Behind the Knife - Chef Toolboxes Tell All

Do I have to repost my entire story, or can I just say to read my comment from the previous post.

Also, the reason that I didn’t send a pic or video of the horrible state of my parent’s knife drawer is that it is a bit of a trip to take that picture, and they aren’t technologically savvy enough to read email, let alone have them take a picture and send it to me.

My knives at home are actually very sharp right now, because I just bought them for class. Although if anyone wants to see a picture of the knife set I purchased for class I can take a few pics. It was actually a great deal for $200.

It contains a Chef knife, Paring knife, Boning knife, Bread knife, Carving knife, Truing Steel, a large and small offset spatula, measuring spoons, melon baller, fish turner, pastry brush, cake comb, pastry bag with tips, shears which come completely apart for cleaning, peeler, instant read thermometer, and a few other things I can’t remember off the top of my head. All in a very nice case with room for more tools as I buy them.

The worst knife I’ve ever used had to be those real cheap ones from the dollar store. Back in college, that was all I could really afford, but man, were they horrible! The handles would come off when you were trying to cut your food and the blades would rust and snap in half!

The worst knife I’ve ever used are some I got cheap at Goodwill – I should have know, right? But what can you do when money is tight. Winning this would be phenomenal! Thanks for the chance!

I grew up with Ginsu knives – it was a love/hate relationship. Super cool to be able to cut through a can, and then slice through a tomato. But that’s about all they were good for…although, the cleaver was fun for a while.

You’ve been RT’d :-)

-Dawn

P.S. the name of my blog has the word “Wicked” in it…do I get bonus points for that? [smirk]

a very dull paring knife.

It’s a Cutco knife I bought when I pitied a friend who was selling Cutco out of high school. The crappy plastic handle broke within a month, and it couldn’t cut a loaf of bread if it was the last knife on the planet. Never again Cutco!

I am drooling for this!

an old serrated one from a wedding gift that has become beyond dull scooter7018@aol.com

ok have one of those cut thru metal knifes that cannot cut anything

I had a horrible carving knife back when I was in grad school. This knife would only hack up any meat that I tried to carve.

I had a horrible carving knife back when I was in grad school. This knife would only hack up any meat that I tried to carve.

I can think of two that qualify:

1) My wife bought one of those dollar store utensil packs. The knives would break where the handle met the blade if you pressed too hard while cutting. After a few weeks, the surviving knives were either bent beyond use or the handles were falling off.

2) I bought a set of safety pumpkin carving knives so the kids and I could “safely” carve pumpkins for Halloween. Most of them broke in the first 2 minutes of our carving, and one got the blade stuck in the pumpkin but the handle pulled off. They were so disasterously cheap it was actually safer not to use them!

Thanks for the awesome giveaway!

I’ve had a few “carving” knives that weren’t good for much beyond spreading butter, but I don’t remember where they came from. And some with plastic handles that broke after just a few uses. (And it’s a pain in the tush to try to throw away a broken knife!)

The worst knife I ever used in my life was a dull kitchen knife that would slip out my hands when I tried to cut with it.

A Ginsu paring knife that’s all chewed up from my husband (the maintenance man) using it for a screwdriver.

My worst knives came from the local Dollar Store – 1st place of my own, didn’t have anything – it really sounded like a great deal!

This would be great to win

a butter knife to cut steak.

hmm worst knife.. a butter knife maybe ? Lol

Wow, it seems like a lot of people are surprised that a dollar store knife is a piece of junk. Who’d have guessed that one?

As for the as seen on TV knives, I have mixed feelings on. I bought some Miracle Blades at a grocery store on a whim, and they actually help up rather well. Not the greatest knives, but not bad at all. In fact one of my favorites is from the assortment you got with them. Its a little tiny paring knife, that over the past dozen years has never been less than razor sharp. I’m thinking about sending that one out to get examined, because no knife ever has lasted as long as that one has without even truing the edge. It is truly a magnificent knife that came free with the $20 set of Miracle Blades. The Miracle Blade itself is decent, it’s serrated, so its great for bread, and has a forked tip so it works as a carving fork if you want to use a real knife.

