Wounded J. A. Henckels Knife

[Cyrano]

Quite a few years ago I gave my daughter a J. A. Henckels kitchen knife with a three inch blade. It's a very handy knife around the kitchen; I have one myself. Over Christmas, I took a look at hers. The once smooth cutting edge seemed to be almost serrated; I don't know what someone tried to cut with it. I guess the serrations need to be ground off, and the edge restored. I took it home and am wondering if Henckels has a repair service; I'd hate to try it myself with a Dremel.

 

[Mule Packer]

I feel your pain. This may sound sexist but, I have learned over the years that women really don't know anything about knives other than the fact that they are sharp and that you can cut things with them...carrots, meat, plastic packaging, florist wire, lamp cords, ceramic tile...you name it.

I discovered this basic truth over 43 years ago when I had been married only a few weeks and couldn't find my razor-sharp Buck 105 hunting knife. I finally found it in a kitchen drawer. My new bride had been using it instead of the cheap set of kitchen knives we had been given for our wedding.

Of course, I stupidly asked, "Why are you using my hunting knife instead of the kitchen knives?" Her answer..."Because your knife is real sharp and it cuts things better." So, the next Christmas, I gave her a Buck 105 and reclaimed mine again.

Over the years, we have acquired some nice kitchen knives...mostly forged Zwilling J.A. Henckels. My dear wife has absolutely no respect for them. I have no idea what she tries to cut with them, but when I go to use them, I find that their sharpness is just a notch above a butter knife.

Also, I've noticed that she'll use a filet knife or a boning knife or even a meat carving knife to chop vegetables, and a chef's knife to carve meat. I mean, I love her dearly, but is nothing sacred?

We've talked about this, but it does no good. To her, a knife is a knife. I've just had to resign myself to checking the kitchen knives on a regular basis and working them on a set of Arkansas stones until I get them back to where they should be. And yes, she has cut herself several times after I have sharpened the knives.

I'm sure Henckels has a repair service, but I'm afraid that after a year or two, your daughter's knife will once again look like a fish scaler. It's one of those things we can't change. That's just how the fairer sex uses knives. I think it's a genetic thing.

 

[k22fan]

Knives often chatter as they are drug through inexpensive starpeners that have carbide edges mounted in a V. Is she using one of those?

Probably not. So far I've only seen women use one thing to sharpen their knives -- the household male. Since that is you I suggest buying a coarse & medium 8" wet stone to get back a decent bevel fairly quickly. It's nice to have one for your hatchets and axes anyway.

 

[Big Cholla]

Cyrano: PM incoming to you. .............

 

[model70hunter]

I used to sharpen/rescue knives as one of my night jobs. On bad blades, and it is not only the fair sex, men brought me their hunting/pocket knives and some looked like they were used to cut steam engines in half. I used a very fine file, then a medium oil stone until all file marks were gone, a fine oil stone and then polishing rouge on my razor strop.

One literally could shave with these. Quality of steel only determined how long it held an edge, it too could shave. I did not do early Buck stainless, sort of like sharpening peanut butter.

Take the file, remember you are not dealing with a pristine collectors items, work both edges to the same bevel, 60 degrees. Use a stone and if you want a razor use the strop but I don't recommend this for kitchen knives.

One co-worker and his dad raised hogs they brought ne a cigar box of pocket knives on a regular basis. At first he said this knife only cut so many hogs before they had to get another one. I said sure it did, your daddy paid all of 1.99 for that off a gas station counter.

Many folks use a dry stone. They are making small files edges on the blade. Nasty and no good, axes etc yes.

One guy brought me his hunting knife, he'd sharpened it for years with a dry stone and said don't use a file on this cause I'm particular about my blades. I said don't think so, look at this wavy rough edge. I filed it, stoned it and yes you could shave with it. To impress a redneck one had to run it down the arm showing hair flying like a bush hog.

