Reply With QuoteSabatier (originals not Judge) for me (but I am old fashioned!)
Mike
my daughter will be having her 30th at the end of june and has indicated she would like some decent kitchen knives. I have no idea of what the current 'best' brands are (probably some exotic japanese brand). any recommendations would be most welcome. budget up to £1000. complete set not essential, she just wants to get started on a collection.
Terry Tibbs :o)
aka Kevin
Sabatier (originals not Judge) for me (but I am old fashioned!)
Mike
I got some nice knives from Japaneese Knife Company but rest assured a wealth of knowledge will appear in due course,
Victorinox Swiss knives for me. I went to college and trained as a chef and worked for Dewhurst butchers back in the day.Still use the knives now.
http://www.nisbets.co.uk/victorinox/...0MbgfBybEB0(V)
There is a set on there for £69.00 I doubt you will be disappointed
regards
T
i bought some japanese knives from tkmaxx a couple of years ago. very pleased with them.
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
You can get giddy and get the latest Japanese artisan brand who forge knives exclusively in kilns fired by only burning spiritwood collected from the side of a specific mountain just twice a year...
If you went to a French kitchen and showed them the latest Damascus effort with leather-wrapped porcelain handles they'd laugh and go back to using their opinel 118s :)
Wife swears by 'Global' branded knives.
I've got a block set of Global, best I've used, still razor sharp after 3 years!
If I recall correctly they were circa £500, the set caters for all cooking needs bar a set of scissors.
Given the number of times I've managed to cut my fingers with my Swiss army knife I would go with this, though the ones with Rose wood handles.Originally Posted by itsgotournameonit
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I got a selection of these 13 years ago as a wedding present, they get used nearly every day and are as good as new.
I sharpen them occasionally and am always impressed how well they hold an edge.
You don't need a large set of knives. 2 or 3 high quality knives will probably serve you better than 6 or 7 fashion brand knives. Global aren't at all bad, neither are Henckels or Wusthof or Sabatier and £1k will cater for many knives from either of the afore mentioned brands. However, if you're prepared to go for something truly artisan (and English made to boot), I urge you to consider Will's offerings from Catcheside knives. A knife from this guy will, if treated with a little respect, last a lifetime and more. A couple of his knives (perhaps a large versatile Chef and a more nimble Petty) will set you back a chunk less than a grand. For those in the USA, Murray Carter is of the same cloth.
HTH
Gary
http://nipponkitchen.com/acatalog/DP_Damascus.html
I've used these for several years and they are the best knife I've used by far.
I swear by my Hammer Stahl knives - available in the UK from Flint and Flame. They do a reasonable range but I just have a 7.5" and a 5" Santoku and the 10" chef's knife and I find that they cover pretty much everything I need to do. I also have a £20 cleaver from my local Chinese supermarket for the times when some serious brute force is needed, which has the added bonus of not needing to do a gym session that day as it weighs a tonne!
Regards, Olly
Henckel. However; let your daughter try the handles and choose herself. Knife is about fit, weight, and prep style
No wish to offend, but genuinely, if your knives are still razor sharp after 3 years then you're either sharpening them to get them that way, or you're not using them very much. Decent as they are, Global aren't particularly razor sharp 'out of the box' imho.
To the OP, no knife, no matter what it's made of or how well forged and honed it is, will hold a razor edge for very long if used even at all regularly (you cannae break the laws of physics captain). The best will last longer than others, but it's certainly in the days/weeks/months time frame, not years. If you're at all serious about the knives (and £1k budget without doubt puts you in that league), then put aside £80-100 or so of your budget and get them a couple of water stones as well. 1000 and 5000 grit would be just fine. Getting a decent edge really isn't a mythically difficult thing to master. Loads of decent tutorials on youtube. Otherwise, in all seriousness, you're better off spending much less (£50?) on them and replace when completely shagged (6-12 months?).