And I agree with Carol, Cutco knives are overrated. We have a set, and I don’t think they’re worth the price. For that kind of money I can get a decent set of real knives. In fact, we accidentally threw one out in a pizza box, and I ended up in the dumpster looking for it because we didn’t want to pay to get a new one. Never found it, bought a new one. Maybe that’s why I’m not a big fan. Digging in a dumpster for a knife will do that.

oh god, my dads hand me down hunting knife that I had no idea was dull until I had to field dress my first deer. nothing like trying to gut an animal with what is essentially a butter knife. he could have at least told me it needed sharpening. I still have it but will never use it again, it’s too dull to recover.

the worst knife i ever used cost a buck at the convience store counter. once, i turned it in at the emergency room, and a nurse made all sorts of wild accusations; only, a security guard saw the pathetic knife and spoke to a dr. to make sure it was in the records that i turned it in myself to registration because i forgot it was on my keychain and that it was unlikely you could actually hurt anyone with such a piece of . . .

My worst knife was a serrated bread knife that rusted!!

THE ONE IN MY KITCHEN NOW

A dull, extremely worn knife at a cabin that I used to julienne potatoes.

The steak knives my parents have at their cabin have to be the worst. You’re further ahead gnawing it apart with your teeth!

The worst knife I ever used is mty dads carving knife. Mt dad won’t acknowledge how dull and ineffective the knife is and carves (slaughtrers) the Thansgiving Turkey each year.

Any dull knife is the worst, and more likely to result in cutting yourself than a sharp knife.

Ahhh man…did I miss a game of skill? That’s ok, I’m probably not skilled anyway.

My worst knife ever is a paring knife we just got. We were shopping at Sam’s Club last week when they announced they were giving away a paring knife to everyone in the store. I said “how bad could it be?” and asked Rod to go get us one.

I now hold myself up before you for your laughter and humiliating remarks. This knife is so bad that Rod tried to cut himself and couldn’t. I couldn’t cut newspaper with it. i’m thinking maybe it’ll be useful as a tool to make furrows in my seed starting flats.

I once had a pocketknife that couldn’t even whittle. I ended up using it as a paperweight on my desk, and naming it “Sh*t Nife”

the worst knife I’ve ever used in my life was a plastic knife

We recieved some steak knives for our wedding and they didn’t even have a brand on them. The handles broke out within a month of use and within 2 months we had trashed the entire set. Man, crappy doesn’t cover them.

would like to win this

I’ve been a professional Chef for about 15 years and grew up in a family fishing business; so I’ve just about had a knife in my hand for as long as I can remember.

When I first started cooking I used whatever knives I could find. I found this small Chefs knife in my moms kitchens drawer and thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was a name to this day I never heard of and was a stamped blade. I thought I was supercool until about the forth or fifth time on a tri-stone and it started looking like a paring knife. I swear it must have been made of aluminum.

a ginsu knife that I bought at the state fair.

sign me up

The paring knives at my MIL’s house, not even sharp enough to pierce the skin of a tomato.

nik_har at yahoo dot com

The paring knives at my MIL’s house, not even sharp enough to pierce the skin of a tomato

My worst knife is my cleaver-it is getting dull and rusty.
smchester at gmail dot com

My worst knife was one of those Ginsu knives….it’s no longer in my kitchen!

Well, most of my knives are a combination of hand-me-downs from both my husband’s family and my own. We both had children young and just about everything we own has been given to us or found. In fact, ‘though I have a drawer full of knives, there was only one “good” knife that I had until it broke in December. It was a ginsu that I bought off of an infomercial when I was pregnant with my daughter. In 1994. Luckily, for Christmas, my mom got me a new Kitchenaid knife for all (don’t laugh, it was a sincere gift) of my chopping and dicing needs.

One of these days I will own really good knives. I am not the most talented or trained cook, but I do know that good, sharp knives make prep a bazillion times easier.

Great giveaway! Thanks.

Trying to cut something at my church. Who knows when it was last sharp.

Worst knife I’ve ever used was a plastic one away from home when there was nothing else available. The inevitable happened – it snapped.

The worst knife I have ever used was a steak knife with a plastic handle. It basically came apart in my hands—I was lucky I didn’t get a bad gash.

All my kitchen knives are the worst!

My husband has been looking for a good sharpener. He is a fisherman and needs a good sharpener for his knives.

