Recommend me a knife brand
 

Looking for a nice quality general all purpose knife as well as one for cutting sashimi. The brand I've heard most common is Shun.

Interested in quality. What other good brands can you guys recommend me to look into.

Thanks :)

Shuns are nice
if you're interested in japanese knives check out globals
http://www.global-knife.com/

I have used a co-workers Global, and personally wasn't happy with it, as the metal is way too soft. I think it would be ok for home use though.

If you want quality and cost is not much of a concern, get an "Aritsugu" or "Masamoto" brand.
http://korin.com/Shop/Japanese-Style...ore_Code=Knife

If you want the best, get the Kikuichi brand, although it seems like they don't have their high end line of knives listed on the English site.
http://kikuichi.net/

This is a good all-purpose knife for home use, and should be able to cut sashimi, as long as it is kept very sharp. You need a very sharp knife for cutting sashimi.
http://kikuichi.net/sujihikiv1goldal...fe27cm105.aspx

I don't know much about knives, but weren't those miracle blade II supposed to be bad ass? Billy Mays endorsed it. I'm sure at some point xzbit had some sort of endorsement in it as well. I remember those infomercials a few years ago "LOOK it's so sharp you can fillet the fillet! While you're filleting......DAWG"

And they were sawing away at granite with this thing and they chucked a tomato at it and it still cut right through the tomato clean as a whistle.

Didn't they say the Miracle Blade II had some sort of titanium coating or was made of titanium or something? All I remember was how much win this thing had, the pairing knife cut through a copper pipe with ease

theres shun & global but theres also J. A. Henckels & Wuesthof there not bad as well for the job cuz my dad use to work for J. A. Henckels when he was jumping around companies so are family got a free set, it works great

but my dad kind of put them in storage now just for the heck of it & were just using some cheap china knife for every thing (he wants to prove to me his skill is better), i on the hand have Victorinox knife & i love it works great

Normal Shun knives are awesome. especially for sashimi. globals are good too, but not as good as shun (the price difference kinda hints that already though).

if you're hardcore, you can get Shun Elite, which is supposed to have a "perfect" blade. (as in, guaranteed to not have any imperfections and weak spots in the blade, due to the way its made). which leaves a nice powder coat look ;]

normal shuns are 33 layered (16 layers on each side, if i recall correctly) blades. which leaves that sexy "damascus" design ;D

i used to work at house of knives, so i have played with all the major brands, and i find that normal shuns are probably the best way to go. (the overpriced elite isnt worth it ;p)

just keep in mind that japanese brands like shun and global have thinner blades, and require a different knife sharpener than the german knives. unless you bought a sharpener that has 2 angle settings, its probably not a good idea to buy german and jap together. (unless you dont mind paying others to sharpen your knives).

@mrgoodbar: those knives are scams. 99% of the time, when they show a knife cutting through a tin can or anything else, they are using a serrated knife. in which case, it makes no difference if the knife was good or not. serrated knives are made to "saw" things, and make it easier to cut through hard surfaces.

the tomato trick is also a scam. tomatos are fricken easy to cut. i can throw a tomato (with a certain amount of force) on a butter knife and have it cut through.

When you say knife sharpener, do you mean a sharpening steel, or something else?

hm... like, an electric sharpener, or... the hand pull ones.

the "sharpening steel" is actually only used to hone the edge, to maintain its sharpness. as you use your knife, the edge of it starts to bend/curl, which is the cause of dullness. the steel is simply used to push it back up/unroll the edge to bring it back to the sharp point.

but once your knife becomes actually dull, the sharpening steel isnt going to bring that edge back. in which case, an actual sharpener is used to physically SHAVE off that curved/round dull edge off, leaving a new edge.

as for the sharpening steel, because the japanese knives are thinner and have a different blade angle, when using the steel, you need to adjust the angle in which you use it. (but you can use the same steel for any knife because its just a stick lol).

japanese knives are roughly 16 degrees, and german are roughly 20. (i cant remember exactly, but i think those are very close).

I think it's just because Billy Mays got to me. Although I've never bought anything from an infomercial before....

I have 2 sets , My old set is wustofs which I use at home now, and for work I use Macs, I nice balanced knife which compares to Shun, and for sharpening steels I would recommend a diamond steel.

