MORE KNIFEBLOGGING: I said that I’d gotten a lot of email, and I was telling the truth: I didn’t notice this email from Stephen Green endorsing the Global knives until I saw it on his site. It was a flood!

My question about ceramic knives brought some comments. Reader Tim Adamec wrote:

I’ve owned a couple of ceramic knives; they’re very sharp and explode in interesting ways when dropped. I think Frank Herbert modelled Kris knives in Dune after them: “May thy knife chip and shatter.”

Uh oh. But reader John Ramsey emails: “I have owned a Kyocera Chefs Knife for over 20 years, It’s a very light weight (easy on the wrist) very sharp and very brittle knife. About 4 years ago I knocked the tip off trying to work a turkey leg loose. Not the right tool for the job… Otherwise it has been fantastic. I have never sharpened the blade as I wouldn’t know how but it is as sharp as a razor after all these years. I bought my wife the paring knife for Christmas last year and she loves it.”

Meanwhile, reader Matt Johnson wonders why I haven’t mentioned Cutco knives:

I think I know now what it’s like to be a Ron Paul supporter.

But seriously, you have NO IDEA how freaking awesome these knives are. I’ve never sold these things myself, I just use them. I admit, they will offend a knife traditionalist but they also happen to be a better knife. There are just not that many products out there that are designed with a purpose and designed to solve so many problems and does its job so darned well.

A lot of other readers praised Cutco too. My only exposure was when my friend Doug Weinstein sold Cutco stuff door-to-door in college, which didn’t leave me with a favorable impression. That had more to do with their lame canned sales pitch (hand knife to prospect while intoning “Shake hands with a Cutco!” in a Ted Baxter voice) than with the product, though.

Final issue: I want stuff that’s dishwasher safe. Yeah, I know you’re supposed to wash good knives by hand, and I do, but in my house everything winds up in the dishwasher sooner or later, as others aren’t so careful. So I need stuff that can tolerate occasional dishwasher exposure without stains, loss of temper, etc.

Earlier knife posts, for those just coming into the discussion, are here and here.