I've got a Global Knife
- Thread starter mrsfran
- Start date
I came across those Moose while reading up about how good Globals were. They got rave reviews!
Im trying to talk myself out of the purchase, because it seems reckless spending that much on knives when Im not a pro or anything, and I was just looking for a few nice knives!
Im trying to talk myself out of the purchase, because it seems reckless spending that much on knives when Im not a pro or anything, and I was just looking for a few nice knives!
Mogden
I like tea
I'd say Melinda that you might want to consider how many of the knives you'll actually use. I've not got a complete set of one particular knife brand. I have my Wusthof and I love it but it needs a proper sharpen though cos my attempts with a steel and probably doing more harm than good. I've also got a little Kitchen Devil knife which I use for peeling and stuff. That was cheap as chips and it serves me very well. I have a couple of big choppers from the Chinese supermarket and some cheap ass bread knives for butchering the breadmaker loaves. I'd love a good fileting knife cos I don't have one but apart from that I can't say I'd have use for many more than that unless I went into culinary pursuits as a career.
Also I love the look of Global knives but they don't suit my hands. I've felt them in a shop and they feel a little odd given that I'm a leftie and hold pens in a strange fashion. I'd say make sure they feel good before parting with that much money.
Also I love the look of Global knives but they don't suit my hands. I've felt them in a shop and they feel a little odd given that I'm a leftie and hold pens in a strange fashion. I'd say make sure they feel good before parting with that much money.
Blimey, 18"
I bought the 20cm knife down in South Africa, cost me about £40 3-4 years ago.
Even if you get a whetstone, you'll probably want a sharpening steel, too - the steel is nice just for putting an edge on the blade (it will need doing fairly often if you want to keep a nice edge on it), while the whetstones's for regrinding it every so often.
The handles are a bit of a shock after wooden or composite ones, but I find it very nice to use, well-balanced, and grippier than you'd think it'd be...
If you're using good knives, moomoo, you don't need those mammoth sets. Just a big one for chopping big stuff into little stuff, and a little one for paring and fine work. You end up spending about the same on knives, but have two beautiful knives that are poetry to work with, AND a lot more space on your worktop.£75
On a knife?
Blimey, I'm still managing with Great Aunt Eunice's old knife that's never been sharpened.
Y_I_Otter
Dangerous Terroirist
Blimey, 18"
That's what I said when I read the OP!
I went through my knives just now and it turns out my biggest is a Wusthof 32 cm (12") chef's knife, which my partner refers to as my "Crocodile Dundee" knife. I don't think I've used it a half-dozen times since I stopped cooking professionally.
Just what does one do with an 18-inch knife anyway?
(And did the buyer have to remove it from a rock?)
ETA: it suddenly occurs to me that the "18 inches" includes the tang length.
That's what I said when I read the OP!
I went through my knives just now and it turns out my biggest is a Wusthof 32 cm (12") chef's knife, which my partner refers to as my "Crocodile Dundee" knife. I don't think I've used it a half-dozen times since I stopped cooking professionally.
Just what does one do with an 18-inch knife anyway?
(And did the buyer have to remove it from a rock?)
ETA: it suddenly occurs to me that the "18 inches" includes the tang length.
You could butcher an elephant with a knife that big
That is such a good point. I already have a decent Viners bread knife and carver (neither of which I really use).
I have a filet knife too, it only gets used for scraping out the dregs of sauce bottles. I only really need the cooks knife and the paring knife.
This is the Richard Sheffield/Sabbatier -£50 from Debenhams. The set of 5 knives is £100.
I also liked the Analon knives- I liked the handles, and I can buy them individually.
.Ive just had a rummage on the costco site, and couldnt find these bargains of which you speak.
When I first got my Global, I must have cut myself about 5 times in the first fortnight.yea i have one of those and the scars to prove it
Now I only cut myself on shit knives.
For easy sharpening, I use this
The wrong sharpener and technique can damage your knives.