I gave it to him, before he did not cut he sawed with the knife. I remembered he had run his thumb down the blade when he dropped it off showing me how dull it was. Sure it was a dull file one could feel the dull burrs dragging on the skin.

I said do not run your thumb down this blade, it will slice like a razor.

Right in front of us he ran his thumb down the blade 6 or 8 stitches and the following am was opening day of deer season. Monday at work he whined about how his thumb throbbed all week end and that was why he did not get a deer. Well he never did anyway.

He is not the first to discover sharpness. That is why I do not put that sharp in the kidchen. Most women drop the in dishwater and slide their hand around looking for them or slap them in the dishwasher.

Unless you sharpen, clean and use the knives that will be left under lock and key any thing above good quality is a waste of money.
A good electric sharpener is fine for good quality.

When we married my wife had kitchen knives that had two back and no edge. I quickly sharpened them and told her, listen up this is important, I sharpened the knives, they will cut you. A day or so later I heard her inner sailor let loose. I said what's wrong, she said nothing. OK. Then I heard don't think it needs stitches and not one complaint on sharpness.

She did learn that when I said listen up this is important to pay up to 50% attention to me.

 

[k22fan]

Something good came out of this thread. I was inspired to sharpen a dozen kitchen knives.

 

[s&wchad]

There are two lines of J. A. Henckels knives; Zwilling J. A. Henckels (made in Germany) and Henckels International (Spain, Brazil, ...). Both lines have a lifetime warranty against defects, but they may not cover the damage you describe and they don't advertise factory resharpening.

You can send them an email here:
ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS :: Contact

If they're no help, send me a PM.

 

[Drm50]

Mark down a number 3 option, J.A. Henckels. International
made in China. They are no better than Dollar Store knives.
See green & yellow handles. White handle is Klass, Kissing Crane
Edge damage from dish washer. Klass is Solingen steel, new
Henckels just say stainless.

 

[mrrick]

I gave up on the German knives, didn't think them of good quality. Moved on to Global knives from Japan and only touch up at each use with a ceramic "steel". That's the secret, regular touch ups, and don't let it get dull. Top chefs are constantly touching up in food prep.
They stay razor sharp this way. Same problem with wife, bought her own set and a Kyocera ceramic knife that gets sharpened with a EZE-LAP diamond stone, 600 and 1200 grit. The Kyocera is great because it's 92 Brinell hardness and keeps it's edge very well. It is a brittle material, so you have to be a little careful about that.

 

[walkinghorse]

I gave up on the German knives, didn't think them of good quality. Moved on to Global knives from Japan and only touch up at each use with a ceramic "steel". That's the secret, regular touch ups, and don't let it get dull. Top chefs are constantly touching up in food prep.
They stay razor sharp this way. Same problem with wife, bought her own set and a Kyocera ceramic knife that gets sharpened with a DMT diamond stone, 600 and 1200 grit. The Kyocera is great becuase it's 92 Brinnel hardness and keeps it's edge very well. It is a brittle material, so you have to be a little careful about that.

To follow-up on ceramic knives, and Mulepackers observations. We have a 16" X16" wooden cutting board and it is stored on my wifes' stone piece for bread, pie dough making. Anybody want to guess which one she uses for cutting with the good knives?
Bought her a kycera ceramic knife, and they replaced it under warranty. Want to guess why? And discussing chopping on the bread stone in lieu of the wooden cutting board? As an old friend says.......OLD WELL!
Some battles you are doomed to lose!

 

[H Richard]

I hate to admit it, but my wife meets several of the above descriptions. I cringe every time I see her take one of the nice knives and saw through a piece of meat or anything "Against a hard plate or steel cooking utensil". She used to cut anything, including tomatoes, and lemons and leave the knife lay in the sink drainer. I swear some of the edges look like she has dug in the garden with them. I have a 1" belt sander, and a 500 grit belt that has been worked for years. I use that to bring an edge back to the knives before taking them to a stone. It's just routine, about once a month I grab the 3-4 knives she likes to use, go sharpen them. I do not put a real fine edge on them, it dulls too fast the way she uses them. Whenever she asks me to use my pocket knife, I always ask "What For"? If it involves anything difficult, I do it for her. I keep a good edge on my pocket knives.

