Emergency Christmas gift advice -- HELP!

J

JohnnyReno

Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
5
Dear knife gurus,

I'm looking for a great chef knife. I was looking at Cold Steel's. What is the "Cadillac" of chef knives? For that matter, what is the "Rolls Royce" of chef knives?

Thanks for your help.

I'm running out of time! :)

--John
 
My dad has the Ken Onion Shun. It's a good knife. There is a cooking sub-forum you may want to check out.
 
The VG-10 Shuns are very nice for moderate cash. I have a 7" santoku that retails for about $100. It came wicked sharp and extremely thin behind the edge, so thin it'll fall through a tomato. I don't let anyone else use it, as abuse would ruin the fine edge.

Thin is the thing for cutting vegetables. Thick blades such as the Becker will launch carrot slices across the room. VG-10 is great for in the kitchen because of its mix of high stain resistance plus the ability to sustain a Rc 60+ edge with reasonable prudence in how it is used.
 
The Shun Classic line is both widely regarded and widely distributed. It should be easy enough to find for reasonable prices--expect to pay around $110-140 for a Santoku or a Chef's knife.

Edit: I also forgot to add that since you only have a few days before Christmas, you might want to head to a Williams and Sonoma or a Sur la Table to buy one. They will likely have one in stock that you can pick up immediately. Don't let them talk you into anything that costs over $150ish, unless you have a fair amount of knowledge of what you are getting into. I was in a Sur La Table once that was selling a certain brand of higher end kitchen knives (I won't name names) and upon closer inspection I could see that the grinds were horribly off. As in not just edge angle, but the profiles of some of the blades were essentially recurves while others of the same make and model were in slightly better shape.

Basically, take a look at the knife before you buy it and make sure the profile as well as the grinds are acceptable.
 
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Check out the kitchen knife sub-forum, like mentioned. All depends on the person, their experience in the kitchen, and how they treat their knives. A decent knife from Henckels, Whustof, or at least something forged, large scale production type forging. You can get a knife that will last a lifetime for $80-$100, if it stays out of the dishwasher and drawer. Nice kitchen knives need a block for storage. If you want to go over that price, well start searching, there's lots to choose from.
 
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