Still curious about kitchen knives?

All kinds of information about kitchen knives can be found online. Here are a few of the sites that are most useful:

* Peter Hertzmann, author of “Knife Skills Illustrated,” has a helpful site that includes a concise video illustrating the basics of handling kitchen knives.

* Chad Ward, author of “An Edge in the Kitchen” has a site that goes into a little more depth with a detailed video on grips and another on how to . The site also includes a link to the he wrote on knife sharpening for the website eGullet that provided the impetus for the book.

* For those who are truly obsessed by living on the edge (or with an edge?), check out the website Knifeforums. Be forewarned, this is blade geekery of the very highest order, whether it’s debating the various chemistries of knife steels or communing with aficionados of arcane fighting knives. There’s even a subsection on swords. If you’re only interested in the tamer topic of knives in the kitchen, there’s a pretty active cooking section too.

-- Russ Parsons