The knives I have that came in my first set are the regular paring knife, the vegetable peeler and the tomato slicer. These in this set are not dishwasher safe, the handles I guess. My second set is dishwasher safe and include the tomato slicer, the regular paring knife and the super parer. They are made in Iowa. They can be found in certain stores. I think though my second set my daughter ordered for me online. I do like them.

Sue

There is an Amish store about 30 miles from me that stocks the Rada knives.

I have them and love them. I use a couple of their paring knives and the tomato knife. They used to be sold as fundraisers around here, but i haven’t seen them sold that way in some time. There is a store in a nearby town that carries them....a combo coffee roaster and deli, of all places.

I haven’t heard of them, might consider them. I bought a peeler from a local kid selling Cutco several years ago, my Oxo peeler had just broken, and omg I love the Cutco peeler.

I, also, had never seen them in stores. I believe it was someone on this site from whom I learned about the Rada knives quite a number of years ago. I have ordered them online. The ones I have are steak knives, but we use them for many things.

I probably have 8 or 10 of these and love them. I also have the Rada sharpener, highly recommend it. I've got all of mine thru fund-raisers but have seen them at hardware stores.

My favorite knife that I use each and every time I cook is an old RADA knife that I got in 1981. It is just as good today as the day I got it! I would be lost if anything ever happened to this knife. They don't even make this particular knife anymore. It is hard to imagine it is almost 40 years old!

I haven't used the knives but the Rada vegetable peeler has been in constant use for over 15 years in my house.

Rada is my favorite everyday knife choice. The site I use is Rada Country Store. i highly recomend the 5 inch tomato slicer. It cuts a tomato with such ease. I give them a gifts with garden tomatoes, everyone loves the way they cut. The black handle one stays that color. The metal handle discolors in dishwasher. Better to hand wash if you remember. They are very inexpensive , the tomato knife is about $7..00. I have very high end knives and the Rada stay sharp and do not require a lot of attention

I’ve never heard of them. I too have Wusthof mostly but I also have a specific tomato knife and a couple of others I have had for a long time (brand I don’t recall at the moment) I use from time to time.

I have a couple of the Rada knives, and I love them, they are my 'go-to' knives. Also have the vegetable peeler, and love it, too, even though I rarely peel any vegetables anymore. I bought one of my knives in Walmart, so I know some stores do carry them.

Marcopolo, I had to laugh, the Rada link you posted is to some sort of electronics website, which may be "cutting edge", but there's no cutlery involved. For Rada knives, etc., try www.radacutlery.com.

Rusty

Thanks Rusty, i noticed that when I did thr link also. I changed it to the site I order from. Also sold on Ebay, by various people.

I've never heard of them but that's an interesting website. When I checked my zip code for sellers, several area places were listed along with the distance from home. Some sound like cute little stores that might be fun to visit on a nice spring or summer day.

Our American Legion sells all kinds of them all the time. Love the tomato slicer...

I had a set of the steak knives that I got in the 70's. Absolutely loved those knives. Then when I remodeled the house after the first flood my sister gave me the set with the big knives and fork and a paring knife. I lost all of them except for the fork and one of the big knives. I had put them in the RV. I have been thinking of ordering the steak knives again. Problem is that they can't go in the dishwasher. Well they can but it tarnishes them. They are very good knives. I had bought the original steak knives set at my work. Someone was selling them for their kids or something, like girl scouts.

Good kitchen knives should never be put in a dishwasher. The water gets too hot, the spray is damaging, the detergent is too strong and can cause corrosion...... Forget damage to handles, all of these things and more will dull and warp the cutting edges. Too many reasons why.

I hand wash all of my Rada cutlery ( which Rada recommends), even though mine have black handles and could be put in the dishwasher. I also hand wash anything wood, or with a wooden handle.

I was just looking at the Rada site. I have this and it’s one of my favorite kitchen tools. I forgot it was made by Rada! https://radakitchenstore.com/collections/utensils/products/server-spoon-spatula

I have never put my knives in the dishwasher.

Sue

That was fun to look at Bluebell66.

Sue

They are cheaper on Amazon than on the rada site.

The tomato slicer is awesome.

I never said I put mine in the dishwasher. I was letting anyone interested know that they should not be put in the dishwasher!

"Problem is that they can't go in the dishwasher"

These are your words and it was this comment I responded to. If you know that knives should never be put into a dishwasher, why did you say that's a problem?

I doubt that any manufacturer of even medium quality knives would ever suggest their products are dishwasher safe.

