So a lot of restaurants don’t require a cook to provide his own tools ... such is the case with our hotel. They rent a few sets of knives. Which are re-sharpened once every few months. I call these the crap knives. They pass thru so many hands that don’t really care about them ... that inevitably they are crap within a few weeks of being re-sharpened. I have always been of the view that you care for something that you paid for. A cook should own his own tools!! Now I have went thru four tool boxes since I became a cook. Currently my wife and I own 4 tool boxes. Two at work...one for each of us. Then two spares at home that contain the things we don’t use that often. Now if you wanna start a fight between cooks...you just have to catch someone going into your toolbox without asking. Some Chefs just refuse to let anyone use anything of theirs...I am not this type...as long as you ask..you can borrow it. I try to keep anything that will make my life easier in my box at work. I also try to keep anything that work will not have...or is a heavy use item and starting to wear out. Sharpness is key in this industry...and a hard lesson for a lot of cooks to learn.
So let’s delve into my box!! It is like a “Tickle Trunk” of wounds and cuts!! Not everything in my box has a knife guard on it...which keeps prying hands out of it. Let’s start with the box itself. I use a mechanics red steel box. I actually prefer the two or three drawer type...but I was too cheap at the time to spend the extra twenty bucks...and now I suffer as I pull out stuff looking for that one lil thing I need. So if your just starting out...spend the extra twenty!! A note to most cooks-Clean the f@ckin thing once in awhile please!! Your knife may be clean...but once you put it into that treasure chest of food scraps it is no longer sanitized.
