[Closed] Which Chef's Knife?

TK maxx normally have good knives for £10 to £20.
personally i just use 6 inch cooks knife. look for one with a thick blade.
sharpen with a steel.

Perhaps a smidge over budget, but my vote would be Wusthof Classics.
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Lovely, classic design. Very well made and a lovely edge.

Best way to buy global knives is to look at the sets of 3 for around 120. Lots of different sets too. Just make sure you have somewhere to store them properly.

What CHB said.

Why anyone would want to spend more is beyond me, just another thing to be "expert" at and show off about on the fora...unless you are a chef std cook!

I use a Samuri sword, sharpened once every three months by a Japanese man who lives three days walk from the bus-stop which then takes another 3 days to get into the town from where he gets a train for three days to the airport.

He does a cracking job, and my tomatoes and onions can be sliced with ease, which makes both my wife and Mr. Miyagi glow with contentment.

Sometimes though I use the bread knife to slice my tomatoes, but I can taste the difference on my butties.

CaptainFlashheart - Member
Perhaps a smidge over budget, but my vote would be Wusthof Classics.

Agreed

Expensive but last a long time.

Get a 20cm cooks knife. Covers most kitchen jobs.

lol @ crikey

i more or less went the CHB route, got 3 different stellar HT knives from tk maxx for a total of about 28 quid and they're fine for me (using a steel to sharpen/hone them every couple of months). got a paring knife, 5" utility and 7" chef's knife and they have everything covered for me (but i don't eat meat so they aren't used for that).

as said get down to TKmax some very nice knifes (seconds ) for not alot
coupled with a waterstone and steel and your sorted and when your friend,mum,GF etc buggers it up its not £60 and only £18. I got a zwilling by henckels professional for about £20

My Victorinox is both relatively cheap and fantastic

I have got one decent size global chopping knife and use a couple of smaller victorinox kitchen knife that are sub £10 each and are brilliant.

We've got quite a few Global knives, most of them were wedding presents from almost 10 years ago. The ones I use most are the G2, GS5 and GSF22. They are great knives, as long as you look after them. I've always used a Minosharp sharpener on ours. Buy cheap, buy twice (or more)!

I've got some of Gordon's & Jamie's knives, I stole them, I don't think they've noticed yet.

Crikey is it one of these?

[url= http://www.tojiro.co.uk/store/product/chefs-knife-3/ ][/url]

I don't know the make, but this is the sharpener fella:

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I have a horrible (and expensive) kitchen knife buying habit, but best budget knives I have are the ones ALDI do every so often.

just go to a shop and buy the one you like the feel of for 30 quid or so

and a means to keep it sharp

Bought some great Henckel knives - set of three - from Amazon, but .it to save a good few quid. 4", 6" & 8" blades.
Delivered in a few days from the U.K. depot, but way cheaper than the U.K. price at the time.

[url= http://www.amazon.it/Zwilling-35602-000-0-Professional-Coltelli-Pezzi/dp/B0000ACOV0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348428670&sr=8-1 ]Set of three from "Yurp" for €106[/url]

Or

[url= http://www.cookware-online.co.uk/shop/cooks-knives/henckels-professional-s-range/henckels-professional-s-3-piece-510688.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=CookwareOnline?shopping=GB ]£117 from U.K.[/url]

Have a look at butchers knives. Much cheaper than the stuff branded as Chefs knives.
Victronix and Dick are good quality.

[url= http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/catalog/12010/dick_butchery_chefs_knives ]Dick knives[/url]

buy the heaviest one you think you can use. (advise from a chef friend of my dads)

From w_d's link

Dick Butchery

<s****s> 🙂

Woody, it gets worse if you look at tools.

http://www.kingdicktools.co.uk/

iv got a large Dick, the missus loves it when I'm wielding it in the kitchen.

emsz - Member

buy the heaviest one you think you can use. (advise from a chef friend of my dads)

Chinese slicing cleaver that.

Or simply get one that is carbon steel rather than stainless steel.

Also avoid those knives that are celebrities endorsed because you can get the same if not better quality knives at lower price.

I'm worried that there are a lot of pissed off professional chefs out there, annoyed that amateurs keep taking their equipment and using them as kitchen knives.

All I know is that my brother who has worked in a fair few michelin star places and still does uses Japanese knives and nothing else.

Have broken 3 global knifes just using them at home, over priced and crap!