 

[growr]

In my last relationship, I had to put a sign on the knife block stating,

CAUTION Honey!!!
These are SHARP.....REALLY Sharp!!
The Band Aid Box is just for you...

And then I put the band aid box right beside the knife block.took her a few times before she for her to get the idea..she eventually did get it however.

Randy

 

[PatriotX]

Time to break out the Work Sharp and hone those edges.

I've saved some pretty ugly garage-sale knives with mine.

 

[rburg]

These are all very familiar stories. The lost knife story is one we all need to think about. It started long ago when we were on a group picnic and she was helping cook. Yes, she needed a sharp knife and she came and asked to borrow mine. Back in those years I kind of enjoyed being in her good graces, if you know what I mean. So of course I loaned it to her. And of course later on I realized she hadn't returned it. So I asked her about it and just got that blank stare. So I retraced our/her steps and found it right where she had left it. Lucky no one had snatched it.

But of course it taught me a lesson. So the next time I stood there and watched her. Yes, its sometimes painful to watch a fine instrument being abused. But I've got to believe the manufacturers know what's in store for the knives they make. After a while she got upset with me and told me to leave, that she'd bring the knife back. That worked pretty well until she felt confident enough to let other wives use my knife. So it boils down to a rule of life. If you let someone use your knife, your lucky if you even get it back. When or if you do, you can assume it will need a good sharpening. Its just how it is.

Its also amusing when someone wants to know what a good set of steak knives is, and where they can be found. Well....Randall makes a good set, and I know where my set of them can be found. I've only been able to find 5 of them, but then I've only been looking for the last 20 or so years. Good doesn't come along with cheap. And 2 of the ones we have travel with us in the lunch kit. I'm well aware that china or porcelain isn't a very good surface to cut against. But on outdoors meals, mostly, the surface is paper plates. That really is a decent surface and won't ruin a good knife, or at least with minimal use.

And then came the jeeping trip to Utah. Just to show I'm not perfect, I guess. Anyway, one of our guys I hadn't been out with before, but he came with good credentials. He was a safety director for one of the regional airlines, maybe Air West. And he seemed to conduct himself well. So off we go, into the high desert. We did make a stop in Green River, UT where I wasn't paying a lot of attention, but I did see him select and buy a large watermelon, and then about 100# of ice. Into a cooler they went. And off into the desert again. It was a good but hot day, probably early August of 1995. And we ended up under I-70 and the bridge that is way too high. At least we couldn't fall off it. Only then did the watermelon surface. One problem, nothing to cut it with. Well, except my then fairly new Randall 3-6". Well, it was the best tool on the trailride of maybe 10 or so jeeps. So we used it. The guy doing the cutting seemed to know how to cut the melon, never any chance of it contacting sandstone, etc. He even wiped it off (on his shirt) and gave it back. I was too busy eating the best melon I can ever remember. I put the knife in the pocket on the back of the bucket seat. Away we went. Maybe 3 or 4 weeks later I thought about the knife again and went to get it. All seemed fine, or did until I got it out of the sheath. It had the most lovely patina I've seen. Kind of a deep brown that any black powder shooter would appreciate. So I got out my metal polish, Flitz and worked on the blade for a while until it was again sparkling.

I never gave any thought to the idea that the acid in melon would turn steel. Sure, it wasn't stainless, and the "damage" wasn't permanent. But it was a good lesson for me. Always clean a good knife after use. Clean water and wipe dry.

