Looking for a Knife


(Crippie) #1

I have always heard the most important tool/gadget of any kitchen is a good solid and sharp chef’s knife. Well I have always just had the knifes that came in the knife set from a wedding present. Nothing too special. I want to invest in a good knife, one that I can cut up a tri-tip roast without destroying it.

Any suggestions?


#2

I’m a huge fan of the Wusthof Ikon knives. You’ll pay the price but I think they are hard to beat.


(David K) #3

We use Henkel’s in our house as they’re not quite Wusthof money. I would love me some Wusthof’s though.


(Crippie) #4

Ok. Found one on amazon, shows $150. That sound bout right?

How often do you think these need to be professionally sharpened? i want to make sure its maintenance is not too high, but if I am going to spend the money I also want to properly maintain it.


(Crippie) #5

I think the knife set we have now is a henkle’s. The logo looks familiar, but I have not paid much attention to our set. Perhaps I just need to take mine and get them professionally sharpened somewhere.


#6

Henckels and Wusthof are the big two I’d say. The thing is they make several grades. You can get a Heckels chefs knife for anywhere for maybe $30 to several hundred. If you want to spend a little less the Victorinox chefs knife for about $44 has been the America’s test kitchen favorite for years.


(John) #7

I used to have good knives, from Wustof to some ceramics, but for some reason those are the things people seem to want to ‘help’ with the most in cleaning and they were all ruined.

Now I get some Dexter’s from either online or a local cooking store and have probably a dozen of them. They are cheap so you don’t mind messing them up and sharp as hell.

This one below I used all of last BBQ season (not that it stops) and carved through over 1,000 pounds of pork butt and a few hundred pounds of brisket with nothing more than honing.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001MRYDI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use this for slicing things like ham, brisket and roast, it is so sharp if you rinse it blade up you just get hydrogen and oxygen out.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NG98RI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These Victorionox are great as well.


(Doug) #8

What a great thread. :slightly_smiling_face:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DW4QD0C/ref=as_at?creativeASIN=B00DW4QD0C&linkCode=w61&imprToken=3u.57F0Gnm6hArQrVIWs8w&slotNum=0&tag=cwju-20

More brittle than stainless steel, but hellish sharp - really a blast to use. I’ve never broken one - just take care not to pry anything with them or really “lean” on them.


(Crippie) #9

Oh wow that is great!

I used to work in purchasing at a local machine shop and we would often order specialty ceramic drill bit tips from Kyocera, same place, logo is identical.

I have never tried ceramic, how is the maintenance on these? Do they need to or can they even be sharpened?


(Doug) #10

Ceramic supposedly dulls at about 1/10th the rate of good stainless steel. I haven’t gotten them dull yet. If the user pays for the shipping, Kyocera will sharpen them.


(Crippie) #11

Good to know! Reasonably priced too. This is definitely on the list to investigate


(Crippie) #12

Well I’m sold! Just ordered a set!


(Jim Russell) #13

I have a Misen chef knife and I like it my better than my Henckels chef knife.

The goal of Misen was to make a high quality knife at a reasonable price. Basically a quality knife that could sell for $150 dollars less than half that. I paid about $50 dollars for it via kickstarter, it’s $65 now.

I’ve been really happy with it. It fits well in my hand and just seems to glide through things that I have to force the Henckels through. But it’s possible that the Henckels just needs to be sharpened.

I did see a review from a high end hand made knife maker. He was not impressed. But I’m happy.

https://www.misen.co/products/misen-chefs-knife-blue

http://knkx.org/post/food-thought-misen-knife-cuts-it


#14

It’s possible it is dull, it also really depends what model of Henckels you had to begin with. They make so many different ones. Saying “I have a Henckels” is like saying “I have a Chevy”. Ok, well is it a 2007 Cobalt or a 2017 Corvette?

A quality Henckels which is regularly maintained and occasionally sharpened by a professional will run circles around many of these lesser knives. The process to make quality knives is fairly universal around the world so cost is usuallly a pretty good indicator of the quality and manufacturing cost. The exception being custom/artisan blades.


(Jim Russell) #15

Yeah, Henckels definitely covers the market from pretty high end to pretty cheap. I just looked at it. It is the Fine Edge Pro, which is near the bottom of the Henckels range. I think I paid about $120 for a 12 piece set.

One thing I noticed about the two knives in picking them up is that the Misen is much heavier. Almost twice as heavy even though they are both 6" chef knives.

The Henckels set is the best set of knives I have owned, but I think I will watch this thread and see if someone finds a significantly better set at good price. Or I could just replace individual knives when I find ones that I like.


(Jennifer) #16

I was given a Henckels Twin Cuisine knive as a wedding present in 91. Loved it - especially the heavy handle - just felt perfect in my hand. At some point, I decided to buy more and found out they stopped making them because the polypropylene handles were a little brittle and could crack. I turned to eBay and bought a complete set. lol… I just love these knives.

twinc


#17

I’m intrigued by the Victorinox knives they tout on America’s Test Kitchen. That’s been their #1 chefs knife for a long time. And it’s $44. Makes me think the other knives in that set must be good also. Someday I want to pull the trigger on a really nice set (Wusthof Ikon, etc) but then I realize I do everything with an 8" chefs knife and a 5" santoku now so what’s the point? Someone said something about guests always “helping” and messing up nice knives, that’s happened to me a few times also. I don’t know what it is but it’s definitely a thing. I prefer to use my knives, not a huge fan of sharing.


(Crippie) #18

Ahhh dang, its got a wait list. I got some ceramic knives ordered, but I would like a good heavy steel chefs knife too


#19

That’s what I have also, the 8" chefs knife. It does have some minor handle cracks but that thing is a beast. I got my friend the Twin Cuisine Santoku for a wedding gift and he loves it. Said it’s been his go-to for years.


(Jim Russell) #20

Yeah, their kickstarter was WAY more popular than they expected and they’re still working on the backorders.