- Joined
- May 24, 2010
- Messages
- 536
Does $25 Victorinox 10 times better than a $2.5 Kiwi?
Does $500 Murray Carter 20x better than $25 Victorinox?
No and no.
It seems that performance is Logarithmic of price, so the bang/buck sweet range depend job function. Many pros/knuts spend their $ on high-end/custom knives because they know & expect alot more out of their knives.
Good god, man! What are you doing to those knives to "burn through" them I've had my Vic./Forschners for years now and they look almost as good as the day I bought 'em other than the mirror polish being a bit scuffed up.
Other kitchen staff got their hands on them, one thought it a good idea to run a bread knife over a stone, we'll just say he doesn't work with me anymore. The second bread knife got ran through the dishwasher at work and lost it's temper, again another worker. As for the chef knife it got dropped once to many times.
Respectfully, the answer to the above two questions is yes and yes. Use each of those for 10 to 12 hours a day ad your opinion changes real quick. Buy the best tool you can afford. Treat it well and it will last you a lifetime.
Then assuming you have not purchased crap, pass it along to your children and let them use it another lifetime.
I recently bought a Kershaw 9900 honing steel. The 8'' Vic needs a half dozen passes on each side and it's razor sharp once again. I think its edge retention is just fine, especially since a light honing is all it takes to bring the edge back. It's very impressive for $25.
More expensive knives might perform better in some way, but they aren't 20x better or even close to that. The 8'' Vic chefs knife is corrosion resistant, takes a great edge, holds it fairly well, and it touches up in seconds. My only gripe is the handle shape; I'd prefer it to be a bit different, but it's still fairly comfortable as it is.
Roughly I've sharpened over 100 Kiwi knives and tested uses/abuses a handful of them, well I would say a Vic is around 2x better than a kiwi. a Kiwi edge can get to treetop level, while a Vic barely cross cut a newsprint (<= could be my technique/skill - hehe, lack of).
For non-pro situation, a'le homecook, I found knives in $100-$300 offer best joy/buck. A $200 SKD knife is a well-balanced that sharp, low maint and can take abuse.
Chefs & Pros - sure buy the best but perhaps skip those $50K Kramers
Just sharpen it like usual. You're EdgePro will handle it fine--don't worry about the convex.
Here's what I have to say abour Forschner. If I win the lottery...you know, THE BIG ONE...I am going to buy a set of Forschner. Under that dream scenario, I could have whatever I wanted, but I'd set forth and buy a selected, piece by piece set of Forschner Fibrox knives and move on.
They really are that good. Conversely, while I might get excited and buy some sort of Global or something to go with at some point...I'd never shell out $1000 on some fancy Damascus or Tamahagane knife.
I state all this from the perspective of somebody who appreciates the knife for the blade and the geometry and not for the art. I wouldn't buy a Bentley either. I'd get a nice new top of the line Buick...ok maybe I'd get a Cadillac. Kind of guy I am.
Extend that statement to knives in general and that's my whole philosophy. With any quality good you reach a point of diminishing returns. Almost all of my purchases are in the "most bang for your buck" range of the curve.