Hope you find a good sharp knife. For very hard veggies like sweet potatoes, and squash don't waste time trying to cut them into chunks. Just cleave them in half. Just wash, oil and roast with cut side down. the skin will slide right off after cooled and they will taste so much better than if they are boiled.

To cut in half I use a big knife and wack the veggie once. The knife will stick in the veggie which is what you want, then on a cutting board, lift the knife with the veggie on it and give it one more wack and the veggie will split just like a log.

If all else fails with a knife..........go use Hubby's bandsaw......:D

I love my K Sabatier knives.

I don't even try to cut a raw squash of any kind.

Put it into the oven at 350º for 30 minutes for small ones, up to 60 minutes for a Hubbard squash. I had six huge Hubbards this year. After the whole squash was in the oven for an hour, I cut it in half. Now the inside is still raw and you can scoop out the seeds easily. I put half on a very large cookie sheet face down with about a cup of water and put it back into the oven for another hour. The other half I cut up, took the peeling off with a vegetable peeler and put pieces into very large kettles with a small amount of water to cook on the stove top until done. I think I had 12 quarts of squash to put into the freezer and at least 3 quarts went into the refrigerator for use now as squash or as pie.

I still have two of those Hubbards in the basement. They are doing well so far.

We are Cutco fans here too. But many years ago an uncle gave us a knife that they used in canneries for fish, that thing is fantastic. But the clue is to keep your knives sharp. Find a good knife sharpener and use it. As they say, a sharp knife does what you want it to do, the dull knife is the one that slips and cuts you.

FYI: You can microwave the squash for a couple of minutes and that makes it easier to cut.

Our neighbors bought pumpkins for all of the neighbors close around one year, along with the small cutlery tool bag that's out there for decorating them. Not doing pumpkins for a couple of years because of arthritic hands, I was amazed at the little saw that comes in the pack. Every time I have squash now, it's what I use. I cut the squash at the stem end and cut the stem away first with the little saw. Then, I insert the saw blade into the hole and saw it around so we have a half for both of us. For larger ones, I M/W the squash a bit and once again use the little saw.

Love my Wusthof and Henckel knives. Started out with Gerber and they were impossible to sharpen.

I'm a chef and use Henckel knives professionally. I've had the same set since my school days...I won't say how long ago that was.
I once broke the paring knife trying to make a Jack o Lantern and Henckel replaced it at no cost. Just had me go to a local store and pick one up.
A great all purpose knife is a Santoku knife. It can stand in for a Chef's knife, but it's strong enough for the heavy lifting, too.

Watson