Henkel Knife

Henkel Kniveshave a long tradition of superior quality. They are created using a high carbon stainless steel, forged then precision ground. It could be argued that the best kitchen knife would be a custom hand forged carbon steel knife that was made to exact user specifications.

There are two problems with this. To have a knife hand forged is a very high cost due to the labor involved. The high carbon steel can rust if it is not cleaned and maintained.

Henkel knives offer a very good alternative. They use a high carbon stainless that are dropped forged to consistent patterns. The stainless means that you can leave you knife with residue of that onion or tomato on it until you get around to washing it and it won’t discolor or rust. The higher carbon content in the Henkel stainless knives gives a good cutting edge that lasts a reasonably long time.

You will have to sharpen your Henkel knife. The best way I have found to do this is to use a whet stone. This is a flat grind stone that you slowly move the knife around in circles on the side of the edge. Grind both sides evenly and maintain the original angle of the edge. Water should be used as a lubricant on the stone. This is a slow process but it is the best process. Start the grind of you Henkel knife with a coarse stone then work to a finer one to develop a razor edge.

Other sharpening devices may use ceramic sticks to hone the edge. These work fine if you are just touching up an edge on your knife. If the edge has become quite dull use the whet stone.

Henkel knives come in many different sizes and shapes. Do you really need all those different types. A master chef would say yes. They are different tools to do different jobs. For general home use I would suggest 4 different styles of Henkel knives as being the minimum that a regular kitchen would need.

• Chef’s Knife
  
• Boning Knife
  
• Bread Knife
  
• Paring Knife

The Henkel chef’s knife is the largest and is the work horse of the kitchen. It has a large flat blade with a flat to slightly curved edge. This knife is used for slicing vegetables or meat. The majority of cutting to size of the food to be cooked.

The Henkel boning knife is smaller both in width and in length. The edge is typically curved with a sharp point. Most often this knife is used with the tip. The blade tends to be stiff and allows the meat to be separated from the bone with precision. This knife is never used for chopping.

The Henkel bread knife is long and thin and often serrated. It is designed to be light and flexible with a good bite on the bread it is cutting.

The Henkel paring knife is the smallest. It is used for all the small jobs such as peeling or making decorative cuts in vegetables. It is usually 3 to 4 inches long and thin blade with a sharp point. It can also be used for cutting slices in meat to add cloves of garlic etc.