Author Topic: Recommend me a Chef's knife  (Read 13510 times)

Recommend me a Chef's knife
« on: 10 July, 2017, 06:13:53 pm »
Ok, it's my dad's birthday soon and I thought that rather buying him a pair of socks or some golf balls, I'd buy him something more useful. Now, my dad is quite a good cook, but his knives are shit. He doesn't actually seem to notice, so I might be barking up the wrong tree here. I cannot stand his 8" knife (Or 20cm if you prefer). It's bendy and horrible. I can sneak it into the garage and sharpen the fuck out of it on my diamond stones when he's away, but he never seems to notice. So in some ways, it's a present to myself.

But keep with me... If I were to buy him decent Chef's knife (let's face it - one very sharp 8" knife is all you need), what should I get? I am capable of using Google and have found quite a few good looking options. But I don't really know anything about cooking knives.

I am aware of the product placement practices that find their way into the TV shows and YouTube videos of celebrity chefs, but I am asking YOU - the good people of yacf - recommend me a good knife.


Edit: 50 quid or 150 quid - I don't really care. As long as it's good quality...
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #1 on: 10 July, 2017, 07:04:36 pm »
Hattori...or equivalent. It'll be nearer £150, and you won't be slinging it in the dishwasher or throwing it in the sink

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #2 on: 10 July, 2017, 07:34:03 pm »
I'm a big fan of the German knives - a Henckels Professional or the Wüsthof equivalent should be about £70 or so.

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #3 on: 10 July, 2017, 08:18:11 pm »
To go German or Japanese is something that I've been considering....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Gattopardo

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Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #5 on: 10 July, 2017, 08:36:46 pm »
Actually if you wander over to LFGSS there is a knife porn thread.  There are some nice knives there.

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #6 on: 10 July, 2017, 11:28:30 pm »
A friend gave me a very nice Global a while ago, but to be honest I've only used it three or four times: most used is a santuko knife from, IIRC, Sainsburys.

I think buying a knife for someone else is a bit of a lottery because aspects like balance and usage are so coloured by personal preference: it sounds like whatever you get, as long as it's acceptably stiff, will be an upgrade, so get him something *you* like and can see yourself using, and hope he likes it too.

dim

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #7 on: 11 July, 2017, 07:01:51 am »
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” - Aristotle

ElyDave

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Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #8 on: 11 July, 2017, 07:06:01 am »
I'm a big fan of the German knives - a Henckels Professional or the Wüsthof equivalent should be about £70 or so.

+1, I also like my le creuset 10" bought as a student for what was quite an investment for me back then
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #9 on: 11 July, 2017, 07:17:40 am »
Whilst the German knives are good quality (Ive had a set of Henckels for 15 years) the decent Jap knives are in a different universe.

ian

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #10 on: 11 July, 2017, 07:54:28 am »
I have an expensive knife that's very nice (I think it cost about £80). I also have a cheap one. That one doesn't keep it's edge, but a quick swizz with the sharpener before use and it's just as good.

Like anything, it's a game of diminishing returns. Any decent knife ought to slice and dice more than adequately if kept sharp. And I hate dull knives, I'm not sure how people manage with something that struggles to cut a tomato without dramatically sawing away. It should just slice through, zero pressure at all.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #11 on: 11 July, 2017, 08:53:14 am »
Hattori...or equivalent. It'll be nearer £150, and you won't be slinging it in the dishwasher or throwing it in the sink

Maybe you won't but if your papa is used to rubbish knives then I'd get one that can resist both.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #12 on: 11 July, 2017, 02:51:44 pm »
I'm a knife pleb I suppose, despite coveting the idea of a Japanese blade. I bought a set of Jamie Oliver knives, https://www.tesco.com/direct/jamie-oliver-knife-block-set-5-piece/306-2274.prd?source=others, and a decent ceramic sharpener (of a type with two grades of rotating stones in a small water bath). I get most use out of the 8" cooks knife. A lot of chef use the plastic handled knives from the likes of Nisbets. They do a good selection from cheap to fairly expensive.

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/kitchenware-and-knives/chefs-knives/_/a33-2

As Ian says, the best knife is a sharp knife.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #13 on: 11 July, 2017, 03:51:52 pm »
A butcher chum keeps his knives just this side of terrifying.  I asked him what brand he used: he laughed and said "whatever the reps are giving away".  His all have plastic handles.

For me, the main criteria are that it'll take and hold a good edge and doesn't have any aluminium bits such as nice shiny ferrules that'll go black in the dishwasher.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

dim

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #14 on: 11 July, 2017, 08:29:10 pm »
A butcher chum keeps his knives just this side of terrifying.  I asked him what brand he used: he laughed and said "whatever the reps are giving away".  His all have plastic handles.

