Frost Mora for the kitchen

[WhichDoctor]

In our house we have half a dozen different sharp knives in the kitchen, all with blades between 7-10cm long. The trouble is that none of them can hold an edge for more than a few days.

So I was wondering if anyone knows of a good brand or style of kitchen knife along the lines of the Frost Mora. Relatively cheap, well made and with a blade that can hold an edge.

And before anyone suggests I just use Moras in the kitchen we couldn't fit five Moras in the cutlery draw

Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[Mosnan]

Have you looked at the Frosts Website - they do a range of Kitchen knives.

They are stainless but I'm thinking you won't want carbon for the kitchen.

But I'm guessing they will be cheapish compared to Wustof's etc.

Not sure where you can get them in the UK but an email to frosts would sort that out

Nicolas

 

[locum76]

http://www.bushgear.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=14&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64

you get them here.

 

[Matt.S]

Out of interest, what knives do you currently have? How do you typically sharpen them? How are they kept -- banging together loose in the draw? Do you wash them by hand? What chopping board do you use? What food do you typically prepare and how? If you can solve the problem of your knives going blunt you won't need to buy new ones!

 

[WhichDoctor]

http://www.bushgear.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=14&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=64

you get them here.

Funny, I've never noticed they made kitchen knives. But £35 per knife is a bit more than I was thinking of.

Out of interest, what knives do you currently have? How do you typically sharpen them? How are they kept -- banging together loose in the draw? Do you wash them by hand? What chopping board do you use? What food do you typically prepare and how? If you can solve the problem of your knives going blunt you won't need to buy new ones!

As for what knives I have, know idea, if they ever had brand names they've long worn off but I'm shore they are just cheapy bog standard ones. Of the six there are at least four different types. I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker which I use for sharpening altho I have just taken delivery of a Japanese water stone. Yes they are all together in a draw, yes we wash by hand with a sponge, we have a wooden bread bored we use for chopping on and they are used almost exclusively for chopping veg and salad. We have a large serrated knife for bread and meat, we do have a large non-serrated breadknife but it will go from shaving sharp to blunt in the course of three slices of bread, so we never use it.

One of the knives will consistently hold an edge for longer than the others which makes me think that they are just pour quality

 

[robin wood]

Funny, I've never noticed they made kitchen knives. But £35 per knife is a bit more than I was thinking of.



As for what knives I have, know idea, if they ever had brand names they've long worn off but I'm shore they are just cheapy bog standard ones. Of the six there are at least four different types. I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker which I use for sharpening altho I have just taken delivery of a Japanese water stone. Yes they are all together in a draw, yes we wash by hand with a sponge, we have a wooden bread bored we use for chopping on and they are used almost exclusively for chopping veg and salad. We have a large serrated knife for bread and meat, we do have a large non-serrated breadknife but it will go from shaving sharp to blunt in the course of three slices of bread, so we never use it.

One of the knives will consistently hold an edge for longer than the others which makes me think that they are just pour quality

Sounds like you have answered your own question to me.

We were given one of those 8* frosts cooks knives on a tour of the factory 5 years ago. We keep it in a wood knife block not rattling against other metal things, it cuts far better than our equivalent high end sabatier. mainly I suspect because it is .5mm thinner. It holds a superb edge for a very long time and the sharpmaker would be ideal for keeping it that way. £35 for a tool that I use several times a day and will last me 20 years or more is not what I consider expensive. Of course you can get kitchen knives in Tesco for £5 but would they be better than what you have?

 

[johnnytheboy]

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30099877

robin check these out, they are thin and cut excellent, they hold an edge very well, they go in the dish washer in my house and have still held a good edge, these ones are a great wee knife for all general purpose jobs, i had thought about getting a sheath made to take one to the fishing to use to prep food for bbqs etc

The below knife is a very precise knife, great for all you veggies, as it has a deep blade it keeps your fingers away from the edge pretty well.

I hate the idea of the ikea type consumerism, but frost is no different with their mass produced moras so it would be double standards for me to say anything more than that

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10099878

 

[WhichDoctor]

Sounds like you have answered your own question to me.

Well that wasn't really my question, it was Matt's .

£35 for a tool that I use several times a day and will last me 20 years or more is not what I consider expensive.

Well no, but I was rather thinking of the cost of buying 5 of them .

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30099877

robin check these out, they are thin and cut excellent, they hold an edge very well, they go in the dish washer in my house and have still held a good edge, these ones are a great wee knife for all general purpose jobs, i had thought about getting a sheath made to take one to the fishing to use to prep food for bbqs etc

The below knife is a very precise knife, great for all you veggies, as it has a deep blade it keeps your fingers away from the edge pretty well.

