Kitchen/Chef's Knives Reviews & Recommendations

[Arn?Narn.]

Buy a decent set of Henckel 4 stars.

I have my Commercial Cooks papers and have used enough knives to know.

Next to that,...victorinox ormother Henckels will be fime,...but of you want quality, get the 4 stars...

no lie, I once shaved with my chefs knife..

[verminator]

Go with the Shuns you will not be disappointed. Very sharp, quality made and great balance. They are Damascus blades, hold great edge and stay sharp. I have had my set for a over a year now and would never go back to my Henckels,there quality has diminished over the years. Shun also offers a free sharpening and lifetime warranty. As was mentioned check out there videos on how they are made and sharpened.
A tip though you can get them alot cheaper if you know someone in the states order them from William Sonoma and have them shipped to them and then shipped to you. Retailer in Ontario wanted 300.00 to ship to Alberta. Had them shipped from Boston for 50.00.

My second choice would be MAC.

[gilbertslake]

Originally Posted by hassihand

I've grown tired of using these lousy no name, shoddy quality knives at home and looking for suggestions/reviews/recommendations etc. on some good quality knives that will see moderate to heavy use at home.

At the moment, there are a few brand names that I've narrowed down which include Global, Shun, and Wusthof. Leaning toward a set (5-9 pcs, depending on mfgr and set), however is there any good argument to buying individually? If it's a set and comes with a block, the block itself won't be used so I have no need to pay extra for that.

Given that I'm currently at work, I have no way to visit any retailers or handle them myself, so this will be a "blind" online purchase so they are waiting when I get home...suggestions for online retailers also appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

My mother used to have some German knives by Wusthof and my father had pocket knives by Lowen Messers and Nest. All of these were made in Solingen and carbon steel blades with wooden handles. And did they ever take a nice sharp edge.
I think Nest is no longer available, but Lowen Messers knives are. I saw Wusthoff knives at good prices when I was in Germany a couple years ago and wish now I had bought some. I would recommend Wusthof as being of similar quality to Henckels. I have a couple Henckels knives which are made in Japan and although ok they don't seem to have the same quality as German steel
If you want an excellent Canadian made knife, check out Grohmann, their top line knives are forged steel blades, but pricey. If their kitchen knives are as good as their carbon steel belt knives (Russell) then they should be great knives.

[verminator]

Originally Posted by gilbertslake

If you want an excellent Canadian made knife, check out Grohmann, their top line knives are forged steel blades, but pricey. If their kitchen knives are as good as their carbon steel belt knives (Russell) then they should be great knives.

Grohmann are excellent knifes I don't have any but I have friends back east that do both hunting and kitchen and they absolutely love them. The are from my home province and they also give tours of there plant daily.

[gilbertslake]

Originally Posted by verminator

Grohmann are excellent knifes I don't have any but I have friends back east that do both hunting and kitchen and they absolutely love them. The are from my home province and they also give tours of there plant daily.

I have had two of their Russell`s. An original and a bird knife, both with carbon steel blades. The carbon blades take a keener edge and hold it longer than stainless. On the downside, carbon needs more care, clean and dry right away each time you use it and I like to use a light coating of oil on the blade after cleaning. To me they are every bit as good as Solingen knives. On a couple of occasions when the edge was starting to dull, I have done a couple of passes on the back of the sheath and the edge is sharp again (no damage to the sheath).

[Albertadiver]

I have a cutco hunting knife. I've gutted and butchered 4 deer with this knife and it doesn't need a sharpening.

I hope to buy more for the kitchen soon.

[verminator]

The Shuns are have a very thin edge 3/1000ths of an inch. My bread knife can be pushed through freshly baked homemade bread cutting a perfect slice. I was quite impressed after getting mine and trying them. I have a number other knifes and non compare to the Shuns. They are Damascus and it's a process of layering metals together form a superior metal, for knifes or samurai swords. A few pics below show u how the knifes look and the layers of metal. You can also see the thin edge 16°.

URL="http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/qqfob/IMG_6049.jpg"]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m98/qqfob/IMG_6049.jpg[/URL]

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...b/IMG_6051.jpg

[Swolf]

Hey Verminator,

If you dont mind, I would like to know that knife cost you?

[dmac]

I have the Victorinox professional series knives. Excellent knives; bigger knives are little heavy however not too bad. I would also recommend the Victorinox fibrox series, great knives at a lower price. We bought all of our kitchen gear from Cutlery and More. Check out their web site. Good service, occasional specials.

