Kitchen knives

[rue]

Even being on this forum for three years, I wasn't sure where to post this, but my question is....


Where did people store kitchen knives in the 30s and 40s? I'm guessing they didn't have knife blocks like we have now. Were they stored in a drawer, on the wall.... ? If anyone has a picture, that would be great too.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Judging from my grandparents house (when I was a kid), they kept them in a drawer.
I've also seen a set hanging on the side of a cabinet, next to the sink.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandmother kept hers in the pantry, in the top drawer of a free-standing cabinet. She didn't have the whole array of knives you'd likely find in a modern kitchen -- there was a bread knife, a carving knife and fork set with matching stag handles, and a carbon-steel butcher knife that must've been a hundred years old. The steak knives were kept in a kitchen drawer with the rest of the everyday utensils, right next to those little prong things you stick in the ends of an ear of corn and a bunch of miniature Sterling Salt shakers from the takeout chicken place uptown.

 

[Shangas]

I find it tricky to believe that there were no such things as knife-blocks in the old days. I'm pretty sure that such things existed. But they were probably reserved for the grander houses.

When my father was young, kitchen-knives consisted of the bog-standard usual slicers and dicers, along with one of these fearsome headchoppers:

No Chinese kitchen is complete without one of these huge meat-cleavers. We still have one in our house and we still use it whenever we have chicken or pork or beef or anything of that nature.

It just sits loose in the drawer under the stove. In older times though, it might have a hole drilled through the handle so that you could tie a lanyard on it and hang it from a nail in the wall.

In Chinese cooking, knife skills are very important. Tradition dictates that you never eat anything that you can't stuff into your mouth in one go. So everything must be cut to bite-sized (or near-bitesized) pieces BEFORE it comes to the table.

 

[DirtyHarry]

98% of work in the kitchen is done with a chef's knife. So from there if you want a great one make it carbon steel or an old henckels/sabatier...then keep it razor sharp with waterstones- this thread could snowball.

 

[Shangas]

The set of knives we have at home are all Solingen steel, I believe. I never noticed this mark of quality until after I got into straight razors, however.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I have something similar to Lizzie's point.
My grandparents only had a carving knife, carving fork, and matching sharpener.
All of them were kept in a drawer by the stove.
There may have been steak knives, in the same drawer with the utensils.
Like many, I too have the block with a set of knives (Chicago Cutlery), but I like it that way so I can find them!

 

[dhermann1]

I suspect a huge percentage of golden era kitchen knives were kept in the top drawer of the old Hoosier.

 

[rue]

Thanks everyone!

Lizzie, you just made me realize I have way too many knives.

 

[sheeplady]

My grandmother kept her's in the silverware drawer. They were behind the silverware tray and the blades pointed towards the sink. This way they were "hidden" from the grandkids and when you stuck your hand in there, you knew which was the sharp end and the handle end without looking.

ETA: I've heard that all you need is a chef's (or cooks knife), a bread knife, a carving knife, and a paring knife. To be honest, those are the only knives I use. Mainly I use the cook's knife and the paring knife, the carving and bread knives are more "special occasion."

 

[Shangas]

I don't have one, but on the subject of knives, does anyone have one of these in their kitchens?

For those who don't know what this is, it's a Victorian-era knife-sharpener. You slot the knives in the top, and then you turn the crank. And that rotates the grindstones inside the sharpener, to sharpen up the blades of your knives.

Somehow I can't help but think, how handy such a thing must be in a kitchen. A pity you can't get them anymore. I am RUBBISH at sharpening anything apart from my razor, so something like that would be invaluable.

 

[Mabel]

I know that people often stored their knives either in a drawer or in a knife block, but during the golden era a common knife block looked different than they do today. They were more likely to be hung on the wall, and usually only had space for a couple of knives, since that was all most people had. Here's what they looked like.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/il570xn380048758h3v9.jpg/] [/URL]


Something else people would sometimes do---which has recently had a resurgence as a 'trendy' kitchen style---was to hang a long, narrow magnet on the wall over a sink or counter, and keep the knives on it. My Grandmother had one which had been made by my Grandfather in the forties. It was hung high on the wall so little hands couldn't reach.