Not a great fans of those - it just didn't sharpen my globals nearly well enough. You get a much better result on even a coarse whetstone.
Great fan of Global here - have filled up their 9 knife block with all sorts of vicious looking blades, although I tend to use the 18inch vegetable chopper as the main blade rather than the chef's knife.
The only thing I'd say about Globals is that they lack the heft to do a lot of chopping as easily as other brands - I tend to keep a Gustav (Emil Ern) and a good old carbon steel sabatier for more heavy duty jobs.
mrsfran
Well-Known Member
I've had the knife for a while now and I still LOVE it. I have decided that's what I'm asking for for every Christmas and birthday for the next few years until I build up my collection. Weirdly, I had a dream last night that I broke it.
I sharpen it on a steel, works fine.
I sharpen it on a steel, works fine.
ShiftyBagLady
Thinks she is a flower to be looked at
i have shit knives
i want good ones but i do begrudge paying such money for knives
i want good ones but i do begrudge paying such money for knives
fen_boy
Exits gracefully.
I have Henckels and Wusthofs - I find Globals too big cos I've only got little handsI have them sharpened regularly at the ironmongers as they do it better than I ever could, and it's only a quid a knife.
That's weird - I find globals too small 'cos I have big hands. I have a couple of Lion Sabatier ones, I've tried loads of other types, but they're still my favourites.
To be honest SBL, you can get a knife as sharp and effective as the Globals for much less.
I'd recommend something like an old fashioned carbon steel blade if you're a keen cook - a brand like Sabatier will cost you about half that of a Global, and that's probably amongst the most expensive brand in the area.
The downside is that they're blades that require more careful maintenance - they rust if you get them too wet. But the advantage is that they sharpen to a ridiculous edge very, very easily indeed.
Globals look great, wear well and keep their edge for a long time, which is why they're so popular with home chefs. You can get knives, albeit not as branded, for much less. Hate to admit it, but the much cheaper Gehring blade I used at my mum's this week, sharpened on a cheap steel rather than expensive whetstones or diamond bars, was easily the equal in sharpness terms with my Globals back home.
I'd recommend something like an old fashioned carbon steel blade if you're a keen cook - a brand like Sabatier will cost you about half that of a Global, and that's probably amongst the most expensive brand in the area.
The downside is that they're blades that require more careful maintenance - they rust if you get them too wet. But the advantage is that they sharpen to a ridiculous edge very, very easily indeed.
Globals look great, wear well and keep their edge for a long time, which is why they're so popular with home chefs. You can get knives, albeit not as branded, for much less. Hate to admit it, but the much cheaper Gehring blade I used at my mum's this week, sharpened on a cheap steel rather than expensive whetstones or diamond bars, was easily the equal in sharpness terms with my Globals back home.
I'd agree with this. I suspect that there are legions of professional kitchen staff slicing away with no-name cutlery that's every bit as good as the expensive branded stuff we use at home. They probably require a bit more care (like the rust thing...), and maybe their life isn't quite as long, but they'd be fine. The only tricky bit is going to be finding the right ones.
I did buy a John Lewis cook's knife about 5 years ago, that looks like a Sab but was about 2/3 the price, and I have to say it was a complete disappointment: I could never get it absolutely sharp, despite loads of effort on a stone and with the steel, and such edge as it has never lasts very long anyway. It's going off to university with the Teenager until she gets the bug and decides she likes cooking enough to be worth getting a decent knife for...
Y_I_Otter
Dangerous Terroirist
The problem a lot of people have with a carbon steel blade is that you're always sharpening it. If you're not a dab hand with a steel, that can be a pain in the arse; and constant sharpening can wear it down fairly quickly and unevenly. I use carbon steel Chinese cleavers for a lot of day-to-day stuff. I also replace them a lot. Fortunately, they're quite cheap.
We've just done exactly this. We eschewed the Globals in favour of a Henckels set.
