New service available!

Did you know that we now offer mail-in knife sharpening?


Check it out.

I think this is a neat and unique service to offer people. It's not always easy to find someone who knows how to sharpen a knife properly.

Oh ho, you say, but you can go to Kroger and get your knives sharpened. And to that I say oh ho back, because what we do is a very different sort of thing. We have a video, so you can see how Carl does things. Not only does he grind the edge, he also polishes and hones it. All done by hand on machines designed by my grandfather.


Recently, my husband and I have had to move back in with my parents. Needless to say, this has called for some adjustment on everyone's part. One of the arrangements we've made is that I cook dinner on Wednesdays, and other days as needed. What I've discovered from doing all this cooking, is that my parents haven't had their knives sharpened... ever. So I'm bringing them in with me, a few at a time, the worst ones first. The worst one was a wood handled stamped chef's knife. This poor knife has been mistreated and neglected. The tip had been broken off, the blade had some nicks in it, and I've seen butter knives that were just as sharp. Carl's official verdict: "Well, I've seen worse."

So next week I'll be bringing home a couple of nice sharp knives. And, with care, they'll stay that way for a few years. Or, realistically, until next spring when my mom has to split her hostas.

More about this coming soon, keep an eye on this spot!

Have a Sharp New Year!

Happy New Year everybody!

Long time no post. Things have been very busy for me, I've moved twice since the last time you saw things here. I promise I'll be a lot better about posting in 2010.

There's not a lot going on right now, post Christmas. We have a few specials right now, but the one I would like to direct your attention to is this one.

This Victorinox product, which is made in Switzerland, has been marketed in the U.S. under the R.H. Forschner brand name since 1937. As of 2009, it is now being sold in the U.S. under the Victorinox brand name. That name might be familiar to some of you as one of the two companies that make and sell Swiss Army Knives (the other being Wenger).

So now you know all about the company, but WHAT IS ON SALE? Well, it's Victorinox's 8-inch chef's knife, with a black Fibrox handle. Fibrox is a material that is NSF approved to minimize crevices that would offer hospitality to bacteria. We also have a special on the one with a rosewood handle, which is very attractive and great for home use.

What's so awesome about this knife, you ask?
Well, I ran across this on Lifehacker, who found it on Cool Tools, but it was originally written about in Cooks Illustrated. (Have you ever noticed that the internet is one huge echo chamber of people writing about what other people have written about?)

Here's the main takeaway for all three of those:

A really great chef knife will be insanely sharp, yet retain its edge easily, and be well balanced and welcoming to hold. These days a decent high-grade chef knife can cost between $100-$200. Several cooking publications (including Cook's Illustrated) recently identified a bargain $27 chef knife that in their tests rated just about as good as the $100 plus knives.

In case you've never come across it, Cook's Illustrated is an incredible advertising-free, in-depth, bi-monthly cooking magazine that conducts thorough testing on everything they write about, from the best way to prepare a recipe to the best kitchen equipment, so when they say that the Victorinox knife rated nearly as good as the $100+ chef's knives, that's a solid endorsement.

Sounds pretty great to me! Forchner... Oops, I mean Victorinox, is one of the more affordable lines of knives that we carry at the Cutlery. (The other is Dexter-Russell) They make great gifts because they don't break the bank. You'll notice that I'm always recommending Victorinox's little paring knives for just that reason. Likewise, Victorinox cooking knives are great purchases for people who are just getting into cooking, or for those of us who are having a fun time trying to survive in the present economy. You get a knife that is sharp, functional, and at a good price.

Heimerdinger Cutlery featured in Louisville Magazine

We're in this month's Louisville Magazine! You will see Heimerdinger Cutlery (and a picture of Carl Heimerdinger) on page 40 of the September issue.