For me, the main criteria are that it'll take and hold a good edge and doesn't have any aluminium bits such as nice shiny ferrules that'll go black in the dishwasher.

speaking of which .... my local butcher sharpens knives (properly) for £5 per knife .... well worth the £5 every few months
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” - Aristotle

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #15 on: 11 July, 2017, 08:34:13 pm »
Butchers are all very well, but they aren't that exact in their slicing. If you want to slice garlic so it is waffer thin you'll need something other than a plastic handled butchers knife.

As ever, horses for courses.

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #16 on: 12 July, 2017, 08:25:12 am »
... If you want to slice garlic so it is waffer thin you'll need something other than a plastic handled butchers knife...


Yep, a mandolin.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #17 on: 12 July, 2017, 08:40:24 am »
I guess this has been discussed many times on YACF. Can anyone recommend a good sharpener for cooks knives?
I have an Ozitech diamond fingers from Lakeland http://www.lakeland.co.uk/11304/OZITECH-Knife-Sharpener
Just wondering if there is something better.

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #18 on: 12 July, 2017, 10:00:30 am »
A DMT Diamond sharpening steel.
This is one time when spending money really makes a difference. My son had a cheap diamond sharpening steel - it was ok, wore smooth in a few months. Never really impressed me.
I bought him a DMT one.

Wow. Totally different beast. Fast at sharpening, it has lasted years.

https://www.bagoftools.co.uk/tools/c190/hand-tools/c2359/sharpening-tools/c2460/diamond-whetstones/c2633/diamond-steels/c3098/dmt-diamond-steel-300mm-green-1200-grit-extra-fine/p21183?showvat=true&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkZfLBRCzARIsAH3wMKohc55_A0zZFAoqrabTg6K299fcozqwc61bD9GTPIfEOyzhP7egUbMaAmvTEALw_wcB

I'm something of a sharpening geek, I have a powered wetstone for reshaping in the garage, 3 waterstones in the house and a leather strop with aluminium oxide powder. For a kitchen knife, the DMT is the dogs danglies.
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Ben T

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #19 on: 12 July, 2017, 10:50:41 am »
Definitely one where the handle extends below the blade, so you can chop veg without having the handle hit the board first or having to do it over the edge of the board. I would have thought this was obvious (and it might be in high-end knife circles) but knives do exist where the handle has a "lip" that fouls the chopping action.

Charlotte

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Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #20 on: 12 July, 2017, 11:04:07 am »
I use abrasive paper to sharpen my greenwood carving blades and you *can* sharpen kitchen knives this way (Google for the 'scary sharp' system).  My kitchen knives seem to prefer honing on Japanese waterstones - of which the Ice Bear brand (available on the Axminster tools site) is rather good.  Practice, as ever, makes perfect.  YouTube helps.  Don't start on your poshest blade because you'll fuck it up.

As for knives, you can spend stupid amounts of money on them if you want to, but a good one need only cost sensible amounts.  Julian bought me a very beautiful Kai-Shun Santoku Knife for my birthday a few years ago and it is still the nicest kitchen blade I own.  If you're investing in good steel and spending some time understanding how to keep it sharp, also budget for a good magnetic knife rack to store it safely.  This is what I use and why:

https://cuttingedgeknives.co.uk/helpful-information/caring-for-your-knives/why-we-only-sell-knife-racks
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #21 on: 12 July, 2017, 11:54:38 am »
nothing to add except I've been told that giving a knife to someone is bad luck, you're 'meant' to give it with a coin in the same parcel and then the lucky punter getting the sharp gives you the coin back, paying you for it and cancelling out the bad luck.


Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #22 on: 12 July, 2017, 12:35:02 pm »
nothing to add except I've been told that giving a knife to someone is bad luck, you're 'meant' to give it with a coin in the same parcel and then the lucky punter getting the sharp gives you the coin back, paying you for it and cancelling out the bad luck.
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ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #23 on: 12 July, 2017, 07:19:38 pm »
A DMT Diamond sharpening steel.
This is one time when spending money really makes a difference. My son had a cheap diamond sharpening steel - it was ok, wore smooth in a few months. Never really impressed me.
I bought him a DMT one.

Wow. Totally different beast. Fast at sharpening, it has lasted years.

https://www.bagoftools.co.uk/tools/c190/hand-tools/c2359/sharpening-tools/c2460/diamond-whetstones/c2633/diamond-steels/c3098/dmt-diamond-steel-300mm-green-1200-grit-extra-fine/p21183?showvat=true&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkZfLBRCzARIsAH3wMKohc55_A0zZFAoqrabTg6K299fcozqwc61bD9GTPIfEOyzhP7egUbMaAmvTEALw_wcB

I'm something of a sharpening geek, I have a powered wetstone for reshaping in the garage, 3 waterstones in the house and a leather strop with aluminium oxide powder. For a kitchen knife, the DMT is the dogs danglies.

What would you use for a small axe? I got mine reasonably sharp with a file, a lot of elbow grease, a slightly finer file and a aluminium oxide stone.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: Recommend me a Chef's knife
« Reply #24 on: 12 July, 2017, 07:29:54 pm »