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best brand of knives

post #1 of 41
10/19/06 at 2:35am
Thread Starter 
i like furi and global knives, whats your opinion on the best knives, furi is a little soft, so it does need sharpening more often but it makes up for it with its comfort. i cant pick a flaw in global knives though, i think they are the best
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post #2 of 41
10/19/06 at 8:15am
im gonna have to agree on the global knives. i have a global G-2 and i think its the best. i sharpen it every once in a while and its great! my work place were using some fancy japanese knives, they were good, but compared to price-quality wise, global won over.
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post #3 of 41
10/19/06 at 9:05pm
My entire set is Global as listed below, and I love every one of them:
  • 8" French Chef's
  • 7" Santoku (hollow ground)
  • Japanese Cleaver
  • 3-1/4" Paring
  • 5" Santoku (better grip for larger paring jobs, and cleaning meat)
  • 4-3/4" Utility (think of it as my pocket knife -- plastic bags, cans, etc)
  • 7" (?) Forged Boning
The only knife I have that's not Global is my 8" Off-set Serrated by Shun. I like it a lot, but I wish Global would make an off-set. I'd trade off in a heartbeat.

Also, for those of you with Global knives or other Japanese knives, I highly recommend a "Shinkansen" water wheel sharpener. These are great for at home use and are less bulky than having a stone sitting on your counter top. They're also set at the appropriate blade angle for the more acute Japanese knives (70*/30* I believe).
gXa
Geoffrey Atkins
Culinary Institute of the Pacific
gatkins@hawaii.edu
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post #4 of 41
11/2/06 at 8:27am
I use a global forged pairing knife for everything; my line is too small to use anything bigger. If it's mise en place, it was prepped with that little three or four inch knife. for service I keep a dexter offset bread knife handy.

Erik.
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post #5 of 41
11/3/06 at 6:50am
I also have to go with global knives, they're great! stainless steel, sharp, and they look great! :lol:
Get My Free Recipe Book - www.MyFreeRecipeBooks.com
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post #6 of 41
11/13/06 at 8:44am
furi_chef,
You cannot really compare the two.
Global knives are a Rolls Royce of all knives and Furi are more like a Ford Mondeo.
Global are made from Vanadium-Molybdenum alloy whereas Furi are just a Hi carbon steel.
However for the price you pay - Furi are second to none.

"Furi Knife Set" is £117
"7-Piece Global Set" - £295

As you see - different quality and different price
The two sets are very similar by contents... But Which knives are the best? IMHO Furi Are the best knives ... for the price! :) Which you can use and enjoy.

Here are visitors' comments for Furi

"As a budding chef I wanted a knife set to last a life time and be usable every day, with Furi I found it. The excellent handles make light work of chopping and do not strain your wrist like any other knife can and will after lots of work day in day out - so no risk of the dreaded RSI! They are extremely light and durable and have remained superbly sharp with little resharpening over the last 6 months. [shortenned] A Must Have In Your Kitchen."

"We got a set last year. Really very pleased with them. Only now do they need sharpening."

And Globals are obviously better knives but the price bites.
http://www.cookware-uk.co.uk
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post #7 of 41
11/16/06 at 4:03am
I was just going to buy a new knife and everyone raves about global. I have henkels now and they are ok but i wanted something better. how about
kasumi or shun. anyone have any input
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post #8 of 41
1/11/07 at 3:17pm

globals

Hi guys, Im new to the forums here, had a quick question. I have a set of pretty bad quality, stamped knives and Im going to start replacing them with Globals. Should my first purchase be a 8 inch chefs knife (I think its mostly refered to here as a 'french knife") or could I use a 7 inch Santoku (which is refered to alot as an Asian Chefs knife). Ive never used a Santoku, but couldnt you use it for alot of the same functions as french style chef's knife? I have seen another Chef (friend of mine) do almost everything with a Santoku, is this common? I only really have the money for 1 or the other right now... Im just a home cook but Im sooo tired of using a crappy dull knife, they are driving me to maddness! Ive tried my budy's Global Santoku and Chefs knife (on an extremely limited basis) and they are soo nice, but I havent really had the opportunity to try them on alot of different applications. Also Ive been thinking about getting the Global 10 inch Diamond steel, is it worth having over a ceramic steel?
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post #9 of 41
1/11/07 at 5:40pm
Hello everyone I am a great fan of Sabitier knives and been using them for 40 years, All carbon steel no stainless
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post #10 of 41
1/11/07 at 10:19pm
It's a personal choice.

