Kitchen knives

We know that the Victorinox line is VERY good value FOR THE MONEY, but relying on those sources is like going to Consumer Reports for a review of a Ferrari 488GTB. if you want to know how hard the dash clock is to set, then they are your guys. ;)
GatorFlash1 said:
A popular publication for serious chefs is Cooking Illustrated Magazine. Knives, their staff and readers use them all, every hour of every day, everywhere. Here is what their staff tested and what they liked best for actual tasks.


Chef Knife Test - click the little "how we tested" box

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1433-chefs-knives?ref=EquipmentReview_browse_8

All kinds of knives by category tests

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/browse/knives

I bought the Fibrox Forschner knives individually for my kitchen, 8"chef, boning, filet, carving and paring. The ergonomics are great and the quality and price are fantastic. These Fibrox brand knives are made by Forschner, the Swiss Army Knife folks who sell to the European restaurants and kitchens as well as those in the US. Listen to what the reviewing chef says about the various knives in each category. These are people who's livelihoods depend on how good their knives work in the kitchen.

You can check out the very positive user reviews on Amazon, etc.

http://www.bestkitchenknivesreviewed.com/victorinox-kitchen-knives
Click to expand...
 
GatorFlash1 said:
A popular publication for serious chefs is Cooking Illustrated Magazine. Knives, their staff and readers use them all, every hour of every day, everywhere. Here is what their staff tested and what they liked best for actual tasks.


Chef Knife Test - click the little "how we tested" box

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1433-chefs-knives?ref=EquipmentReview_browse_8

All kinds of knives by category tests

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/browse/knives

I bought the Fibrox Forschner knives individually for my kitchen, 8"chef, boning, filet, carving and paring. The ergonomics are great and the quality and price are fantastic. These Fibrox brand knives are made by Forschner, the Swiss Army Knife folks who sell to the European restaurants and kitchens as well as those in the US. Listen to what the reviewing chef says about the various knives in each category. These are people who's livelihoods depend on how good their knives work in the kitchen.

You can check out the very positive user reviews on Amazon, etc.

http://www.bestkitchenknivesreviewed.com/victorinox-kitchen-knives
Click to expand...

Interesting links to cooksillustrated, but i only got one page of the testing report before that started asking for $$ if i wanted to finish the article.
scott
 
jdm61 said:
We know that the Victorinox line is VERY good value FOR THE MONEY, but relying on those sources is like going to Consumer Reports for a review of a Ferrari 488GTB. if you want to know how hard the dash clock is to set, then they are your guys. ;)
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What was stated was that often they performed the various tasks better than knives costing ten times more. Did you like the note about the fact that they have a Japanese edge grind on a European style knife?
 
I am not sure what you mean by a "Japanese edge grind." Just because it may be a narrower included angle, that does not make it "Japanese" What I do know from owning some of them is that their heat treatment is a bit better for that steel than comparable mid priced knives from some of the other German manufacturers, With that said, they still don't hold that fine edge for very long. The one article that we could read said that they were the most bang for the buck, which most on here will agree with. All of that aside, the OP was not asking for recommendations for a $30 knife with a plastic handle. .
GatorFlash1 said:
What was stated was that often they performed the various tasks better than knives costing ten times more. Did you like the note about the fact that they have a Japanese edge grind on a European style knife?
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timos- said:
ahhh, that makes more sense, i didnt know there was a actual brand named that
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Yeah, I just happened to receive an e-mail about them from a sort of nifty online retailer that sells interesting stuff from time to time. The retailer tends to find smaller producers (or just more obscure producers). I'd never seen them anywhere else, so I thought that I would ask.
 
jdm61 said:
I am not sure what you mean by a "Japanese edge grind." Just because it may be a narrower included angle, that does not make it "Japanese" What I do know from owning some of them is that their heat treatment is a bit better for that steel than comparable mid priced knives from some of the other German manufacturers, With that said, they still don't hold that fine edge for very long. The one article that we could read said that they were the most bang for the buck, which most on here will agree with. All of that aside, the OP was not asking for recommendations for a $30 knife with a plastic handle. .
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It is not what I mean it is what the Chefs mean. They seem to define the Japanese style/grind as a narrower grind, 30 degrees total as opposed to a larger grind used on European and US kitchen/butcher/chef knives of 45-50 degrees. Check out the link where the master chef talks about the various styles of chef knives, Asian and western. These chefs are folks who use their knives more in a week than many of us on the forum use in a year/lifetime.

Click the small "how we tested" box in the following link to see the comments.


http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1433-chefs-knives?ref=EquipmentReview_browse_8

I guess I goofed when I read the OP's comments. I thought he was looking for a very good chef/kitchen knife, not one that was not reasonably priced and not one that was factory produced by a famous knife maker. My bad!

"Kitchen knives

So I (along with my mother and mother-in-law) are buying my wife some kitchen knives for her birthday. We're going to buy the knives individually, starting with a chef's knife, a paring knife, and a thin slicer. I was initially looking into Shun knives, but I read some pretty mixed reviews on here, and I'm kind of back where I started. We're looking to spend $100 to $200 per knife. Does anyone have some suggestions? Thanks!"
 