When we're talking knife blades, it pretty much comes down to 3 things.
1. How sharp can you get it?
2. How long will it stay sharp?
3. How long can it keep it's edge straight?

I get this guy to sharpen my knives: http://www3.telus.net/public/kitano/
Called him up, he came, picked up my knives. Told him what I want and what I use it for. He came by in a couple days to drop of my RAZOR sharp knives.[/quote]

ish? but I think that's a bad analogy.
Tomato skin isn't aren't easy to cut with normal knife. That's why there are dedicated tomato knives.
You can easily sharpen a $20 knife so that it's like a razor and can go through tomato skin with ease, but how long until you have to sharpen it again?


+1

Sharpening steel is actually a misnomer.
What people refer to as sharpening steels are actually honing rods.
It pretty much smoothes out a wrinkled, but sharpe blade edge. Youtube it.


Now to answer your original question:


Globals are pretty good, you can get them pretty dang sharp.
For normal home use, they will hold their edge for quite a while.

I have owned a couple Globals.
Some people love their handles, some hate them, and it depends how you're using that specific knife.
ex. I had no issues with my slicer or, but my 7" santoku, I always used with wet hands.
Paired with the angle of my table, I didn't like the feel of the grip and always found myself reaching for my Wusthof even though the knife itself isn't as good.

So if you can, try it before you buy it.
I sold them both off after getting my gyuto. I did however keep 5" mini santoku, love the size, love the shape.



I also have a Shun kaji cleaver.
The Kaji line is a Williams Sonoma exclusive, they are essentially Elites (same powered SG2 blade core with the false damascus cladding), just with redesigned handles.
I don't really like Shun's normal handles that much.
It definately feels more solid than the globals, but aside from that, when properly sharp, they both cut the same.



If you want to go blow some dough, you can go to Epicurean Edge in Kirkland near Seattle.
That's where I got my 240mm Yoshikane Gyuto.

Honestly though, I've found that you only need to start with 3 knives.
All purpose chef's or gyuto
paring knife
bread knife

In my set I have almost one of each knife brand...I got a Shun chef knife, Victorinox chef knife, wustohf santoku, global veg knife, henckels carving knife.

I like my shun the best, because of the actual handle of the knife. It fits really nicely in my hand. As well it stays sharp the longest.

My victorinox dulls really fast, then the wustohf, and finally global.

The only thing con I see about the Shun classics is that the spine of the knife is rather thin. After continuous use, it gave me a blister. My other knives didn't do that.

I had victorinox French knife before it was pretty good cheap and decent, I have a mercer set now, there pretty much a lighter version of wustof
Posted via RS Mobile

i find that the victorinox seem to stay sharp pretty well too, also i find that the shun knifes a little heavy since last time i held a paring knife from shun it felt a little heavy

Heavy is good - you want some weight so that the blade does some of the work when slicing. I guess it doesn't matter too much with a paring knife though.

Yeah, but you've gotta find yourself a happy medium.
I like the heft of my yoshikane, it's one of the reasons I bought it, but what I failed to factor in was the added thickness of the blade.

Because that width have a prying effect on whatever you're cutting, the food itself also reacts with a clamping force. This means it requires more force to get the blade edge through your food.

Noticeable on stiff foods (carrots), and deep foods (onions).

Works just fine on stuff like broccoli, meats and tomatoes.

Can't go wrong with Global, best bang for the buck.
Posted via RS Mobile

Whatever you do make sure you hit up Gourmet Warehouse on hastings. Decent selection but good service and great prices.
Posted via RS Mobile

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/

Order a Hattori.

Be happy.

any opinions and recommendations for ceramic knives? I was trying to slice pork neck meat the other day and it was brutal with the dull knife at home

i've never had a ceramic knife of my own but do feel very easy to break which they are. if you accidentally drop it on the floor, it may shatter the blade or what not. if you were trying to slice pork neck then i suggest buying an actual carving or filleting knife or maybe just sharpening your home knife :P

i have the miracle blade whatever number it is.. and it is freaken awesome. It is really sharp as advertised and it will blow the dust out of other retail knives imo