Perhaps, Elmer, Raven is like a lot of us in that we WISH knives could go in the dishwasher. Sometimes all I’m hand washing in a day is my knives. That’s a downside/pitfall/con/issue/problem for me, too, but I hand wash anyway.

Edited to say....an extended family member puts everything in the dishwasher, including hand wash pans, knives, wood salad tongs, etc., then wonders why she has to replace her things so often. It drives me crazy when she drops my nice wood handle knives into the wet kitchen sink and leaves them there!!

Has anyone used the can opener. I need a new one

Look at the Kuhn Rikon can opener, it works a different way to cut in the middle of the thick seam at the top of the can rather than inside of it on the thin part of the lid. No sharp edges, no lid falling into the can.

bluebell, I know more than a few people who treat a dishwasher as a magic box. They cram whatever they want into the magic box, any which way, nested, pushed together, blocking spray patterns and however else but Presto, turn it on and everything gets clean and is treated gently. Except that isn't the result.

When we have company, my standard line for cleanup offers is "Thanks, just pile the stuff over there, I'll take care of it later" or some form of the same. I don't care if I have to run 3 or 4 loads and spend an hour washing things by hand, I don't cram things into the dishwasher or ignore the manufacturer's loading instructions. Or ignore care instructions for tableware or cookware items we use that need to be washed.

Re: knives and dishwashers. 20+ years ago we bought a set of Ginsu knives, kind of as a joke (remember all those commercials for them?). They've been used daily and dishwasher-ed ever since. (Pointy end DOWN please!) They'll probably still be going strong long after I'm gone.

If my current paring knife (which is not a ginsu!) ever wears out, sounds like Rada would make a good replacement.

I bought them at Canton trades day. They are not my favorite knives. I am going to donate them to a resale store. I prefer an old paring knife with a wooden handle that I have used for years. We are old friends.

donate them to your church

I give my donations to Revivals Thrift Store. I also shop there when I make a donation.

Rada does have a You Tube Channel with lots of different recipes, some might be interested in looking at.

Sue

I was thinking of ordering some Rada knives for our rental house, as they are inexpensive, and I would not worry about them. When I buy knives, I like to hold them in my hand first, to see how they feel, but there is no Rada store near me. The nearest outlet is someone's house in Westminster, 30 miles away, and I'm certainly not going there!

This is the set I would want to order, mainly because of the cheese knife and the serrated slicer. I do not need any more vegetable peelers. I would order it from Amazon, however, since it is so much cheaper.

Lars, for a rental house, I bet someone would put them in the dishwasher, which I gather spoils the appearance of the Rada.

I ordered the knives with the black handles, and since they were cheap, I am not all that concerned about having to replace them after a year or so.

My late MIL gave us a couple of Rada knives for a shower gift, 37+ years ago. I still use them today, and they've been through the dishwasher many, many times, though now I hand wash all my sharp knives. I didn't know, then, that you shouldn't put them in the dishwasher. I have one or two that I don't care for, but that's because one doesn't fit my hand the way I like, and one won't keep an edge, and that one has NOT been through the dishwasher. I LOVE the tomato knife and the cheese knife! Cheese does NOT stick to the cheese knife at all!

Some of the churches will sell them for fundraisers, and I can get them at a bulk food store not far from where our son lives, which I love to shop in.

I received my knives and like most of them - in fact, I like the cheese knife so much that I ordered another one, plus a bagel knife, as I need another bread knife. I will probably take my Chicago Cutlery bread knife to Cathedral City and keep the new one here, and I will have the cheese knife in both locations.

In the new set, I did not especially like the mini-chef's knife, as it is really too small: the blade is 5" and the handle is 3-1/2". I like the knives with handles that are at least 4-1/2". However, I still can and will use it - just more delicately. Yesterday I used it for for slicing mushrooms and onions, and it did that just fine. The blades on most are very thin, and I do not think I could sharpen them, except with whetstones. Fortunately, I have several of those. I'm not sure what the angle of the blade edge is, but it does not appear to be standard.

