I'm looking at a new set of kitchen knives and would like some help to get the best bang for my buck. I'd love to have a complete set of custom knives but don't have the budget for that. Realistically I'm looking for a set of forged, full tang that will last me 40 years so I'm willing to spend some money, say $500 target or less. I know the mainstream names Wusthof, Henkles, etc., etc. but are these where I should be looking? What type of steel? How should I keep them sharp? I think I'm missing some great options, but knives aren't my wheelhouse. Thanks for the help!

I would save some of your budget and just buy whatever style Victorinox knives you would use. I’ve converted all my kitchen knives to Victorinox. Don’t forget about a half dozen of their paring knives too. Just a great knife for a very reasonable price. I use a ceramic stick to keep the edges fine.

+1... I've had some expensive knife sets for the kitchen. I've given them to my daughter and son in law and my son and his wife. My actual day to day using kitchen knives are all Victorinox Forschner. A Spyderco Sharpmaker brings them to shaving sharp.

Anyone looking for good reliable knives could do far worse than look at Eicker Messer.

Here.

It's east to buy a complete set of Japanese VG-10 blades for $500. VG-10 sharpens easily and stays sharp for a very long time.

Get a Santoku, a 8 inch chef, a 8 inch slicer, a paring knife and maybe a nakiri.

They do not need to be top line ma,e brand because the blanks all comes from Japan.

What is your sharpening experience and sharpening tools?

What will you be cutting on?

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$500 budget?


I'd get a quality Japanese chef's knife (gyuto) and paring knife. These two will handle 90% of your tasks.

A King Combination water-stone and a garage sale high carbon knife (Chicago Cutlery, Forgecraft, etc.) to practice sharpening on.

An end grain cutting board which will be kind to the high hardness, thin edged Jap knives.

Cut like a boss.

Done.

This recommendation is loaded with overlap - even for an experienced user.

Maybe for an INexperienced user. I butcher at deer camp and people there would use my knives and they wound up buying pretty much those knives after learning how to use them. I am assuming the the OP is going to use them for kitchen work as well as butchering all manner of game. The high end forged Chicago knives (signature series) Santoku is one of the really handy specialized tools for butchering. A good VG-10 nakiri is almost designed to be a perfect jerky slicer. A chef's knife is a basic kitchen tool that is not nearly so well suited to the work I use nakiris and santokus for. An 8 inch VG-10 slicer makes a very acceptable boning knife and filet knife, a 6 inch might be a little better depending on the user, but if you're going to carve turkey or ham 8 inch is the way to go. For about $250 for the five, and that price is easy enough to do on the internet, that's a well considered set. If I were to change it, the santoku would be the Chicago cutlery instead of a japanese VG-10 blade. If butchering deer is not a consideration then I would leave out the nakiri.

$500? Really? Unless you are scratching a knife fetish, a Victorinox set is more than good enough.

If you know how to use stones, keep em sharp with a Norton fine India.....finish with a Soft Arkansas if you are an overachiever. Don't know how to use stones? Learn!

At the recommendation of some folks here and a few pro chefs I know, we bought a few different Tojiro DP knives and are very happy with them. They are not fancy like the Shun knives, and have European handles vs traditional Japanese handles, but so far they have been great knives for the price.

This is coming from me who owns probably 50 Forschner/Victorinox/Dexter knives that I use to cut fish pretty much daily. The Tojiros are a definite step up from the Forschners (et al), but the Forschners (et al) are relatively inexpensive and pretty much unkillable knives which just work.

Thanks for the input everyone, it definitely helps! To answer some of the questions...I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker but patience and the ability to hold the knife the same for 2 passes isn't my strong suit. I also tend to let the edge go away to long before trying to touch up the edge. The budget was just based off the mid range Henkles, if I don't have to spend that much great but I'm comfortable spending that.

As for learning, hell yeah I'm all for it and much of the reason I'm on the forum! I will definitely be looking through YouTube to see what the differences between all the kitchen knives are and what we really need in out kitchen. I'm not processing game at my house, buddy has a shack for processing on his farm and we definitely process instead of true butchering. Don't get me wrong the lions and such are definitely treated with respect but our average deer size doesn't make for a lot of packages of choice cuts...especially on a shoulder hit. There are some catfish that also get filleted a couple times a year.

It also sounds like there is more preference for the Japanese steel/VG-10 than other European materials which surprised me. Again I'm thinking from the average consumer viewpoint. A quick look at Amazon shows 1000 different brands of VG-10 knives, are these using the same blanks or should I be looking for certain details?

I also never even thought about the type of cutting board. End grain makes sense, any special place to get a quality one so fluids don't get sucked into the grain? How about steak knives for guests?

Thanks again everyone and keep it coming...you've definitely put a purchase on temporary hold while I dig deeper and learn some new stuff.

I also never even thought about the type of cutting board. End grain makes sense, any special place to get a quality one so fluids don't get sucked into the grain?

I got one made from bamboo. I flooded it with mineral oil to the saturation point.
That seems to keep it from loading up with junk.

Bamboo is hard, too hard on knife edges.

Glues associated with the commercially made ones, suck.

Natural hardwoods have tannins that are anti-microbial.

Have had a few from this guy - good stuff.

http://www.theboardsmith.com/


He also has "seconds" that have cosmetic imperfections that are completely functional but are marked down.

Tojiros are a great place to start.

This will blow the OP away.

https://carbonknifeco.com/collections/takamura-knives/products/takamura-chromax-gyuto-210mm

wow

ref add above
"Bamboo is hard, too hard on knife edges."

My board with end grain up bamboo works just fine for me.
My blades are out of good steel, many of my own making and heat treated at approx 59 Rc.

Like Tim, I use blades out of good steel and fairly hard.

I use all manner of cutting boards, from the flimsy silicone sheets, the plastic sheets, bamboo, different hardwoods, the Epicurean that have a Formica like laminate on top, actual Formica table tops, and stainless steel tables. I have yet to have much problem keeping my blades sharp because of the work surface, even on the stainless work tables. I mean what the hell, My steak knives take more of a beating from washing them by hand than they do cutting meat on ceramic glazed plates, and they are one hell of a lot harder than the stainless tables.

I don't doubt your knives are well made.

However, I am referencing Japanese kitchen knives that can go 63-65 Rockwell and are sharpened at acute angles and are very thin behind the edge.

Take a look at the choil image of the Takamura I linked above.

I cook all the time and have some henkels, wusthof, cutco, and Case! They have all held up well. the wusthof, cutco and case gets the most use...and I have a nice steel for touch up, a set of steel wheels for a little more than touch up and a Lansky sharpener for re-establishing.

For those of you in the know, how do MAC knives stack up against some of these suggestions?

In my skinning shed I have a 3 sided stone set and a large steel from a butcher shop nothing special for knives, I prefer carbon steel blades there. In the kitchen again nothing special, Chicago Cutlery chefs knives, 6" boners a large scimitar plus a couple of the Asian style knives 8 and 10 inch. I have a diamond steel and a ceramic steel both large and I keep stone for quick touch ups as my knives rattle around in the dishwasher. I give them a couple licks on the steel before using and they are always sharp enough to shave with.