Henkels, Wustolph, etc... What's the best kitches knife?

As a knife collector for 30 years and amateur chef, about 15 years ago I researched the commercial cutlery market and tried a few brands. I also learned that in independant review(Chicago Tribune and lately Consumer reports) that Wustoff is almost always the top. I have a full set of Wustoff forged bolstered knives and will not use anything else for kitchen work! I do have a Sashimi Yanagi for Raw fish. The Wustoff are bullet proof and thiere is an extensive line of different knives for any use and size.
 
In addition to some of the sites mentioned above another good one for recommendations is www.knifemerchant.com, which also has a nice selection. A friend of my wife teaches cooking classes and she prefers the Victorinox/Forschner (speling ?) as they're lighter than the forged, full bolstered German style knives. She mentioned that most of the people that she works with use either Henckels or Forschner.

Some kitchen/butcher/meat/fish knives that I've been trying to find to look at, with no luck so far, are the Frosts and Ericksson Mora knives. People seem to like the stainless and carbon steel used in the Mora knives commonly mentioned in this forum, I like the RC60 carbon steel and haven't tried the stainless yet, so provided the designs are good the Mora kitchen knives should work well too. The Scandia site has the Frosts and Ericksson has a site available now, but except for marine supply companies I haven't found anyone that carries the Mora kicthen/processing knives. If they offer the same performance/price ratio as the other Mora knives they'll be a best buy.

Chai cutlery had some of the Frosts fish knives but the site is no longer available. My sincere respects.
 
For using knives it is hard to beat the MAC line from Japan. The basic line is very thin AUS-8 that takes a true razor edge, is harder than ordinary kitchen alloys, yet responds well to steeling. They have a premium alloy line that is made from something akin to AUS-10. I love the vanadium-titanium stainless alloys for kitchen knives, I also love thin blades with no bolsters to get in the way. AG Russel carries a somewhat similar line at a good price. See the following links:

http://www.macknife.com/page3.html

http://www.agrussell.com/agrussell/agkt.html
 
Anthony- if you haven't ruled out customs, check out George Tichbourne's kitchen knives. Good functional designs, great workmanship, good prices, and George and Carol are great people to deal with.
 
Hmmm. If you want, you can get a set of 11 i think knife kits from Jantz and make your own set. Its like $70 for the blades, handles and rivets. You can also buy your own handles, too and use them instead. It would be a special gift to your wife to make her a set of knives. Unfortunetly, the steel isnt that great, but for the price, cant be beat! I also use tramontina knives found at walmart. Good price, look like henkels and Wustoff, but 1/3 the price. Decent edge holding and gets sharp. I have also sharpened several henkels for other people and they seem to be nice blades.
 
For the money, you can't beat the Spydercos. They made a believer out of me!
 
Wow! You've all been more than helpfull so far. PLEASE keep the info coming. You've all openned my eyes to a few new options. I might just buy one knife from each company and decide for myself which co. makes the best cutlery
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. I wonder what my wife would think of that...? Hmmm I can see myself smiling on every holiday for several years.....

I really like the idea of making/assembling my own set (maybe for X-mas). I made a knife about 5years ago from scratch. It's fat, and ugly as hell, but I still keep it in a drawer and look at it now and then. Do any of you know of a super quality kit that I could check out? Henkels/Wustolph are high on my list though. The quality of the kit would have to surpass the productions or my wife probably won't go for it.

Anthony
 
Victorinox/Forschner line with Fibrox handles is a super buy, hold an edge well, great ergonomics, and sharpen up easy.

Ontario 'Old Hickory' line with its carbon steel blades are also a good buy for the $. I like the patina the knives get with use.
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Why spend big $ for a kitchen knife when you can put that $ towards some thing else?!

These two above are big bang for the buck IMHO.
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Get your self a cheap knife steel and give the knife you are using a couple of swipes when you are done, wipe down the blade and next time around you are ready to go. You maintain the edge this way.



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Ray 'md2020'

ATKI member #A001042
 
Cheap kitchen knive are OK if you do not do a lot of preperation work. If you do a lot of prep work and cook from scratch, professional quality knives like the forged and bolstered Wustoff lines are 1. heavier, 2. more rigid and 3. able to survive for the long haul. When you do extensive prep work a thin light weigth knife requires more control and effort as the blade bends and does not have the heft to cut throught karge quantities of material such as carrots that are hard. This actually leads to fatigue and possible cutting slips. I use a 10" Wustoff chef's knife for most of my major prep work and I can tell you at time I wish for more wieght. Wustoff does make a heavier version and also a 12" hvy wt knife. An investment in top of the line cutlery will last for your life time. If you do little prep and eat prepared items, than lt wt knives will do.
 
