Everybody wants a good knife.
Here’s where to find the best in the land. by Andrea Damewood

For your favorite home chef or local line cook, a new knife is a thing of glory—and it’s even better when someone else pays for it. 

We’re here to assure you that—for the right person—the idea of giving someone 12 inches of highly sharpened carbon steel in a wrapped box isn’t a threat. It’s one of the best Christmas presents ever.

“I think a knife is a great gift,” Eytan Zias, who owns Portland Knife House on Southeast Belmont and is a co-founder of Portland’s Steelport Knife Company, which handcrafts its work in Northeast. “There are not many things you can gift to somebody that we all use every day. I don’t know anybody that goes a day without a kitchen knife. Even if someone is a knife collector, they always want another knife.”

But choosing the right knife for the right chef is a bit of an alchemy, which Zias says people often liken to how Harry Potter picks his wand. “I consider it a compliment,” he says, laughing. “We’ll filter 700 knives down to seven, and those are the ones you’ll put your hands on.”

With so many options out there, we asked the experts for their advice, honed over many years in the industry, on how to pick the best knife for yourself or a lucky recipient.

“Most people have Henckels, or worse, Ikea or Pampered Chef knives,” Zias says. “They’ve spent a lot of money, but they’re not actually good knives.” 

He believes you can find an inexpensive knife that outperforms those big names.

The key? Focus on function over flash, at least to start. Here’s what Zias says he asks shoppers to consider:

What kind of blade: Prioritize carbon steel for performance. It sharpens easily and holds an edge longer. If low-maintenance is a must, stainless steel is a good fallback. Zias says if the first question someone asks him is if they can put their knife in the dishwasher (the answer is NO), he quietly guides them to stainless steel.

Are you a righty or lefty?: Fun fact: there are knives that famous southpaw Ned Flanders could sell in his lefty shop. So try and peep which hand your beloved uses to chop. But if you don’t know, there are ambidextrous knives, Zias says.

Balance: The two dominant styles are Japanese and Western style. These days, Japanese knives are more popular, Zias says, but it really comes down to preference. “Two people will pick up the same knife and have completely different reactions,” Zias notes. The right balance reduces fatigue and feels like an extension of your hand.

Construction: Look for forged blades and full tang construction (the steel extends through the handle). These features increase durability and longevity.

For some people, there is no such thing as too many knives. But in case you’re not trying to go for the whole “guy who fills his house with lizards and blades” vibe, there are three basics to start any aspiring home cook off with, Zias says. 

First is an 8-inch chef knife, which he describes as the workhorse for 99 percent of tasks, from mincing herbs to slicing vegetables. Next is a paring knife, for intricate work like coring and peeling.

Finally, there’s a bread knife, which Zias says should only be used on bread, never tomatoes. Zias says the one Steelport makes is his personal fave. Ron Khormaei, the CEO and founder of Steelport Knife Co, unsurprisingly, says the same.

“Everybody else makes a serrated knife that’s terrible,” Khormaei says. “Our bread knife is the best bread knife in the world. You can’t describe it, you have to experience it.”

Khormaei says he even had a chance to put his engineering degree to work as they designed the serrated edge, landing on a 7 mm sine wave to optimize how it cuts through first crust, then a soft interior. (Brisket obsessives like to use bread knives for the same reason.)

This writer fell in love with the Steelport bread knife at the showroom recently. I hunkered down with a friend and sliced as many pieces of baguette as I could before it got weird. Steelport’s knives are expensive—the bread knife is $450—but it’s hand forged in Portland, given a gorgeous handle made from the burl of Oregon bigleaf maple and a tang that goes all the way through the handle. It has a coffee patina made with Coava beans. You can also get it sharpened for free, forever. It is truly the fancy-assest of presents.

“A knife is an amazing gift if it’s given to someone who truly shows caring about food,” Khormaei says. “It’s for people who don’t cook because they’re hungry, but because they show love to friends and family. You’re saying you value their passion and value their interest.”

Sidebar of Knives (MUAHAHAHAH)

There are a lot of damn knives out there. In order to avoid decision paralysis, here are a few options that Eytan Zias, owner of Portland Knife House and cofounder of Steelport Knife Company, recommends for holiday shoppers.

BEST BUDGET KNIFE

Tojiro Basic 8” chef knife

Price: $47

Blade: VG10 stainless steel. Made in Niigata, Japan. 

What makes it great: “I cannot think of a better value in the kitchen knife world. It’s very rare to find a Japanese-made professional quality knife under $50.”

THE KNIFE THE KNIFE
GUY WOULD GIFT

Sakai Takayuki 33 Layer Hammered-
Damascus 7” santoku

Price: $150

Blade: VG10 stainless steel. Made in Seki, Japan. 

What makes it great: “A little flashy looking for some, but it looks unique, performs well, and is user friendly. It’s a favorite for both professional and home cooks alike.”

FOR THOSE WHO
HAVE EVERYTHING

STEELPORT Knife Co 10” serrated bread knife 

Price: $450

Blade: Drop-forged 52100 carbon steel with a bigleaf maple burl handle. Made in Portland.

