Who knows knives ?

[marine65]

My wife uses a 35 year old LC Germain cooks knife made in Japan.
I can get it pretty sharp but after a couple times cutting food it dulls down.
Does a steel knife go bad where it will not hold an edge?
Any suggestions on a new one that's not brutally expensive?

 

[tom slick]

What is your sharpening process?

 

[bioburner]

I am with slick. So many ways to sharpen but only a couple will get an edge that will hold. a few draws across a steal will get you a sharp edge but not one that will hold up.

 

[spasm3]

What are you using for a cutting board? I find the plastic dulls the knife. I like a wood board.

 

[spasm3]

I now use a spyderco sharpener.

 

[raytseng]

Before spending a lot of money on a new knife bring your knife to a cutlery shop that specializes in knife sharpening.

 

[Lyman]

I have been using the cheap Kiwi knife that I learned about on the site. I also use a bamboo cutting board. Works better than my Wife's older chef knife.

 

[bvance554]

^^ The Kiwi knives are great, inexpensive, and surprisingly durable.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: bvance554
^^ The Kiwi knives are great, inexpensive, and surprisingly durable.

+1

Mine does require fairly frequent sharpening, but that's a 10 second job.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

A really high end knife might have a hard, brittle steel suited to keeping a wicked edge welded onto a softer core, or it might have been quenched to produce such a layer at the surface. You might have used the knife so long that the layer suited to holding an edge is gone and you have to sharpen so much because only the softer core steel is left.

 

[totegoat]

The Kiwi knives come nice and sharp. We also use Rapala fillet knives often.