Lars, this is what I use to sharpen mine, and my "boys" use a steel to sharpen them when they are around to sharpen all of my knives. This works just fine for all of my knives. When the "boys" (32 and 36!) sharpen my knives, I have to be extra careful! Not that I'm not all the time, but....... :) That cheese knife is great, isn't it!

https://www.amazon.com/Smiths-CCKS-2-Step-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B00032S02K/ref=sxin_3_ac_d_rm?ac_md=2-2-cG9ja2V0IGtuaWZlIHNoYXJwZW5lcg%3D%3D-ac_d_rm&crid=1S61UEOWQBS9B&cv_ct_cx=knife+sharpener&keywords=knife+sharpener&pd_rd_i=B00032S02K&pd_rd_r=d00ce8d1-3ec3-4226-a0d5-eb1b6cecf241&pd_rd_w=nve1z&pd_rd_wg=WpuHl&pf_rd_p=6d29ef56-fc35-411a-8a8e-7114f01518f7&pf_rd_r=NHY1Q2342GY0CAZ1VVTC&psc=1&qid=1578689461&sprefix=knife+sha%2Caps%2C180

I haven't heard of them, but it seems as though (a couple of) Canadians on here know of them.

"donna_in_sask" ... I have a sister Donna, in Saskatchewan. Doubt if you may be one and the same ... did you used to live in the Lumsden area, grew up near London ON?

ole joyfuelled

Hi joyfulguy! I'm in Saskatoon but have passed by Lumsden many times as we head to see family in Weyburn. I actually bought my first Rada peeler at a thrift store...had no idea about the company but was so impressed by the product that I bought a replacement peeler from Amazon a few years later. It's still new in the box because the old one refuses to die (although I've had to retrieve it from the compost bin a couple times ;) )

I also learned of these knives on this forum and love them! Ordered from Amazon.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much love for stainless blades. Not tempted but curious.

FOAS, the blades are much thinner than normal knives, and the angle at which they are sharpened is also much smaller - smaller than Japanese knives. This is why they would be difficult to sharpen with normal sharpeners, although you could use a whetstone and try to follow the angle. I think they were made with the intention of not needing to be sharpened.

I would not use the chef's knife for every day. They are very similar to Victorinox knives, which also have stainless steel blades (at least for the chef's knife), and the black handles are similar to Victorinox handles. My main complaint about Rada is that the handles tend to be too small.

For every day chopping of vegetables, I use Japanese knives, which do have to be sharpened on a regular basis, but are extremely sharp and efficient when sharpened. I like the 15° angle of Japanese knives, compared to the 22° angle of German knives, although I use both.

I think I will order the knife sharpener.

Sue

Lars, please say more about what you know and your views of Victorinox knives. I've had several since the Cooks Illustrated recommendation. I sharpen them periodically with a Chefs Choice electric sharpener and like them. Do you?

I've not sharpened my Victorinox knives, as I do not use them that much. I only recently bought the chef's knife, to take to Cathedral City, and I forgot to take it last time, but I will take it this week-end. I use the Chef's Choice electric sharpener for my Japanese knives when I don't feel like taking the time to use the four Japanese whetstones that I have. My electric sharpener will do both 15° and 22° angles. I would probably use the 15° angle on the Victorinox, if necessary, as the blade is similar to my Japanese chef's knife.

What I have at home is this set from Amazon. I especially like the Bird's Beak Parer and have found many uses for it. The concave part of the blade is the sharp part, and I use it for removing apple cores and also for removing eyes of potatoes. The small serrated knife is good for tomatoes, and the paring knife is good for peeling and anything else you would use a paring knife for. The handles on these small knives are 4-3/8" long (compared to 3-1/2" Rada bird's beak), which I consider to be a minimal length, but still adequate.

The Victorinox chef's knife that I have has an 8" blade and a 5-1/2" handle, which is very substantial and easy to hold and manipulate. The blade is about the same thickness has my Japanese knives and is at least twice as thick as the Rada knives, but still thinner than my German knives.

I received my order of five sets of 3 knives in each set, yesterday and I am giving them out to each of my children and my oldest Granddaughter. I will give them to them when I see them. Have given out two sets today. I think they will be pleased when they use them. The set has the paring knife, the super paring knife and the tomato slicer.

Sue

In had never heard of them until I went to a flea market here in Florida a few years back. They were being hawked in one of the stalls. I wasn't expecting much but I needed some knives in Florida so I bought three....seriously cheap and great!

Went back the next year and bought five more. They don't have the hand feel of my good knives but they are very sharp and do the job .

Sue..love the tomato slicer, works great with bagels too.

You really almost never have to sharpen your knives.

The problem is we have developed knife habits that make knives dull.

You should have two knives, one not-so-sharp knife for rough cutting and one very sharp one for fine cutting.

For fine cutting with very sharp knife, try to use Japanese knife skills. If you watch sushi cutting closely, you will notice the sharp edge of the knife basically never touches the cutting board. Instead, most of use use the knife either for sawing or chopping, which quickly destroy the extremely delicate thin edge.

dcarch