Chef knife recommendations

L

losmuertos21

Joined
Apr 25, 2015
Messages
9
Hi. My husband wants a nice chef knife for his birthday. What are some recommendations? He was looking at a Shun Fuji 8" damascus steel blade at Williams Sonoma recently but I was wondering what you experts think. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I am no expert in either cooking or knife making. That said there are a lot of nice custom Chef's knives for sale by forum member knife makers.
But if you want a great bang for you buck look at Victorinox (yes Swiss Army) kitchen knives. They used to sell under the brand Forschner but they recently dropped that branding. The Fibrox (plastic) handle knives are very popular among both pros and home cooks, they are often rated higher than knives 10x the price.

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/products/4766-victorinox-8-swiss-army-fibrox-chefs-knife
 
The Fibrox knives are indeed great value for your money but i'm guessing that if your husband is looking at the Shun Fuji then he is looking for something with a bit more flair.
There are varying opinions about Shun among us knifenuts. Many feel you a premium for looks and name vs. performance (I find WS pricing on the high side as well), but the SG2 models like the Fuji tend to get better reviews then their VG-10 steel models. Having said that, I still have a Shun Classic santoku in VG-10 and I have not experienced any of the problems that others have complained about (prone to chipping etc).

If you could tell us more about his tastes you might get more suggestions - what is his current favourite knife?. Does he prefer the European styled blades vs. Japanese, etc. stainless vs. carbon steel,...
If he likes the look of the Shun Fuji you might want to check out the Henckel Miyabi line of knives.

He might also like some of the custom work by the knifemakers on this forum though probably not stainless Damascus at the same price point as the Shun Fuji.
 
I'd check out MAC, Fujiwara FKM, tojiro,.
Shuns don't necessarily suck, but I don't think they're worth the money. For the same cost you could get a very nice Takeda. Any of the online stores that sell these knives will have flashier equally as good models.
 
You can also check out the custom knife makers on this forum under the Custom Knives and Knives for Sale sections. Often similar or lower cost compared to high end manufactured knives with some amazing looks.
 
Check out the usual suspects with japanesechefsknife.com: Misono, Hiromoto, Fujiwara, Kagayaki. With those you can't go wrong.
And get two whetstones to maintain your knife. One in the 800-1200 JIS range, one in the 4000-6000.
 
Chefs knives and gyutos are a highly subjective thing. Maybe take him on a shopping trip? You could check them out at a brick and mortar store then buy online. Russ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top