What makes it great: “It’s rare to find a bread knife with this steel quality and level of detail, and is a favorite among serious bread bakers and BBQ guys. (It also got a shout out from The New York Times food section.) It’s also Portland-made, using all US-sourced materials.”

BEST SPLURGE

Nigara Hamono 9.5” Ginsan Damascus ebony handle chef knife

Price: $525

Blade: Ginsan Damascus. Made in Hirosaki, Japan. 

What makes it great: “It’s my favorite example of a Japanese forged handmade knife that we have in the shop.”

Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential campaign — which ended $20 million in debt after raising $1 billion — gave money to far-left Rev. Al Sharpton's civil rights organization just weeks before he conducted a friendly interview with her.

The post Harris Campaign Gave $500K to Al Sharpton’s Org Before Their MSNBC Interview appeared first on Breitbart.

Rahul's exit from LSG is a turning point in his career as he moves on to explore new avenues in IPL cricket

When it comes to rebranding, what can your small business learn from a manufacturing giant like Sharp Electronics? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

After its purchase by Japanese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision earlier this year, Sharp went through an extensive rebranding process to focus on its home appliance division.

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Marking their 50th Anniversary in the printing industry and the corporation’s 110th Anniversary in business, SHARP South Africa celebrated their success and unprecedented business growth during a partner event recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa. This event was a follow up from the Sharp summit in 2020 where representatives from SHARP Middle East & Africa [...]

The post SHARP announces Exceptional Performance and Launches its Future Workplace A3 MFPs appeared first on Braves News World.

A new super small knife made from M390 steel promises to offer strong slashing at your fingertips in a package that's about the size of a house key. The compact cutter also comes with two other surprises including a handy bottle opener.

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Category: Outdoors, Lifestyle

Tags: Knife, Multitools, Kickstarter, Everyday Carry, Keychains

Sharp Imaging has added a new family member to its pro-level X Series projectors. The dual-laser XP-X171Q should provide, ahem, sharp 4K visuals even in brightly lit rooms.

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Category: Technology

Tags: Projectors, 4K UHD, Laser, Sharp, bRight

SharpReader 0.9.7.0 is now available at sharpreader.net. Changes since the last version are: Run internal browser in restricted security zone in order to make IE responsible for blocking restricted content, instead of just doing so by parsing and stripping tags. Allow embedded CSS styles in item descriptions (was previously disabled because of javascript exploits that are now caught because of... (128 words)

Sermon by Fr. Gregory Hallam for Sunday, April 14, 2019.

A combination of images shows pistachios and a vision chart through an prescription glasses. — Pexels/Unsplash

Carrots are often hailed as a superfood for eye health, but not everyone enjoys eating them. Fortunately, scientists have identified a nutty alternative for sharper vision:...

Washington – Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez voiced his support for OSHA cooperative programs, as well as the need to increase the agency’s penalty limits, during a March 18 House hearing on the Department of Labor’s budget request for fiscal year 2016.

Silver Spring, MD — At least 46 sanitation workers in the United States and Canada died from on-the-job injuries last year – a 64.3% increase from 2021, a recent analysis shows.

Lexington, KY — Responding to an “alarming trend” of drug overdose deaths in the workplace statewide over a recent 18-month period, the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center recently issued a hazard alert.

Needlestick and sharps injuries occur when needles or other sharp objects inadvertently puncture a person’s skin, and can happen “when people use, disassemble or dispose of needles,” according to the Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety.

Health care workers who are exposed to needles – for example, those administering a COVID-19 vaccine – are at risk of sharps injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens.

Arlington, VA — Hospital units that consistently follow standard safety precautions experience nearly 40% fewer needlesticks and other sharps injuries than other units, a new study has found.

Morgantown, WV — A recent study of work-related sharps injuries shows that health care workers had a sixfold higher risk than all other workers – but other workers are at risk, too.

In a photoinjector electron source, the initial transverse electron bunch properties are determined by the spatial properties of the laser beam on the photocathode. Spatial shaping of the laser is commonly achieved by relay imaging an illuminated circular mask onto the photocathode. However, the Gibbs phenomenon shows that recreating the sharp edge and discontinuity of the cut profile at the mask on the cathode is not possible with an optical relay of finite aperture. Furthermore, the practical injection of the laser into the photoinjector results in the beam passing through small or asymmetrically positioned apertures. This work uses wavefront propagation to show how the transport apertures cause ripple structures to appear in the transverse laser profile even when effectively the full laser power is transmitted. The impact of these structures on the propagated electron bunch has also been studied with electron bunches of high and low charge density. With high charge density, the ripples in the initial charge distribution rapidly wash-out through space charge effects. However, for bunches with low charge density, the ripples can persist through the bunch transport. Although statistical properties of the electron bunch in the cases studied are not greatly affected, there is the potential for the distorted electron bunch to negatively impact machine performance. Therefore, these effects should be considered in the design phase of accelerators using photoinjectors.