Gary
Good shout. Or pay someone to do it - plenty of blade enthusiasts will do it for drinking money.
My gf is a prize winning semi pro kitchen princess and her collection hinges on two central sets;
a good quality german made stainless steel butchers set from the coöp which I keep cutting with a blue stone and
a Kyocera set of ceramics for the veggies for which I have a diamond coated stone.
All plastic/nylon handles as those are most hygienic.
Have a few of these and they are superb
http://www.cooksknivesshop.co.uk/Kni...un_Knives/1257
Global for me, had them for at least 13 years and still going strong.
B
Global are better knives than most people will require. Unless your daughter is a semi-pro chef I'd buy a block and do something nice for her with the £500 change.
Also remember a good whetstone for sharpening, because if its blunt it doesn't matter how good the knife is.
In my experience, there's nothing like actually using the knife you intend to purchase to see whether it's *right*. There are a few shops that will allow you to do this, but I find that the service at the Japanese Knife Company's hamonoya in Marylebone really is rather good. If your daughter hopes to embark on a collection of knives, there are certainly worse places to go, they allow you to test their knives, offer sharpening advice (and services), and have a range to suit most tastes. I have two (vegetable) knives from the JKC and have been extremely happy with both.
Last edited by Broussard; 17th June 2013 at 11:22.
Find a brand you like and stick to it. I love Henkels and they balance well for me - although I have a few other knives that I like to use from other brands - the best chef I know uses Wusthof and swears by them, won't use anything else.
You can't go too far wrong though it the knife is a good fit - just keep them sharp. We are spoilt for choice these days.
It's just a matter of time...
wow guys, thanks for all the solid advice - including the recommendation to try b4 buying. this forum is so good at getting quality recommendations based on experience. it cuts away all the waffle a general search on tinternet would give you.
As I wrote my gf ís a prize winning semi pro and doesn´t have 500 worth of knives. It is very much like with watches; she needs proper tóóls; has the higher end Seiko quartz ´knives´ ;-)
It was a butcher who introduced me to Global knives and I've used them ever since.
Built up a collection of 10 over the years and also use the Global-recommended sharpener to keep them in good edge.
(Old pic):
R
Last edited by ralphy; 17th June 2013 at 12:54.
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Well, I'm no chef but they get used daily for meat, veg and fruit, I can't fault them!
I have a JA Henckels set and an extra Wustof Trident filleting knife-as good as I'll ever need! Always liked the look of the Global stuff but never seems to sit right in my Hand for some reason.
Goat
And they have some at the moment around my way - you could be sorted for under a ton, all in.
Real cooks use good quality knives - not necessarily very expensive ones.
Look into the kitchen of a decent restaurant - and you won't find a knife that cost more than £30 - and the vast majority will have cost considerably less. Otherwise they would get stolen !
"Hobbyists" on the other hand, occasionally confuse high cost with enhanced quality.
Like I sometimes, but not always, do with watches : )
I have Haiku and Kasumi knives which are awesome!
Perhaps not the brand that people would think of but I bought a Kitchen Devil knife when I was at uni many decades ago and have used it practically every day. A great knife that has stayed sharp (without doing anything) and did not cost a fortune.
Kitchen Devil Pros are tough things you can use when you daren't use your Global or whatever. I keep an 8" cook's knife for such purposes.
As suggested by others make sure you get a means of sharpening the knives. I have a few Global knives and am pleased with them. They take a reasonable edge but do need touched up regularly.
Two hours ago I was thinking about watches. Now i NEED Global knives and a 500 quid weekend bag. I love this forum.
How about these
http://www.s-staniforth.co.uk/range/2/Chef
Smithfields were the knife of choice amongst H&C students years ago
ETA
We have had a set of these for years
http://www.zwilling.com/en/knife-ser...tar--2628.html
Just had them professionally resharpened
Last edited by ism123; 18th June 2013 at 17:29.
Don't forget the ancillaries; carving knife/fork, bread knife, cheese knife and decent scissors.
