Kitchen knife options

[Mac McQuinn]

I've been a fan of Warther Knives for sometime, made in USA, Hold a edge well and just feel right in my hand when cooking.
Warther Cutlery
Mac

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Add another to the Wusthof crowd. We bought from http://www.thebestthings.com/knives/knives.htm they have plenty of options and info, and are excellent to deal with.

[Raymond Fries]

Wustof classic here. We have many and they are excellent.

[Andrew Hughes]

JA Henckels,guy here I do have couple Wustoff they are just as good as it gets.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Any Shun users?

I have a cousin who in who is a culinary professional and is a big fan of Shun. He prefers Japanese in general, for the thin blade. I believe the Shun Classic is a VG10 core...

[Peter Kelly]

The MAC Santoku is excellent: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/mac-su...FYVZ7AodWhYAdQ

[John Pratt]

The MAC Santoku is excellent: http://www.cutleryandmore.com/mac-su...FYVZ7AodWhYAdQ

Not very well known but this is an excellent knife. In fact, voted the best knife on the market a few years ago.

In addition to being a flashlight fanatic, I really like knives. I think I have 40 or so ranging from $40-$300 per knife. All the brands mentioned are quality knives and will make the user happy if used properly. There is sometimes a learning curve if you are used to dull knives. I think the hardest thing to teach my wife was proper care of good knives. No dishwasher, no "knife drawer" where everything is just chucked in with other silverware. If you spend good money on a quality knife, I would recommend getting knife blade guards to go with each knife if you don't have a dedicated knife block to store the knives.

[Al Launier]

I'm not a chef, so I have no desire for a "professional" set of knives. However, I do appreciate a reasonable set of quality knives for our kitchen at a reasonable cost. I use & like the Zwilling J.A. Henkels knives that I purchase at a local Bed Bath & Beyond store. They are sharp and stay sharp with normal steeling. The shape of the handles are very comfortable. They are well made.

[Frank Drew]

I have a couple of Wustofs that I'm happy with, and that I think are good tools, but my culinary needs (and skills) don't demand knives any better than that; unlike with woodworking, I'm not spending 8-12 hours a day in the kitchen preparing meals.

[Chris Kennedy]

Wusthof and Globals. I prefer the Wusthof, but my wife has significantly smaller hands and the Global handle works really well for her.

Chris

[Chris Griggs]

Any Shun users?

I have a cousin who in who is a culinary professional and is a big fan of Shun. He prefers Japanese in general, for the thin blade. I believe the Shun Classic is a VG10 core...

I have a Shun 10" Chef Knife. The Shuns are fantastic. I have several Wustofs and they are great knives but the thinner blade and balance on the Shun makes is a nicer knife to use. They also come far sharper when new. Of all the knives and edge tools I've purchased its the only one that could pop hairs off my arm out of the box.

Bang for buck on readily available brands that are easy to care for and maintain I'd say go with Wustof though. I actually use those the most and tend to pamper my Shun.

In the inexpensive area, the Forschners by Victorinox are really nice. They are stamped, not forged blades, and aren't all that pretty, but they are quality kitchen tools. This bread knife is what I have in that line and its IMHO one of the best on the market. Bread knives are one place where its not worth it to spend a ton of dough, since they can't readily be rehoned. That Forshner one I linked to come quite sharp. I've had it for several years and it is staying strong. Also, the design is great because the blade is long and the subtle curve of blade combined with its depth give you plenty of knuckle clearance. I like this bread knife much better than any of the Wustoff bread knives I've used.

Edit: Holy cow the price on that bread knife I linked to has really gone up. Mine was under $30 and I see they are now $50. Still not a bad buy for a good bread knife but not the bang for buck that it once was.

[David Weaver]

Do you freehand on stones with knives?

Absolutely. The couple of japanese knives get done on japanese stones, but only because I have them (stones as in the kind that come out of the ground), but they could be maintained on oilstones just fine because they're not super super hardness like the top quality tools are - they're more like 60-62 hardness, and if cared for, sharpening has to do very little metal removal to keep them in shape.

I sharpen the german and the ginsu knives like someone would sharpen a razor (except they don't have a spine, you set the angle by muscle memory). One hand, edge into the stone - if you're the only one sharpening the knife, you end up doing it the same way every time and it's quick and easy, especially if you use a fast stone like a diamond stone. We all have a very solid ability to do that over and over as long as we don't think too much about whether the angle is perfect. The issue gets complicated, though, if more than one person sharpens a knife.

Doing it that way takes about 2 minutes on a german or chinese knife to go from start to finish where finished edge is pretty sharp but not polished. Add a couple of minutes if you want to use a polish stone to bring the knife edge up to easy hair shaving (i generally don't do that because it's not needed and my wife will not tolerate knives that sharp - she gets in trouble with them, and so do her friends, and so does her mother...btdt).

I personally also expect that doing the sharpening freehand allows you to less-than-consciously find the right angle where the knife is very sharp but the edge doesn't break down. That is a steeper angle for german knives than japanese knives. The santoku is sharpened with two hands and the bevel is barely steeper than the grind. It's all very intuitive, satisfying and quick, and like sharpening a razor, if you have the patience to get the knife set up just so it's ready to just need indefinite touch ups (i.e., don't rush setting the bevel the first time, even if it takes 10 minutes to get the factory hone transformed into what you want), then the knife stays at a high level of sharpness for a long time with very little metal removal. Even on softer knives like the ginsu chikaras, you can make a set last a lifetime at home- no problem.

[Stew Hagerty]

I have both J A Henckels and Wusthof knives. Seriously, they are both fantastic. Japanese knives are supposed to be amazing, and the layering of the steel is beautiful, but I'm a practical guy and I'm a home cook not a professional chef.

I think of it just like I do in woodworking. I'm a serious hobbyist rather than a professional. As such, I find that the HF DC works just fine for my needs and is far less expensive than a big Oneida or Tempest Cyclone. I also find that my 1980's vintage Craftsman saw with a U50 Vega Fence and a couple of high end miter gauges is all I need for my work, although I admit I've always lusted after a Unisaw. And I get along just fine with my Porter Cable Circular saw in lieu of a Festool Tracksaw.

All that said... I think one of the really good (as opposed to the infomercial variety) Japanese ceramic knives wold be so cool to have!!!

[Mel Fulks]

Few years back needing some Christmas gifts I came across some 12 inch (yes, 12 inch BLADE) chefs knives ,got about five of them for 2$ each. Backs are over 3/16 thick. They seem to be NOS ,had just a little surface rust .One was marked JAPAN but the others had no marks. Great buy on last minute carbon steel.

[David Weaver]

Even if you wanted to get a japanese knife, the basic inexpensive ones really give you a feel for the difference between the two types (and the difference is nearly entirely in the hardness of the steel and what that allows for a final bevel angle in a light-medium duty knife).

Fortunately, that's available for HF price (lots of sellers on ebay with entry level tanaka knives, etc), but on what is my favorite (a white #2 or blue #2 knife) it does come with the condition that you can tolerate the fact that carbon steel will develop patina from acids, etc, and that you have to hand dry the knife every time.

The more expensive knives are a lot like japanese tools - there are a lot of things that cost a lot of money either for style or name or purity of steel that really don't add up to much in use. But purists are always the one chasing that something perfect without regard for price. Fortunately, this is a case where nearly purist quality can be had for about fifty or sixty bucks.

(not that I'm implying that everyone has to experiment - a decent chinese knife will do everything anyone ever needs to)