Any of you guys with decent knife collections have total crap in the kitchen?

This made me lol. I have easily a thousand + in folders and fixed blades and literally have 1 7 dollar walmart kitchen knife. But, then I realized that nearly everything that i buy for the kitchen comes pre-sliced/precut-! But, then again I'm a 23 year old single dude living in a studio apartment with friends that are quite easily entertained...
 
Yes, my kitchen knives are nothing special. The best one is $10-15 wal mart job, others are like 3 for $2 sets, ugly in every way (they were a gift). I am fine with them for now, they keep me humble. They cut food fine, and I have no remorse if they get banged up.
 
TwinStick said:
Yeah, define crap. I have a set of pre-prison Martha Stewart knives. They are full tang, made in China but they are sharp. I almost threw them away once before i could sharpen good. You can make a cheap ass knife wicked sharp. Best bang for the buck in kitchen knives is the Paula Dean 2 knife Santoku set that W-Worlds sells for around $16-18. I give them as gifts to family after i sharpen them up. Proof that you can have sharp on a budget.
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I want the Martha Stewart prison shiv series
 
I've got a set of Henckels sitting in a block. They're China made, but not bad at all, and my Edge Pro keeps them in great condition. There's one Shun Ken Onion Chef's knife that I use, but it's only for me to use, and doesn't count as the home's knife. Mine...just mine...
 
I always buy Henkels kitchen knives. The german steel ones.

They last good, aren't the best/most expensive, but good enough for me. Now if I were younger, or living with a bunch of dudes....no way.
 
KrisOK said:
I was standing in the kitchen dicing veggies for a stew today when the thought struck me. I've been collecting knives for several years, and have well over 150 now. BUT..... we're still using the same crappy Farberware knife set that we bought about 15 years ago for about $75. I'm sure that the steel is crap, and the knives really don't hold an edge very well. I always find myself using one of my folders for any serious slicing jobs. It just seems weird to me that I have never really thought about upgrading the kitchen knives to something decent before now.

Are any of you guys in the same boat?
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Yes that occured to me. So I just use my hobby knives because they are knives. I'm not being rude or sarcastic, just stating a simple truth for myself. It hit me once back when I had a Becker Magnum Camp that it would be a hell of a ham slicer, and it was.
 
you can get some good old knives at yard sales. old Ontario, Old Hickory, a Tramontina chef knife or two and last year on blackfriday we went to A G russel and my wife picked out a hot pink Kershaw chef's knife of $10 or $20, its hers.

So cheap knives yes, Crap, No.
 
I've always bought kitchen knives at flea markets and estate sales. I have lots of them, and they are superb, though inexpensive.

Besides my old Gerbers that came mostly from SM, I've got a lot of black ones by Utica, Dexter, Robeson, Old Hickory etc; a block set of Henckels Zwillingswerk, probably a set and a half of Chicagos, and four or five stainless French Sabatiers.

The first stainless Sabatiers I tried wouldn't take an edge for me, but these are great. Chicago's broad 6" chef knife is very handy.

I paid $5 for the Henckels block set, my greatest kitchen-knife coup, and $15 for the Sabatiers, my most extravagant kitchen-knife purchase.

If I were buying new users, I would go for Dexter-Russell or Victorinox.
 
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Two Henkels, one ~6" Chefs bought 12 years ago when I moved from home to CA, one ~7" gifted to me from my grandmother a couple months ago.

This picture represents, aside from a Spyderco Bug and Victorinox, my complete collection of edged tools.

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You guys with cheap kitchen knives, get yourself one nice Chefs, and one nice Santoku, or one or the other depending on cutting and food prep preference. The thin, thin blade with good razor sharp steel are just a pleasure to slice through ripe tomatoes, carrots etc.

The Henkels are serving me fine, though were I not gifted the Santoku (one of my favorite kind of knives to use in the kitchen) I would be purchasing a Shun or higher end one. Go look at the cooking/chef forums and look at how nuts they are like we over high end japanese steel / carbon steel.
 
I am a Cook/Chef and then got into pocket knives...So I have Shuns, Mundials, Mercers and Sabatier. But I also am guilty of having crappy faberware and food network knives..but there are mostly for others to use when over or when I leave my knives at work.
 
