Where to buy knives

Many stores will give working cooks a discount. I buy a lot of my knives online, but if I lived near Korin or Epicurean Edge I'd just go there. I don't know what shops you have in Pittsburg, though.

FWIW I've paid a lot more than $139 for a knife!:lol: Many professional chefs use Wusthof and Henckels but my taste in knives is a bit more 'exotic'.

For primarily Western knives I'd found Cutlery & More to be an excellent vendor. They ship fast and have a large inventory. There are many good places online; perhaps I can be more specific if you can tell me just what you're looking to buy.

Well Sur La Table is about as high end as you can get so it's more for yuppies that like to overpay. What I would do is find the exact model that you're interested in, say the Wusthof Classic 8" Chef's knife, and shop around on the web. Even after shipping you should be able to grab it for under $100. And if you have some patience and don't mind ebay, u might wanna give that a try as well. For that particular model, I think I've seen winning bids for under $65. Hope that helps.

You might want to try one of the big restaurant outlet supply places, like BigTray. They don't mark things up drastically like Sur La Table and Williams Sonoma do.

The best place to buy knives is online. You'll have to google around to find the best price. Once you do, it's very unlikely you'll find a local brick and mortar store that can beat it.

Although there are tens of thousands using them (and to each her or his own), an 8" Wusthof Classic is far from the best choice for almost any pro. As far as pro use goes, the knife is 90% undeserved reputation, and 60% overweight. Making it 150% wrong. There are much better choices for the money.

For nearly all pros, "heft" loses its appeal after the first no. 1 pan of vegetable prep. Light and agile are far preferable. At least, that is, if you know how to hold a knife.

The whole "heft" thing is why I say the experience of going to a knife or kitchen store and "testing" a knife by holding it, mock chopping, and generally waving it around is overrated. Heavier almost always feels "better" and better "quality" than lighter when not in actual use. Everything else being equal though, a lighter tool is almost always more comfortable and more productive than a heavier one in actual use.

Of course, everything else is not equal. The upper end German type knives, including Wusthof, Henckles, Victorinox forged, LamsonSharp, Viking, F. Dick, Gude, Messermeister, to name a representative but incomplete sample, have univerally great fit and finish and great handles. Otherwise, not so good stainless steel blades, too heavy, too clumsy, and so on.

8" is just too short and unproductive for a pro -- unless you're working a very cramped board, are very short, have very short hands, or just happen to like a short knife -- again, that is, if you know how to use a knife.

The most important aspect is "sharp," and Wusties, unfortunately, are mediocre at best when it comes to edge taking and edge holding characteristics. Lousy for the price.

Again ... a lot of people own, use and love Wusthof. In the greater scheme of knives, most of which are just plain lousy, it's not a bad choice. In fact it's a good one. However, there are better ... much better.

Acquire knife skills, including sharpening. At least the skills are cheap.

Trying to fit a knife to a person, I ask several questions. Included: How much are you wiling to spend? How long do you plan to keep the knife? How good are your skills? Are you willing to work to improve them? Etc.

Really though, the most important question is, "How will you sharpen your knife and keep it sharp?"

So, how will you sharpen and keep sharp? Oh, and all the rest, too.

2 cents -- both of them mine,
BDL

Sage advice, BDL- as always. There are a number of knives that are much better than the Wusthof and cheaper. My go-to recommendation has long been the Tojiro DP in either 210 or 240mm (I prefer the latter). Korin recently raised the price 25%, much to my chagrin, but even at the new prices they're still a good value. I'd like the try the Fujiwara FKM series and the Togiharu's at Korin to see if they might be good budget knives.

I have never handled any of these, but I am told that the Tojiro is a bit of a love/hate thing, as in some love them and some hate them. But apparently everybody likes Togiharu, so that gets a big thumbs-up all around.

+1 for the Togiharu...though i don't have any other Japanese knife to compare it too. IMO the Togiharu is definitely better for home cooks as it isn't as hard as the Tojiro and so is less likely to chip. And you really don't need the extra hardness if your a home cook IMO especially since it makes it easier to sharpen.

My first pro knife was a four star henkel. I used this knife for 8 years. I still use this knife in my kitchen every night. Of coarse most everyone here will tell you this is not a great knife. In fact it is not the best knife, however it is still a good tool! One that will last, and be of use for many years to come! This is in no way a suggestion for you to go pick up this particular knife. Just thought you should know many of us started with these types of knives.

That being said, Their is an awesome amount of knowledge on these boards about knives! I recently made a switch to a Hattori myself.(amazing knife) I found this at japanesechefsknife.com. Although this knife also may not be right for you. You may be able to get some ideas from there. Then bring back some ?'s about a few particular knives. (That is what i did when shopping for a new knife)

Also just a sidenote, Know how you plan to sharpen. Seriously plan to spend something on a way to keep your knife in tip-top shape. I can't even explain how important this part of the process is. (I am a newbie to the waterstones, but I love it!)

Good luck
tyler

+1 on JCK- they're a great vendor, excellent products and prompt customer service.

I can get a lot of my knives (for personal use and for my clients) on the www.japanwoodworker.com

They also sell lots of other kitchen and dining merchandise.

Ah, I've heard you mention RAN knives but I've never seen one. So that's where you find them. I like the look of the boning knife.

I have several Yaxell Ran knives. They have 69 layers when most smaller knives use 33. Very good quality for the money, I'm very impressed.

My wife has been using her five inch Hattori. It's classified as a gyuto, assuming basic shape and size. Whatever they call it, it's sharp, very light and whippy in the hand and useful for about anything.

True story, my wife used the Hattori to slice the rind from a pineapple. I did wince, but I figured it would provide a "destruction test."

The edge was undamaged.