 

[mrrick]

Another reason I like the Kyocera, nothing affects the blade, no rust, corrosion etc. Surgeons have begun using ceramic scalpels as the incisions heal faster with less scarring.
Another pet peeve is how wife uses high quality cookware, (All-Clad, and a variety of French Copper stuff). These things are so heat conductive that you only need a low flame to bring the temp. up, and you can barely get the flame low enough for a simmer. I need to use a heat diffuser for a low simmer. Wife thinks more is better and cooking is always done at maximum heat, even with non-stick pans, which cost a couple hundred dollars for one piece. Again, she gets her own set .

 

[shouldazagged]

Some women, naming no names but I was married to a couple of them and dated a third, like glass cutting "boards" for appearance and ease of cleaning.

I don't think I need to say more about that.

My kid sister (she's only 65) loves pocketknives, sheath knives, etc. Collects them in a small way, and has good taste. I've given her many nice ones, not high-priced but good quality cutting tools, which she uses.

She is afraid of sharp knives. Every blade I've given her or she has acquired for herself will give you a really nasty bruise.

Telling her sharp knives, because they cut cleanly and reliably, are safer is like talking to a crash test dummy. I'll bet she has cut herself more often with dull knives that slipped than any of the ladies described above have with very sharp ones.

She won't let me sharpen hers.

Fortunately my final wife, the right one in every way, liked sharp knives and wooden cutting boards. So not all women are clueless about knives.

 

[Alk8944]

While I fully concur that women are totally oblivious when it comes to handling/caring for any knife, but it isn't just women!

While I was a police officer my department's uniform regulations required that an officer carry a knife! The reasons should be obvious! In spite of this there were probably better than 70% which did not! But everyone knew that I carried a knife and often used to ask to borrow it! First question was "Why?". You would be amazed how often the answer was to use it as a screwdriver or pry bar! You know the answer was nearly always NO!!! If they really needed to cut something I would do it for them!

 

[model70hunter]

I learned the hard way on lending pocket knives, it was only an Old Timer, the knife I carried at work, my Case Stockman stayed away from that place.
After a promotion a coworker asked to borrow my pocket knife. He came back in a few minutes with 2 of the original 3 blades intact. Said he didn't know what happened the blade just snapped. His nephew worked there, he said his Uncle constantly borrows knives and quit carrying them because he either breaks it of loses it. I was also told no one there would lend him a knife. Lesson learned, got smarter, my new Old Timer rode in one pocket and folks who asked to borrow got the 2 blade job.

The Old Timer that broke was my woods walking, fishing buddy. I mentioned in another thread about a boss I once inherited, he was illiterate. They forgot to ask him if he could read when they hired him.

Before he was promoted a group of us were eating lunch one fine spring day. He asked to borrow my knife to cut up his apple, I said why not just bite it off as needed, he did not like it that way, I said twist it and tear it in half. Nope he wasn't strong enough. I pulled out the knife and pulled it back. Sunday I had been fishing and snagged a water snake with a nice Mepps spinner. I held him down with my foot and did surgery to free the spinner. The big blade was covered in blood. I had folded it shut and forgot about it. I told him better borrow another knife. Everyone said they did not have one, liars.

I said the stuff on the blade is from a snake I did surgery on to get my Mepps back. He laughed and said what a story. I said no it is snake blood. He took the knife and started slicing up his apple. After he had eaten most of it the guys asked if the apple tasted ok, he said yes, one of my friends told him Duane don't lie, if he told you it was snake blood, it was. You should have seen his face. One of those priceless moments.

 

[Cyrano]

. But on outdoors meals, mostly, the surface is paper plates. That really is a decent surface and won't ruin a good knife, or at least with minimal use.

QUOTE]

Be careful with paper plates and knives. We were out in the desert once, and had cooked steaks over a mesquite fire; delicious. I had the paper plate on my leg and cut the steak. I also cut the plate, the wicker plate holder, my pants leg and a good hunk of my leg. Bled pretty good for a while.

 

[Comrad]

I had one lost, probably thrown out cleaning up. Called and had a replacement sent for a modest fee. Good service.