Cooking knives

Put together a Koa Santoku and a Curly Cottonwood one for my father-in-law.

If you want something badass off the shelf can’t go wrong with Shun.

Lots of people like Cutco if you don’t wanna spend a lot.
 

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We have 3 or 4 of the TUO knives. Got them off Amazon for about 30 bucks a piece but sometimes you can get them on sale for 15-20. Had them for a couple years and really like them. Still sharp and no issues. Don’t think you can beat them for the money.
 
My wife recently took a cooking class and the teacher/chef was using a MAC and she had to have one. One class and all of a sudden she gets it. best kitchen knife we own. It came in a nice box and it is very very sharp.
 
Cooking knife choice is at least partially subjective and a matter of taste and I'd rather use a razor sharp knife w/inferior steel and geometry than a dull one of any kind. Trends have gone towards lighter, thinner, harder knives, but I still like a heavy one that I can sharpen easily at home--Wustof Classic Cook 8 Inch Chef's knife. Have used one for 10 years and love it. It hold up great and using a couple of diamond bench stones and a honing steel i have found it easy to keep sharp even though it gets banged around by the rest of the cooks in our kitchen.
 
I use a variety of knives for cooking and processing from Shun, MAC, Spyderco, Tojiro and Forschner. They are all good. Lately I've been using hand forged carbon steel knives from Dao Vua for cooking, Yes they require a little more maintenance than stainless steel but I find them very fulfilling to use with their thin blade geometry, excellent ergonomics, rustic look and cheap cost.
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I have a set of Henkels I bought 30+ years ago. Still going strong. I have added a few globals. I like the global for vegetables, a little thinner than the Henkel.
I recently added a Dalstrong slicer. Been pretty happy with it as well.

I had a set of pairing knives from cutco, worked well until it got lost.

Key to good knives is hand wash only and use a good sharpening system. One of my henkels never took a good edge. Finally used a wicked edge sharpener on it with 18 deg angles and it came alive.
 

Sabatier **** Elephant

I prefer the carbon steel.

We were gifted several by my late father in law and they have been great. I've purchased a few more since. Will last my lifetime and then some. I'd like to buy a few more to round out our collection.

We do have a few older Chicago Cutlery as well that I like--all with wooden handles.

Have a wood handle BrownStone Cutlery Santuko that gets a lot of use. I'd like to pick up a custom Santuko some day.
 
i'm not a fan of Shun. They look nice but I sharpen my wifes frequently the edges roll over and chip out due to porosity in the steel.. I might need to see if I can fix the issue by reprofiling to 25ish degree angle instead of a sub 20.
 
Victorinox IMO is the best bang for the buck out there. I have a bunch of expensive Wusthof but the Victorinox gets 99% of the use. Low cost, easy to keep the edge in shape with a steel. Speaking of, the best steel I've used is the Kramer/Zwilling.

The made in Germany Zwilling is good stuff. Holds an edge for awhile. Its soft enough that a knife still will clean up the edge in between sharpenings
 
What does everyone run for general use cooking knives. My wife and i have some offbrand junk from bath and body. And have been looking at something to replace them, but with all the options out there and so may iffy reviews i am lost. Iv looked at benchmade and MKC like most sportsman would. But damn the price makes a guy wonder if it is worth it. Any suggestions are welcome
A restaurant owner buddy turned me on to Mercer- Quality knives at a reasonable cost.
 
i'm not a fan of Shun. They look nice but I sharpen my wifes frequently the edges roll over and chip out due to porosity in the steel.. I might need to see if I can fix the issue by reprofiling to 25ish degree angle instead of a sub 20.
If they're rolling and chipping, that sounds like a temper problem potentially as well. Hopefully the new profile and having a little more meat on the edge will reduce the issues.
 
We've got a bunch of Cutco. A few Henkels.

I use my Benchmade Meatcrafter and Flyway in the kitchen a lot. And my Bark River bird and trout.
 
I use Victorinox. Sometimes will bring home my old work knives that are still really sharp. I’ll get new ones for the kitchen when my wife doesn’t want to use my old one’s anymore. 🤣
 
Victorinox. Used them at the slaughterhouse, bought a full set for home. They've been going strong for years. Easy to sharpen, easy to clean. Great kitchen knives
 
just get a few Dexter fillet knives for around $50 total & that'll handle 90% of what you'll need
Was going to say the white handled dexter is what I use the most for actual cooking. Couple Old Hickory’s rounds out the rest.
 
I'm a confessed kitchen knife snob -

I grew up using my mothers circa 1955 Cutco's. I think Cutco is overrated, stamped stainless of mediocre/average quality. Definitely marketing over substance.

I received a Henckels 4star set as a wedding gift in 1985. Typically soft European stainless steel made to be touched up on the steel. Good enough for sure, but I really dislike the traditional European heel on the Henckels and others like Sabatier. My son now has the Henckels.

After receiving several as gifts, I put together a complete set of Shuns around 10 years ago for my wife. They're decent knives, but Shun VG10 is decidedly "chippy"... I'm not a big fan of VG10 steel and if I were putting together a stainless set of Japanese knives today I'd look at something other than VG10, preferably Ginsan.

My own knives are all handmade Japanese knives from various makers. Most are Aogami 2 carbon steel, stainless clad (San Mai).

Soooo - you can go down an endless rabbit hole like me or you can just get a few styles from Victorinox. Good, serviceable knives at a nice price. A good, affordable, Japanese factory knife is Tojiro, though I'd personally avoid their VG10 line. You can pick those up on sale from Cutlery & More. Ditto Mac. Wusthoff "Gourmet" is a good value, and doesn't have the traditional European heel. Ditto Henckel's/Zwilling "Gourmet."
 
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I recommend new west knife works. G10 handles and s30v steel. I only have three that I do 95% of my cooking with: 6” petty, 5” chopper, 2” paring. They are expensive but they do some decent sales. The petty is great for deboning and processing. I got mine in different colors, is so much better than grabbing a random black handle and hoping it is what you need.
 
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