Posted By Greg on April 26, 2009

Or maybe “I’m Bad Company, til the day I die”  for the mid-life crisis part of the show.

I’m a few weeks away from turning 42 - young, but not too young. But in kitchen years (kinda like dog years), that makes me an old man – downright codgerly, in some respects. My arms are scarred, my fingers arthritic, my back held together with duct tape and drywall screws, and Michelle just made me put my glasses on to write this. At this ripe-old age, I’m not all that open to changing my ways. While I don’t log as many kitchen hours as I used to (although that could rapidly change, with the right collection of investors) I rely heavily, as all cooks do, on my knives.

“What brand of knife do you recommend?” God, how I hate answering that question, because there isn’t a pat answer. A cook’s choice of knives, whether for home or work, is as subjective and personal as whom you’re going to sleep with. Each person has his or her own particular ideal for weight, length, girth and balance - in a knife, of course. You’ve got to find that perfect pairing or the relationship just isn’t going to last very long.

So, anyway, back to the old dog analogy – I’ve had my French knife for over 15 years. It ain’t pretty, but it suits. It’s a wooden handled Forschner that I bought for about $30. Some of you may scoff at the idea of a low-end knife being of any worth, but I can tell you that my warhorse of a knife was the favorite of my cooks. I used to have to track it down when I walked into the kitchen, because one of my guys would inevitably be using it, cuz, well, it rocked. And I didn’t arrive at my choice lightly; it took years of trying and testing other people’s tools. Lightweight Japanese knives just didn’t have the right balance, higher-end European styles were clunky, santoku’s are cumbersome by design, but that French knife just fit my hand perfectly, was easy to sharpen, and it held an edge forever. So, in that, I’m not all that open to change when it comes to my choice of cutlery.

But on the other hand, I’m a complete voyeur when it comes to steel. I’ll gasp and ogle when I see quality designs, not all that differently than one would this month’s Maxim girl or a new Prada bag. And it was that kind of lascivious gawking that drew me to New West Knife Works.

I decided that maybe, just maybe it might be time to try something new. Call it a mid-life crisis, if you need to put a label on it. I decided to take New West’s “The 9”, from their Phoenix Collection, for a test drive.

The warhorse meets the new blood. Shooting in natural sunlight gave a gold tint that couldn’t be gotten rid of.



















But that’s not to say that it was an easy choice to make. The “9” part of “The 9” refers to its 9 inch blade, which for some who prefer an 8-inch blade, makes it better in, that Spinal Tap kind of way, because it’s one more. But I prefer a 10-inch blade, which makes it one less - not so good if you’re using that same analogy. There’s also the fact that it has a one sided grind to it – dangerously close to a Japanese design. And ya know, as I said, I’m old school and I like my European designs. But what the hell, this knife has enough west in it to balance the east, and it might just be time to try something new.

To be fair, the giddiness that surrounded the delivery of this knife could have left me to gush ad nauseum about it’s sleek lines, it’s balance, the knife envy that it caused in my contemporaries, but I decided to put it to work for a month before setting pen to paper - metaphorically, of course.

One month later, and I still love this knife. There was a bit of a learning curve, as far as keeping it sharp. I need my knives to shave, and fumbling around with a steel and stone took some getting used to, what with the one sided grind, and I found that this knife requires a few strokes on a fine-grit stone daily to keep it at it’s maximum potential.

A major plus is that I’ve had to focus more on basic cutting techniques for optimal results. While some knives will allow you to get sloppy and use brute force over finesse, this blade really does perform best using a proper, rocking motion.

When it’s all said and done, I hate to say it, but the warhorse has taken its place in the pasture, relegated to home use, and I have a younger, sleeker model in my knife bag these days. It’s not exactly a corvette and a Burt Reynolds mustache, so maybe it isn’t the midlife crises, but the old man is opening himself up to change.

The warhorse, The 9, The Petty (From New West), and the Chopper (also from New West), from top to bottom.

Categories: Uncategorized, cool shit
Tags: Cool Stuff, culinary sherpas, New West Knife Works