I mostly used Jap knives but not those endorsed by celebrities.

fave knives at the moment are stellar fm ones that I got from tacky maxx.
Similar ones here:
http://www.hartsofstur.com/acatalog/New-Stellar-FM-8----20cm-Cooks-Knife-SE17.html

All I know is that my brother who has worked in a fair few michelin star places and still does uses Japanese knives and nothing else.

My mate has also worked in quite a few Michelin starred places and says the same. He got me a discount on some Mac knives - superb.

you can make fab dishes with cheap ingredients and a cheapo pairing knife. Just saying like.

Sabatier, had a 5 knife set for nearly 18 years. Still going strong. Sharpen easily. Value for money anyday.

[i]Have broken 3 global knifes just using them at home, over priced and crap![/i]

How do you 'break' a knife FFS? What are you doing, chopping logs?

There's a lot of crap spouted on here if you ask me. If your'e a chef or butcher by trade, I'll take your word as honour.
But me, I've a Wiltshire Staysharp carving knife which is as stiff as a porn stars willy &... is sharp, simple as.(& gets used for all sorts apart from just carving) My other sharp thing is a no-name stainless steel cleaver which is also as sharp as a sharp thing.

There again, I do ride an Orange 5 which is another brilliant all rounder. 😉

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130mm Yo-Deba Sharakumono, $115

Sharakumono

Close-up view
Sharakumonos are designed by "Komin Yamada", one of the most famous designers of Japanese kitchen knives. He is the designer of the original Global knives.

The sleek one piece design makes for a very light, user friendly knife. The squares are painted by hand in a final process and are used in the packaging to identify this series.

The sleek modern look has been acknowledged by the Museum Of Modern Art in NYC which displays one of the first sets manufactured.

They employed special molybdenum vanadium steel, usually used for scalpels, and added several elements for more corrosion resistance and unique sharpness.

The awesome design features, ease of care and wow factor make them an excellent choice for gifts.

CountZero,

Good choice that.

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Mine is this ... but ordering from this person is a pain from Taiwan and no cheaper than the above. I rather order direct from JapLand.

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Both are roughly the same in design with the top one being better in steel quality, but the one at the bottom has an added advantage of having the garlic smasher at the heel of the handle.

This is a very good design so I hope there are local knifesmiths that can copy them but with better steel quality (carbon steel preferred) and better design. i.e. combine both into one.

double post ... 😯

Worth investing in an exclusive brand for sure.

We often have friends (I say friends, they're really just accquaintances) round for dinner. A good quality knife set is a bit of a head turner and a good conversation starter.

I mean everyone has the Audi S4 on the drive and the Bose sound system in the living room. But a set of over priced pieces of stainless really set you apart - "this guy really knows his onions (I bet he knows how to slice them too!)"

I have no interest in cooking but I really enjoy spending vast amounts of money on quality items that I'll never use to there full potential! (A bit like my mountain bike - but thats another story!)

'Tis a beautiful knife, perfect for running out of the kitchen waving it when someone finds fault with the cooking!
Your Taiwanese knife is tasty, and I like the garlic smasher on the heel, a combination of the two would be good, but its finding a smith or knife maker who can make a knife like that for reasonable money. I know a guy in Wales who forges his own blades, usually bushcraft blades, but he might be able to do a blade like that. I have a small bushcraft blade, forged spring steel, which is beautiful and truly razor sharp, that cost me £45, but I have to construct a handle as well.
£85 for the I.O. Shen seems pretty reasonable to me.
Who made the Taiwan knife?
BTW, this is the guy who forges stuff:
http://nicwestermann.co.uk/
My blade looks a bit like the right hand one of these:
http://www.nicwestermann.co.uk/traditional-hand-tools/laminated-carving-blade/prod_30.html

Slight hijack but has anyone used or seen the Naifu Damascus kitchen knives from chefsknifestore.co.uk? I'm very tempted as they seem quite good value.

It's just another unnecessary thing to own. you don't really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it's just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time. Time, that's all you've got. but good job you got that multi layered chopping knife hey! if you have time and money to bother about the quality of your kitchen knives, we need a chat..

CountZero - Member

Who made the Taiwan knife?

Chin Ho Li Steel Knife Factory ... under Maestro Wu Bombshell Chinese vegetable cleaver ... you can order from the German/European branch but don't order from my pic link above as it takes too long and the price is no cheaper.

