new tools for a young chef

Hi !
This forum looks like the perfect place for me to fall deeper in knife nerdiness. I landed here in my search for better work tools, which seems to be a quest for most people around here.

I am a young chef living in Stockholm. I have been using Victorinox knives and found they were really good value for the price, but their chef knife's blade feels a bit to light and thin and they could have a better edge retention.
I feel like I could also get better at sharpening. I was using a king 1000/6000 combination stone which seriously needed flattening, so I got naniwa flattening stones and a bester 400 stone. I believe my set up has improved a lot now. I love the bester stone and the king stone now feels super cheap, when I compare it to the bester. I should probably get new medium grit and fine grit stones. What do you think about the king ?

However, I already feel more confortable sharpening with water stones than I did before and I would love to go a step further using harder steel knives as well as trying japanese filleting/boning knives (deba or honesuki). I would probably work more on fish than on poultry or meat though, but there are some honesuki that look really tempting for a relatively low price.

The knives i'm looking at.
1 parer 7 to 10 cm, 1 deba or honesuki 15 to 18 cm, 1 gyuto 24 cm or above, 1 slicer 25 to 27 cm

I am right handed and I would try any kind of handle: japanese or western.

I definitely need the knives to be stainless or semi-stainless.

I was looking at Tojiro DP or similar lines which can be found relatively cheap between 40 and 100 dollars a piece. I would be ready to spend twice as much though or even a little bit more, but I am not sure wether it would be worth it. Those would be my first high end knives so it is probably wiser to go in step by step so I have a better understanding of what kind of knife suits me best.

Thank you for reading this ! Any question advice or comment will be appreciated.

In that price range check out the molybdenum bolsterless lines from:

Mac chef series
Masahiro
Misono
Brieto

Hi ! Thanks for these answers. I had a look at these brands, but I felt that Tojiro DP would probably still be better because of the harder steel. Am I wrong ?
What about going a bit further in price ? Would it be a good choice ? can you advise any particular brands or knives ?
And about the Deba/Honesuki choice, what would be the best option to begin with ?

The series NO ChoP mentioned are all relatively forgiving. If you prefer harder steels, that's fine, and VG-10 may be a good choice if not mass-produced with a sub-optimal Heat Treatment. So exit Tojiro.
You may consider though the VG-10 by JCK Kagayaki or Hattori's FH series.
If you're open to a carbon core with stainless cladding, have a look at Hiromoto's Aogami Super series with
Japanesechefsknife.com

I second Benuser's suggestion with the Hiromoto AS.The core steel in the Hiro will put you on the road to knife nerdiness.It is superior to the Tojiro DP.Carbon steel core is great on whetstones has good retention & gets razor sharp.In the 160.00 range also JCK ship's to Europe very reasonable fr. what I've heard.

If you like the Bester 400,you will love the Bester 1200 great medium stone

JCK knows how to fill in the customs declaration form. In my country the custom officers were well prepared to believe a DSL sending from Japan was worth $20, so I've got my 270mm Hiro without paying import taxes, VAT or handling costs.

Yea JCK is where its at being outside of the united states its the best due to low shipping costs which Ill take over $30 shipping from a retailer sending from the USA.

Thank you Benuser and Keithsaltydog !
I have taken a few large steps towards making an order today and your advice has been very useful. I would love to order from JCK but ************** also has the Hiromoto and they also offer many more options, including stones.

So I am thinking :
Hiromoto Gyuto 240mm 160 $
Dojo Paring Knife 80mm 60 $ (also Aogami super with stainless clading)
Richmond Artifex 270mm Sujihiki 107$ with extra sharpening (my girlfriend needs a stainless slicer between 25 and 27 cm)
Tanaka Kurouchi Deba 180mm 120 $(I could get a stainless Deba for the same price, but I'm only going tu use this knife for prep. As long as I don't use it during service I'll have time to take care of it.)
Bester 2000 45$ (they ran out of the 1200 and I already have a 1000 king so I figured i'd go for a different grit)
add to that a fish scraper, a pair of shears and a few blade protections
plus 60$ fo shipping

Total amount is 626 $
Luckily I've been earning euros so that's not too bad.
So what do you think should I go for it ?

No.

Have a Hiromoto 240 or 270 with JCK, a Fujiwara sujihiki for your friend, get both a €15 parer by Robert Herder and a new Chosera stone with
edenwebshops.com
Forget about your deba, you don't need it for now if you've a decent gyuto.

Benuser said:

Have a Hiromoto 240 or 270 with JCK, a Fujiwara sujihiki for your friend, get both a €15 parer by Robert Herder and a new Chosera stone with
edenwebshops.com
Forget about your deba, you don't need it for now if you've a decent gyuto.

Click to expand...

Ok I'm going to have a look at all of this, but could you give me a hint of why I was on the wrong track ?

It's about shipping costs, and the deba is a highly specialized knife requiring great sharpening skills to get opened. An unexpensive single bevel is often source of great disappointment.

And Mr Koki Iwahara from JCK is a very serious guy.

I agree with Benuser. Take your time!

+1 on benuser's guidance

Ok thank you everyone you have me convinced ! I really appreciate all the advice.
I am still curious about the deba, what's the best approach to such a knife if not to buy one and learn how to use it ?

The thing with single bevels is you absolutely get what you pay for. Pretty much anything sub $200 is a serious crap shoot. Even above $200 you will find some issues...

It's a very specialized knife, and unless you are working with fish frequently, it doesn't make much sense to invest in, especially if you need everyday practical stuff still.

For a fish knife just get a carbon dexter I know I know they are **** and only like 30 dollers but they arent that flexible and sharpen up easily and like the other guys said you cant go cheap on single bevels they require alot of skill to craft and often the cheap ones are rubbish also how often do you have to break whole fish. If your just getting into sharpening id reccomend getting comfortable on the stones and then looking into single bevels. I cant talk though my first japanese knife was a usuba that was 900+ aud and it really opened my eyes up but I didnt sharpen it at first and bought a few more japanese double bevels learnt on them and bought more single bevels and then went back to my first knife and I really love it. So at the end of the day do what you want but proberbly take the advice from these guys even if you choose different just hear them out first.

I am not doing so much fish butchery myself, but I would like to. I need to get faster at doing a clean job. The day will definitely come when I get a Deba (a decent one because I'll remember your advice).

I will definitely take your advice ! I just like to understand things, so that's why I ask for explanations.
I really want to thank everyone who has answered.