Counted my knife bag after 4 years on the line and hit 23, that number hit me weird
I was emptying out my bag to oil the handles and started lining everything up on the prep table just to see what was in there. Four years of working saute at a spot in Providence and I had 23 knives, but only 4 of them ever get used on a real shift. The other 19 were impulse buys from restaurant supply sales, gifts from cooks who quit, or stuff I grabbed because some guy on a cooking forum swore by it. It made me think about how much of my setup is just leftover noise, and how fast I could actually break down a station with nothing but my 8 inch chef knife and a paring knife. Anyone else ever do a real count and get surprised by how much dead weight is sitting in their roll?
Man that prep table moment hits close. Laying your whole kit out and seeing the pile next to the four you actually reach for is a real gut check. I went through the same thing after about five years and found stuff I forgot I even owned, still in the box, bought at some sale at 2am after a double. The dead weight is real and it follows you shop to shop without you noticing. There is something kind of freeing about knowing you could run a whole shift with just the two knives you trust and not miss a beat.