Knives - What is in Your Kitchen

[John_B]

I have learned a lot from the members in this forum. It has been enjoyable going beyond the Tormek User Manual and Videos (Some of the best available from a manufacturer I think). Lately we have been delving into honing, stropping, steeling and cutting board impacts on edge retention. All great subjects that are very important.

One question I get from people quite often is "What knives do you recommend?" The question most often comes from home users. I find that they most often fall into 2 camps. The first camp wants knives that are inexpensive, will stay reasonably sharp and will last. For this group I will give them some basic knife styles to buy and recommend Victorinox. The other and smaller group want high quality, high performance knives. These are the home chefs that take cooking seriously. Here I recommend that they go to a store that stocks several brands and try them out. If you are doing a lot of cutting it is important how the knife is balanced and fits your hand. If they like the heavier Western style knives I will steer them towards Wusthof or Henckel. If they lean more towards the Japanese style the two I lean towards are Shun and Global.
I know some of us collect knives and that there are many brands now available over a wide price range. Also in many chef's knife roll I see a wide assortment where they have chosen the knife style and brand that fits them. Often they will have 3 or 4 brands or more in their kit.

Looking at knife brand that are available now worldwide on the Internet I am a bit overwhelmed. What do you have in your kitchen for everyday use?

I have too many actually; in quantity order Wusthof, Shun, Keene (looks like Victorinox), and Henckel. My wife also bought a set of knives from Wolfgang Puck from HSN shopping for us and our daughter. They are actually pretty good knives.

[John_B]

I forgot I also succumbed to the Misen add and bought their chef knife early on at a deep discount. I like the feel and weight and so far it has retained its edge well.

[kolekoll]

Since I'm sharpening chef knives for couple of  bars and restaurants, they have a Victorinox knives mainly  and when I introduced a Boker  knives them and gave some basic models to try ( Forge Wood series ) they keep me telling, that Boker holds edge better then Victorinox ... Originally Boker Wood series has 15+15 angle. Victorinox, if I'm not mistaken, has 18+18 angle ( for stiffer knives )

[Sharpco]

I used Zwilling Bob Kramer Carbon chef, but now I use Spyderco Classic kitchen knives.

https://youtu.be/KQTu8c02fLI

[Josu V]

Hello!

I´m going to use my first post to tell about knifes I have.

In my Kitchen I use two Kai Shun Premier. One Chef knife 8" and one Santoku Knive 7". Both of them used every day. I´m very happy with them.
I use one "Walter" Santoku 8" from Albacete (Spain). One Kai Wasabi Black 23Cm for filleting and one bread knife.

In my work, I use various Walter Knifes and Cleavers. Them work very hard, and I think that Walter´s Knives have a good relation between quality/price.

I sharpen all mi knifes wiht Tormek T8, SB250, DF-250, DE-250 and various LA-220 honing wheels.

Currently learning from many colleagues in this forum, which I have been following for a long time.

I have been sharpening knifes about 25 years ago, but I have never reached as hugh as since I have read the comments of many colleagues in this forum. Special attention to Vadim and many other.



PD.- The left one was a 23cm filleting knife, but it had an accident and actually only has 17cm.. and many years of work.

Regards from Spain (Basque Country)

[Antz]

For some reason I seem to have a lot of Farberware knives. I only bought one for about 10$ US, the rest have been given to me or bought at garage sales. After I sharpen them on the T-8 followed by paper wheels at 15dps they are ridiculously sharp although they seem to not hold the edge as long as I'd like. Probably due to my cutting board (bamboo) which I just learned is one of the worst to be cutting on. Other than that I have Friedr Herder high carbon knives that get sharper than anything I've come across so far. Some were my grandfathers knives and have seen over 70+ years of use. Also where I live Friedr Herder knives are very popular with hunters.

[Erivan]

Many interesting info, right here.

And here is my contribution 

I started about 30 years ago, with French knives (from the Sabatier family, I can't remember exactly which branch, the printing is now worn out, unreadable), used daily at first and then less often. They are still in in use. One of them is a slimline 9 inch chef knife and the other is a standard office knife, about 4 inch. They both are in perfect condition. They are the ones I dared to try my (most perfectible) sharpening skills 30 years ago. I did polish them since, and sharpen as well. They look "brand new" and I will soon present them to my son, when he settles in his own home. They are the kitchen knives he always knew and favoured.

These knives certainly aren't the toughest and best at edge retention, but after over 30 years, who would I be to complain ?

Some years ago (not that many, though) I got interested in German knives. I own and use a few of them, leaving the Sabatier ones for my son. They are Zwilling (Henckels) and Wüsthof.

They feel different, and according to the typical knife itself, one brand will feel better than the other one to me. I feel it's totally impossible (for me) to decide which is best.

A quick example:
- the Wüsthof Classic 4682/16 (https://www.knivesandtools.de/de/pt/-wuesthof-classic-kochmesser-16-cm.htm) is a total must, as far as I'm concerned for processing small quantities of vegetables and chop onions.
- the Zwilling Professional-S 9 inch chef knife (I insist on Professional-S series) (https://www.knivesandtools.de/de/pt/-zwilling-professional-s-kochmesser-23-cm.htm) is my daily workhorse. Very well balanced and only 250 grams. It does an amazing job and is very easily stropped.

Just to make a point : the comparison could be the same between Mercedes-Benz and BMW... Some will say "this one is too heavy", and other will think the other way.

And you won't read anything about Japanese knife, as I'm a total ignorant about them...

In my own opinion, the quality of the kitchen knives are less important than the care you take of it : I bought 5 years ago a EUR 2,20 8 inch chef knife. I maintained it last week and it is still razor sharp. It is not balanced and weights a mere 100 grams.

Up to you to decide...

I hope to read from you all soon.

Best regards.