I went back to the store and the Globals set had sold out, and were only available as single knives. I held a couple and wasnt keen on that triangular notch between the blade and the handle. Plus the news that a customer had severed tendons just taking the a Global knife out of its packet warned me off as did its high maintenance- continual sharpening didnt appeal.
Your post really influenced me. I was really going to buy only the knives I was going to use everyday- cooks and a vegetable knife. But the set we got in the end included a sharpener and was good value.
psycherelic
I'm not an old hippy!
I'm very jealous!
I really need to get a decent knife or two I've been looking longingly at Globals and these Kyocera ceramic ones
But they all still a bit pricey for me and I don't really think I need anything quite that fancy.
It looks like Sabatier might be the ones to go for, what's the best way to sharpen them though?
I don't feel confident with anything other than the little wheelie thing that I use at least once daily to sharpen my crappy Morrisons knife
I really need to get a decent knife or two I've been looking longingly at Globals and these Kyocera ceramic ones
But they all still a bit pricey for me and I don't really think I need anything quite that fancy.
It looks like Sabatier might be the ones to go for, what's the best way to sharpen them though?
I don't feel confident with anything other than the little wheelie thing that I use at least once daily to sharpen my crappy Morrisons knife
Weird, isn't it? I got used to using blunt knives, and only cut myself when the stupid things slid off whatever I was cutting - but if they sneaked up against the side of a finger, I got away with it.My brother brings his global knife round when he cooks (weekly). He let me use it once and I promptly cut myself.
Then I got a good knife, and discovered how unforgiving they were of poor technique: no more knives bouncing off skin - get a fine angle contact, and the thing just sliced in.
It doesn't take long to develop a good technique - you'll cut your hands to shreds for a couple of weeks, and then get past that. I now reckon I am far less likely to injure myself with a knife that reliably cuts where and what I tell it to.
People get really precious about knife sharpeners, but I am not convinced that using a little crappy wheely thing really will cause your firstborn to die and a plague to descend upon all your houses.I'm very jealous!
I really need to get a decent knife or two I've been looking longingly at Globals and these Kyocera ceramic ones
But they all still a bit pricey for me and I don't really think I need anything quite that fancy.
It looks like Sabatier might be the ones to go for, what's the best way to sharpen them though?
I don't feel confident with anything other than the little wheelie thing that I use at least once daily to sharpen my crappy Morrisons knife
It might not be the best thing for the knife, though, in the longer run. I also think that a lot of those gadgety things for sharpening knives are very badly designed and often just asking to run the knife blade straight across some soft, yielding flesh.
Buy a cheapish steel and a really shit knife, and just practice. If nothing else, there's a certain degree of kitchen cool that goes with wandering around the place nattering to the dinner guests while you absent-mindedly put a razor edge on some cold steel as you talk...
spacemonkey
I Love Noodles
I once just looked at a global knife and it cut me up bad.
Chz
Stark Raving Sane
Plenty of pros use the Victorinox stuff. It's cheap, durable, and you won't get too upset when one of the junior chefs puts a huge nick in it. I've even been told by people who swear by their Global sets that Victorinox is by far the best value for money proposition.
German knives and Japanese knives just cut differently. I don't find a Henckel and a Global to be directly comparably. The Japanese ones are a fair bit sharper, but they're also more brittle; which means they can't be used quite as harshly. And as people have been discussing, it makes them a right bugger to sharpen.
My missus has a IO Shen knife, which isn't too bad. I understand it's a Japanese-style knife, but made in Taiwan from Japanese steel. She just thinks it looks pretty and suits her small hands, but I have to agree it's pretty damn sharp.
It looks like Sabatier might be the ones to go for, what's the best way to sharpen them though?
I don't feel confident with anything other than the little wheelie thing that I use at least once daily to sharpen my crappy Morrisons knife
Sabbatier knife set in the Debenhams sale.
Down from £100> £50
http://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10001_64736_515701_-1
