- Joined
- Sep 19, 2011
- Messages
- 461
I'm looking at getting some higher end knives for the kitchen. My wife and I cook daily and I've been spoiled by my handmade 3v woods knives. The Chicago Cutlery block set just isn't working out well for me. I sharpen all our knives by hand and strop them by hand and will do so with my kitchen knives. I keep all our knives sharp enough to split hairs lengthwise. Mind you that 3v is my favorite steel on outdoors knives, so I'm ok with harder sharpening blades. I do want whatever I get to hold an edge exceptionally well and have some level of stainless properties (in-between steels like 3v or stainless steels ok, steels that rust and oxidize easily on acidic foods are not). Even if it means a harder time sharpening them, they must hold an edge very well. I don't want to sharpen knives daily to keep them sharp. The three knives that I'm looking at purchasing are below. These are our workhorse blades that do almost all our work and for the rare occasions they won't fit the bill a lower quality CC will be fine. I'd like to keep the budget at under $150/blade but for the right knife could possibly swing up to $250 for the chefs and santoku. The handle material needs to be something incredibly durable, low maintenance, and not going to absorb food odors easily (I'm thinking G10, corian, metal, etc - as much as I love the look of beautiful wood, these are daily use tools). They do not need to be dishwasher safe. It would be preferred if I could find one maker to make them look like a set, but that certainly isn't 100% neccessary. Also, I have no preference over production, handmade, etc. I just want to get some quality products for our home that will last a lifetime through daily use with proper care and that will hold an edge very well.
I want the blade shape of the chefs knife to be very similar to these two with a sweeping belly either somewhere between these two and at the geometry of the Shun on the bottom. Also, I'd like the handle on the chefs knife to be able to easily fill a large man's hand as this will be my knife and I prefer large, full sized handles with some contours that allow a secure grip with a more relaxed hold. This particular blade shape is what works best for me. I prefer a thinner knife typically.:
The santoku is primarily for my wife. She prefers slimmer handles (wears ladies small gloves) and profiles most similar to these two knives below. She likes the cullets or dimples along the edge when working with potatoes and cheeses (I've never noticed any difference really) so lets say that's a needed feature on the santoku. Also, pay particular attention to the shape of the edge on these as she's gone through several cheapo santoku's and finds that this geometry of blade shape is what works best in her hands. She prefers a medium thickness blade typically:
As for the paring knife, any simple drop point or spear point blade is sufficent. I don't want a claw shaped blade, but don't have strong preferences for exact blade geometry on them.
I am somewhat familiar with the lines of knives from Shun, Global, and Wutshof. I have handled and used them all at one point in time, but never owned any for a lengthy trial run. Between these three big time companies that are readily available, I'd likely go with some Shun Classic line (despite their wood handles, which are impregnated wood) of knives simply because they by design of them seems to be on par with what I'm looking for and if I wanted to add another I could pick one up at any kitchen retailer to match. Plus I could get all three go-to blades at $360, which is not bad. However, I would like to see what other options are out there before purchasing these knifes. Just like with hunting/camping knives, I found much more bang for the buck when I looked outside the retail shops and found a few smaller operations producing better blades at similar prices to the high end retail stuff. What other brands and blades would you suggest we look into?
- 10" Chefs knife
- 5-6" Santoku
- 3-4" Paring
I want the blade shape of the chefs knife to be very similar to these two with a sweeping belly either somewhere between these two and at the geometry of the Shun on the bottom. Also, I'd like the handle on the chefs knife to be able to easily fill a large man's hand as this will be my knife and I prefer large, full sized handles with some contours that allow a secure grip with a more relaxed hold. This particular blade shape is what works best for me. I prefer a thinner knife typically.:
The santoku is primarily for my wife. She prefers slimmer handles (wears ladies small gloves) and profiles most similar to these two knives below. She likes the cullets or dimples along the edge when working with potatoes and cheeses (I've never noticed any difference really) so lets say that's a needed feature on the santoku. Also, pay particular attention to the shape of the edge on these as she's gone through several cheapo santoku's and finds that this geometry of blade shape is what works best in her hands. She prefers a medium thickness blade typically:
As for the paring knife, any simple drop point or spear point blade is sufficent. I don't want a claw shaped blade, but don't have strong preferences for exact blade geometry on them.
I am somewhat familiar with the lines of knives from Shun, Global, and Wutshof. I have handled and used them all at one point in time, but never owned any for a lengthy trial run. Between these three big time companies that are readily available, I'd likely go with some Shun Classic line (despite their wood handles, which are impregnated wood) of knives simply because they by design of them seems to be on par with what I'm looking for and if I wanted to add another I could pick one up at any kitchen retailer to match. Plus I could get all three go-to blades at $360, which is not bad. However, I would like to see what other options are out there before purchasing these knifes. Just like with hunting/camping knives, I found much more bang for the buck when I looked outside the retail shops and found a few smaller operations producing better blades at similar prices to the high end retail stuff. What other brands and blades would you suggest we look into?
