Decent Work Knives Mercer vs. Kai Wasabi

The KAI 4000 from Seki Mago Roku may also be another option as well as the Forschner/Victorinox line. I have the 10 inch Forschner

 and it works. At work I use a Dexter which works as well.

http://www.chefsresource.com/kai-4000st-chefs-knife-9.html

The Mercer Genisis line have thick heavy bolsters which is likely to get in the way when on stones. The Renaissance line is more stone friendly.

For less than 50$, in a Japanese style you're limiting yourself quite heavily.

The only ones I can think of are the Tojiro ITK line, which is just out of the 50$ budget, and carbon. I'm not sure how good they actually are either, F&F is supposed to be shocking on them. The Richmond Artifex is close too, again just above your budget. That knife comes fairly highly recommended, as does the Fujiwara FKM.

The only 'good' knives I can think of in your budget are Forschners and Dexters, but they both favour a German profile

F. Dick is what I use.

Shop on Ebay. Good luck finding decent tools for less than $100, maybe a paring knife.

Better to spend the money on a decent knife than deal with cheap ones.

How much do you use your bread knife? Having a wa handle on it makes it a 200$ knife. The only one I can think of, is a Shun bread knife

You are a confusing man, you use your knives to work each day and only want to spend 50 dollars but want something "good". If cooking is your job you should swing the extra 50 to spend at least 100 to get a quality knife not some mercer stuff that culinary school kids use. THEN, you want a Japanese handled bread knife, ha, what the hell is that, there isnt even really bread in japanese cuisine, or do they make bread knives and bread knives are one thing you dont have to spend much money on. Why dont you get an ikea chef knife and a mercer bread knife and draw a japanese flag on it. you have your head in the clouds

I was insecure because japanese bread bakers used to make fun of me as a little kid while waving  their o so common wa handled bread knives. You should invest in one, there is one made by this little heard of small company based out of Seki city called Shun. Seki city is known for their submarine sandwiches and foot long heroes along with various cheese covered steak and sausage sandwiches hence the need for finely hand crafted Premier quality Japanese bread knives. The cost is around 190 dollars for one of their bread knives which is a bargain and will for sure look handsome in your hands  while you harness the ancient powers of the virtuous japanese sandwich artisans of years long ago.