A friend of mine has Takeshi Saji custom Damascus set which is a work of art and pure delight to handle, and which is on my 'upgrade' list..
Fas est ab hoste doceri
That's just the start. Before long you'll find that you need a torch that you can use to fry eggs, and you'll be DE shaving. While driving a Mazda MX5.
You'll be able to carry your torch and shaving kit in a manbag as well. And your Moleskine notebook, in which you make notes using your Montblanc pen.
There's another thread running somewhere profiling a typical TZ'er. We all end up the same, eventually.
Regards
Ian
(DE shaver, owner of several unnecessarily powerful torches and a Moleskine notebook. But not an MX5. Or a manbag. Not even a "tactical" one).
Although no trees were harmed during the creation of this post, a large number of electrons were greatly inconvenienced.
OMG a manbag, and moisturising each day! i'm too old at 53 for this malarky. I'm still resisting a smart phone (at least until i get some varifocals to see the thing) :o(
I got a Haiku Santoku knife at Christmas and it is brilliant, light, thin, well balanced, ultra sharp (I have a decent steel to give it a tickle every time I use it) personally I prefer it to the Henckles and Wurstoff that I've used for years.
Kin also do some nice knives. But is really important for your daughter to try some out to see how they feel in the hand. I pick up Global and IO Shen every time I visit a cookshop but they just don't feel right to me.
These look good - http://www.neemantools.com/en/products/kitchen-knives
As most people have said, global, henckel and wusthof are probably about the best mainstream knives. Kin also do some lovely Japanese knives and the ken shun onion knives are also very good but difficult to get over here. The key thing is how they feel to your daughter. Weight and balance are very personal so she needs to try them really. My dad runs a cookshop so I had the pick and went for globals because they felt the nest to me and look great. They are very good knives although they perhaps don't keep their edge quite as well as wusthofs.
I bought a Tojiro DP chef's knife at what I consider to be a quote decent price from www.nipponkitchen.com and am pretty happy with it.
Cold Steel
http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/Kitchen-Knives.html
You don't need too many kitchen knives really. I have the CS Chef's, Slicer, Bread (absolutely fantastic for scoring pig fat, like hot knife through butter), Parring knive. The paring is usefully semi sharp, the others are remarkably sharp, hold their edge and are superb. I even got rid of a global because I considered these better.
I also have a ridiculously sharp Japanese Nakiri blade these are not normally very expensive either, wicked edges to them too. Also useful to have one of their Santoku blades. That said if you want to impress there are some beautiful Japanese blades out there. Having a sharp small blade other than a parring blade is great too when you need controlled precise cutting on fiddly things. So let's see about 7 covers what most folks would need most of the time, and I use an Istor knife sharpener to put the edge back with littel fuss.
Kyocera definitely make fine knives. I also like Spyderco. I've had a Spyderco for more than 10 years and it is still incredibly sharp. No cheap, but worth the investment.
Im a chef and Ive seen and used many knives over the years. As an other poster mentioned there is no need to spend a fortune to get a good knife.
I use Henckels at work and at home. For home use all you really need is an 8inch chefs knife and a cheapo bread knife.
Ive never understood why people have full sets of knives at home. Even at work I only really use 3.
Best present you can give her , is to buy her a steel and teach her how to sharpen the knives . Thus any knife becomes a good sharp knife ;) .IMHO the only difference between a good knife and bad knife , is how often it needs sharpening . I have worked in the catering industry for over 20 years and these are my opinions :) .
As has been said before 2 or 3 knives are more than enough .
Have a fair few kitchen knives, always find the santoku shape (global and others) and a couple of inexpensive steel handled chinese cleavers in different sizes particularly useful
Costco had a decent set of Global knives in a block for a good price when I went in there last week. ISTR around the £250-300 mark and she would never really need anything more than that. I have 3 in my collection and they do pretty much everything I need. Then as has been mentioned get her something else lovely with the change.
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