Has to be this crazy and scary ginzu knife that I used to own. Thank you!

I would love to own this and I tweeted http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8601128423

thank you!

My worst knife had to be my boy scout knife when i was young. It had no lock out and the scout master wouldn’t let you use a non boy scout knife! what crap!

The worst knife I ever used one of those small swiss army knives, because it cut a deep gash in my pinky when I was trying to poke a hole in something

daily tweet http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8636361471

thank you!

None of my knives could slice a tomato!

Mine was a dull paring knife I got as a freebie. Instead of slicing my tomato, it squished it. Thanks for the chance.
mogrill@comcast.net

It’s a shame you guys decided to turn this into a regular giveaway :( I was just putting the finishing touches on my submission about this Kurki I bought not too long ago. The thing came dull as could be and covered in greasy oil.

Couldn’t chop ANYTHING I put it up against, so I had to have it professionally sharpened, and even then the blade metal started to chip and sheer right at the tip. Never buying from that company every again :(

I’m also an email subscriber :)

I also just tweeted this giveaway here :D

http://twitter.com/TimboSquad/status/8656258945

I used to be a meatcutter for a larger supermarket and the worse knife I ever had to use was this HUGE knife that I could not get my hand around the handle!

daily tweet http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8681764962

thank you!

A paring knife I purchased at a dollar store (what did I expect?) when I moved into my first apartment! lol

My serrated one that I still use.

:) Thank you for the wonderful giveaway! :)

The worst knife I ever had to use was one that I found in a very old barn in TN. It was raining sheets and I was stuck out in the barn and needed to make a cut on some wood but I didn’t have my tools or my belt knife on me. I dug around the dirt floor barn and finally found this ancient, rusty, handmade knife. The handle was half gone and the blade was more rust than steel. Needless to say it didn’t make a very good cutting tool but it did make me reflect on the possible history lesson it could teach me if it could only speak. I kept it, cleaned it up as much as possible and put it with the other old tools that have earned a respectful retirement.

How can I pick the worst knife? They have pretty much all been bad. I do remember one that I tried to cut a half frozen piece of chicken and it snapped in half.

The worst knife I got bent when I tried to cut zucchini!

A cook a lot, every single day. I spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere in the house.

With that said, most of my knives I have picked up at the thrift store or purchased at target for no more than 10 dollars. I desperately need a great sharpener, or a new set of knives. As a mom though, I can never justify spending money on “me” and something that is simply for me to use.

This would be great!

The worse knife I’ve ever used was a super dull serrated knife, I may as well have used a mallet instead.
Thanks for this giveaway.

The worst knife I ever used was a cheap one from walmart. Never again.

daily tweet http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8724401406

thank you!

The ones my mom gave me when she moved. I thought they were a very superior set but alas they are dull as crap. We have tried sharpening them but I’m about ready to chunk them.

Tweeted: http://twitter.com/mrssquigg/status/8754982113

I signed up for your e-mail.

daily tweet http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8770750261

I found a paring knife in my cutlery drawer, no idea where it came from, it was so dull a table knife would have cut better….I gently placed it in the trash for a decent burial. :-)

Thank you.

Would love to win!!

While I generally have nothing against Old Timer knives, probably the worst one I’ve owned was an Old Timer, which was carbon steel. I say this only because it rusted pretty quickly, but, I admit, I also didn’t oil it often enough. Still, I hate to mess with having to oil a knife at all, and I prefer a stainless knife because of this, so I’d say it was the worst knife I’ve owned.

So we stood around a blinking blue light to watch a demonstration of the “Only Knife You Will Ever Need”, yeah right, I think it was a bait and switch. My teeth are sharper!

daily tweet http://twitter.com/Tina12312/status/8814534426

I have to say the knife we use at the office to slice bagels every friday. It is so dull you have to use so much pressure to cut the bagels it wobbles back & forth.

But I have to say its a good thing its so dull—that way noone could stab their coworkers during some of out insane meetings.

My worst knife was a dollar store knife that couldn’t cut better than a butter knife. Please accept my entry. Thank you.

The worst knife I ever used was at my mother in laws house, a plastic handled steak knife that broke as I was trying to cut up an onion!

Those eversharp knives from the live demos.