[url= http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/10/31/2003209161 ]Chin Ho Li Steel Knife Factory[/url]

If Nic Westermann can forge one with a good price & good carbon steel say around £80 - £90 including postage I will have one order.

Mr_Mojo - Member

Slight hijack but has anyone used or seen the Naifu Damascus kitchen knives from chefsknifestore.co.uk? I'm very tempted as they seem quite good value.

No is the answer. They have not mentioned the steel they used to make their Damascus knives ...

It's just another unnecessary thing to own. you don't really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it's just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time. Time, that's all you've got. but good job you got that multi layered chopping knife hey! if you have time and money to bother about the quality of your kitchen knives, we need a chat..

Kevevs - Member

It's just another unnecessary thing to own. you don't really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it's just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time.

Not really because many things that are made today are either very poor in quality or designs that are short lived. They simply cannot stick to the tried and tested good design.

davidtaylforth.....

i hope that was satire

I suppose I'll bring my pairing knife if I can get a day off work. it sounds like a typical manly stw thread. prove me it isn't. **** me. you chaps need to relax.

None of this Japanese stuff here - Sheffield all the way (well almost)... =)

http://www.davidmellordesign.com/acatalog/David_Mellor_Kitchen_Knives_Black_Handle.html

The 14cm chopping knife is awesome - use it everyday..

Also have the 15cm cooks knife but I always reach for the chopping knife by default.

Kevevs, I don't really feel a need to justify but perhaps to explain....

I cook all the food in our house. I often spend a couple of hours a day doing it, maybe more including buying the food - I really enjoy it and find it relaxing. Having decent kitchen knives makes chopping/slicing a real pleasure. Over the lifetime of a decent knife, considering how much use they get, I don't think they are expensive at all.

I too have a large collection of tatty knives, albeit ones made from half decent steel. Well, some of them. And the remaining ones have been ruined by my wife's insistance of putting them in the dishwasher. And cutting things on stone.

I digress. After a couple of other purchases, I've realised I am a bit of a steel snob, so half of the blades I have see out are discounted because of their lack of edge retention. My current aim is either to buy a set made of VG10 or similar steel from here: [url= http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/ct/eden-quality-classic-vg10.htm ]http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/ct/eden-quality-classic-vg10.htm[/url], or go leftfield and buy a set of Kyocera ceramic knives. This latter course may require me to sell a kidney though.

They are nice... [url= http://www.kyoceraknives.co.uk/ ]http://www.kyoceraknives.co.uk/[/url]. Chek out the expensive set.

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I usually just use my Aldi ceramic knives these days, dirt cheap and razor sharp. OK you can't chop hard stuff with them as they can be brittle but I rarely do and also the balance & handle comfort isn't brilliant but it's hard not to smile using them given how sharp they are (and less than a tenner).

Options are go for stainless or equivalent which are a harder steel and keep their edge longer but are harder to get sharp when they lose that edge or relatively cheap non stainless steel which although softer is easy to keep sharp . Global IME are not a very good shape so when chopping my knuckles hit the chopping board because the blade is not deep enough , also they can break easier than other knives . A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it is more important than type of knife , so long as you don't by a piece of junk . Just my opinion after more than 30 years as a Chef .

A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it

Go on then.... 🙂

Ramsey Neil - Member

Options are go for stainless or equivalent ...

VG-10 should be affordable.

Global IME are not a very good shape so when chopping my knuckles hit the chopping board because the blade is not deep enough , also they can break easier than other knives.

Knuckles on chopping board no good as that's the wrong knife to use for that chopping action. A wider or deeper blade is preferred because after chopping you can carry the food to the pan/pot using the blade.

A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it is more important than type of knife , so long as you don't by a piece of junk . Just my opinion after more than 30 years as a Chef .

You should have 3 types of "steel" ... standard, ceramic and diamond coated. I have all but I don't use the diamond steel often except for my cheapo knives where I tend to abuse for practice.

Sharpening using steel requires skills as I tend to slam the edge into the rod if not careful. Anyway, I prefer the waterstone method and the usage of steel is for abuse only.

p/s: ... try using any one of the above two slicing cleavers and I bet you will get hook ... it smaller than standard Chinese cleavers and wider than western knives. Very handy and multi-purpose.

