Chef Forum banner

Three Fave Knife Brands

17K views 48 replies 33 participants last post by  bsmiddy 
#1 ·
We all have our favorites, and I'm looking for quality knife brands that I may not have heard of before. What are your three favorite knife companies? Links would be great, if you've got them.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Lots of Japanese knives here. They're great, to be sure, but are European and American knives so poor as to be rarely mentioned at all?
Speaking about kitchen knifes there are a number of makers in US who are able to beat almost any Japanese knife.

Naming some of them: Devin Thomas, Bob Kramer, Bill Burke, Marko Tsourkan, Michael Rader, Mario Ingoglia and others

In Europe there are some great makers including Will Catcheside and Genady Prokopenkoff. TC Blades from Israel also worth noticing.

The only problem with all those custom makers is that you have to wait for years to get yourself a knife, is demand for their knives is overwhelming.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Lots of Japanese knives here. They're great, to be sure, but are European and American knives so poor as to be rarely mentioned at all?
The value for money offered by the Japanese makers is undeniably better than European and American makers. Custom makers generally have long wait lists and cost significantly more than Japanese makers for similar products.

The carbon steel used by the Japanese makers while needing more upkeep does indeed offer great edge retention and allows for great geometry. Given the cost, its worth while to put up with the upkeep to me.
 
#16 ·
Looking at the website shows that it's "DIN-4116" steel, which is the same as "X50CrMoV15", the stock, standard same steel as Wusthof, Mercer, Victorinox/Forschner, etc., etc.  Unless you know the heat treatment process, the steel characteristics will be a bit of a guessing game, but will likely be pretty much the same as almost all of the other "X50CrMoV15" steel blade knives.

Galley Swiller
 
#17 ·
I have 4 knives from http://www.newwestknifeworks.com/ a 9" chefs, a 7 1/2" santoku, a chopper chef knife, and a 5 1/2" petty, The new Crucible CPM S35VN High Carbon Stainless Steel is 62HRC sharp and are really comfortable in the hand. That they are U.S. made is a big plus in my book. I've had Henkels 5 star and found them to be lacking. I haven't tried a Japanese knife yet but am currently looking for one. I am learning much thanks to this forum, so the choices are narrowing thought I'd add my 2 cents FWIW.
 
#24 ·
My everyday knives are Tojiro Senkuo line but they make lots of great stuff including SuperA san mai and Blue2 and SperA monosteel.
But there's lots of great stuff out there but cost matters for me. I'd say in addition to Tojiro, I'd also include Masamoto, Yoshihiro, Togiharu to name just three because I've used them recently.
Of the American stuff. I like my New West Chef9, Santoku and Petty. I'm not thrilled with their paring knife unless I use it exclusively for long lengths of time, for several days, it's different (weird) to use but once you're up to speed, it is pretty comfortable.
 
#25 ·
Of the American stuff. I like my New West Chef9, Santoku and Petty. I'm not thrilled with their paring knife unless I use it exclusively for long lengths of time, for several days, it's different (weird) to use but once you're up to speed, it is pretty comfortable.
You owe it to your self to try some of the custom American makers like Carter, HHH, Ealy, Tsourkan, Devin, Rader, Burke, etc. They can be expensive, but you will appreciate an whole 'nother level of knife that few can compete with. Even the really high end Japanese knives are expensive.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top