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Hotshot10 said:
Also, any feedback on Tamahagane?
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These are an excellent knife & Value. I am a very stocking dealer of Tahamagane brand Japanese knives. There "Pro" line has everything you need without paying for Damasus VG-10 Cladding. The Pro Line is VG-1, I sell them to private Chefs mostly. They are on Amazon as well.

About the best value in a Japanese Knife available I know of.

Stay away from Shun! They Chip at the edge more than ANY other Japanese knife I sharpen.
 
On a semi-related note, has anyone tried the Ontario Agilite knives? I ask because their chef's knife is being sold by big box retailers like Wal Mart and on Amazon for the low to mid $40 range and that is right in the wheel house of the Victorinox stuff. While I would prefer AEB-L/13C26 over the 14C28N, it is still arguably a better steel than the 50CRwhatever that most of the German firms use and I hear tell that for their stainless knives, Ontario sends some of them off for HT to, well, lets just say a company that many of us are quite familiar with. I am not keen on the handle materials, but the same could be said about the Fibrox line's handles.
 
i haven't seen the Agilite knives yet, I put them in my earlier post when i saw them listed on the old hickory site.
scott
 
GatorFlash1 said:
It is not what I mean it is what the Chefs mean. They seem to define the Japanese style/grind as a narrower grind, 30 degrees total as opposed to a larger grind used on European and US kitchen/butcher/chef knives of 45-50 degrees. Check out the link where the master chef talks about the various styles of chef knives, Asian and western. These chefs are folks who use their knives more in a week than many of us on the forum use in a year/lifetime.
Click the small "how we tested" box in the following link to see the comments.
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1433-chefs-knives?ref=EquipmentReview_browse_8
"Kitchen knives
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DONT NEED TO SHOUT. HATE IT THAT YOU LINKED US TO A SITE WHERE you have to sign up for the site to read the complete review.
scott
 
I haven't seen any "pro" reviews. The one initial review that I did see on one of the knife retailer websites said that the blade on the chef's knife was very thin and came from the factory very sharp.
scott.livesey said:
i haven't seen the Agilite knives yet, I put them in my earlier post when i saw them listed on the old hickory site.
scott
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well since this thread is still going I assume you are looking for more input. If it were me that was going to spend 100-200 on 3 different knives, I would pick up a western or Wa handle stainless clad aogami super core Harukaze gyuto. I would pick up a CTS XHP 4" parer from Butch Harner and probably look for a nice custom re ground antique 1095 slicer, like a forgecraft or something.
 
scott.livesey said:
DONT NEED TO SHOUT. HATE IT THAT YOU LINKED US TO A SITE WHERE you have to sign up for the site to read the complete review.
scott
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Don't read the review, click the box and watch the video. It is a professional chefs' site and anything you want to see or read you can probably access through Google, not their home webpage.

Shouting in computer land is using all CAPS in your message. Highlighting something to make it stand out to the reader is not SHOUTING!
 
GatorFlash1 said:
Don't read the review, click the box and watch the video. It is a professional chefs' site and anything you want to see or read you can probably access through Google, not their home webpage.

Shouting in computer land is using all CAPS in your message. Highlighting something to make it stand out to the reader is not SHOUTING!
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Real Professional Chef's don't recommend the Chef's choice home sharpening machines. :rolleyes: LOL
 
Unless you are going to pony up big bucks for a small CATRA commercial grade machine, a nice high quality belt grinder and buffer combo or maybe the large Tormek machine with the water stone and strop wheels, I don't think any "pro" would recommend any "machine."
Rhinoknives1 said:
Real Professional Chef's don't recommend the Chef's choice home sharpening machines. :rolleyes: LOL
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Rhinoknives1 said:
Real Professional Chef's don't recommend the Chef's choice home sharpening machines. :rolleyes: LOL
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I agree, I'm not a fan of electric knife sharpeners. Unfortunately many kitchen folks will look at the time taken sharpening as more important than the sharp edge of the knife. This is probably why Cooks Illustrated mentions this machine.
 
GatorFlash1 said:
I agree, I'm not a fan of electric knife sharpeners. Unfortunately many kitchen folks will look at the time taken sharpening as more important than the sharp edge of the knife. This is probably why Cooks Illustrated mentions this machine.
Click to expand...

Cooks illustrated mentions the Chef's Choice to sell them to an unsuspecting public to make money!

All of the stuff there is mentioned for that very reason.
 
Yeah, with the advent of interwebz bloggers and their "reviews" I am always a little bit suspicious. Google the Kickstarter funded Misen knife and seesaw many glowing reviews you find for a $60 Chinese copy of a Henckels Pro with AUS-8 blade and a slightly modified see of handles. The people who actually "reviewed" the knife were sent prototypes as the actual production knives were about 6 months behind schedule for delivery last time that I checked. What blew up the internet for Misen was a review by Kneji Lope-alt, one of the senior writers for the Serious Eats website. That got then like $300,000 in the first weeks and a lot of the other articles about the knife either regurgitated those couple of early reviews in what was essentially a press release for Misen or talked more about how much money they had raised with little regurgitation blurb a and links the Kickstarter page. In the end, these guys raised over $1 million and sold 13,000 knives, none of which have been delivered yet as of a couple of weeks ago.
Rhinoknives1 said:
Cooks illustrated mentions the Chef's Choice to sell them to an unsuspecting public to make money!

All of the stuff there is mentioned for that very reason.
Click to expand...
 
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