Newbie to Bradley Smoking - Does not seem to be heating up...

[explorersport63]

pz - Niow that you mention college kids selling knives, we purchased a set a J.A Henckel knives from a college student selling door to door a couple years ago.  They seem to be decent knives so I will give them a try.  If that doesn't work I'll try my electric miter saw...that ought to do the trick - just kidding.  If my knives don't work I will definitely check into the Cutco 9-inch serrated carver you mention in your post.

Meat is in the freezer just waiting to be cut.  Will cut tomorrow and then marinade until the weekend.  Based on the information I have received from you and this website I believe the jerky will turn out much better this time.

Thanks for all the information.  I appreciate it.

Doug

[pz]

Best of luck Doug; (don't forget pics of the final product!  ;))

[tskeeter]

pz - Niow that you mention college kids selling knives, we purchased a set a J.A Henckel knives from a college student selling door to door a couple years ago.  They seem to be decent knives so I will give them a try.  If that doesn't work I'll try my electric miter saw...that ought to do the trick - just kidding.  If my knives don't work I will definitely check into the Cutco 9-inch serrated carver you mention in your post.

Meat is in the freezer just waiting to be cut.  Will cut tomorrow and then marinade until the weekend.  Based on the information I have received from you and this website I believe the jerky will turn out much better this time.

Thanks for all the information.  I appreciate it.

Doug

Doug, I suspect that your Henckels knives will do just fine.  Henckels is one of the top brands of professional grade cutlery.  Blades are high quality German steel.  Grips fit without gaps that collect food debris and grow bacteria.  Grips are riveted to the tang on the blade, not friction fit.  And the tang goes all the way through the grip (you can see the tang on all four sides of the grip), not just a short way into the grip.  And there are three rivets through the grip, to make sure no gaps develop between the grips and the tang over time.

Henckels does distribute different grades of knives.  There are forged blade knives and there are stamped blade knives.  Either one works well and will probably last your lifetime, and your kids.  Professional chefs seem to prefer the more expensive forged product lines over the stamped blade lines.  The bolster at the grip end of the forged blade provides a comfortable gripping surface for hours long vegetable chopping sessions.  The blades are a bit thicker, so the knife can take the abuse they might get (ever see one of the Top Chef participants open a can with a chef's knife?).  Down side to the forged blades?  Eventually the bolsters get in the way.  As years of sharpening reduce the depth of knife blades, the heavy bolster often results in a hollow in the cutting edge of the blade.  To return the knife to proper functionality, the bolster must be ground down and reshaped.  Something I'm a bit reluctant to try on my own.   

[explorersport63]

pz- Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get but I have learned a lot from this forum so I feel much more comfortable now than I did when I started last week  I appreciate everybodys input and hopefully, after a lot of practice, I can return the favor to other newbies.

tskeeter - Thanks for the information on the knives.  I don't have any idea as to whether they are forged or stamped but they seem to work well.  I'll be cutting the meat shortly so I will find out just how well they work.