Go carbon steel, cck 1303 cleaver from chefsmall.net very nice, a victorinox paring knife, victorinox bread knife, robert herder carbons steel petty, anything be moritaka hamono as long as you can sharpen, richmond artifex gyuto. avoid mainstreem german knifes, too thick, thinner knifes sharpen better and dont wedge in the cut plus german steel is soft. visctorinox is a good budget buy, try nogent sabatier for french. and get a crock stick sharpener.

As others have said TK-Maxx is worth a look, i recently bought a Kai santuko and a small Kai utility knife in their kitchenware sales dept for less than £20, they may be the bottom of the Kai range but still £70+ in the shops - and whatever you buy do not keep them in a drawer banging against other knives or in a block but hang them off a magnetic rack and buy a good stone or steel and use it every so often.

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Soma, thanks for the tip about those knives, they look really nice, and it had never occurred to me to look in TKMaxx, I didn't know they did kitchen stuff.
They're opening a new shop in the center of Bath soon, too... 😀

I got a set of knives from Edenwebshops.co.UK. Theynstockbthe Whustoff range if you fancy them. I bought their own Eden Quality branded knives, the Classic Damast still ones. They are excellent value exceptionally sharp and well made. Then only downside to Damast steel is that it it is incredibly brittle so don't drop the knives!

Good start into Japanese knive would be Tojiro DP range. VG10 steel and dishwasher safe etc they aren't that expensive. Fancy Damascus or Carbon steel require more niché maintenance, they may look more exquisite but cost more. And most important to master is actually your sharpening skillz, waterstones FTW.

You might want to spend some time researching about secrets of metal tech and intended use etc, but that would take you a lot of time. Just buy Tojiro and be smug over Euro-style knife users.

http://www.nipponkitchen.com/acatalog/Gift_Sets.html
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Lol at all the bedwetters that won't fork out for decent kitchenware.

I'm after a decent knife-can't say that I'm impressed with my Sabatier-really struggling to keep it even remotely sharp.

some of these knives look very nice.
I've had a few different knives over the years. I even had some of those hilarious 'ever sharp' ones with the ridged blades back in the day. Useless.

Most any reasonable knife will do, but Japanese all steel ones seem to work well at home. Easy to clean, lightweight and easy to care for.

My favourite and most frequently used knife is a nearly 20 year old Global 21cm chef's knife. Versatile shape, lightweight, a nice amount of flexibility and it fits easily in the knife holder in my knife drawer.

As folks have said, it's not so much the knife but rather the sharpening regimen you follow. I've seen folks with much newer versions of my knives struggle to slice a tomato because they've not kept them keen with stone and 'steel'. And some have even put them in the dishwasher. Aside from slicing your hand if you reach in, it's a great way to wreck the edge. As for glass chopping boards, oh dear.

OP, enjoy choosing.

My mother has a glass chopping board. Whenever I cook I bring my own board and knives as hers are dull as ditch water.

Countzero : the stock in TKMaxx changes all the time but they usually have a decent selection, from Henckles to Kai's to Wusthof - it's a bit of a lottery when you go in as to what you're going to find. My Kai will slice a tomato into wafer thin slices with only the barest pressure, makes a pleasant change after years of using cheap supermarket bought knives that need thrown across the room to pierce a tomato skin.

Fascinating and hilarious in equal measure, STW on a stick.

I would suggest before you spend a fortune on new knives you get a decent sharpener and practice on your current knives. This one is by far the best I've ever used. Also makes great Christmas present too! They've just started selling them in my local Tesco.

[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001DXVL6K/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=9550946229&ref=asc_df_B001DXVL6K ]Anysharp Knife Sharpener[/url]

Just look at the Amazon reviews

Can't believe no one has mentioned Robert Welch knives. Absolutely fantastic, easy to sharpen and stay that way too. You can get a chefs knife and a flexible boning knife for about your budget and they are all you ever need.

Oval shaped diamond sharpening g steel is invaluable.

Robert Welch is a good shout, used to use one of his bread knives when I worked in a kitchen, melted through bread.

I really don't like those knife sharpeners that you drag a knife through, I prefer something like the Spyderco TriAngle Sharpmaker, along with good quality stones. They take longer, but I think the edge is better. Never used a steel, I've never got the knack of using one, but I'm not a professional chef, so doesn't really matter to me.
[edit] soma, with you on that, I'll keep going in and looking at what they get, I'm in no rush.
Oh, and have you been watching The Long Kiss Goodnight recently, or something? 😀