Home/hobby cook looking for a new knife

I am new to the world of knives and I have old had cheap knives to use. I've been reading through this forum and there seems to be a lot of good advice.

I am hoping there is something within my budget that is better than what I have been used to.

Thanks!

What type of knife(s) do you think you want?

Why is it being purchased? What, if anything, are you replacing?

What do you like and dislike about these qualities of your knives already?
Aesthetics-I don't care how it looks.
Edge Quality/Retention-Most of my knives are cheap and don't hold an edge. I'd like it to hold and edge for a while.
Ease of Use-Not sure.
Comfort-I don't seem to notice the difference in handles. Maybe because I don't use it all the time.

What grip do you use?

What kind of cutting motion do you use?

Where do you store them?

Have you ever oiled a handle?

What kind of cutting board(s) do you use?

For edge maintenance, do you use a strop, honing rod, pull through/other, or nothing?

Have they ever been sharpened?

What is your budget?

What do you cook and how often?

Special requests(Country of origin/type of wood/etc)?

Suisin Western Inox 240 mm (or 210 mm, if that seems way too big). You can get these at Japanese Knife Imports or Korin.

Greetings hikeeba!

Greetings!

There seem to be so many choices out there. I am curious about why you chose that model?

I was reading another thread that talked about the Tojiro DP Chef Knife 240mm and it sounded like a good choice.

Does the ~$40 more make much of a difference?

Thanks!

I agree with the Inox, great knife for the money, hell, great knife even if it cost more. I regret passing mine on. The CarboNext is a great deal as well, right in your price range, and gets lots of props here, if carbon is okay with you.

http://japanesechefsknife.com/KAGAYAKICarboNextSeries.html

The Suisin Inox is an excellent knife in every respect at that price point. I also considered fit and finish. Most new folks don't realize how poor the fit and finish is on some Japanese knife brands and Suisin's is impeccable. Since you are not a great sharpener (yet), Suisin's out of the box edge is generally very nice. I chose more forgiving, tougher stainless and a shade on the soft side since you are new to high end cutlery. The Inox line is also western so it will be less of a departure from what you are comfortable using. If you really don't want to spend the extra money, a Tojiro is serviceable. It's harder, a little chippy and not as great a cutter. In my opinion, the Suisin is easily worth the extra cash. That's an easy call. I will say, I'm not impressed by too many lower cost (or high cost) options, in general but that line has impressed me.

OK I am going to get the Suisin Inox Western Gyutou 240mm. It looks like Korin and Chef Knives To Go both have it.

Korin has a western sharpening option where they sharpen the knife, but you can't return or exchange it.

Any suggestions on the site/sharpening?

You might consider purchasing a starter set of stones and watching the videos from members here like Dave Martell and Jon Broida.

Yea, I would like to learn how to sharpen. I was thinking about getting one of the two sided stones like this: Togiharu Two-Sided Sharpening Stone - #1000 & #4000

Would that be a good place to start? Thanks

I would go with Korin as your place to purchase, especially if your gonna get that stone, save on shipping, and support a member here.


As for the stone, I have been using that same one for a while, and have been happy with it, very to be exact. Just watch as many as Jon's videos as possible, and Dave's posts are very informative. I've never seen any of Dave's vids, but I'm sure they would be very informative as well.

I watch Jon's vids over and over again, and even though I'm becoming more seasoned in sharpening, it's good to watch the basics again from time to time.

El Pescador said:

You might consider purchasing a starter set of stones and watching the videos from members here like Dave Martell and Jon Broida.

Click to expand...

+1

It's not very hard to learn how to put a serviceable edge on a knife...and you can continue to learn more about it for years to come.

I haven't seen any of Dave's videos but Jon's are excellent.

I went ahead and ordered the Suisin and a King #1000/#6000 stone set (the other one was back-ordered). Thanks for all of the help. I found Jon's videos on YouTube and will watch them all