Chef\'s Knife for under $200

Wow, thank you for the reply’s I thought i would only get a handful.

I currently have a Chicago Cutlery full set I think I got for around $100. The steak knife edges have started to chip so I threw them out. The chef’s knife seems to be chipping slightly as well. I put the steak knives in the dishwasher but always hand washed the chef’s knife. I currently use the sharpening rod it came with. Will this work with the new knife or is it best to get stones or a fixed v sharpener?

After looking through the reply’s I am down to the Wusthof, Shun, and Dalstrong. I am leaning towards the Wusthof as it looks to have the least amount of maintenance?

smackemup wrote:

Let me know if you have any more questions or would like some pictures of some knives.

Not that I need more knives, but info and pics, please.

I like the Work Sharp belt sharpeners. They are super easy to use and produce a consistent edge.

A sharpening steel is just for straightening the edge (touchups) between sharpenings.
I have mine sharpened at a knife shop maybe every two years ($2-3 per knife). They never feel dull when I bring them in, but man, are they sharp when I get them back!

For some reason I’ve always had better luck with cheaper slicing knives. Again, I have used some nice Shun slicing knives, but I frankly like an Ed Don brand, or I also have a real nice Victorinox I like a lot. Not incredibly cheap, but with ten seconds of effort, I found a pretty solid slicer here
https://www.katom.com/037-40139.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiA04XxBRD5ARIsAGFygj8qzQozQslgRWIM6MNVvN1MkQLcKv194LqIA6bkScGdHWcQQiJeew8aAuJIEALw_wcB

I like diamond steels a lot, they work well with the blades that I like to use. Lots of Japanese blades are “softer” and tend to lose an edge a little quicker, however, with a diamond steel and a little bit of maintenance (running it on the diamond steel 5-10 swipes) you have a razor blade with little effort.

With a Wusthof, that is a much harder steel, and you will not get quite the same results with a steel, in my experience, you need to use a stone to maintain the best edge. But the Wusthof will hold a edge longer than your average blade with little maintenance.

I will say, sounds like you are a aspiring chef, get a good chef’s knife, and take care of it. I also would recommend getting a nakiri or Santoku to add some life to your chefs knife, just so you don’t use it all the time. There is a knife for every job, and if you have the right one, it is no doubt easier. But you most likely won’t need anything other than a solid chefs knife starting out. Good luck!

philtickelson wrote:

As for sharpening, get a set of sharpening stones and learn how to use them. Will save you money and time in the long run. I am a total amateur at using the stones, but I will still get the knives MUCH sharper than any of the sharpening places I’ve taken them.

I agree, and I think some knife wonks have overcomplicated sharpening and made people believe it’s a black art that is impossible to learn.

And to be honest, I have a ceramic “stick” type sharpener that puts a pretty good edge on cooking knives and it takes all of about 3 minutes per knife. Not quite as super super sharp as stones, but sharper by far than most knife sets come from the factory.

One more point. Once you have good knives and learn to sharpen knives well, it will drive you CRAZY if you visit other people’s houses and attempt to use their kitchen knives. I go to my parents and try to help in the kitchen and what the…. Every kitchen knive feels like trying to cut with a dull hacksaw blade…

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

One more point. Once you have good knives and learn to sharpen knives well, it will drive you CRAZY if you visit other people’s houses and attempt to use their kitchen knives. I go to my parents and try to help in the kitchen and what the…. Every kitchen knive feels like trying to cut with a dull hacksaw blade…

One reason I bought my folks a few Wusthofs.

My MIL cuts everything with cheap paring knives. Drives me nuts.

Grouse, and you using old-school stones or some other system? I have trouble maintaining a consistent angle with traditional stones. I have a Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker that works well for me, but I tend to use that more on folding knives, etc and leave the Wusthofs to a pro.

These are all Zhen blanks, if you look closely, you can see the layer count, which speaks to the quality. Shown here are 67 layer and 101 layer (67 layer are Japanese steel while the 101 layer are German). Have a few pairing knives towards the bottom, above that are a couple santokus, followed by three nakiri, a couple chef’s knives, and a larger santoku up top. As you might be able to see if you look closely, they vary in layers and obviously the handles. You can basically get any of these blades in varying layer options, this is a small sample size, there are many more.

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Bought GF a couple of Wustofs at a store in the cities, they sharpen for free. still like that cleaver handy knife

Here are a few more just “fun” knives. 4th and 5th from the bottom are both kochevar, really strong heavy blades, good buck knives. Top four are very rigid, the chef knife up top is huge. The bottom three knives were forged by a family friend and have some flexibility to them. The third from the bottom is the most flexible and would be well suited for a fillet knife. The bottom two I consider boning knives, as they have some flexibility, but are definitely more rigid than your average fillet knife. Again he has many more, just a sample here. I have a blade at home that was cut from a lawnmower blade and is a pretty ruthless looking piece.

Tight Lines!

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I have a wustof classic set and love them. But I lost one somehow and decided to try Misen. They compare very favorably to the point that if I had my eyes closed I’m not sure I could tell the difference. Their chef’s knife is $65 and you can probably find a coupon online. I wouldn’t have believed they were so nice if I didn’t own one. I’ve had it for a couple months now and so far so good. It seems to be holding an edge as well as the wustof.

Chef’s Knife

catmando wrote:

get a good cleaver 6incher handy tool cuts anything from meat to a squash, Wusthof is a good brand.

Been thinking this route myself. To combine the chef knife and sokonua(splelling).
Though I have an old Chicago Cuttlery chef that’s treated me well. Westhoff boning knife I like a lot. Easy to maintain. A cleaver and boning knife I think would be a good combo.

Smachemup, quite an impressive collection. Thanks for sharing.