It’s just another unnecessary thing to own. you don’t really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it’s just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time. Time, that’s all you’ve got. but good job you got that multi layered chopping knife hey! if you have time and money to bother about the quality of your kitchen knives, we need a chat..

CountZero – Member

Who made the Taiwan knife?

Chin Ho Li Steel Knife Factory … under Maestro Wu Bombshell Chinese vegetable cleaver … you can order from the German/European branch but don’t order from my pic link above as it takes too long and the price is no cheaper.

Chin Ho Li Steel Knife Factory

If Nic Westermann can forge one with a good price & good carbon steel say around £80 – £90 including postage I will have one order.

Mr_Mojo – Member

Slight hijack but has anyone used or seen the Naifu Damascus kitchen knives from chefsknifestore.co.uk? I’m very tempted as they seem quite good value.

No is the answer. They have not mentioned the steel they used to make their Damascus knives …

It’s just another unnecessary thing to own. you don’t really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it’s just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time. Time, that’s all you’ve got. but good job you got that multi layered chopping knife hey! if you have time and money to bother about the quality of your kitchen knives, we need a chat..

No we don’t, it’s none of your damned business what I, or anyone else spends their money on. If I want to spend a bit of money on a quality knife that will last for decades, and get pleasure from using it, then that’s up to me. There are people on here who’ll happily drop hundreds of pounds on shiny new bike bits, are you going to ‘have a chat’ with them too? 🙄

Kevevs – Member

It’s just another unnecessary thing to own. you don’t really need this expensive stuff you are buying into, it’s just another reason to spend money and complain about losing time.

Not really because many things that are made today are either very poor in quality or designs that are short lived. They simply cannot stick to the tried and tested good design.

davidtaylforth…..

i hope that was satire

I suppose I’ll bring my pairing knife if I can get a day off work. it sounds like a typical manly stw thread. prove me it isn’t. **** me. you chaps need to relax.

None of this Japanese stuff here – Sheffield all the way (well almost)… =)

http://www.davidmellordesign.com/acatalog/David_Mellor_Kitchen_Knives_Black_Handle.html

The 14cm chopping knife is awesome – use it everyday..

Also have the 15cm cooks knife but I always reach for the chopping knife by default.

Kevevs, I don’t really feel a need to justify but perhaps to explain….

I cook all the food in our house. I often spend a couple of hours a day doing it, maybe more including buying the food – I really enjoy it and find it relaxing. Having decent kitchen knives makes chopping/slicing a real pleasure. Over the lifetime of a decent knife, considering how much use they get, I don’t think they are expensive at all.

I too have a large collection of tatty knives, albeit ones made from half decent steel. Well, some of them. And the remaining ones have been ruined by my wife’s insistance of putting them in the dishwasher. And cutting things on stone.

I digress. After a couple of other purchases, I’ve realised I am a bit of a steel snob, so half of the blades I have see out are discounted because of their lack of edge retention. My current aim is either to buy a set made of VG10 or similar steel from here: http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/ct/eden-quality-classic-vg10.htm, or go leftfield and buy a set of Kyocera ceramic knives. This latter course may require me to sell a kidney though.

They are nice… http://www.kyoceraknives.co.uk/. Chek out the expensive set.

I usually just use my Aldi ceramic knives these days, dirt cheap and razor sharp. OK you can’t chop hard stuff with them as they can be brittle but I rarely do and also the balance & handle comfort isn’t brilliant but it’s hard not to smile using them given how sharp they are (and less than a tenner).

Options are go for stainless or equivalent which are a harder steel and keep their edge longer but are harder to get sharp when they lose that edge or relatively cheap non stainless steel which although softer is easy to keep sharp . Global IME are not a very good shape so when chopping my knuckles hit the chopping board because the blade is not deep enough , also they can break easier than other knives . A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it is more important than type of knife , so long as you don’t by a piece of junk . Just my opinion after more than 30 years as a Chef .

A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it

Go on then…. 🙂

Ramsey Neil – Member

Options are go for stainless or equivalent …

VG-10 should be affordable.

Global IME are not a very good shape so when chopping my knuckles hit the chopping board because the blade is not deep enough , also they can break easier than other knives.

Knuckles on chopping board no good as that’s the wrong knife to use for that chopping action. A wider or deeper blade is preferred because after chopping you can carry the food to the pan/pot using the blade.

A good steel , knowing how to use it and , more importantly , how often to use it is more important than type of knife , so long as you don’t by a piece of junk . Just my opinion after more than 30 years as a Chef .

You should have 3 types of “steel” … standard, ceramic and diamond coated. I have all but I don’t use the diamond steel often except for my cheapo knives where I tend to abuse for practice.

