Chef Knife for the "Chef's Chef"
This uber-knife was designed with Chris Kidder, a Los Angeles uber-Chef who currently works as a personal chef and caterer to A-list celebrities and top political officials. In an article in the LA Times, he was referred to as LA’s “Chef’s Chef” for his long tenure as Chef de Cuisine at Campanile, the James Beard Award-winning “standard” for Southern California cuisine.
Chris is the brother-in-law of New West founder, Corey Milligan. Milligan says “I’ve been honing my cooking skills with Chris ever since we made breakfast for a college party all-nighter while drinking green beer on St Patrick's Day. I finally had to break down and make this gigantic knife for him so I could get him to use one of my knives all day, every day. In the kitchen, he’s not easy to please.”
Agility Meets Might in Blade Design
New West KnifeWorks' Chris Kidder is the ultimate chef knife. Don't be intimidated by the size of this knife, the extra length adds leverage for slicing everything from sushi to meats, soft ripe vegetables, or crusty bread. This knife can perform all the chopping, dicing, and general-purpose work of a chef knife while having the added length to cleanly slice the softest food in one long stroke.
Unique design aspects:
- Blade spine does not taper for the first 4" of the knife length - for maintaining the right amount of stiffness for chopping as well as slicing; most blades consistently taper from bolster to tip.
- Blade width - 1.75" to ensure that Chef's knuckles won't hit the cutting board when chopping; most long slicing knives are narrower.
S35VN Steel: America’s Best
Like cooking, making knives depends on using the best ingredients. New West KnifeWorks' knives feature the highest performing knife steel on the market-- S35VN “Powder Metal” steel. This high carbon, alloyed steel has it all: elite sharpness, toughness, edge-holding, stain resistance and sharpenability. These knives are made in the US with American steel and backed by a lifetime guarantee.
Desert Ironwood
As the first major addition to our chef knife collection since switching to G10 handles for our "G-Fusion" line, New West KnifeWorks is proud to offer our line of Desert Ironwood S35VN chef knives. After months of testing various hardwoods and laminate woods for durability, water resistance, and overall look and feel, the richly textured desert ironwood rose to the top.
Because desert ironwood grows in such water-depleted environments, its grain structure is incredibly dense (so dense that it sinks in water), which leads it to have incredible strength and durability. In fact - this wood is so hard that it takes more material and time for our production team to get the scales shaped into New West's smooth and ergonomic knife handles.
To care for this material, we recommend avoiding harsh soaps or solvents on the handle (a little dish soap now and then is fine). The deep colors and rich shine quickly come back to life with a bit of mineral oil applied with a rag. No lacquer or sealant is applied to the ironwood, so it will readily absorb the oil and look shiny and new all over again.
**Please note: this is a natural material and each handle will have its own unique grain patterns**
Learn more about the Chris Kidder Chef Knife >
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