Titanium Cutlery...?

So, after he delivered the magnum opus on the Cowboy Ribeye steak, I got interesting discovering just what cutlery Tyler Florence was using in his kitchen. Interestingly enough, the answer is: His own brand of Titanium blades... sort of.

Understand, he just introduced these items at the end of 2009. The overwhelming majority of his TV shows were recorded prior to this point. Ergo, you will see him cutting with a German Chef's knife almost all the time. Looks like a ducedly fine blade also.

Second, these blades aren't exactly titanium. They are titanium clad high-carbon steel. Most of the sharpness freaks believe high-carbon steel destroys everything in terms of sharpness. Well... I've got news for you. You need to have a look at Cubic Zirconia. Ceramic is a lot sharper than high carbon.

Evidently, the big problem with high-carbon is that it rusts, stains, reacts with food, leaves a little of itself in your food, etc. Evidently, cutlery theorists believe they can contain reactivity, staining, rusting, etc. by simply encasing or cladding, a cast high-carbon steel blade in Titanium. Titanium is not as impervious to the elements as Cubic Zirconia, but it is dramatically better than any other metal known to mankind.

I thought I saw Tyler wielding a ceramic black blade like mine recently, but such was not the case. It was one of his own Titanium blades.

In any case, he got me to buy in. I've been looking around for a high-carbon blade with Kullens on it to do some cheese & panchetta chopping. He's got it, and more. Further, the price is cheap. It's basically $40 per blade. At that price, I can't afford not to try it. Who knows, maybe they are fantastic.

Doesn't sound cheap to you? It is, trust me on this one. Ronco and Ginsu won't get it done... for long. I had those Ronco knives. I cut myself many times because it took a lot of thrashing force to get it done. All it takes is one slippery thrash and you are bleeding.

This is why I like Kyocera. Everything cuts immediately. Very little effort is required. Using good blades, your more like surgeon with a scalpel than a butcher with a cleaver. Shun has given me some good results. It will be interesting to pit Tyler's Titanium v. Alton's Shun.

Are you ready for a throw down?

I already know that these metal blades can't compare (in terms of sharpness) with Cubic Zironia. You need to conduct a serious study of edge width before commenting on this subject. Edge science is pretty straightforward. Edge width defines sharpness. A steep angle (15 or 16 degrees) helps, but it is the thinness at the razor's edge that defines how sharp it is. It is pretty easy to measure this exactly these day. You just point a circular red laser straight at the edge, and the width of the split at first refraction is your edge width.

Laser refraction measurements scientifically end the question of who is sharpest, but not who is best. You can still argue you want stainless steel for this reason, or Damascus for that, or high carbon steel for the next reason.

In any case, Tyler has convinced me to give his knives a shot at the title. Hopefully I will love them. I don't plan to open any tomato cans with them, as Bobby Flay does with his Shuns.

Kyocera advanced ceramic blades

About a year or two ago, I saw an amazing episode of "How it's Made" regarding the world's greatest knives. They elected Kyocera advanced ceramic blades, and showed us just how they are made.

I was more than stunned. I had no idea that there was any such thing as a ceramic knife. I had no idea Kyocera made knives. I knew them only as the manufacturer of my then-present cell phone. I was amazed that these blades (that looked like white plastic disposable knives) were actually the sharpest things on earth this side of a laser beam. I could not believe steel had been surpassed by another material. It was all stunning.

Kyocera blades are made from cubic zirconia. You may know this substance as fake diamond; the stuff they make fake jewelery out of. Don't let that turn you off. Whilst cubic ziroconia may not fit your cultural prejudices regarding high-quality jewelery, it is an absolutely superb industrial material. Specifically you can make pretty outrageous knives out this stuff.

Cubic zirconia, when refined in a proper manufacturing process, is the second hardest material known to mankind. It is second only to real diamond. You can only sharpen these blades with real diamond. They will cut through steel sharpeners.

You can put an absurdly fine edge on these blades. They are more than a match for surgical scalpels. They are almost a match for the (extremely fragile) cracked obsidian blades ancient man used to use during the stone age. Those remain the sharpest edged tools man has ever used, but they last 10 minutes and they are gone. Kyocera edges last a very, very long time. I have been putting mine into a dish washer for almost 2 years now, and they still cut like straight razors.

There are more things to love about these ceramic blades. They are utterly non-reactive. They never absorb or carry the flavors of the items you cut. A simple wash and wipe and the substance is utterly gone. The pores are just too microscopic for infiltration. Unlike steel blades, no shards or particles will get in your food. Acid and base does nothing to cubic zirconia, unlike steel. This means you get the flavor of your food, and nothing more.

I don't know what it was about that short documentary, but it was pretty overwhelming. I was not that into gourmet cooking at the time. However, I was convinced beyond conviction that these were the greatest knives yet made by man. I had to own some. I grit my teeth, gulped hard, and spent a few hundred dollars on amazon.com.

It didn't take long for me to realize I made the right choice. The blades were pure murder; ungodly sharp right out of the box. The interesting thing is that I have never cut myself with one of these knives. I used to (accidentally) cut myself every now and again with steel blades. I think that is because of the force and effort it took to cut with steel Ronco blades. It takes little effort to slice anything with a Kyocera. I never struggle with anything, ergo there are no thrashing efforts. Everything is now an easy stroke.

With all this in the rear view mirror, I have been stunned that I have never seen any chef on the Food Network work with or advocate ceramic blades. They like big heavy steel blades. Alton Brown strongly endorses Shun, which is an amazing Damascus steel blade made in Japan. Tyler Florence seems to do it all with a single 7 inch Chef's knife from God knows who.

Lately I have been learning why this is so. Kyocera Ceramic blades are unbelievably light. I like this. I am used to it. Master Chef's don't like that. They are trained from day #1 of school to use a fast rocking motion in their prep. This technique is entirely predicated on using the weight of your blade to execute that cut. They like heavy blades. Within reason, they heavier the better.

Heavy blades make it easy to cut things like carrots. I stick carrots in the food processor, or I use a Kyocera mandolin slicer. It is a question of approach. There are different approaches.

Just to see how the other half lives, and to try the amazing Damascus steel Shun makes, I bought Alton Brown's signature weapon. It is a damn nice knife. I can rock with it like crazy. With that said it is not as sharp as my Kyoceras.

Just two days ago, when I was slicing up some pancetta for Bolognese sauce, the Shun got pretty tiresome. As the pancetta warmed, it became harder and harder to cut with the Shun. I could have done it, but I got frustrated. I reached for my Kyocera meat cleaver. The job got done quick. Believe me, that 1/2 pound of pancetta was diced inside 1 minutes.

I think I will get another Shun or two. I want the Ken Onion 7 inch Santuko, and I know where I can get it at a steep discount. I may get the Chef's knife also. That would be the ideal rocker.

To you guys at the Food Network: Give Kyocera a shot. It has been scientifically proven that these are the hardest and sharpest blades.

I bought mine in black.