OK, Since I probably won’t win this giveaway (I never win anything, especially the Powerball lottery), I just want the winner to promise one thing. When you win, please invest in a decent set of knives. Even using the king of sharpening tools won’t keep a crappy knife from being anything more than a sharp crappy knife. Even if you have to buy them one at a time, do yourself a favor and get a good set of knives. Go to the cutlery store at the mall, ask to hold each of them to find one with good weight and balance, and invest. Also buy a good truing steel, and a way to store your knife. A magnetic knife block is your best bet, as it never touches the blade.

A good quality knife kept sharp and true will be your best friend in the kitchen. It will save you lots of time and save your fingers from cuts. Also, if possible, go to your local community college and take a class on proper knife skills.

That said good luck to everyone, but I still hope you all lose, because this is an amazing product, especially if you purchase the additional stones/strops.

I recently bough a set of steak knives from a very reputable company. They were awful. I spent a good deal of money for them. The handles were so weighted, that when washing one of the the knives, the handle fell off.

bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

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bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

Worst knife I’ve ever used is one at my mother-in-laws house. It’s been “sharpened” so many times it has an arc indented in the middle of it and is so dull that to call it a knife is to insult knives. You could bludgeon someone with it faster than you could cut them with it.

Well, I have been known to slice bagels…many bagels…using a plastic disposable from the deli…

How about the plastic knives you get in take out? Horrid Horrid Horrid! P. S. It is kind of you to redo the giveaway but if 2 people followed your directions . one of them should have been rewarded.

I’ve had some bad knives in my life…probably the worst was the set I got when I moved into my first apartment. I picked them up at a tag sale and they were terribly dull.

A cheap off-brand paring knife from Wal-marts. I cut a chunk out of the side of my finger and ended up in the Er. The knife went in the garbage. I could have bought an expensive knife and I would still have come out cheaper.

I don’t remember the name, but I bought a knife black and after about 3 months the handles started breaking off thew knives- talk about sucky and dangerous!

Buck knife does not every hold a good edge and tips break off.

My college boyfriend’s only knife was a bent breadknife. It was terrible. Thanks.

ginsu, them things were the worst, cheap, too bendy and break easily

Awesome prize.Thank you.

Would love to win this <3

My mom used to have this old Chicago Cutlery chef’s knife that was way past its prime. I can’t believe I never cut myself with it

The worst knife I have ever used was a dull knife.

Oh my. it’s tough to narrow down just one ‘worst’ knife. All of my knives are just awful and they’re Farberware. Some are rusted, others are warped. It usually doesn’t matter much, but I really enjoy cooking and I know that a cook knife is essential. I’ve used Cutco with some success in the past, but unfortunately I don’t own a set.

I used to work at a coffee shop and we also made breakfast sandwiches and a few sundries. The owner was soooooooooo cheap! He brought in his old home kitchen set from like the 60s for the kitchen staff to use. They were aweful! The balance was way off, the handles were loose, and the edges were dull and knicked beyond sharpening or honing. Not suprisingly, the place went out of business pretty quickly. I have good knives in my kitchen now and I’d love to have this baby to keep them in shape for decades to come! Thanks!

The worst knife ever was the steak knife that almost cut my finger off.

Early in my marriage, I didn’t know squat about good knives and really didn’t for years. I once had a knife so dull, it MASHED a tomato instead of cutting it.

worst knife i have ever owned was a dollar store knife i purchased while on vacation to cut rotisserie chicken…knife bent instead of cutting

The worst knife was a cheap little pocket knife I got at the dollar store that wouldn’t cut anything including paper.

I was re-gifted a set of kitchen knives for my wedding. The smaller kitchen knife was so dull it would slip. Thank god it was too dull to cut anything. Including me!

I used a dull kitchen knife-yuck!

I signed up for your newsletter.

The worst knife I ever used…was actually a decent knife that we received as part of a set we got as a wedding present. Of course my husband (now ex-husband) needed a pry bar or something and right away broke the tip off…go figure.

my mom was really cheap on buying things. all she had for a knife was this plastic paring knife and we had to use it for everything that we cut, I must have cut up my hands everytime I tried to use it. thank goodness I grew up and got my own set of knives

a cheap bread knife i bought at a dollar store

a knife whose handle was starting to fall apart. Tough to both hold the handle together AND cut with the knife!

