what brand of knives...

To take the thread a little farther afield...

As I was working towards a better knife, and trying to improve the edge on the knives I had, I got an Edge Pro Apex, and about a 20x magnifying visor so I could inspect what was happening when I sharpened. Working each side, I can usually remove the wire burr. Then a little stropping will polish the edge.

I bought a whole bunch of knives at 2nd hand stores, and worked on them till they could at least slice paper, and some, shave hair. I had one blade that could shave, but would only cut 3 slices of pork loin before dulling. I have a pretty good 40+ yr old Sabatier/Hoffritz. I tried taking the edge to 14 degrees per side. It just won't hold it. So I take it to 18, and its pretty good.

I've got a Hattori and a Kikuichi, as well as an unusual 6" from Spyderco. They are wonderful to use, but its hard to keep that unbelievable sharpness.

Before you wander into the esoterica of japanese shuns and sharpening systems and damascus and carbo steel etc etc just spend 80 bucks on a decent middle of the road german stainless forged knife. Why? Because it is not cheap, but not expensive. You can learn to sharpen it without screwing it up. Because you really don't "need" any knife beyond an 8" chef's knife.

And then, if/when you have outgrown it, you can drop a few hundred on a (fake) damascus or shun (very few are actually damascus to the core), buy a sharpening system, and put your name on Kramer's waiting list

But til then, a decent forged knife will perform better than anythijg you have used before

Gotta walk before you run. I find the recommendations for higher end stuff a bit like telling someone they should get a Mercedes for their first real car.

I think sharpening is the one thing a person looking for a knife should really look into first. I know that i had no clue about sharpening, and really could have used a good intro to it.

Good point V.I.

I agree about artistry, too. Things can get expensive quickly. If someone appreciates their forged cheapo wusties, and takes care of them, they will certainly find themselves drooling over (and perhaps buying) something much more high end.

I love the kramers. Can't afford them. But love them hahaha

My three favorite knives (in order) are:

Anybody here use grohmann knives?
Made in Canada they are some of the best knives in the world
I know butchers who only use grohmann
They make custom wood handles too
Check them out
http://www.grohmannknives.com/

Agreed! I have a couple of stainless Wustoffs that always work when my high carbons are messed up.

I have never seen the slightest sign of rust on any of my knives and I have high carbon. Its pretty easy just rinse it and dry it after use. I do that with all my knives not just the carbon. I guess it depends on how you are going to take care of the knives but I know my carbon knives will hold an edge much longer than any wustoff.

I agree totally. Unfortunately some of us have kitchen "helpers" that have no idea about the care and feeding of high carbon knives. I have a ceramic "steel", waterstones and steels. With the Wustoffs I can generally get a decent edge back with the steel,

I have Henkels 5-star and Wusthof Classic and I prefer my Whusthof 8" Wide by far of any of my other knives. It is best to buy them one by one as you see fit because then you can mix-n-match and buy only knives that you will actually use. I'll probably get some Shun next.

I like my Shun Classic knives, nice weight and comfortable handles. I also use my Forschner knives with rosewood handles a lot,( 10" cimeter, 8" steak and 6" curved boning)  I've had these for over 45 years, from my meat cutting days and they are as functional today as they were back then.

i would buy one knife, and ride that for a while before you decide what levels of esoterica you personally need to reach.

a simple well balanced german forged knife is going to be an excellent starter.  after that, you can go further afield if you want.  like cars, guns, and other things which people collect, you should determine what your needs are first, then expand on it if you want.  if some of the terms you hear make no sense right now, all the better reason to not rush out and buy 'pretty'.

fwiw, a lot of the (in fact, i think all) of the gorgeous damascus baldes are nothing more than a thin veneer of damascus.  they aren';t getting any of the benefit of what damascus steel is actually FOR.  f you want a true damascus, a blend of flexibility and hardness, you would need to really pay much more than what the affordable ones cost.

an 80 dollar chef's knife from any of the typical makers will suit most people.  they have been fine tuned to cover just about every issue a user might want.  they roll well (rounded profile to the blade), they tend to be well balanced (full tang with a bolster at the handle end), and, for someone starting out, they can be sharpened easily and kept in good shape without much fuss.

after you outgrow it, and decide you prefer single-bevel or 'x-' degree bevel, or some specific hardness, you'll then know exactly what YOU want. 

buy a daily driver, not bottom of the market, and learn how to handle it on the straightaway, and on curves, and whether you like understeer.  THEN step up to what YOU consider top of the line if you want.

there's a practical side and a personal side to these sort of things.  if you are unfamiliar, probably best to start simple, and cover the practical.  a henckels/wustof type forged full tang bolstered knife with a forgiving double bevel, which you can sharpen pretty easily, is a good start for a lot of people looking to step up from the 89-bucks-for-10-knives-chicago-cutlery-set-hey-got-for-their-first-apartment

It has much less of a belly. I've never done much in the way of rocking cutting. More push and draw cuts. So going toward a Japanese knife made a lot more sense.

good point.  this is the kind of thing i think an 80 dollar experiment can tell a person.  meaning: buy a decent knife and discover what works best for you.

i 'learned' (still not very good) to cut with a knife that had a belly, and so when i got the santoku (which is very flat) i couldn't easily switch to the push and draw cut.

tjmaxx (up here we also have Marshall's which is i think actually owned by T.J. Maxx) also carries knives.  good way to save 20 or 30 bucks on a standard wusthof or whatever. good call.

i do believe you can go to williams sonoma and actually try knives on their cutting block.  i remember once seeing a customer cutting a carrot... 
)

Wife got me a set of Globals. Had a set of Henkels Pro-S. No comparison. Globals blow them away and they are the best knives I've ever used!!

After reading all this I think it comes down to what you like and what fits best in your hand. It can be the 200 dollar chef knife that makes coffee for you when you are done carving a turkey, or the POS Target $5.00 special that carves a brisket for a family of 10 and makes everyone happy.

Just saying a knife is what you make of it.