Carry lengths of pipe in a standard cargo van and eliminate roof racks.

It was still hot and sweaty in the midday sun just a couple of days after Labor Day in New York, and at first glance, you’d think we were out in the yard in the dead of winter.

Cheryl Ruth Sharp is noted for her accomplishments in health care and nursing through her leadership at BE Smith

As a former teacher of special needs children, Sharpe has direct experience regarding the effect bullying has on children. Her award-winning, bestselling books help readers find hope, inspiration and gratitude.

As a former teacher of special needs children, Sharpe has direct experience regarding the effect bullying has on children. Her award-winning, bestselling books help readers find hope, inspiration and gratitude.

As a former teacher of special needs children, Sharpe has direct experience regarding the effect bullying has on children. Her award-winning, bestselling books help readers find hope, inspiration and gratitude.

As a former teacher of special needs children, Sharpe has direct experience regarding the effect bullying has on children. Her award-winning, bestselling books help readers find hope, inspiration and gratitude.

As a former teacher of special needs children, Sharpe has direct experience regarding the effect bullying has on children. Her award-winning, bestselling books help readers find hope, inspiration and gratitude.

SHARP is an on-site, OSHA consultation program that offers confidential occupational safety and health services to small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S., free of charge.

Dan gets honest about how to sharpen your focus which often involves a shocking concept: not multitasking.

Sharp's new XP-X171Q 4K dual-laser projector punches out 16,500 lumens and offers crisp images, robust color, and a host of thoughtful installation features for large classrooms, boardrooms, museums and houses of worship.

Ridiculous value for a monitor with these specs, even with no stand and shipping costs - paid $38 for StarTrack to Brisbane area, so $237 total, ordered Sunday arrived today.

Should go without saying it's not an ideal monitor for gaming, but honestly it would be plenty enjoyable for many titles imo (just not competitive shooters etc).

The screen was well packed and works perfectly, has a great picture and there were no scratches or dead pixels on my unit.

Specs:

Size & Resolution: 34-inch, UltraWide, 3440 x 1440 (WQHD)
Aspect Ratio: 21:9
Panel Type: IPS
Colour Coverage: 99% sRGB
Brightness: 300 cd/m²
Ports: USB-C (with power delivery up to 90W), HDMI, DisplayPort, USB 3.0, audio out
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Features: Built-in KVM switch, Picture-by-Picture, Picture-in-Picture
Weight: 8.2kg without stand

Pros:

• good bit newer than popular U3415W from recent deals
• decent brightness at 300 cd/m²
• USB-C with solid power delivery at 90W
• USB hub and KVM switch
• excellent overall value

Cons:

• 60Hz peasantry
• useless "fast" overdrive mode (visible overshoot like if mouse trails were enabled, just don't)

Before anyone has a sook about the "free shipping over $199" like on that last thread, it's a pretty heavy unit at 8.2kg (not incl. packaging) and the exclusion is clearly stated on BPC's shipping policy page.

Cheers for the mad bargain BPC, couldn't be happier.

Diverticulitis is a common condition that affects digestive health. Learn the causes and symptoms and get the best tips for managing and preventing flare-ups.

Knife Sharpener: Selected Poems

Richard Lutz takes his pew for the Ben Johnson classic that caustically sends up his fellow Londoners of 1610.

Lutz Mattner
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 111 (), 45-122.
Abstract, references and article information

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The fallout from the pandemic looks set to stall trade and investment to Latin America.

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Journalists at CNN, including some of the network’s biggest personalities, are living in fear of “inevitable” layoffs and pay cuts as its new CEO looks to shore up finances amid declining ratings.

That’s according to The Ankler, which reported Wednesday that 77-year-old Chris Wallace—whose already been relegated to a weekend program—is among the network’s most well-known names whose future is in limbo.

Wallace’s $8.5 million contract, signed by the ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker to recruit him away from Fox News three years ago, is reportedly up and he was spotted in CEO Mark Thompson’s office on Tuesday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

How well do we look after people who are seriously sick? Astonishingly, research is scant – which makes Neil Vickers and Derek Bolton's ambitious new book, Being Ill, very welcome

Various Cook Children’s locations are experiencing a spike in cases of salmonella, but the Texas Department of State Health Services has not reported an outbreak.     Since July, the Emergency Department at Cook Children’s Medical Center – Fort Worth has also reported increased numbers of patients with salmonella.   “In... Continue Reading

The post Looks like they bite quite sharply. appeared first on Indexed.

With the government announcing big spending and tax, the differences between the two main parties feel sharper, writes Laura Kuenssberg.

Nurturing growth and maintaining the health of decades-old shrubs is a beloved hobby for many. Now, recent research highlights that gardening can also keep the brain healthy in old age (!--ref1--).

India's wearable market declined in Q2, primarily because smartwatch are not attracting consumers.

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Japan’s Sharp Corp. continues to find ways to raise money as it faces an impending cash crunch later this year.