Thanks for the giveaway!

I was given some kitchen utensils when I first moved out on my own. That’s where I got the worst knife I ever used. It was a paring knife with a beautiful old wood handle. It was better than nothing but I knew nothing about knife sharpening back then.

I wonder where that knife is now……

tnrina at gmail dot com

I am a basket weaver and have many knives and other tools that need sharpening! Great opportunity! Thanks! senekers@comcast.net

The worst knife I ever used was one I ordered from one of those TV infomercials. Copped my finger pretty good, but not the chicken I was trying to quarter.

I don’t know what sort of knife it was but the handle came off when I used it and the blade fell and almost cut my toes. Yeah… twas a crappy knife

When I was a kid I had a cheap pen-knife that didn’t lock open and tended to close at inopportune moments, but then it could barely cut butter.

The worst knife I ever used was one of my mom’s knives. I swear the thing was older than me and about as sharp as a teaspoon! Needless to say, I quietly disposed of it and made sure she had some sharp knives instead!

The worst knife I have is an old pocket knife that was my grandfathers. I keep it for sentimental reasons.

When I first moved out on my own I had one knife, it was so dull it smashed tomatoes, crushed bread when ever I tried to cut them, I would have done better with a butter knife
singermagic1(at)yahoo(dot)com

A very old paring knife -ugh!

A cheap dollar store knife – never again!

The worst knives I have ever used were at my grandmothers house. Not sure what kind they were , but they sure didn’t cut anything.

the knife at my moms house it would not cut anything

The worst knife I ever used was one I bought at the state fair. It was suppose to cut through frozen foods and everything, and would not cut ONE thing.

Our whole knife set are dull and it takes forever to chop anything.

my worse knife is in the drawer now. It was my mother’s and it is a big knife would be good for chopping if it could be sharpened. Just will not hold an edge.

OH I could not even pick the worst knife. I Have a whole drawer of them. Being on a very limited budget I have all cheap knifes. My BF just come for a 3 week visit and wanted to cook for me. He ended up telling me he refused to cook for me ever again unless unless I buy new knives

My worst knife was probably a plastic one on a picnic.

I subscribed to newsletter.
Thanks

I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/lefty22/status/9014846084

The worst knife I ever used was something I picked up at a dollar store. I should have known better, right? But it was an emergency, needed to cut an office birthday cake. Picked it up, sliced downward … the blade broke off. The blade broke on freakin’ cake icing! Ugh! We had to cut the cake with a metal ruler.

The knives I received as a free gift from a specialty beef company.

i have a knife with a white handle that when i try to cut a fresh loaf of bread it makes the loaf flatten and its pretty pathetic :(

newsletter subscriber klp1965@myfairpoint.net

Worst knife? Every one in the drawer. Why? None is sharp, and too many have been used for purposes they were never intended for. Add in the fact that ONE time I let hubby sharpen one and it came back with nicks all along the blade and you can see my problem.

A sharp Knife is like a good friend always ready when you need him

one of those scissor knives that are dull and can’t cut anything but green onions.

A plastic butter knife, I had to go through 3 of them before actually cutting the thing, thanks!

The worse knife I ever used was at a Girl Scout Event. I guess they didn’t want the girls to hurt themselves but it was so dull, it could barely cut butter!!

old pairing knife

subscriber

I once used knives that came from a box of 5 for $3 from the hardware store – - bad idea!

The worst knife I’ve ever used was any of the knives my mom had when I was growing up, they were pathetic! My mom still doesn’t understand that to achieve the best results you have to have the best or at least very good tools. The knives we had wouldn’t cut a tomato without smashing it, you know the kind :(

The worst knife I ever used was one I purchased at an auction. It was made in some Asian country. It was made at of some cheap metal that couldn’t be sharpened. The handles broke within a week and the blade became twisted. It barely cut meat. Every time I used it I wound up cutting myself. I finally wised up and threw it into the trash.

A knife from a set I got at the dollar store while I was in college!

It was a set of free knives that came with some steaks that I purchased. It literally broke while I was trying to slice the steak.

The worst knife I’ve ever used was a knock-off of the one from the Rambo movie. The blade only qualified to spread butter and the handle was made of plastic. The only positive note was that it wasn’t made in the USA!