christmas present to myself

i've been cooking for a while now and by most accounts i'm a decent home cook. but i've always wanted a decent knife. i mean forever i've wanted one. at home we have wusthof's which on the whole are good knives, but they don't keep their edge well and you need to constantly maintain them in order to keep them super sharp (just this past holiday i spent 45 minutes sharpening two knives).

the two rules i've been told to go by:

• hone before and after every use of the knife. you don't have to go crazy, just a few times on each side, keeps the edge straight and requires less sharpening this way. but in my experience it only really helps if the knife is sharp in the first place....
• sharpen on a regular basis, depending on use, but again little sharpening on a consistent basis is better than waiting for the thing to become a bluggeoning tool before you decide to sharpen it up. based on my current use, i'd probably sharpen on a bi-monthly basis. we'll have to see since i don't have a whetstone yet (need to get one soon) and since my new knife is known to keep its edge much longer.
  

that brings me to my new toys! first a thanks to my awesome sister for getting me the hook-up on the employee discount at crate n' barrel!

the shun 8 inch chef's knife

the wusthof 9 inch diamond interrupted sharpening steel

• so the interesting thing about this steel is that it has industrial diamonds embedded into it and its supposed to sharpen the blade a bit at the same time. so it's both sharpening and honing. at least in theory, i'll use it on a regular basis and report back in a few weeks.

• the other interesting design feature is its flatness, unless most round (read circular or oval-shaped) steel, this one is pretty much flat.
  
• oh and it wasn't cheap - it was $40 before discount at crate and barrel (its the same price on amazon). i checked.