A Couple of Questions - Knives

[duckstruck]

1) What is the best way to clean old dingy carbon steel butcher knives? I want to shine them up a bit.

2) What do you use for cutting boards. I have a nice blocks maple cutting board. The wife uses glass cutting board in the kitchen she says the wood traps too much bacteria.

3) Is there a special sanitizer that butcher shops or teams use when they travel to clean and sanitize their knives and cutting boards?

If so where is a good place to get the above stuff?

Thanks
Duckstruck

[Chef Jim]

Originally Posted by duckstruck

1) What is the best way to clean old dingy carbon steel butcher knives? I want to shine them up a bit.

2) What do you use for cutting boards. I have a nice blocks maple cutting board. The wife uses glass cutting board in the kitchen she says the wood traps too much bacteria.

3) Is there a special sanitizer that butcher shops or teams use when they travel to clean and sanitize their knives and cutting boards?

If so where is a good place to get the above stuff?

Thanks
Duckstruck

1 I use Ultra 6000 from Polish Plus to clean my knives. http://www.polishplus.com

2. Maple is great for a cutting board, Glass will ruin your knife. Sorry wifey. I use wood and plastic for cutting boards and wash them with hot water and dish soap. Ask the wife if she eats out in a restaurant, and if so ask the chef if he uses a glass cutting board. LOL

3. This is not rocket science, and there is no secret formula. Common sense seems to work well for most. A tip from my book. I have a unique ability to tell one side of the plastic cutting board from the other. I look for the logo on it. Then I only use the logo side for cutting meat and the other side for other things.

I'm still alive so it must be working.

Jim

[Big_T_BBQ]

1) Most metal polishes will work on the knives - you may want to do a medium/fine and then a super fine to get the purdy

2) Wood cutting board are the best for the life of knives - the plastic ones are ok but dull your knives faster. To keep you wood board sealed get food grade mineral oil from any kitchen supply store and rub the board down after every cleaning.

3) Sanitizer - Tea tree oil. It's non-caustic, non-toxic, antiseptic, etc, etc, etc. Plus it doesn't stink

[ChicagoSizzlin]

Anyone recommend a good knife set that wont break the bank? Just something for the backyard cook is what I am looking for. Sorry Duck I dont mean to hijack your thread but I was just looking at knife sets when I saw your post.

[doctorsmoke]

Originally Posted by ChicagoSizzlin

Anyone recommend a good knife set that wont break the bank? Just something for the backyard cook is what I am looking for. Sorry Duck I dont mean to hijack your thread but I was just looking at knife sets when I saw your post.

As has already been stated several times, a glass cutting board will Dull your Knives, and, if you use it outside, you will probably break it..

To satisfy the wife, you can get a cutting board that is made of a sort of plastic-like material that has Anti-bacterial properties and will not break.

Go to a good house-wares store, at the mall, and see what they have, or, go on-line.
These plastic-like cutting boards will Not Dull your Knives nor break and the wife will be happy when you show her the words, Anti-bacterial, on the wrapper or lable that comes with your new cutting board.

doctorsmoke (Doc)

[1FUNVET]

1- I like the patina on old knives.When i get one, i just use 000 steel wool to get most of the rust etc off and after that i just keep a light coat of mineral oil on them

2-I use a bamboo cutting board that has multiple coats of mineral oil.

3-To keep clean and sanitized, i use a mix of hydrogen peroxide and water after each use.Hand wash in warm soapy water and dry immediately.

[landarc]

I prefer to now polish carbon steel knves, it becomes and endless process. I prefer to use them which keeps them fairly nice. They do not need to be shiny.

Glass will ruin a knife, you will never have a sharp knife if you cut on glass. End cut maple butcher block is great stuff. I prefer Epicurean cutting boards made from paperstone. I first ran across this stuff in commercial kitchen design and really like it.

For sanitizing, I use Starsan, a form of cleanser used in brewing.

If I wanted inexpensive knives, I would look at Dexter-Russel Sani-Safe knives and Victorinox knives as great options.

