You say Tomato, I say Tomato, Santuko, Santoku??

From Peg Nervig, additional information you may find useful.

My resources include my personal knowledge and experience, the internet, and friends who are in mining engineering, and hands on research at numerous stores and knife outlets throughout the Seattle area this past month. I also have talked with the product development staff & applications at Pampered Chef to get much of the following information. Virginia Stein spoke with me this week.

I have spoken with a friend who was just here from Tokyo, and she says the correct way to say the word in Japanese is, "San......as in Santa Claus, then "To........as in toe on your foot, and then "ku.........as in what a baby says. So, "San Toe Coo". So why is it misspelled in print in things and even spoken wrong on the PC website video & fall cd for the knives demo & new product discussion? And why does Rachel Ray say it one way and another Celebrity chef says it the other way??? Answer-plain old  vernacular' .....we change the words from other countries' languages and soon it becomes the accepted or understood word... In your cooking shows I'd suggest you all say it correctly from the beginning, then if someone asks, tell them that both are used in USA but per correct Japanese, it is............San to ku, then go on to tell the features & benefits of the new knives.  You'll find all you'll need to know for your fall shows right now in the following places. However, most customers will not ask nor care to know about all the science below, but here it is for you, if you are interested:

1. Go to the website then Consultant's Corner then 'downloads' and watch the video clips. There is a video player link to download if you don't have one already on your computer.

2. READ the Recipe for Success, new fall pages with the full details of the knives. Be sure to also read about the regular knives we still carry which are our Self Sharpening Knives. They are stamped steel which is different from Forged Steel. LEARN THE DIFFERENCE!

3. READ and take to your shows the shiny hard cards with the features and benefits of the new Forged Cutlery. These came in your 'Change Over Boxes' earlier this summer.

4. Order some of the new Fall products soon and at the latest by Sept. 30th to get them at the Consultant 50% off discount. You can order just one of the paring knives if you like for under $15. Also other of the knives are available on the 'open stock' list. The Utility, 5-inch knife comes in one of the combo sets. When you own and use these knives you'll immediately notice all the differences and the pleasure of using this absolutely FINE cutlery. Remember also that as with the other Self Sharpening Pampered Chef Knives, the Forged Cutlery is NOT recommended to go to a dishwasher no matter whether powder or capsule or gel dishwasher soap is used. They should be hand washed and dried and stored in the black 'knife safe' that comes with them to protect the edges and for your safety.

5. This new cutlery is recommended to be 'honed' often and that is why we will be bringing out our 'honer' Oct. 1st. It is already in the catalog. These Forged knives are recommended to be 'PROFESSIONALLY" sharpened. This could be as often as once a year or every 6-24 months depending upon the frequency of use and the type of cutting. Our cutting boards are a highly recommended item as well so that these knives, which will be an 'Investment' for most persons, are maintained in excellent condition. Our cutting boards do NOT dull the edges of knives. Do NOT cut on Stoneware ever with any of our knives, do NOT cut on glass cutting boards either.

6. FYI, professional sharpening is offered in many places. Today I stopped at Excalibur at Bellevue Square to inquire and learned they charge $3 for a knife of 3" or shorter and $5 for knives over 3". You can drop your knives off and pick them up a couple of days later.  They are sharpened in store.  Other shops like Seattle Cutlery at Pike Street Market charge $3 per inch of knife. They also take about two days normally, unless you make an appointment. Honing is different from sharpening in that honing brings a bent edge back into alignment. Looking down the length of the knife, if you can see if little bends occur left and right that is time to hone. You may notice notches in the edge, honing will NOT replace that missing steel, the knive is due for sharpening. Sharpening puts a beveled, finely polished total edge onto the knife. Knives receive differing degrees of angle they are sharpened to based upon the type of steel they are made from and the knife's purpose and shape. It may be as little as 10 degrees or up to 22 degrees or so. Whetstones are most often used by professional knife sharpeners to place an edge on a knife then they are honed and polished. I do not recommend you use your own personal hand held sharpeners on these NEW FORGED KNIVES, unless you have been trained. You could do more damage than help.  The more you scrape off steel the more you wear down and out of the total piece of metal.

7. Our Forged Cutlery is MADE of GERMAN STEEL but NOT MADE in Germany. Germany and other countries like France, Turkey, Japan, USA, Canada, Brazil, and China produce steel. The quality can vary from one place to another. German steel from Solingen has been respected for over 270+ years as one of the premier sources of high-quality carbon steel. There are 'processes' that are also often used to create different steels and referred to as 'German Steel' but it implies a process and not actually steel from a German source. Can be misleading to consumers.

8.The steel which Pampered Chef has chosen to produce our Forged Cutlery is FROM GERMANY. It is shipped in blocks to China and is then laser cut into chunks to begin the forging process. Forging is the process of creating a hard sheet or piece of steel into a shape by alternately heating it to extremely high temps then shocking it with icy water then hammering to cause immense hardening of the steel. My grandfather and father both forged steel when I was a kid and I worked in the forge with them running the cranks that bellowed the air onto the coal fires to cause them to 'rage' and then watched as they took RED HOT steel and hammered and chipped at it on the anvil with another cold steel hammer or chisel. After some pounding and bending it was submerged into icy water baths and would 'shock' the steel and it would 'sing' as it went through this alternating thermal shock method. Over and Over this was repeated and then eventually the finished shape was achieved and the hardness they expected to achieve and it was allowed to 'cool' down. Then it started all over again with the further hammering and fine tuning of the edges or points on knives, saws, horseshoes, and spears and blades. It is this 'handmade' or 'forging' process that is involved to bring about the finest quality of durability, strength, weight, and ability to hold an edge that combines to give 'Forged Steel' is high esteem and COST. Another factor in the cost is the materials, minerals, metals, all fluctuate in price in the marketplace and international mining. High quality steel costs more to produce as does the alloys added to our steel.

9. There are some more parts to the 'German Steel'  which Pampered Chef chose. Steel with Cr which stands for Chromium. Chromium is a metal also but an 'Alloy' which when combined with the 'carbon steel' adds 'shine' to the polished metal and stain resistance, thus it becomes - 'STAINLESS STEEL'. The 'resistance' to steel staining marks is to keep it from rusting as well as spotting from acids and other elements which may come in contact with the blade.

10. The next 'alloy' is molybdenum to handle heat resistance, corrosion resistance and high strength to hold knife edges.

11. Finally, the 3rd 'alloy' is vanadium which provides added strength to the steel as well as adds resistance to corrosion from acids and resistance to rust. It is often used in stainless steel surgical tools.

12. Manufacturing in China with such high quality steel provides us with TOP Quality forged steel for our knives and expert craftsmanship at a competitive price. In fact, the quality of manufactured knife and ergonomic handles plus of the steel, exceeds most top cutlery manufacturers' knives. Thus more 'bang' for your 'buck'.