Robert Welch knife offers & what we don’t know about each other

Preamble

I’ve had a lovely summer of proper holiday, two weeks off, with half of that going on my usual railway modellers’ retreat. The other week visiting the Summer Exhibition at the RA and otherwise wandering variously twixt Bath and Cirencester in the West, Stratford and Halesowen, in the Midlands, and Liverpool to see and stay with friends and family, in the North. A peripatetic summer in fact. Where there were people who seemed to like my company, who possessed Riedel glasses and who, in turn, I found good company, there went I. And all this through some of the most extreme temperatures this country has ever seen. Temperatures so high, in fact, that I occasionally felt a slight panic. But nothing, it turns out, was so bad, that the application of good company, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (served chilled in the correct glass), didn’t alleviate.

Now we seem to be back to the norm for the year. I even put on a jumper today when walking into work this morning. Good heavens.

So, what do I have for you this week? Well, some offer sets from one of my favourite knife manufacturers, Robert Welch. We’ve unearthed another Le Creuset overstock, and for some time we’ve been dealing with a German company called Gefu. Yes, I know, an odd name. But don’t let that put you off. I’ll come back to that.

A rare challenge

There’s another thing, though, that’s been going round in my head since the beginning of the week. We had a customer who we had initially let down, who then subsequently had a real go at one of our people. It was pretty disturbing for our salesperson at the time, and actually still feels a bit raw for them. It got me thinking not just about the impact it had, and why this customer said the things they did.

We found ourselves discussing it in some detail during the course of the week and I am convinced that we acted appropriately, and with kindness and consideration towards the customer. At some point I found myself saying that, in my experience, people don’t usually behave strangely without some compelling reason. We can never know what other things are going on in a customer's life that might help explain their behaviour. Does that completely excuse their behaviour? Well, no, it does not, but it might explain it. And therein lies the difficulty. We can have some compassion for what might have been going on for the customer, whilst still recognising that we were, as far as I can see, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But somehow that still makes it rather hard to take.

As a company I think we try and live up to our reputation for being very fair in our internal dealings with ourselves, with our suppliers and with our customers. I suspect it’s partly as a result of that approach that we very rarely find ourselves in this sort of situation. Perhaps the downside is that we’re also rather unprepared for it when it does happen. An attack, which is what it felt like, comes as something of a shock when you’re not expecting one. But, on balance, I think that’s probably a better place to be than becoming so battle-hardened that somebody being unpleasant simply passes as, "just another day at the coal face".

So, to product

Robert Welch, industrial designer, started his business in 1955 based in the Cotswolds producing high quality silver and stainless steel products, taking inspiration from leading Scandinavian minimalist design houses. After Robert's death in 2000, his son and daughter (Rupert and Alice) continue to design world-class knives and homeware from the same Cotswold base. A real British success story.

Robert Welch Signature Essential 2 Piece Knife Set

Robert Welch Signature is the knife range I use most at home. My habitual choice is the 18cm Cook’s Knife, partly through habit, partly because it feels comfortable in the hand and partly because I find the modestly sized blade remarkably easy to handle. It is also sufficiently deep that I can avoid rapping my knuckles on the chopping board, which, having done it often enough, is a feature I love.

​The first of our three offers uses the aforementioned 6.5” (16cm) Cook’s Knife, along with an 8.5" (22cm) Bread Knife. Two kitchen essentials really, and you’d be hard pressed to run a kitchen without them. I’d admit that something a little larger is preferable when confronted by a cabbage, but for most other jobs this is a very good place to start.

Two very good knives for £99.95. Saves you £14.05.

Robert Welch Signature Kitchen Knife Set with Knife Sharpener

Next, another thoroughly practical combination. A 5.5" Cook’s Knife, a 4" Paring Knife and a decent wheel-based knife sharpener.

There is a simple rule with knife sharpening. It needs to be easy enough that you actually do it. Nine times out of ten, it isn’t. With a wheel sharpener, it is. This doesn't quite match my absolute favourite*, but for what this one is designed to do, namely restore an edge, it’s cheap as chips, very easy to use and, importantly, won’t do the sort of damage to a blade that many of the dreaded pull-through sharpeners do**.

And yes, you can buy the sharpener separately.

As a starter set, it's a good £99.95 worth and saves you £16.05.

*That accolade goes to the peerless MinoSharp

**V-shaped tungsten sharpeners and overlapping metal disc models frequently destroy the edge without you noticing, until the damage is done. Please note we do not sell any of this type.

Robert Welch Signature Home Chef Knife Set

This one contains an 11cm Santoku, a 12cm Kitchen/Paring Knife and a larger 18cm Cook’s Knife.

I’ve never actually used a Santoku, but my colleagues assure me that this one's a small-ish model of knife that's a staple in Asian kitchens, ideal for quick chopping and scooping vegetables straight into the pan. On occasion I do though enjoy using the bigger cook’s knife in this set. It’s the sort of size that when my usual 16cm would struggle, it has the length and the heft to get through. I often see Jeanne, a trained chef, using these longer blades for fine chopping, keeping the point of the knife in contact with the board while she chops herbs, onions or mushrooms at a speed which makes me wonder why the rest of us bother trying.

The three knives are £134.95. And saves you £25.05.

Le Creuset Toughened Non-Stick 6 piece Cookware Set

Now for something rather more substantial.

This Toughened Non-Stick Set comprises two saucepans, a large casserole, a sauté pan and two frying pans. In other words, quite a lot of cookware, and consequently quite a lot of money at £999. But if you were to buy these individually, they'd set you back £1200 at RRP.

I went hunting around to see why we hadn't been selling these, and discovered that there was a company offering them at about £683, plus postage, bringing the total to around £721. Which rather put a dampener on my enthusiasm for trying to sell them at £999.

So, as I’d rather move them on than have them sitting around looking at me accusingly, I’ve reduced them to £695. There. That’s a bargain.

And finally, Gefu

I said I’d come back to Gefu, and here we are.

Amongst the things we stock from this German company are these rather lovely stainless-steel storage bowls. They have a bonded silicone base which stops the bowl moving around the worktop while you whisk, and they come with clear plastic lids with a silicone edge which seals well against the bowl. The inside is polished, the outside satin finished, and they come in 12cm, 16cm, 20cm and 24cm sizes.

Prices range from £15.95 to £30.95.

If buying online, use code GEFU10 for 10% off when buying one or two mixing bowls, use code GEFU20 for 20% off when buying three or more. Or just let us know who you are when coming into the shops.

A lovely bit of kit, really. High quality, practical and should last you years. It just does what you want it to do.

That’s it for this week. I trust you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Warm regards,