[Chef Jim]

Originally Posted by ChicagoSizzlin

Anyone recommend a good knife set that wont break the bank? Just something for the backyard cook is what I am looking for. Sorry Duck I dont mean to hijack your thread but I was just looking at knife sets when I saw your post.

Think it's Kiwi. Patio Daddio did a review on his blog, http://www.patiodaddiobbq.com/2010/0...wi-knives.html

My friend bought a set for like $30 and loves them.

[duckstruck]

Thanks for the replies and the info, much appreciated.

[luke duke]

http://foodsafety.ifas.ufl.edu/HTML/il114.htm

Research has shown that when bacteria were inoculated on both wooden and polymer boards, bacterial recoveries from wooden boards generally were less than those from plastic boards, regardless of new or used status (Ak et al., 1994a). These authors found no differences between wood types (basswood, birch, maple, maple plus walnut). Cleaning with hot water and detergents was found to be effective in removing bacteria, regardless of the species, wood type, or whether the wood was new or used (Ak et al., 1994b).

[Harbormaster]

Originally Posted by ChicagoSizzlin

Anyone recommend a good knife set that wont break the bank? Just something for the backyard cook is what I am looking for. Sorry Duck I dont mean to hijack your thread but I was just looking at knife sets when I saw your post.

The Kiwi knives are quite inexpensive, I bought 4 of them after reading about them here. I have also aquired/purchased a 'set' of Mundial knives. Some were a gift, the others I bought on-line at Mission Restraunt Supply. (http://www.missionrs.com/). I was told by one of the Brethren that they were good quality knives used in restraunts a lot.
YMMV.

[jswordy]

Originally Posted by duckstruck

1) What is the best way to clean old dingy carbon steel butcher knives? I want to shine them up a bit.

2) What do you use for cutting boards. I have a nice blocks maple cutting board. The wife uses glass cutting board in the kitchen she says the wood traps too much bacteria.

3) Is there a special sanitizer that butcher shops or teams use when they travel to clean and sanitize their knives and cutting boards?

If so where is a good place to get the above stuff?

Thanks
Duckstruck

1.) I dunno. Best metal polish ever, though, is this stuff: http://www.amazon.com/Autosol-Metal-.../dp/B003JNZDCA

2.)
http://faculty.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/fa...ttingboard.htm

http://www.livestrong.com/article/11...rd-after-meat/

3.) Butcher shops and slaughterhouses use a chlorine solution. You can mix one up with laundry bleach and water. Slaughterhouses even use this on the meat directly, as a wash if fecal matter contacts it.

[jswordy]

Originally Posted by Harbormaster

The Kiwi knives are quite inexpensive, I bought 4 of them after reading about them here. I have also aquired/purchased a 'set' of Mundial knives. Some were a gift, the others I bought on-line at Mission Restraunt Supply. (http://www.missionrs.com/). I was told by one of the Brethren that they were good quality knives used in restraunts a lot.
YMMV.

+1,000 on the Kiwis...they do need sharpening after you use them a bit, but they hold a keen edge. I was impressed!

[nzrebel]

[QUOTE=Big_T_BBQ;1318840]1) Most metal polishes will work on the knives - you may want to do a medium/fine and then a super fine to get the purdy

2) Wood cutting board are the best for the life of knives - the plastic ones are ok but dull your knives faster. To keep you wood board sealed get food grade mineral oil from any kitchen supply store and rub the board down after every cleaning.end quote


I wouldn't oil after every cleaning (which would be everytime you used it, right?) That's overdoing it.

Rule of thumb for a new board is once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, then as needed (which is when your knife leaves a white stripe on your wood when you cut)

For older boards, a couple of coats of booz block wax will restore them, follow up with min oil as needed.

Dave

[TactTm1]

A couple years ago, Cooks Illustrated did an article on kitchen knives and some subsequent individual kife reviews. The Fibrox line from Forshner got top marks for steel, durability and shape.

I bought the 3 piece kitchen set and have great luck with them, plus they are NSF approved!!

http://www.forschnerknives.net/eshop...ategory=Fibrox Ser