[verminator]

Originally Posted by Swolf

Hey Verminator,

If you dont mind, I would like to know that knife cost you?

Honestly I didn't pay for them my wife bought them for Christmas for me. They cost her $1800.00 US regular $2800.00. That's for the 11-Piece Knife Block Set. Again that's through William Sonoma but they don't ship to Canada. Yes they were expensive but they will be the last set of knives I will ever need. The one in the pic is about $249.95 US. If you go to the link it will list all the knife in the kaji style.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/searc...d-viewset=ecom

[New Hunter Okotoks]

I like the Henckels Professional S series of knives. I find that the Henckels 4 Star(More Expensive)to be far too heavy and cumbersome of a knife.

Pretty much all you need is a really good 8" Chef's Knife and a 3-4" Paring Knife. These 2 knives will see the most use in just about any Kitchen.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by dmac

I have the Victorinox professional series knives. Excellent knives; bigger knives are little heavy however not too bad. I would also recommend the Victorinox . fibrox series, great knives at a lower price. We bought all of our kitchen gear from Cutlery and More. Check out their web site. Good service, occasional specials.

We ordered some knives from them based on recommendations in this thread, very fast shipping from the states. They have some awesome deals on sets in their clearance page if someone needs a full set. We order a 8" chef and a couple of paring knives. Victorinox wooden handle, and we ordered the peasant knife from lee valley, they all look and feel great, and we'll see about edge holding over time. The lee valley knife is high carbon so the steel is discolored already but they tell you this on the web site, kind of a cool look for me.

[sprinklerdog]

We have the complete cutco kitchen block set. It's okay. The downfall is the handles on the larger knives. They are not the most comfortable and I find they can be a little slippery when my hands are wet. That being said, the cheese knife is the best cheese knife I've ever used along with the steak knives.
I love the hunting knives, but the handles and grips are quite different.
Geo

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

We ordered some knives from them based on recommendations in this thread, very fast shipping from the states. They have some awesome deals on sets in their clearance page if someone needs a full set. We order a 8" chef and a couple of paring knives. Victorinox wooden handle, and we ordered the peasant knife from lee valley, they all look and feel great, and we'll see about edge holding over time. The lee valley knife is high carbon so the steel is discolored already but they tell you this on the web site, kind of a cool look for me.

Insomnia..... Anyway, 5 months and counting, we love the Victorinox knives. We haven't had to sharpen yet, a couple of licks on the steel every couple of weeks and good to go. The Lee Valley Peasant knife doesn't get used enough to get a review, but it hasn't even required a steel yet in limited use. We have a Henkel made in Brazil, not in the same class as the Victorinox.

[avb3]

Some years ago, I was talking to a professional chef and he advised something that I thought was weird.

He suggested that many chefs will use a lower carbon steel knife, as although a high carbon steel will hold and edge, once gone, is very difficult to get back.

He said, "Why don't you just buy a cheap set and see how you make out with that".

So I did... paid $14.00 at the Bay. Used it for years, and then saw the identical set on clearance at Can. Tire for $1.00. I bought two as a backup.

Both of those are still in their original packaging, with the exception of the paring knife. The rivets are not the best quality, and fell apart on the original set... the one I bought 11 years ago. I keep the edges honed religiously.

What can I say... a total of $16 for three sets of knives. Oh, I also bought a santoku knife which I love, but that is only about a year old.

So, I got lucky. But what was the down side?

[pikergolf]

All I can say is that I religiously honed my Henkel too, and I'm good at sharpening, carpenter that did a lot of finishing by trade, lots of chisels. I like the care the Victorinox requires a whole lot better. I've owned more than a few brands of chisels, I got lucky with a set from the Czech. Republic. Easily my favorite set, but certainly not the most expensive. They just work, hold an edge and are reasonably easy to sharpen. Just one of those tools that make you smile when you use them. The Victorinox are the same, I just feel good every time I use the chefs knife.

[omega50]

The interesting thing about cooking is that the results of all of your care and attention and the precise geometric cuts produced by your knives are usually consumed withing hours of the cut.

The results of poor equipment and bad cutting technique can be enjoyed for generations on a backyard fence project or a handyman rec room. lol


They say that you eat with your eyes. Well they never tasted my ex wife's cooking.

At the end of the day flavor wins the race. IMO

So, Spend away on what you like- but the finished product will be racing to the terminal end of your intestines in a couple of hours.

