semi-OT: Viking Knives

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

i am the skeptics' skeptic. Someone here mentioned the "Viking" ceramic grill, which we discovered a few years back was just an attempt to trade on the viking name by wrapping a ceramic grill in stainless. goofy.

and i remember when viking first started making stoves for the home. we used to put commercial viking ranges into houses, and then viking caught on and started making stoves/oven specifically for the home market, sometimes turning out things that just 'Looked' fancy, and appealed to yuppies building million-dollar homes.

so. it was a VERY nice surprise to stumble on their knives. i won an 8" chef's knife (second place) last year in a carving contest (the "Serious Eats" annual jack-o-lantern contest), and this year won a set including the same 8" chef's knife, a 4" paring knife, and a 5" flexible boning knife (first place).

top two are the chef's knives, obv.

i was very pleasantly surprised. nice and hefty. yeah, "same old" soft german steel that serious knife folks complain about, but if you find henckels and wusthof to be an excellent choice for home-use (i like the balance and heft of the wusthof, though they can be hard to keep razor sharp for very long).

so imagine my surprise when the viking knives came in, and i actually prefer them. beefier, they roll very well (the chef's knives), and they don't cost a million bucks, so i don't need to throw a hissyfit if some guest takes one down and uses it at a dinner party to slice something.

they actually seem to stay sharper than the wusties, but they are the (same?) sollingen steel.

anyway. lame review, but thought i'd share.

here's where they reside...
we live in an old cottagey 1920's house, small kitchen.

behind that potrack (which i made, thanks very much) is a frikkin cleaver, hanging there like the sword of damocles. hahaha

Mickey · December 2009

I like your kitchen set-up. Real nice.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

real small.

hahaha
thanks though

BigT · December 2009

I love the setup- where did you find the continuous knife strip material?

Gator Bait · December 2009

Congratulations on winning the prizes, Stripsteak. Your pumpkins were outstanding. Nice looking knives, they are going to need to get more creative with their prizes next year, looks like you have enough knives. :lol:

Gator

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

well...
when i get an idea in my head, i don't let it go.

i found a small shop that sharpens knives and sells kitchen equipment. they had a magnetic strip, about 18 inches long. two strip magnets in metal channels. if you look at the knife rack, you can see a single strip, and a double strip. the double strip is two of these racks placed vertically, end to end.

the single strip is another of these double racks split in half lengthwise (ripped on a table saw). those two strips are end-to-end as well. they keep the knives from rotating under the weight of the handles.

i hate to say it, but i thought one double rack would do it. they were 20+ bucks each. i end up needing three, so i spent more than i wanted. but they are up and out of the way right over the stove, and secure.

this is similar, but mine was maybe 16 or 18 inches long. i painted them to match the cabs.
Knife Rack

.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

the best prize was that last year, when i won second place, a bunch of the follow-up comments were people saying i got ripped off, and that i should have taken first.

hahaha
nice to have fans.

they almost DQ'd me this year because they said the close-up shot of the lit pumpkin didn't look like it was a real pumpkin carving. bastids. heretics!

mad max beyond eggdome · December 2009

good looking knives jeff. . .i wonder, if like everything that viking does other than stoves, if those knives aren't in fact made by one of the regular german knife producers (henkel or wustoff) and then have 'viking' stamped on them under license ....

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

oh i'm sure they absolutely are.

which is why i was thinking it was nice to win them (the first one), but i wasn't terribly excited. figured they'd be crappola. that it would just be a knock-off P.O.S.

take a look at the handles on them, though. there is a lot of material there. see that nice round butt on the rear bolster? gives it a great balance (to me). i imagine some folks don't want a heavy knife, but these really feel great to use.

someone needs to show me how yto use a flexible boning knife.

i have done some flexible boning in my time, but never in the kitchen. ok. when we first moved in maybe.

but how to use the flexible blade? need some tips.
for de-boning, filleting fish obviously, but what about chicken, etc.?

mad max beyond eggdome · December 2009

you're funny!! problem is i also know your serious!! :whistle:

as far as boning knives, i do a lot of de-boning with a knife like the one in your picture, doing things like taking the bone of our chicken thighs and i make sure the blade is really sharp up by the tip, and then its really easy to work the tip in around the little tendons that connect the meat to the bone at each end of a thigh bone for instance ...once you've snipped that tendon, its really easy to run the knive down the bone and remove it from the rest of the meat ...

its also easy to run that tip straight into a joint to disconnect between two pieces (like disconnecting a wing from the breast . . especially if i'm doing somehing like removng the carcass for a turduckhen ...

hope that makes sense ..

RRP · December 2009

I like your convenient knife storage - unfortunately for me she who must be obeyed has a problem with any knifes being displayed...old horror movie hang up I guess!

So I came up with a workable solution that keeps us both happy. BTW I used those same magnetic strips but horizontal like in now you see it

and now you don't! using the ol' false bottom trick!

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

nice. good way to store knives in a drawer without having them bang around and damage each other.

the only downside to my set-up is that the least used knives are high up (ok i guess). the boning knife is so thin that the blade doesn't have enough mass to stick to the magnets, so that one needs a home. haven't solved it. you can see it isn't on my rack....

gdenby · December 2009

Congrats on the rewards for your skill. The brand name, at least, holds a lot prestige.

Because you have two of the 8" chef's knives, it might be interesting to take the bevel on one of them down to 15 degrees, instead of the standard European 20. Then see if it will hold the edge. I took my old Sabatier/Hoffritz down to 16, and have been pleased to see that it holds the edge pretty well. I do avoid any bones, so its not a "workhorse."