I systematically disagree with everything budrichard recommends. Thin is better for preparing large amounts of food in a hurry. I've cooked for over 40 years and have catered and volunteered in a soup kitchen. When I cut carrots it is typically 3 or 4 at a time and I use a thin MAC classic, chef's knife or Japanese usuba (vegetable knives). Thin and without bolsters allows you to slice easily through a lot of material and get all of your edge in contact with the cutting board (so you don't fail to cut some of the material). Heavy knives with bolsters require more force to get through the material. A worse problem is that you have to grind away part of the bolster in later years or the blade will develop a hollow from uneven sharpening.

The trick to avoiding fatigue is proper handle shape. For speedy food preparation you cut through a lot of material in a stroke. This creates heavier forces on the blade (however thin blades minimize these forces) and you need better grip and handle leverage to overcome torques that these forces create. You don't need a heavier blade, you need a bigger and better shaped handle. Now I use the term "you" loosely. If your wife is using the knife she needs a larger handle, but probably not as large as would fit your hand. Most women don't try and cut as much material in one slice as a male professional would attempt and the women have smaller hands. You want your wife to go down to a cutlery shop and find handles that are comfortable, but on the large size for her.

If you decide you need more weight or stiffness I would still not opt for a thick and heavy blade with a bolster. A chinese "cleaver" is a better option. This is still thin, but has a blade that is more than 3 inches wide. The only reason I would want more weight is for actual chopping of hard materials. This is the work for a cleaver, not a knife. I have a cleaver and I use it occasionally. Sometimes I use a chefs knife to split a chicken in half. I have a 10" chefs knife that is a little thicker and heavier than my utility models (still no bolster). I plunge this into a whole chicken and leaver the blade through the whole bird to split it. The stiffness of this blade comes more from width than thickness. It also has an enlarged handle for better torque control.

Take a look at some Messermeister Asian style cooking knives for some sophisticated cutting options:

http://www.cookswares.com/asiancutlery.htm



[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 09-19-2000).]
 
I'll suggest that the weight of kitchen knives is a personal issue and isn't correlated with the amount of work to be done. If one looks at commercial knives designed for processing meat and fish, and designs like the Dexter/Russell Chinese knives, one doesn't usually see heavy, forged bolsters. I like both, such as heavier 'German style' chef's knife as well as lighter, bolsterless paring and slicing knives.
 
I'll suggest that the weight of kitchen knives is a personal issue and isn't correlated with the amount of work to be done. If one looks at commercial knives designed for processing meat and fish, and designs like the Dexter/Russell Chinese knives, one doesn't usually see heavy, forged bolsters. I like both, such as heavier 'German style' chef's knife as well as lighter, bolsterless paring and slicing knives.
 
I belive that johno is correct. The best advice I've ever heard is "Shake hands with your knife and you will know if you want it as a friend".

--Ben<Don't ignore the Spyderco Santuko, I
find it a good friend>
 
Oops almost forgot. Look at the a.g russell knife block, if you like it you can take your time filling it with knives as you find the onew you like.

--Ben
 
If you must have a bolster, try a short bolster like the Messermeister San Moritz. See chef's knife description at:

http://www.cookswares.com/artcchefk.htm


A chef's knife or other cutting board knife is your most important asset. Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that a good plastic cutting board is one of a kitchen's most important productivity tools. It also helps preserve your edge and maintain food sanitatiion. See this link as well:

http://www.cookswares.com/artcchefu.htm



[This message has been edited by Jeff Clark (edited 09-19-2000).]
 
I second what Richard Rosvall said about George Tichbourne's knives www.tichbourneknives.com
I am lucky enough to have one of George's knives in my kitchen and I use it everyday. The handle is extremely comfortable compared with knives that I have used in the past. I don't even use my old knives anymore. I also think George's prices are very reasonable.

Maybe Chris will read this and get me another one of George's knives.

Marti www.toptexknives.com




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[This message has been edited by ToTKnives (edited 09-19-2000).]
 
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