Ok, so a confession to all of you who don't know it already. I'm a cooking geek. More particularly, I'm a cooking knife geek. Just having a conversation on another list about knives, and thought I'd share it here too. There are some really beautiful knives here: http://www.japanese-knife.com/main.shtml And if you've never bought a knife in the Santoku shape, you should. It's a wonderful knife. Nice medium length, thin blade but has the width of a medium chef's knife. It's my most commonly used knife. Santoku knives are available from a lot of manufacturers. I have this one: <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/kitchen/B00004RFKY/002-8702768-6243213> I'm thinking about getting some more ceramic knives. Kyocera makes some really nice stuff. http://www.ikitchen2000.com/prod/kyocera.php3 My mom has had one like this for about 8 years and it's still very sharp (I think hers might be longer though): http://www.ikitchen2000.com/prod/db/prod.php3?prodNo=K02KC200 bob -- bob davis bobd at members.evolt.org http://www.bobdavis.org/