(I did take a few thrift shop no name blades down to 15 degrees. One edge didn't last even 4 cuts thru a pork loin roast.)

I think weight considerations are more important if you are chopping, slicing, etc for more than 4 hours, something most home chef's rarely run into. Likewise edge retention. As I've cooked more from scratch, and find myself doing several hours of cutting (well, maybe it only seems like hours), the lighter harder blades have become more attractive. Just saving a few seconds here and there by not steeling is convenient.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

interesting thoughts. maybe i'll take the older one in and have it done to 15 degrees. i'm not smart enough to sharpen it correctly by hand, and don't wanna buy some "system" to do it.

haven't been smart enough to see if these are double bevelled, either.

i don't work enough with them to get tired from the wight, so for me it's about the feel. that wusthof santoku i bought when santokus were all the rage. but the relatively flat edge (not much curve from tip to hell) means it sorta acts like a "chopper" rather than a knife i can roll from tip to heel on, and rock it back and forth. i rarely use it for that reason

fishlessman · December 2009

thats a good knife for the glove box :laugh: :whistle:

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

hahaha B.S.

i'm gonna put the spare chef's knife in there.
never know when some psycho will try to grab the wheel and steer you into a bridge abutment

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

thanks for the tips...
i think i will go and bone something right now. ...back in three minutes (seven, tops!)

gdenby · December 2009

I would be very surprised if the edges were not double beveled. The only single bevel I have is a Japanese Deba.

The difference in going from a cumulative 40 degree edge down to 30 is very noticeable. The single 15 degree is scary. I happened to be working through some tough skin with the deba, and it felt like more work than usual, so I thought it had dulled some. When I went to wash it after use, I nicked a finger, and found that, no, as far as my skin was concerned, it was still a razor.

mad max beyond eggdome · December 2009

you know, its funny, i had almost the same experience.. .i also bought an 8 inch santuko when they were all the rage . .. but for the same reason i almost only use when chopping things like mushrooms or nuts ...i still find myself going to my 8 or 10 inch chefs knifes for the majority of my cutting/slicing/dicing . . .

julia child always said you really only need 3 knives, a paring knive, a boning knife and a good 8 inch chef's knife .. ..even though she had many more than that . .

BigT · December 2009

I actually have the product you linked to that I was going to mount horizontally, but I would prefer your setup. The Amazon page shows 24" racks- I will try one of those and I will rip the 12" rack I own already.

Thank you for sharing- it will be nice to finally get the knives up and out of the way.

Terence Fails
Big T

Nashville TN

lowercasebill · December 2009

i use a flexible boning or fillet knife to do this:
fish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVTCsp_ISKc

fowl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GCdkuQoLrY

this method is best done with a flexible boning knife, ignor the section on traditional breast carving and watch the part about removing the whole breast and slicing. no self respecting chef would use his sharp slicing knife for anything but slicing.. separating the joints and removing the breast from the bone are what the boning knife is for..

knice knives by the way .
bill

BigT · December 2009

Two filet knives, a carbide / ceramic cheapo flip sharpener and quart & gallon ziplocs ride in my truck door pouch. I can clean my catch at the dock, at home or at someone else's dock. Still need to get a D-R butcher's knife for steaking.

BIg T

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

i slice the breast off like that, in one big chunk, but it is a little dicey doing it with the tip of a slicer. always think i can hear it scraping the bones...

maybe the last knife i get should be a longer flexible boning knife. that viking one is 5 inches. gordon had a nice long one for that salmon.

best thing about my knives is they were free...
although i spent probably fourteen hours total carving both pumpkins. multiply that times an hourly rate and i prob'ly coulda bought the knives and had cash left over. ah well.

thanks for the tips. very helpful.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

you know, i finrmly believe i can get by on three knives.

only ones i actually bought were the original chef's knife, a 4" paring knife, and the bread knife. the small steak knives were from santa, and the others i won. well. i bought the sanoku, too. but that's relegated to collecting dust. and ok. the cleaver i got to open coconuts. hold the coconut in one hand and hit it with the back of the cleaver. hahaha

scares the sheeee-IT out of my wife when i do that.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

you just know that in six months i'm going to be all nuts about sharpening my knives myself now, don't you? hahaha

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

he means for protecting yourself from psycho hitch hikers. long story...
hahahaha

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker · December 2009

it holds them well. if you can swing it, might want to do two rows of double strips. i was being cheap. i actually figured it was more than enough to use one strip, but if you are too casual about putting them back, sometimes a heavy one will slide a bit.

tried to strike a balance. don't want it so aggressive that it clanks the knife out of my hand and risks the edge.

there are all wood (rare-earth magnet-powered) knife holders, but i think they wouldn't work vertically like this because the wood is slipperier. but they are great for ensuring no damage to the knife edge

fishlessman · December 2009

i keep a big old hunting knife in the truck, scary neighborhood, stike lives nearby :laugh:

fishlessman · December 2009

the 5 inch knife is plenty in that style, the only reason i have a long fillet is for skinning fillets, something you would have your fish monger do. when skinning a good size fillet a fillet knife cant be too long

Bordello · December 2009

Very nice collections of knives, glad you like your vikings, I'm sure you have them for a long time.

Regards,
Bordello

BigT · December 2009

Hey, my story will work just fine for the sheriff... :lol:

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semi-OT: Viking Knives

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