogo Forums! Introduce Yourself!

[Jeff B]

Welcome to the forum oriade!

[taz575]

Welcome to the party!

[trancher]

Welcome, oriade! Pull up a chair and join the fun!

[ChefKnivesToGo]

welcome!

[ronnie_suburban]

Welcome, oriade!

[Kekoa]

Welcome aboard!

[TheLegalRazor]

Welcome, oriade.

[oriade]

thank you

[Ambitious_Goo]

Hello, all!

I (she/her) am a humanities professor who's always been an avid home cook, with a particular fondness for knife work--probably in part because I'm very particular about the texture of my food, and I learned early on that knife skills were key to getting texture right. I really developed a knife habit (including sharpening) while I was writing my dissertation back in 2015-17 and found I DESPERATELY needed something to do with my hands. My gateway knives were a Shun set I got for college graduation, but my first handmade J-knife was a Kurosaki AS Kurouchi 210 gyuto--still probably my favorite single knife in my collection. I hand-sharpened for quite a while, but I've recently found the RSI-in-waiting in my wrist harder to ignore, so lately I've been doing most sharpening on the edgePro.

I was briefly active on the old CKTG forums as Alcharisi, and then dropped off for a while. In the intervening years my knife collection has, ah, how do you say, ballooned. In addition to the Kurosaki, it now includes, among others, Masakage Yuki (120) and Konosuke HD2 (150) petties, a Yamamoto nakiri, a Yahiko Ginsan bunka (I LOVE that thing), a Daovua 52100 kiri cleaver, and a nameless 12'' carbon Sabatier-style monstrosity I scored on ebay for something like $40 back in the early stages of my obsession.

I also absolutely love gifting knives, and have developed something of a habit of trying to find the best balance of performance, durability, affordability, and aesthetics for newbies, toward this end. The latest was a Harukaze ginsan santoku for two dear friends who recently got married.

[trancher]

Welcome back, Ambitious_Goo! Always nice to have a fellow brother return to the fold.

[Ambitious_Goo]

Sister, but thank you!

[trancher]

Sister, but thank you!

Oops! Sorry about that.

It looks like I'll be getting my mistakes out of the way in the A.M. today.

[Ambitious_Goo]

Not to worry! I do know the feeling.

[JustJohn]

A few weeks back, I asked a couple of questions, and you folks were kind enough to give me some great advice. Since that time, I have been wearing a hole in the hard drive hosting CKTG's knife images. There are soooo many knives to choose from and I keep looking over them, reading the forum, looking over them, reading the forum. You get the idea. I've become interested in experiencing for myself why so many here love their Japanese knives. I thought I should go ahead and introduce myself properly.

I am a home cook. I've never worked professionally in the restaurant/food industry. I do cook a lot, though. I bake my own bread, make my own yogurt, am an avid year round gardener and grow most of the veggies we eat as well as start most of my garden plants from seed. I have 70+ fig trees, a dozen apple trees, and adding peaches, blueberries, blackberries. We used to have chickens, but are taking a break from poultry for awhile. I process and can jams, jellies, and vegetables from the garden each year as well as pickle/ferment and freeze others. I cook three meals a day most days from a wide variety of cuisines (Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Italian, French, German, S. American, Tex-Mex, and English/American, etc.) I use a lot of fresh vegetables during meal prep most days. I mostly do light protein processing with processing whole chickens probably the most intensive. As a teenager, we would butcher our own hogs and chickens, but I haven't done that in decades.

As mentioned in an earlier post, my current knives are mainly Mercer -- both their low-end Millenia line and their mid-grade Renaissance line. I just purchased a Tojiro DP 150mm utility/petty from CKTG and I have really enjoyed using it. I also decided to try Shapton glass stones recently, and I've enjoyed using them.

So, now I'm looking for a 240mm gyuto. I'll post a separate post under knife recommendations soon. Thanks for all of the great information you all have shared on the forum. I've been reading a lot of your older posts.

[XexoX]

Welcome Mr. John. I envy your energy levels to do all that.

[Genghis_F]

Hi CKTG
Been lurking for a bit. Currently trapped deep in the kitchen knife rabbit hole and it’s cousin the sharpening/polishing forums

[Jeff B]

Hi CKTG
Been lurking for a bit. Currently trapped deep in the kitchen knife rabbit hole and it’s cousin the sharpening/polishing forums

And deep rabbit holes they are, welcome to the forums!

[westsenkovec]

Hello! I'm planning to buy my first japanese knife and some stones so I dropped by.

[taz575]

Welcome!

[SeanOttawa]

Hello - my name is Sean O'Keefe and I'm living in Canada, but I'm a US citizen and travel across the border a couple times a year.

I have been 'accumulating' knives and stones for a few years now, and have started a small at-home knife sharpening "business".

I am SO surprised by the state of knives that appear at my doorstep!! I have had to attack a few of them with a 1x42 belt grinder!

I here for general information, and suggestions on stones. I have a growing collection, but am looking for some "nicer" stones, if people think that is a good thing to do.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on some more 52100 steel knives (I have the 8" Kramer).

Thank you!
Sean