Knives Product Learning Guide

Product Knowledge John Lewis Partnership Knives Product Learning Guide Home | Cookware Welcome to your Knives Learning guide. Why this guide? This guide gives detail on the knives assortment, to give you the information and knowledge to advise your customers on the right knife for them with confidence. Contents: What will the guide cover? After completing this guide you will be able to assist customers make the Buying Knives 4 best choice of knife for them. The guide looks at the different types of knife, as well as the different blades, brands, manufacturing methods, and Age Restricted Sales 4 laws around the sale of knives. Knife Parts 5 Knife Manufacture 6 You should work through the work book in sequence, referring to your Different Types of Knife 7 department’s assortment. Use the notes pages to write down key points you want to remember or refer to, for example notes on stock in your Branded Knives 8 department. Care and Maintenance 9 Notes Pages 11 As you go through the workbook your Section Manager will be able to give you any additional guidance you need. There is no time limit to completing the workbook but the sooner you have a thorough grasp of all sections, the sooner you will feel confident about selling and advising your customers on knives, and in providing excellent customer service 2 Section/footer Introduction to Knives There are 6 more common, everyday knives. Let’s take a look... 3 Section/footer heading Buying KNIVES & AGE RESTRICTIONS There are 6 more common, everyday knives. These are a should suit the user. Different knives need different degrees of parer or peeling knife, utility, serrated utility, bread, cooks flexibility. A filleting knife or ham slicer knife depend on being highly and carving. There are also specialist knives that cover flexible to function properly; a cook’s knife or cleaver needs to be all cooking jobs. Which ones to buy will depend to some extremely stiff. extent on what kind of cooking and food preparation the There is no ‘perfect’ knife, and not even a consensus amongst leading customer does. This is the type of thing to find out when chefs on which knife is the best; and so the decision on what type of selling the products. handle, what type of blade etc. can only be made by the customer. The kitchen knives market sector has witnessed probably more innovation in terms of materials and cutting technology during the last Further sales opportunities involve few years than any other, and this has resulted in knife ranges being available today in an unprecedented field of options. Knife handles how the knives might be stored (in a knife might be made of wood, plastic or metal. They may be moulded to block, a drawer dock, or on a magnetic the blade, riveted or welded. The blades may be stamped from sheet wall rack) and how or fully forged; the edges may be serrated, scalloped or plain; the blades may be bevelled, hollow-ground, taper-ground; they may be they will be maintained coated in another material, clad or multilayered; of steel, or ceramic, or in a sharp condition. a hybrid material. This guide will explain all types of manufacture and Sharpening solutions construction. include sharpening rods Obviously the customer’s budget is important. With knives, you and steels, pull-through generally get what you pay for, and selecting high quality knives is a knife sharpeners, and good investment. whetstones. There really is no substitute for putting a knife into a customer’s hand and inviting them to judge the feel of it. The handle should fit SALES OPPORTUNITY... comfortably and securely in the hand, and the weight and balance Age Restricted Sales... We sell a range of products that are covered by different individual, then that person may also be prosecuted. We have a till legislation regarding how old someone must be before they prompt system which identifies these products at point of sale so the can purchase them. The knife assortment is affected by branches can check the customer’s age. these restrictions. We therefore need to ensure that we have suitable procedures in place to ensure we comply Procedures for checking the customer’s age for all age restricted with these legal requirements. products will be covered during induction training and cashier training. We may face prosecution for selling products to someone who is Your line manager or Selling Coach can also cover these procedures underage. You should also be aware that not only can John Lewis with you. In addition, in support of the government initiative to tackle be prosecuted, but if an offence is caused due to the neglect of an knife crime, we do not sell kitchen knives online or over Product Age Knives, knife blades, axes, double edge razor blades. This includes all knives (folding, craft, canteens of cutlery), but does 18 not include scissors, letter openers, children’s safety cutlery, cheese slicers, pizza cutters or knitting needles. 4 Knives Product Learning Guide Tang (Full Tang) The tang is the extension of the blade, to which the knife handle is attached. A ‘full tang’ knife is one in which the tang runs the length and breadth Knife of the handle, adding weight and strength to the knife and contributing to better balance. Full tangs are found on the best quality knives and can sometimes be thicker than the blade. A full tang PARTS... is visible on the outer edges of a riveted-handled knife, but it can also be encased within a plastic handle. Less expensive knives may have a ‘half tang’ - in other words the tang is half the length of the handle. Cheap knives may have what is called a ‘neb tang’ or ‘whittle tang’ - even shorter than the half tang. Spine Point Handle Handles are available in a variety of materials. Plastic handles can be moulded in one piece to slot over the tang, or in two pieces to be riveted either side of the tang. Edge Heel Bolster Wooden handles require more care than others, and are unlikely to be Knives might have a plain The right angled end The thick dishwasher proof as they can split blade edge without scallops of the blade, where divider and crack. An alternative is wood/ or serrations (main picture). the blade meets the between plastic composite, which requires Plain edge knives require handle, sometimes blade and little maintenance, is hygienic, and frequent sharpening to part of the bolster. handle, looks and feels like wood. Knives can maintain the edge and are which helps also have stainless steel handles, usually made of very hard The heel can be used to provide which are welded onto the tang, and stainless steel. Alternatively as part of the cutting balance to can feature indentations to improve they might have a scalloped edge, and in a cook’s the knife and grip. The shape and weight of a edge. These knives cannot knife needs to be acts as a knife’s handle should also be taken be easily sharpened using a deep enough to allow safety guard into account as they contribute to steel, because the scallops room for a thumb for the hand. the comfort and balance of the knife need to be sharpened and fingers to hold when in use. individually – but they the handle without stay sharp for a long time. knocking against the Hollow Handle Scallop edged knives are board when the knife A hollow handle generally refers to a used for cutting bread or is used with a rocking handle made of stainless steel in two foods which are hard or action in chopping. halves and wither joined to the blade crusty on the outside. internally or externally. If the handle is left hollow, it may be too light to balance the weight of the blade; in which case metal weights or sand can be added inside the handle to provide perfect balance. 5 Knives Product Learning Guide Knife Manufacture Manufacture Blade Types Blade Types Fully Forged Taper Ground Carbon Steel A fully forged knife has the blade and Arguably the finest of all types of blade; Carbon steel is an alloy of iron and tang made from a single piece of steel. they are machine ground all over to carbon, the carbon steel used for knives These knives almost always incorporate produce a gradual taper from the spine usually contains about 1% carbon. a bolster, which separates the blade from down to the edge, and from the handle The best carbon steel blades contain the handle. Sometimes this is forged to the tip of the blade. Taper ground a high proportion of carbon: the higher traditionally, where the steel is heated blades are extremely strong and provide the carbon content the easier it is to and the force of the forge shapes the excellent balance for chopping and keep the blade sharp. However, carbon knife. The other way is to heat and melt general-purpose slicing. The taper also steel can rust and stain and so requires the steel, and a mould will shape the allows the blade to slice easily through careful maintenance. knife. The traditional forge is better, as food. the molecular structure is unchanged, and will mean the steel remains stronger Stainless Steel without any weakness. Fully forged Hardening manufacture is used on the best knives, An alloy of iron that contains at least and either method will produce strong A process in which steel is first heated to 10% chromium, with the possible and durable knives. a very high temperature, then quenched addition in various combinations of in oil or water to reduce the temperature nickel, molydenum and carbon, and very rapidly.

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