Sharpening using steel requires skills as I tend to slam the edge into the rod if not careful. Anyway, I prefer the waterstone method and the usage of steel is for abuse only.

p/s: … try using any one of the above two slicing cleavers and I bet you will get hook … it smaller than standard Chinese cleavers and wider than western knives. Very handy and multi-purpose.

Go carbon steel, cck 1303 cleaver from chefsmall.net very nice, a victorinox paring knife, victorinox bread knife, robert herder carbons steel petty, anything be moritaka hamono as long as you can sharpen, richmond artifex gyuto. avoid mainstreem german knifes, too thick, thinner knifes sharpen better and dont wedge in the cut plus german steel is soft. visctorinox is a good budget buy, try nogent sabatier for french. and get a crock stick sharpener.

As others have said TK-Maxx is worth a look, i recently bought a Kai santuko and a small Kai utility knife in their kitchenware sales dept for less than £20, they may be the bottom of the Kai range but still £70+ in the shops – and whatever you buy do not keep them in a drawer banging against other knives or in a block but hang them off a magnetic rack and buy a good stone or steel and use it every so often.

Soma, thanks for the tip about those knives, they look really nice, and it had never occurred to me to look in TKMaxx, I didn’t know they did kitchen stuff.
They’re opening a new shop in the center of Bath soon, too… 😀

I got a set of knives from Edenwebshops.co.UK. Theynstockbthe Whustoff range if you fancy them. I bought their own Eden Quality branded knives, the Classic Damast still ones. They are excellent value exceptionally sharp and well made. Then only downside to Damast steel is that it it is incredibly brittle so don’t drop the knives!

Good start into Japanese knive would be Tojiro DP range. VG10 steel and dishwasher safe etc they aren’t that expensive. Fancy Damascus or Carbon steel require more niché maintenance, they may look more exquisite but cost more. And most important to master is actually your sharpening skillz, waterstones FTW.

You might want to spend some time researching about secrets of metal tech and intended use etc, but that would take you a lot of time. Just buy Tojiro and be smug over Euro-style knife users.

http://www.nipponkitchen.com/acatalog/Gift_Sets.html

Lol at all the bedwetters that won’t fork out for decent kitchenware.

I’m after a decent knife-can’t say that I’m impressed with my Sabatier-really struggling to keep it even remotely sharp.

some of these knives look very nice.
I’ve had a few different knives over the years. I even had some of those hilarious ‘ever sharp’ ones with the ridged blades back in the day. Useless.

Most any reasonable knife will do, but Japanese all steel ones seem to work well at home. Easy to clean, lightweight and easy to care for.

My favourite and most frequently used knife is a nearly 20 year old Global 21cm chef’s knife. Versatile shape, lightweight, a nice amount of flexibility and it fits easily in the knife holder in my knife drawer.

As folks have said, it’s not so much the knife but rather the sharpening regimen you follow. I’ve seen folks with much newer versions of my knives struggle to slice a tomato because they’ve not kept them keen with stone and ‘steel’. And some have even put them in the dishwasher. Aside from slicing your hand if you reach in, it’s a great way to wreck the edge. As for glass chopping boards, oh dear.

OP, enjoy choosing.

My mother has a glass chopping board. Whenever I cook I bring my own board and knives as hers are dull as ditch water.

Countzero : the stock in TKMaxx changes all the time but they usually have a decent selection, from Henckles to Kai’s to Wusthof – it’s a bit of a lottery when you go in as to what you’re going to find. My Kai will slice a tomato into wafer thin slices with only the barest pressure, makes a pleasant change after years of using cheap supermarket bought knives that need thrown across the room to pierce a tomato skin.

Fascinating and hilarious in equal measure, STW on a stick.

I would suggest before you spend a fortune on new knives you get a decent sharpener and practice on your current knives. This one is by far the best I’ve ever used. Also makes great Christmas present too! They’ve just started selling them in my local Tesco.

Anysharp Knife Sharpener

Just look at the Amazon reviews

Can’t believe no one has mentioned Robert Welch knives. Absolutely fantastic, easy to sharpen and stay that way too. You can get a chefs knife and a flexible boning knife for about your budget and they are all you ever need.

Oval shaped diamond sharpening g steel is invaluable.

Robert Welch is a good shout, used to use one of his bread knives when I worked in a kitchen, melted through bread.

I really don’t like those knife sharpeners that you drag a knife through, I prefer something like the Spyderco TriAngle Sharpmaker, along with good quality stones. They take longer, but I think the edge is better. Never used a steel, I’ve never got the knack of using one, but I’m not a professional chef, so doesn’t really matter to me.
[edit] soma, with you on that, I’ll keep going in and looking at what they get, I’m in no rush.
Oh, and have you been watching The Long Kiss Goodnight recently, or something? 😀