Also, my Grandmother never needed a knife sharpener, she used to sharpen her knives on the bottom of a teacup. I keep an old teacup on a shelf and run my kitchen blades over it every time I use them. It takes about 30 seconds, and keeps them razor sharp.

 

[Shangas]

Also, my Grandmother never needed a knife sharpener, she used to sharpen her knives on the bottom of a teacup. I keep an old teacup on a shelf and run my kitchen blades over it every time I use them. It takes about 30 seconds, and keeps them razor sharp.

I had to watch a couple of videos on YouTube to figure out what you meant by that. It looks like a pretty effective method!

 

[DirtyHarry]

the above posts regarding knife sharpening are all pretty far off, ask any vintage-esque guy with a straight razor if he sharpens it on the bottom of a cup. That is a way to sharpen a knife that has been beat to a blunt edge, but a fine knife edge is like anything else worth attaining- NOT EASY. Stones & a strop, no shortcut around it except perhaps a drink to enjoy while you create it over some time on your stones. It is easier to keep a knife sharp than to sharpen a beat one, they say. Put a proper edge on it & then hit it with the steel or crock sticks before kitchen use & it will stay an efficient tool.

 

[Shangas]

I shave with a straight-razor every day. I can sharpen that easily. Sharpening an actual kitchen-knife is not something I can do. Unlike a razor, a kitchen-knife doesn't have a profile that lends itself to easy sharpening.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We always used to take our knives to the guy behind the meat counter at the grocery store. As long as you bought a couple of pork chops or a pound of hamburger he'd be happy to sharpen your knives for you. Nowadays, of course, if you walk into a grocery store with a bunch of knives in your hand you'll be floor-tackled by security and hauled off in handcuffs.

 

[Shangas]

On the rare occasions that I get blades sharpened, I have it done at a knife-shop.

When I finally tracked down my gran's tailoring shears after a LONG search, they were really blunt and quite useless. A couple of phone-calls around town, and for $5.00, I had them professionally resharpened.

 

[Shangas]

On the rare occasions that I get blades sharpened, I have it done at a knife-shop.

When I finally tracked down my gran's tailoring shears after a LONG search, they were really blunt and quite useless. A couple of phone-calls around town, and for $5.00, I had them professionally resharpened.

 

[Mabel]

the above posts regarding knife sharpening are all pretty far off, ask any vintage-esque guy with a straight razor if he sharpens it on the bottom of a cup. That is a way to sharpen a knife that has been beat to a blunt edge, but a fine knife edge is like anything else worth attaining- NOT EASY. Stones & a strop, no shortcut around it except perhaps a drink to enjoy while you create it over some time on your stones. It is easier to keep a knife sharp than to sharpen a beat one, they say. Put a proper edge on it & then hit it with the steel or crock sticks before kitchen use & it will stay an efficient tool.

I've never sharpened a straight razor, so I have no idea the most effective way to do that. But croc sticks and many sharpeners are made of fine-grit ceramic, just like a teacup or coffee mug. This technique has been used in China for hundreds of years, and trust me, it can make a dull kitchen blade extremely sharp.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Both sets of my grandparents were married and set up house in the nineteen-teens. I expect their kitchens were pretty typical of southern kitchens of that era. Their knives were kept in a kitchen counter drawer with the other kitchen stuff. I never saw a knife holder of any kind at either house. And their knives weren't the nice stainless steel ones like we use today. They were mainly wooden handled steel knives that would rust like crowbars if you put them away even slightly damp. I think most were "Old Hickory" brand, but I expect there were other brands, too. I actually have most of their knives now...especially my maternal grandmother's...having inherited them from my parents. I expect many of those knives are now almost one hundred years old.

AF