Which do you think are the best knives?

What makes a good cooking knife to begin with? Why is one high carbon German stainless steel knife with a balanced riveted handle any better than the next?

good cooking knife??

===== to answer your first question:
there are many, MANY threads on this subject, but for me, a good cooking knife is one that:
(1) is sharp and stays sharp
(2) is easy to resharpen
(3) is big enough to do the job
(4) is straight (unbelievable how many blades are crooked, bent, or
twisted)
(5) has a tight, comfortable handle.

===== to answer your second question:
the answer is workmanship and quality control. to be honest, there are a lot
of good german knives, and the performance differences between them are not as different as the appearance differences. for instance, i feel the f.dick series of knives to be slightly sharper and easier to keep sharp than the wusthofs, but the wusthofs are a lot prettier. many more cooking schools and commercial houses will use the f.dicks (actually kind of hard to find in the u.s.) than the wusthofs because you get more performance at the cost of some pretty finish for less money. there are actually more differences between japanese knife brands than there is between german brands.

good knives

l have a set of global knives which l have had for years and they take some stick and are easy to re sharpen so for me personnal l go for the strenght and stick they can take but each to his/her own taste also they have a lifetime warrenty with them and l have never had to use it yet

Knives, knives, knives, THE hot topic...I keep remembering back to my last work place, and this cook there. She was a girl with a big mouth and and even bigger temper, and she had just bought herself a set of Gold Hamster knives. Nice stuff, but all of us would only dare look at the knives from a 5 ft distance, or else she'd scream. Anyhoo, one day she was in a foul mood, nobody could or would talk to her, and she just sulked and worked away in her corner. All of a sudden came this god-awful piercing scream, followed by: "Allright, who took my Goldhamster 4" paring knife! Give it back now or there'll be (expletive, etc...) to pay!"

Nobody 'fessed up. Nobody could, because nobody went within 5 feet of her. A few minutes later, after enduring a leccture about knife thieves and what she would do to them, we all smelled it: A burning, choking, melting plastic smell. She rushes to the oven and pulls out a baking tray that had a tart on it and this silver and black shapeless blob. Yup, her precious 4" Goldenhamster paring knife. Couldn't help it, we all cracked up, still laugh about it even now, almost 10 years later.

Moral of the story? Show knives are just that, show knives. Yes, they cost a bundle and look great, and get reviews in the fancy cooking mags, but they still cut like another knife. I use and prefer a "moderate priced" knife. My favorite is a 9" Victorinox (a.k.a Forschner) knife. Keeps a decent edge, is comfortable, well built, and if it goes missing, you don't have to go through every garbage can and interrrogate every employee, you get an new one and swear to keep a better eye on it... Amen.

I love my Forschners. Cheap enough to abuse, but they take it and keep cutting. I had a Wusthof (accidently knocked it off the counter on its point and it snapped mid blade--Heavy sigh) and replaced it with a high end Henkels.

Like my Forschners more. But I have to admit that this set tempts me no end.



Phil

I just bought a bunch of cheap asian-style knives from a Chinese market up here. Average cost per knife is 10 dollars, and are surprisingly sharp. Victorinox knives are also good (I have 3), and I have a Kasumi 8 inch chef knife I love as well (230 dollars). IMO just about any knife will do the trick if you know how to sharpen them well (water stones are the only way to go, a steel is only good for aligning the blade and for quick maintenance). I'm not too fond of german knives however, the blades are really thick and just don't seem to cut as well (no matter how much they're sharpened), not to mention heavy and I hate the full bolster on them. If cost is no issue, I'd go with Japanese knives hands down, Global, Kasumi, Shun, and in the higher end Nenox, Glestain, etc...

That should not happen! You could have gotten a brand new one. Friend of mine had the handle rivets loosen on him and he exchanged it at a dept. store no questions asked. He didn't even buy it there. But I guess I'd think twice about getting the same brand if that happened to me.

I asked for a Wusthof Santoku knife for Christmas, on eBay there are some for about $60, and my family is about to freak out, they cannot believe that there is such a thing as a $60 knife.

Anyone use Chroma knives? Are they in that same "it's a good knife, just like all the others, and it really comes down to what fits your hand best" category? ^_^


-dan

This was a long time ago. The place I'd bought it went out of business and there were no other local Wusthof vendors.

Phil

I recently bought an 8" Forschners chefs knife and love it. The price was right and its a great knife for the non-professional.

Sounds like you need to start some family education!

best knives

I use Whustof professional for general purpose. I also have a Kyocera that I like a whole lot, I use it for slicing fish for sashimi and and gravlax.

Bob