[pophouseman]

Originally Posted by avb3

Some years ago, I was talking to a professional chef and he advised something that I thought was weird.

He suggested that many chefs will use a lower carbon steel knife, as although a high carbon steel will hold and edge, once gone, is very difficult to get back.

He said, "Why don't you just buy a cheap set and see how you make out with that".

So I did... paid $14.00 at the Bay. Used it for years, and then saw the identical set on clearance at Can. Tire for $1.00. I bought two as a backup.

Both of those are still in their original packaging, with the exception of the paring knife. The rivets are not the best quality, and fell apart on the original set... the one I bought 11 years ago. I keep the edges honed religiously.

What can I say... a total of $16 for three sets of knives. Oh, I also bought a santoku knife which I love, but that is only about a year old.

So, I got lucky. But what was the down side?

X2

I bought a set in a wooden block from IKEA 8 years ago for $14.99. still using them and they work fine...... $2000 are you kidding me?

[creeky]

Originally Posted by slingshotz

If you are coming back to Calgary, go into Knifewear in Inglewood and see Kevin, he's the geek of knives, he has knives that he helped design as well. I'm not a huge fan of the German type knives but it really is important to feel the balance in your hand as they are very individual. I personally use Japanese Tojiro DP Damascus knifes and they are absolutely amazing. By first half decent knife was a Global but after using the Tojiro's the Global pales in comparison.

x2, the quality of product he stocks is on a whole other level.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by pophouseman

X2

I bought a set in a wooden block from IKEA 8 years ago for $14.99. still using them and they work fine...... $2000 are you kidding me?

Umm, my four Victroinox came in at under 100 including shipping, and New Hunter in Okotoks is right 2 kinves cover almost everything. We ordered an extra paring knife and a 6" vegtable knife to go along with the chefs. The 8" chef and a paring knife is a good set, everything else is redundent, if your knives hold an edge. lol

[avb3]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Umm, my four Victroinox came in at under 100 including shipping, and New Hunter in Okotoks is right 2 kinves cover almost everything. We ordered an extra paring knife and a 6" vegtable knife to go along with the chefs. The 8" chef and a paring knife is a good set, everything else is redundent, if your knives hold an edge. lol

After my cheap knives wear out (that may be in 10-20 years based on the track record so far), I certainly would consider the Victroinox line. Henkel is over rated and over priced. I love my Swiss Army pocket and key chain knives, so obviously am familiar with the quality.

I just don't get the need for spending 1000's for a set. Mind you, I don't get the need to buy and Escalade over a Denali either.

[dickinsonpw]

http://www.grohmannknives.com/pages/forged.html

or http://knifewear.com/

[johnsnowkornar]

Originally Posted by shooter55

Choosing a knife is a fun task. My daughter is a chef and uses a wicked razor sharp chefs knife we bought from a custom knife house down in CA. Japanese steel Damascus style. My son has a set of shun knives..they are amazing quality of steel but very pricey. I personally have a set of heinkel knives and they have served me well.. I would not start a new set though,
When my daughter grad from sait she won a set of victoriaknox blades and the quality is impressive. She also had a set of Japanese globals...nice but the steel handle and dimples chafes your hand.
Japan vs germany
All of the above memos are great advice and hope u find the right knife for u

Which one will be the best for chopping beef under $50??

[Twisted Canuck]

Why is it that new guys with a half dozen posts always seem to find 7 year old necro threads to bump? Passing strange....

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Twisted Canuck

Why is it that new guys with a half dozen posts always seem to find 7 year old necro threads to bump? Passing strange....

Likely related to the long list of forum names they have complied on post-it notes in preparation for getting discovered & banned. Hey, you wanna buy something expensive from him in about 14 posts time? Be prepared that it might be something with identical photos to items found elsewhere online at different locations. But then he’s not posted a location for those face to face local deals now has he? Also note that his PAL might bear the name and photo of someone you actually know, maybe even your own! A year and a half old membership and all 6 posts made in the last two days. Not fishy at all..........hey, didn’t a fraudster just get banned 3 days ago? Look for lines in the water. Also note the time of the post, 3:35 am. The deadbeat that was just shown the door for using someone else’s PAL was also posting in the middle of the night.

[overparr]

Purchased the complete set of Cutco several years ago. Best set we have ever owned. I believe they still offer free sharpening service as well. Although we have never used that service as i sharpen all our knives including serrated