machette for kitchen use !

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preventec47

Joined
Nov 25, 2007
Messages
58
For a couple of years I have been looking for a kitchen knife for chopping
on a cutting board that has a perfectly straight blade to match the
surface of the cutting board. Seems like common sense but there is NOT
any kitchen knife like that with a displaced handle that raises your knuckles
above the cutting surface plane. Finally I found the solution. The 12 inch
SAX Cold Steel Machette for less than $20 works beautifully I am happy
to say. I would rather have it without the black coating on the blade as I
fully expect it to get scratched and worn but it came reasonably sharp
and I just honed it a little on my 8 inch fine sharpening stone and
it is now as sharp as my other knives. The only problem is it wont
fit in my knife block so presently it is hanging off a metallic hook stuck
to the side of my fridge in it's sheath. Hey, I think that might be
better than a knife block ! ! Not to shabby for less than $20 I must
say and it does not appear to be to horribly over the top as with the
12 inch blade it looks almost like it could belong in the kitchen and
the clean shaped handle doesnt look too overly tactical if you get
my drift.
Thanks
 
but your Santoku knife does not have a perfectly flat straight blade
and when chopping stuff all of the blade cannot touch the cutting
board as the same time. The handle is appropriate for allowing
knuckle clearance however.
 
a knife has existed for your said purpose since hundreds of years ago in the Chinese kitchens. it's called the cleaver / chopper. straight edge (the actual Chinese ones, not the Westernized versions), good quality carbon steel. if you look at Chinese chefs, they use the cleaver for everything, from filleting a fish to chopping vegetables to fine jullien-ning to cutting through bones etc.
 
spyken said:
a knife has existed for your said purpose since hundreds of years ago in the Chinese kitchens. it's called the cleaver / chopper. straight edge (the actual Chinese ones, not the Westernized versions), good quality carbon steel. if you look at Chinese chefs, they use the cleaver for everything, from filleting a fish to chopping vegetables to fine jullien-ning to cutting through bones etc.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought of immediately. Martin Yan could use one of those like nobody's business.

Yan.jpg
 
machette for kitchen use ?
no more than using a paring knife to clear brush in the jungle.
they are all designed for a specific use. but that's just me.
 
The wide bladed French chefs style of knife has evolved over the past couple of centuries for use as an all round kitchen slicer/dicer/chopper. Victorinox, Sabatier, and many others make ones that many proffesional chefs swear by.

If you use the knife in the proper way, with the tip in constant contact with the cutting board, you want a small bit of rocker, or belly, in the blade.
 
Wait, I thought German-pattern chef's knives were adapted for rocking chops where the French-pattern chef's knife was for slicing, drawing chop.

Chinese-pattern chef's knives are pretty darn useful. Also look into a Japanese nakiri. The usuba, I believe, is a similar shape but chisel ground.
 
TorzJohnson said:
That's what I thought of immediately. Martin Yan could use one of those like nobody's business.

Yan.jpg
Click to expand...

Yan CAN cook!

I haven't seen that mug in a while. I remember him cutting up a chicken
with one of his cleavers in 10 seconds. If I tried that I would be missing a few digits. :)

mike
 
A smaller machete might be a useful tool in the kitchen. Of course these tools are used worldwide in such roles where a machete may be the only knife at hand. I have seen machetes used in Costa Rica, Mexico and South America for a dazzling array of applications. A field hand in Brazil can wield a machete in similar fashion that is exhibited my the master chef referenced above. As I've opined before, a lot of what you can get out of your knife of choice is a direct reflection of the user skill level/experience/training.