For me, I prefer the classic French chef's knife design. I like the rocking motion. I simply can't get into the santoku motion. That's most likely due to training and experience along with a resistance to learning something new.
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post #11 of 41
1/11/07 at 10:21pm
I really wanted to get a sabatier, but when I get home I just want to go to bed or play some playstation...not polish my knife. I ended up getting the henckels twin cuisine and it's great, but when it gets greasy/bloody...the handle gets a little slippery. My girlfriend has globals and I'm not too fond of them. I have big hands and find how the tang extends past the handle uncomfortable.
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post #12 of 41
1/14/07 at 6:50pm
why polish them the discoloration does not hurt anything
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post #13 of 41
1/14/07 at 7:52pm
I've heard that it isn't so much the discoloration, but that tarnish and surface rust that comes off on cooked/ready to eat food.
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post #14 of 41
1/14/07 at 7:58pm
It's oxidization, same chemical reaction as rust or tarnishing, particularly nasty with acidic foods like tomatoes and citrus fruit.

Sprinkle a little baking soda on a cut potato and rub it on the blackened carbon steel, it'll come off.
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post #15 of 41
1/15/07 at 7:43am
when cutting these acid things as citrus and tomatoes I use a stainless steel knife. Yes I do own one or two
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post #16 of 41
1/16/07 at 11:30am
May I vent for a moment? :mad:

I was in one of the fancy kitchenware stores and asked to see a particular knife. Salesperson had to take it out of the locked case. So far, no problem. But then when I reached for an apple that had been used for a demo, I was told, "You can't actually CUT with that knife, now! Then we couldn't sell it." Turns out that they would consider it used, and not fit for sale. :crazy:

Now, I ask you: how can I tell if the knife is right for me if I can't try it out? As people will notice if they read through the threads here, I believe that the most important aspect of a knife is how it feels to me. I don't care if its Global, or Wusthof, or Sabatier, or Henckel, or Furi -- I've got knives from all of those manufacturers, and others -- if it doesn't feel right in my hand, I'm not buying.

Stupid store. :mad:
"Notorious stickler" -- The New York Times, January 4, 2004
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post #17 of 41
1/16/07 at 11:50am
The way I decide if a knife is comfortable for me is to try and find someone at work that has one. Forschner seems to be the kniofe of choice at the hotel...but someone always has something you want to try. I tried my girlfriend's global and personally, It's uncomfortable for me.
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post #18 of 41
1/16/07 at 2:26pm
Suzanne-
You should have cut the apple and then asked for a discount because it was "used"! LOL how absurd!

I have found that I can tell the comfort of the handle just by holding on to it for a bit. Check the grip and the weight. There wasn't even anything to cut at my local store. I always tell folks go with what ever works for you- it's your tool -it's got to be right for you. I have an inexpensive Calphalon chef's knife that I love.
Bon Vive' !
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post #19 of 41
1/26/07 at 10:00am
Mac Knives are so easy to keep razor sharp. Not as pretty as the others.
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post #20 of 41
1/29/07 at 5:41pm
Global forged knives (the GF line) are fantastic. The balance I awesome. I can chop garlic (more like slicing) real fast with the 8 1/4” chefs knives because the balance is so good. The grind on the blade is perfect. The forged line is slightly heavier.

Here is what I own
Global Forged Chef Knife 12" GF-35
Global Chef's Forged 8 1/4" GF-33
Global Forged 8" Vegetable Knife GF-36
Global Forged 6-1/4 Inch Chef Knife GF-32
Global Carving Knife 8 1/2" Forged GF-37
Global 7" Butcher's Knife Forged GF-27
Global Boning Knife 6 1/4" Forged GF-31
Global Forged 6" Utility Knife GSF-24
Global Utility Knife 4 1/2" - GSF-22
Global Forged 3" Paring Knife GSF-15
Global Bread Knife 10" G-23
Global 5 1/2" Cheese Knife GS-10
Global 10 inch Diamond Sharpening Steel G-38


Personally I think the GF line is the best knife for the money on the market.

I took a long time to try these out, and I tried many different brands. I also bought and used the 8 ¼” chefs knife before buying all the rest.

Get the magnet strip to hold the knives it works great.