I hate the idea of the ikea type consumerism, but frost is no different with their mass produced moras so it would be double standards for me to say anything more than that

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10099878

Those look excellent johnny, just the thing I was thinking of. I thought there must be some normal cheep knives made with good steel. after all Frosts manage to make the Mora for £10 and there's generally a fraction of the metal in a standard kitchen knife than there is in a Mora.

 

[robin wood]

I like the look of this IKEA knife http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10134952

It would be interesting to try one. Generally I like IKEA design, they do some cr@p but they do some good stuff at good prices too. I like the fact that Frosts still make in Sweden, the factory is a clean, healthy environment and the staff in Swedish industry tend to get well paid. I have not seen any info on where or how IKEA source their products but I would be surprised if the knives are made in Europe.

 

[Draven]

I like the look of this IKEA knife http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/10134952

That does look like it'd be a mighty useful knife if the steel is up to it - we have a similarly sized knife that would get used for everything if it weren't for the steel, which isn't that bad but not as good as I'd like - so we generally use either one I made myself (looks like a typical trade knife kinda pattern, blade about 5") or a stainless clipper, unless I have a carbon blade I want to patina. I would like to try the mora kitchen knives though.

 

[johnnytheboy]

I was wondering if they were made in sweden or not but for £2 its very cheap which always gives you the chinese manufacturing thought.

They are good knifes though, i am surprised for the money how well they have lasted, i have a few and they are basically never out the dishwasher so good enough for £2

 

[Armleywhite]

It doesn't really matter how much you pay for knives, you'll still have to use a steel or similar to keep the blade as sharp as possible. Butchers, chefs etc usually buy the best and are constantly having to sharpen. Just make it a habbit to quickly use a steel before each use and if a heavy session of the knife use the steel often throughout. Before I joined the army i was a butcher and to this day I sharpen a knife before use. Habbit that hasn't died.

 

[BigShot]

I'm pretty sure Ikea's stuff is all made in Sweden, at least the flat-pack gear.
I saw a documentary a while back (might actually have been one of those "how it's made" type shows) which said some small town made most of the world's flat-pack furniture - 'twas Ikea.

Super hi-tech production, machine packed boxes and all that.


RE: Knives going blunt...
..could it be lack of stropping that's doing it? I noticed any knife I've ever used goes dull quicker when not stropped. I've got a supermarket cheapie that I got in France (branded Birembeau or some such) which isn't great but holds a good enough edge for me, especially when stropped.

 

[Armleywhite]

In the kitchen / Butchers, the sharper the knife the less accidents happen and given some of the textures both have to cut through, it's hardly surprising that they blunt out pretty quick. When I say blunt out, they'll still go through your skin like a hot knife through butter, but not quite got the edge on some tougher stuff, sinew etc. A lot of butchers knives are used when boning, which is pushing the knife along the bone to strip the meat off. Takes the edge off enough to make it that little more dangerous. Hence the need to stop and run it along the steel a few times.

Stropping a working butchery / kitchen knife is a little impractical as the gunk on the knife would soon crap up the stropp. A kitchen / butchers knife will never stay razor sharp for long. The only way to keep them sharp is a few runs each side up the steel when using or just before.

 

[BigShot]

Armley - certainly, I'd never use a strop in mid-use like I might with a wood knife.

The steel to straighten (very important to note, steels are for straightening, not sharpening) mid way through a job and make it that bit keener, for me the strop only comes in after sharpening when the blade is clean.

The thought of putting a dirty meat knife onto a strop though?
!

 

[Draven]

(very important to note, steels are for straightening, not sharpening)

I believe (feel free to correct me) that there are two kinds - one smooth for aligning the burr to stop it folding over (straightening it, as you say) and one with raised lines running the length of it to give the blade very small serrations to aid in cutting the tougher bits of meat.

Cheers
Pete

 

[BigShot]

Could be - I never did get into the butchering side of things when I worked in kitchens, so that could be true.

Oddly enough I know most of what I know about sharpening from camping and bushcraft - not my time in kitchens.
I was shown how to use a steel and could keep an edge relatively keen with one, but never knew what was going on until years later when I read some sharpening guides for plane irons and bushie knives!
It's only since then that I've managed to get such a good edge onto a blade it actually started to scare me a little (my axe) and I've still got a lot to learn technique-wise, so things can only get sharper!

 

[Armleywhite]

Although I never knew the science of the things, I was always under the impression that the steel removes the bur created from the over use of a knife in any given use. Sharpening gives the knife the razor sharp edge, yet the steel acts as a kind of stropp?? I think thats how it works. Keeps em very very sharp regardless.