Some stainless machetes have seen use in food prep in southeast Asia, but the cleaver is far more common and probably a better suited tool for basic jobs in the kitchen. If you do choose to use a carbon version of either, pay attention to sanitary conditions. There is a reason that the NSF suggests stainless for food processing etc.
 
sorry, I don't think the machete is similar to the cleaver. the machete even with skilled hands does not have that kind of fine cutting ability. native peoples may use the machetes for a wide variety of chores and for camp cooking, but that is really crude cutting. most of the natives I've encountered have some sort of smaller knife (could be a cheap kitchen knife or a basic blade) for kitchen work. YMMV tho'.
 
spyken said:
sorry, I don't think the machete is similar to the cleaver. the machete even with skilled hands does not have that kind of fine cutting ability. native peoples may use the machetes for a wide variety of chores and for camp cooking, but that is really crude cutting. most of the natives I've encountered have some sort of smaller knife (could be a cheap kitchen knife or a basic blade) for kitchen work. YMMV tho'.
Click to expand...

That's ethnocentric crap. I have seen a wide variety of cutting instruments used skillfully and precisely, but not used in the manner I thought they were designed to be used. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean that no one else can either.
 
Bernoulli said:
That's ethnocentric crap. I have seen a wide variety of cutting instruments used skillfully and precisely, but not used in the manner I thought they were designed to be used. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean that no one else can either.
Click to expand...

thanks. but I don't think what I said is crap, or ethnocentric crap.
 
Try a Japanese deba. It's a great chopper and versatile kitchen knife. The deba is labled as the fish knife or fish splitter but will work for most cutting tasks. If you recall the old iron chef series, this was basically the do all knife that got the most work. Mine is 7" long a hair over 1/4" thick chisel ground to a thin sharp edge. It's a 1095 version I paid 50 bucks for, even has a nice hamon line. As for a flat too the surface edge, the deba has some rock even my santoku and cleaver has some rock to it this puts more energy to the target and keeps the tip from being driven deep into the cutting board.
 
I wanted to make sure everyone saw what I was talking about
The item I bought has a 12 inch blade although this one in the pic here has an 18 inch blade. (Their 12 inch blade pic incorrectly shows another knife)

http://eknifeworks.com/webapp/eComm...Mode=Brand&PriceStart=&Brand=26&SKU=CS97SA18S

I do wish it was stainless and I will look at all the other suggestions in hopes of finding
one with a perfectly flat blade as some kitchen chopping tasks work better than with
a blade with some small curve in it. The weight of the 12 inch blade is heavy enough
to work just like a cleaver and I look forward to its use.

Even though it is sold with the name machette with such a short blade it almost
doesnt qualify.
 
spyken said:
sorry, I don't think the machete is similar to the cleaver. the machete even with skilled hands does not have that kind of fine cutting ability. native peoples may use the machetes for a wide variety of chores and for camp cooking, but that is really crude cutting. most of the natives I've encountered have some sort of smaller knife (could be a cheap kitchen knife or a basic blade) for kitchen work.
Click to expand...

Bernoulli said:
That's ethnocentric crap. I have seen a wide variety of cutting instruments used skillfully and precisely, but not used in the manner I thought they were designed to be used. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean that no one else can either.
Click to expand...

Wow. Harsh response. I guess it's true that anything you say can be misquoted and used against you.

spyden was only pointing out the obvious: many peoples are quite skilled at using less than the best tools, and when they can get a more specialized one, they don't hesitate to include it in their toolkit.
 
Boys, BOYS! :rolleyes:

There is no earthly reason why a 12" machete could not have kitchen uses. In fact, a machete could be useful for jobs which might be a bit of a strain for most kitchen knives, e.g. cutting up Hubbard squashes. (Tough things these squashes are!)
 
spyken said:
a knife has existed for your said purpose since hundreds of years ago in the Chinese kitchens. it's called the cleaver / chopper. straight edge (the actual Chinese ones, not the Westernized versions), good quality carbon steel. if you look at Chinese chefs, they use the cleaver for everything, from filleting a fish to chopping vegetables to fine jullien-ning to cutting through bones etc.
Click to expand...



For years before I was married, I used only an old carbon steel chinese cleaver and a small utility knife for all kitchen duty. I still think it worked as well as if not better than my new santoku.
 
If you have what makes you happy...then it is right.
A suggestion along the same line is a machette like knife that I've always called a "corn" knife because it can be used to manually harvest corn.
It has a straight edge and the front is approx 90 degree to the edge cut off .
 
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