In any first-class cutlery store you will find knives for each special
kind of carving. If your purse will permit the indulgence, it will be
convenient to have a breakfast-carver, a slicer, a jointer, a
game-carver, and a pair of game-scissors. But if you can afford to have
only one, you will find a medium-sized meat-carver the knife best
adapted to all varieties of carving. The blade should be about nine
inches long and one inch and a quarter wide, slightly curved, and
tapering to a point.
The fork should have two slender curving tines about three eighths of an
inch apart and two and a half inches long, and should have a guard.
A breakfast or steak carver is of the same general shape, but the handle
is smaller, and the blade is six or seven inches long. A slicer for
roasts has a wide, straight blade, twelve inches long, and rounded
instead of pointed at the end. This is especially convenient for carving
thin slices from any large roasts, or other varieties of solid meat. The
width of the blade helps to steady the meat, and its great length
enables one to cut with a single, long, smooth stroke through the entire
surface. With a knife having a short blade a sort of sawing motion would
be made, and the slice would be jagged. As there are no joints to
separate, a point on the blade is unnecessary.
A jointer is another form of carver, useful where the joints are so
large or so difficult to separate that considerable strength is
required. The handle has a crook or guard on the end to enable the
carver to grasp it more securely and use all the strength necessary.
A game-carver has a small, narrow, pointed blade; but the shape and
length of the handle is the distinguishing feature. The handle should be
long enough to reach from the tip of the forefinger to an inch beyond
the back side of the hand, so that the edge of the hand about an inch
above the wrist rests against the handle of the carver. In dividing a
difficult joint, the manipulation should be made, not by turning the
hand, but by turning the knife with the fingers. In this way the
position of the point of the blade can be more easily changed as the
joint may require. The handle of the carving-knife supports the hand of
the carver.
Game-scissors have handles like scissors; the two short blades are quite
deeply curved, something like the blade of a pruning-knife, making the
cutting-power greater. This enables the person using them to cut through
quite large bones in tough joints which would otherwise be quite
difficult to separate.
Another form of jointer has two blades, one shorter than the other, and
a round handle divided the entire length, with a spring in the end next
the blade. When the handle is closed, the blades are together and the
outer edge of the longer blade is used like a knife for cutting the
meat. By opening the handle the curving edges of the blades are used
like scissors for cutting the bones.
There are various styles of steels or knife-sharpeners, but the one now
in my possession is the best I have ever seen.
It is a four-sided bar of steel, about three eighths of an inch wide and
thick, and eight inches long, having the four sides deeply grooved, thus
making the edges very prominent. These edges are so sharp that but
little pressure of the knife on the steel is required. The handle has a
large guard to protect the left hand from the edge of the blade.
But few people know how to use a steel properly. It is difficult to
describe the process,--so easy to a natural mechanic and so awkward to
others,--or to instruct one in the knack of it, by mere description.
Hold the steel firmly in the left hand. Let the edge of the knife near
the handle rest on the steel, the back of the knife raised slightly at
an angle of about 30°. Draw the knife along lightly but steadily, always
at the same angle, the entire length of the blade. Then pass the knife
under the steel and draw the other surface along the opposite edge of
the steel, from the handle to the point, at the same angle. Repeat these
alternate motions the entire length of the blade, not on the point
merely, until you have an edge.
Some persons prefer to turn the knife over, drawing it first from the
left hand and then toward it, sharpening each surface alternately on the
same edge of the steel. This is more difficult to do, as you cannot so
surely keep the blade at the same angle,--and this is the most important
point. If held at any other than the proper angle, either no edge is
made, or it is taken off as soon as obtained.
It is bewildering, if one has any intention of buying, to examine the
assortment of spoons, knives, forks, etc., displayed at the
silversmith’s.
There are ladles for soups, sauces, gravy, and cream; shovels for sugar
and salt, and scoops for cheese; tongs for sugar, pickles, olives, and
asparagus; spoons for sugar, jelly, fruit, sauces, salads, vegetables,
and macaroni; slicers for ice-cream, cake, and jelly; knives for fish,
pie, cake, and fruit; forks for fish, oysters, pickles, olives, salad,
and asparagus; scissors for grapes and raisins; crackers and picks for
nuts; and rests for the carving knife and fork. Some of these are really
useful; some as little so as many of the hundred and one novelties
designed particularly for wedding gifts. But in neat and careful serving
it is essential to have a soup-ladle, a gravy or sauce ladle, a pair of
tongs or shells for block sugar, a slender-tined silver fork for
pickles, a plentiful supply of large and medium-sized spoons, a
carving-rest, a crumb-scraper, and at least one broad silver knife and
fork, which if occasion requires may do duty at several courses.