Buy Global in my opinion.
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post #21 of 41
1/29/07 at 5:57pm
If they work for you that's great. I have a bunch of different knives because different types and sizes of knives require (for me at least) different handles and weights. I use my knives for 10 hours a day and pretty much the only ones I use are my 8" chefs, curved boning my scimitar if I'm doing a lot of big things. I like forschner for meat knives because of the huge handles. I have the henckels twin cuisine chefs and I'm pretty happy with it, but I feel the handle is too heavy. It keeps an edge though. I have about 200 knives, but for some reason everyone of them looks like the same chef knife. Go figure. The chefs knife seems to work for cheese, vegetables, meat, butchering, bread. Who knows? Maybe I'm just using it wrong.

I don't think anyone can give advice on what knife to buy. People can give opinions and state features, but it is ultimately up to the buyer in what knife works and feels the best to them as I'm sure has been said many times in this thread.
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post #22 of 41
1/29/07 at 6:59pm
Indeed. While I only cook in my own kitchen for myself and a few guests, it has turned out that I use different brands of knives for different purposes - an old Chicago Cutlery for a paring knife, Wustoff for a couple of the larger knives, some unknown brand for carving and for bread, and a very, very old Feton with a bone handle, made in England about a gazillion years ago, also for bread, and a couple of Forshners for boning.

Shel - FWIW
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post #23 of 41
1/29/07 at 7:04pm
I agree with that. Maybe instead of saying “buy them”, I should have said “try them”. Some of the GF knives may not work with folks with smaller hands also. The GF have larger handles than normal. Or at least I think so. I forget that being 6’1” and 250 I can pick anything up.

So now I say “make sure you try them” if you are looking for new knives. But you should try everything as well. Unfortunately the only real way to test anything is to use it for at least a couple of hours in action.
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post #24 of 41
1/31/07 at 4:33pm
I agree with your feelings on carbon steel knives. Stainless can't compare. The handles on Global knives are very uncomfortable for a person with large hands. The handles just don't feel right.
If you like stainless, the Mundial line is top notch, and attractivly priced.
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post #25 of 41
1/31/07 at 5:36pm
+1 to to everything.

And also...forschners are real simple and tough knives that keep a good edge for being stainless. They are very affordable also. Judging from my observations...the most popular chef's knife in professional kitchens is forschner for the fact of what I said, and that if it gets lost/stolen...you dont have to spend a quarter of your paycheck to buy another one.
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post #26 of 41
2/8/07 at 9:28am

The FuriFx 514 is the best knife you can buy..........

I love my new FuriFx 514 Santoku/Chef's Knife! This knife is a joy to use. No wonder it's called the "EasyGlider"! The fusion of Eastern blade design and Western technology is unique. Not only is this knife easy on the eyes, it's easy on the hands and wrists. The wedge-shaped handle is very comfortable to hold especially when working for long periods of time this is a real plus! The high quality german steel is a very sharp cutting blade it is easy to keep sharp and easily slices through meat, vegetables and seafoods. All in all, the FuriFx 514 East/West performs better than and reduces work fatigue more than any traditional French 6" and 8'' chef's knives I have used in the past. Try one...you won't be sorry and,....the price is right! I laugh:talk: every time I pick up a global now.
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post #27 of 41
2/8/07 at 10:51am
seems to me that buying a knife (especially one thats really expensive) is like buying a car without test driving it.... thats just stupid... i have no real idea how expensive a quality knife costs, but i know they are WAY more expensive than the $10 knives i have... met a chef once that said he dropped $7000 (i think it was that) on a set of knives that he claimed to be mediocre... anyways, just thought id get my 2 cents in...
RAR!!!
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post #28 of 41
2/8/07 at 6:16pm
I'm a big fan of the MAC line. Feel great in the hand, light weight, and they take an edge nicely and hold it even nicer.

Give them a try sometime I'm sure a few converts will be had amongst you guys.
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post #29 of 41
2/9/07 at 1:12am
I havent used many high end knives in my history, but after holding and testing a couple knives in my class at school i settles on wusthofs. i just love the heft and the solid cutting they provide. I didnt really like the handles on globals too much...
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post #30 of 41
2/9/07 at 2:06am

Shun

Hi all,

I have to agree with most on here that Global are good, but I seem to reach for my Shun ,more often than not.:)
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