I don't have a "collection", and sold off my nicer knives some time ago, but this thread hits close to home. I've got a few inexpensive Kershaw and Victorinox knives in the kitchen, but I mostly just use a cheap Chicago Cutlery santoku from Wal-Mart, and a big set of no-name knives marked only "stainless steel-Made in China". I do have to say they work fine for me, though. I'm no chef, and really just cut up fruit plus some meat and vegetables for using in salads and omelettes.
 
Funny, I've been thinking of making a similar thread, as I couldn't understand how the need for a quality blade would be on one side of the fence and not the other with some people.

I've also seen many talk about how well their fixed or folder is at slicing food, but I will guarantee that none of those knives cut food even close to as well as a great knife made for kitchen purposes. Also, steels that favor the keenest edges are more important to me in the kitchen than those that are tough or have great edge retention...almost two completely different worlds.

My interest started years ago in kitchen knives and I only recently made the shift over here. If you guys are looking for a resource similar to BF for ideas, check out KKF (kitchenknifeforums.com)
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I am in the same boat, actually just thinking the same thing about my kitchen!I broke out the wicked edge and spent the afternoon sharpening 5$ knives after trying 3 different knives to cut some roast beef and none of them could even handle that. They are sharp now.......lets see how long that lasts! I am going to buy a new set soon, I have been looking for a quality set that wont break me.
 
I have a nice set of Made in China Sabatiers. However, I am in the process of replacing them with Victorinox. So far I have the carving knife and chefs knife. The are very good knives for about $30 a piece.
 
Cadillac J said:
Funny, I've been thinking of making a similar thread, as I couldn't understand how the need for a quality blade would be on one side of the fence and not the other with some people.

I've also seen many talk about how well their fixed or folder is at slicing food, but I will guarantee that none of those knives cut food even close to as well as a great knife made for kitchen purposes. Also, steels that favor the keenest edges are more important to me in the kitchen than those that are tough or have great edge retention...almost two completely different worlds.

My interest started years ago in kitchen knives and I only recently made the shift over here. If you guys are looking for a resource similar to BF for ideas, check out KKF (kitchenknifeforums.com)
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Very true. :)

I use my Customs in the kitchen most of the time, and they are VERY thin and cut very well, but I do like the high alloy, wear resistant steels at high hardness.
 
Somewhat guilty of it here....

I have a Chicago Cutlery set in the kitchen, though they are all serrated. I have one of the old Cutco knives that is pretty solid, and a couple small Kitchen Aid slicers that I use for dicing and denser vegetables. I would love to get some nicer stuff, but I'm pushing for an EDC upgrade first.
 
Cadillac J said:
Funny, I've been thinking of making a similar thread, as I couldn't understand how the need for a quality blade would be on one side of the fence and not the other with some people.

I've also seen many talk about how well their fixed or folder is at slicing food, but I will guarantee that none of those knives cut food even close to as well as a great knife made for kitchen purposes. Also, steels that favor the keenest edges are more important to me in the kitchen than those that are tough or have great edge retention...almost two completely different worlds.

My interest started years ago in kitchen knives and I only recently made the shift over here. If you guys are looking for a resource similar to BF for ideas, check out KKF (kitchenknifeforums.com)
f999l.jpg
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Ooh! I think i recognize some of those! Very fine pieces that i had come across on a chef/kitchen/cooking forum. That represents an ideal collection that i would love a few pieces of. Care to name them off and steel types?
 
Yuh. My kitchen knives are 1960s gas station knifes. One free knife with a fill-up; my mother-in-law collected several complete sets.
 
guilty, i was just mentioning the other day how I needed a new set of knives in the kitchen. the crazy part is I dont' want to spend much money on em....but i'll spend a whole lot on a folder! :D
 
My kitchen knives are inexpensive, but good quality. All my main users are by F. Dick of Germany and come from their ErgoGrip line of pro butcher's knives or their ProDynamic range for industrial kitchen use. Good steel, thin grinds, super comfy handles, and they don't break the bank.
 
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