The big cover story is "25 Shops worth the Stop" and Heimerdinger Cutlery is 17 on that list. To give you some idea of the company we're keeping, the list also includes wonderful places like Edenside Gallery, Lotsa Pasta, Clay & Cotton, and A Reader's Corner bookstore. (Those would be my favorites off that list, especially Lotsa Pasta. Yum.)

These are all shops that "provide merchandise that goes beyond the expected, making a stop... an entertainment in itself." In our case, the article mentions our straight razors and kitchen gadgets (though sadly not the asparagus peeler). Oh, and the giant twenty-six inch long, two handled knife that's for cutting cheese wheels.

The Store has all sorts of wonderful displays. When I was little, my favorites were the trays that hold the Swiss Army knives, each in their own little cubby. This was only topped by big Swiss Army knife in the window that has a motor and moving blades. When I started working there in high school, my favorite display was the kitchen gadget case-- learning what all the strangely shaped things did. Now, I just love going in to see what's new.

Huntin' the Beast, Take two!

Heimerdinger Cutlery will once again be at the Huntin' the Beast Expo. As before, it will be held at the Breckenridge County Fairgrounds in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. It's coming up soon, this weekend in fact-- August 29th from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm (that's Central time).

They'll have all sorts of things going on, with special guests (did you even know that the University of Louisville has a Bass Fishing Team?).

Go out and see them!

A fully stocked kitchen

According to The Nest, sister website to The Knot, a kitchen is not complete without this list of kitchen tools. They say

Your registry items have been safely stashed. Now use our checklist to make sure you haven't missed any of the essentials -- because no kitchen is complete without these handy gadgets.

Here's what I have to say about that.
The two big categories on that list that I'm looking at are knives and utensils. Here's all they had under knives:
KNIVES

• Bread knife
• Chef's knife
• Kitchen shears
• Knife sharpener
• Knives
• Paring knife
• Steak knives
• Utility knife

Other than the point that kitchen shears (or scissors) aren't exactly knives, this is a pretty good list. Except for "Knife sharpener." That, my friends, is a potentially dangerous phrase. The quick explanation is that you would be far better off getting yourself a steel (sometimes called a sharpening steel or a butcher's steel) than you would getting a knife sharpener. A steel will help maintain a knife's edge and then you can get it professionally sharpened. No, that's not just a plug for our knife sharpening services. Most of you reading this probably don't live near enough for that, anyway. A "knife sharpener" will indeed sharpen your knives, but with no regard to angle or blade shape. It's imprecise and you can actually damage your edge instead of sharpening it.


If you want more info, check out this post I did before about sharpening knives. Please excuse the broken images, I'm trying to go back and replace them with ones from our new website.

Back to school ideas

It's that time of year again. Time to pack the little darlings off and set up the ironing board in their bedroom.

However, it's good to send them off prepared. This means buying sheets and towels, packing up crates and suitcases, digging out extra hangars and other necessities. One thing you don't want to neglect is food prep. College students (or anyone starting off on their own for the first time) are very food-centric, so it's important that they're prepared.

I have two categories of advice for you today: Dorms and Apartments. Most items will work for both, I'll let you know.

The problem with living in a dorm is that there are restrictions on what a person can and cannot have (example: candles and hotplates). Some of this changes from school to school, so I'd check your rules out.

Since dorm cooking can be very limited, you'd only need a few basic things past a can opener. If knives are permitted, I'd go with a good utility knife, but not an expensive one. Forschner has a whole bunch of good options, but I like the non-serrated one with a red handle best. It has a 4 inch blade, making it long enough to use for a lot of things, but still short enough to store easily. It has a hygienic nylon handle, in either red or black. It is also under $10, which is great for dorm living because things do have a tendency to walk off.


An essential for any place to live is a good pair of kitchen scissors. The Tricky is an excellent example. My favorite feature is that they come apart, which makes them very easy to clean. While some of our other kitchen scissors come apart, the Trickies can also be used as cap lifters, jar grippers, and wire cutters, and they have this great bone cutting notch which is perfect for chicken wings and flower stems. I have red ones, because those are easier to find, but you might prefer black.

A Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool (the latter of which isn't up on the website yet, please call for information). For a Swiss Army knife, I'd recommend the Spartan or the Compact knife. Why? They both have a bottle opener and a corkscrew; the former has a can opener and the latter has scissors. The bottle opener is important; it is really hard (but possible!) to get a cork out of a bottle with a screwdriver.

If you're preparing someone for apartment living, I'd add three things to what I mentioned above, though the first is more of an elaboration on the utility knife above.

1) Knives.
My sunday gaming group has started having real food for dinner instead of just ordering out or getting fast food. The problem with this? The guy who hosts the games at his apartment doesn't even have a paring knife. Do you know how hard it is to chop up an onion with a butter knife?

If you only get one, get a utility knife. It's good for everything. If you're going for two, I'd say a paring knife and a chef's knife. The chef's knife is very useful for things like slicing up a whole chicken (if you catch them on sale it's the most economical thing, you can even make broth from the bones).

There are a lot of inexpensive options, which to be frank are better to get people who don't spend a lot of time cooking and are prone to putting knives in the dishwaster. Forschner (owned by the Swiss Army knife people) has a great line of inexpensive paring and utility knives, some with . Dexter Russell is a good choice for a durable chef's knife; the brand the oldest and one of the largest manufacturers of professional cutlery in the USA. Dexter Russell kitchen implements are used in commercial kitchens all over. They aren't the prettiest of knives, but they're affordable and tough. If you think these knives will be used by . The white Sanisafe handles are also good for people with big hands because they're a little larger.

2) Something to store knives in.

A knife block is great if you have a very well supplied kitchen (or inherited some older knives like I did), but it's a bit excessive for one or two knives. Not to mention taking up a large chunk of highly valuable counter space. There's The Swinger, or the Magnabar. Both are compact and space efficient, with The Swinger fitting up under a cabinet. Magnabars are also popular. You might feel a little leery about using nothing more than a magnet to hold sharp knives, but these are very strong magnets. We use them in the store (as you can see in the top picture on the right of the About Us page).

Or, if you don't want to put holes in your walls or counters, get some Edgeguards so that you can reach into drawers without slicing your fingers. They are a few dollars apiece and you can get them to suit any size knife. I'd definitely recommend these to college students as well.

3) A cutting board.
I'm bad to say it, but we're probably not the best place to get a cutting board for your average person starting out on their own. All of ours are handcrafted locally. These functional works of art would be better as a gift to someone with a new house, rather than a new apartment.

However, here are a couple of tips to use when looking for a cutting board. Look for a wooden or bamboo cutting board, not glass or plastic. Plastic might seem more hygienic, but scored plastic can trap bacteria. Some studies have shown that wooden cutting boards have natural anti-microbial qualities. Still, be sure to wash them after every use (particularly after chopping meat/poultry). Do not let your cutting board soak in the sink; that can cause warping and encourage slime. Using a wooden cutting board is also more forgiving to the edges of knives; glass and hard plastics can quickly dull a knife.


Well, that's all I have for now. Do you have any suggestions?

Congrats to Lone Wolf!

The 2009 Blade Show, which was held this year in Atlanta (May 29-31st), was billed as "the world's biggest knife show." National groups, including the American Bladesmith Society and Knifemaker Guild, meet every year at the Blade show.

The awards given at the show are prestigious, with categories for custom knives as well as manufactured. Lone Wolf had two knives that won awards: the Blackfoot won Best Buy of the Year, and the Paul Defender won Best Overall Knife of the Year. You might remember me talking about the latter of those in my last post.



All of the knives that garnered awards can be viewed in an upcoming issue of Blade Magazine. It's always a really fun issue; I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Speaking of the Knifemaker Guild, don't forget that their annual Guild Show is in Louisville this year. It'll be held at the Seelbach from September 18-20th. To see a list of table holders and print out a free pass, check out their website.