First good quality knife recommendation for home use

What country are you in?
US (friend of mine will bring them from US for me, but has 2 weeks so I have to decide rather quickly)


KNIFE TYPE

What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chef’s knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?

Gyuto seems like the knife I want as a chef's knife.

Are you right or left handed?
Right handed.

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
Both would be fine. Haven't tried Japanese handle yet but they look better to me and I'm eager to learn.


What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
I've used 220m for two years now, and it feels alright. It can be longer, but I might not as comfortable with a shorter knife. I can adapt if necessary.

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
Yes, would be ideal.

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
300$-320$ would be the absolute maximum.


KNIFE USE

Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Home, forever.

What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
slicing, dicing, chopping vegetables, slicing meat and just general kitchen tasks I guess? Nothing specific like filleting or carving.


What knife, if any, are you replacing?
I've used Victorinox chef's knife and also Wusthof chef's knife for a while now (these two were gifts, so I didn't pick them). They were getting the job done more or less, but now I want more.

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use?
Definitely adaptable.


What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)
Also adaptable.

What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.)
Sharper, slightly more balanced knife with a better grip. I know this is quite broad to describe, but not really sure what else to say. Again, this is my first time.



KNIFE MAINTENANCE

Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
I have both wood and synthetic cutting boards.

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
I don't, but I will.

If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
YES definitely. I'm going to take very good care of my knife.

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes, definitely will.


SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS

Years of using only "ok" knifes and testing a bunch of good quality knives in a friend's house finally pushed me to make the decision of buying a good quality knife I'm comfortable with. I live in Turkey and shipping combined with custom's fee have always been a problem even if I wanted to purchase a good quality knife before, but my friend is currently in US and he said he can bring me one. So, here is my chance!

I've been reading online for the past three days, and realized I know so very little about picking a good knife that's worth my money. Seriously, I thought I knew a thing or two, but never would've guessed how detailed this whole thing was.

So, I decided to use the "ask for advice" route and here I am.

Cooking has been a long time hobby of mine, and I'm definitely looking forward to add "sharpening and taking care of knives" to my arsenal. I'm an eager learner, but I just need someone to show me the way.

"slightly more balanced knife with a better grip" .... which way? A japanese handle is exactly NOT a "grip", more of a handrest, and knives featuring them seem to have the balance point at or forward of the spot where you'd pinch grip them (on the blade, 1-6cm from the handle end), or even further forward- if you pick a japanese knife up lightly by the neck, usually the handle will swing into your arm instead of the blade falling.

Greetings!

I'm not too much help with stainless but others who are will offer better advice than me. If I were in your shoes, I'd suggest touching base with Jon at japanese knife imports--I'd call on the phone. He's a trusted vendor here and won't try to oversell you on a blade. My impression would be that you could find a pretty decent knife and a stone for somewhere around or slightly less than your budget.

+1 on Jon at JKI. It's my understanding he uses Skype for international stuff. He should be able to put you into a knife (and some sharpening gear?) within your budget

You may also want to pay attention to Epicurean Edge's Cyber Sale that will start at midnite 2nite MST(?). No idea what the GMT offset is but you should be awake for the best deals. You'll only need a method of payment and a US shipping address. They have a good selection of stainless and stainless clad knives and very good prices during their once a year sale.

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

"slightly more balanced knife with a better grip" .... which way?

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I knew that statement was too vague. I guess by balanced I meant that something that is slightly heavier than my current knife so that I can comfortably tell where the balance point is and control the knife better, in a way? If I could edit the original post, I would say something like "A sharper, better quality knife that will last a long time with proper care" instead. And you are absolutely right about the grip part, that's my bad. I realized you don't truly grip when using a Japanese style knife anyway.

chinacats said:

Greetings!

I'm not too much help with stainless but others who are will offer better advice than me. If I were in your shoes, I'd suggest touching base with Jon at japanese knife imports--I'd call on the phone.

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I'll definitely get in touch with him as soon as possible, thanks for the suggestion. And the budget I wrote doesn't necessarily have to include a stone since I can order that myself without much hassle at a later date. This is assuming the stone will cost under 80$ (excluding shipping).

Also, I've used stainless all my life, sure, but if the upkeep of other blades aren't that extreme, I would be fine with something that is not stainless. I'm fine with looking after my knife, as I've mentioned before.

daveb said:

You may also want to pay attention to Epicurean Edge's Cyber Sale that will start at midnite 2nite MST

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I'm taking a look at it right now, thanks for your suggestion! If I find something that might look like a good fit, I'll post it here to ask for your guy's suggestions.

This one is in my price range thanks to the discount deal. It looks good to me but my knowledge is limited, obviously.

What do you guys think? http://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=85650

Strangely, I was gonna recommend the very knife u linked. I have it at 180mm. Nothing bad to say about it, came with Killer edge and Is still Holding it after 3 weeks of random use. Like the handle and the profile.

The sad part is, I wasn't absolutely sure and by the time I checked the site again, the discount was over and the price is now 300$. Which made me realize that discounts change every two hours(dumb me). Now the same knife in 180mm (yes, the same exact one you have apparently, what a coincidence) is on sale. But I feel like having something longer might work better for me

But I have a rough idea about the knife I want to buy now. Probably a 210 or 240mm Gyuto stainless steel knife with either a classic western handle, or something a bit different. I will keep checking the site every two hours to see the discounts. If I stumble upon something that fits, and looks decent, I'll post it here AND look around other places for reviews, since the discount time is very short and I might not get a response here in that time frame.

catastrope said:

This one is in my price range thanks to the discount deal. It looks good to me but my knowledge is limited, obviously.

What do you guys think? http://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=85650

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I was also thinking of recommending this. I think JKI has a similar knife called Kagero, which apparently comes with a saya.

I have the Akifusa in 210- my first ever Japanese Knife. I also have the 150 petty. I was so amazed at how well it cut that I spent the first week giggling every time I used it. It's quite thin and also thin behind the edge. Some call it a laser, but I to me, it's "thin, but not a laser". It doesn't really feel that fragile. My subsequent gyutos have all been 240-270, so I guess i've since become comfortable with longer knives (especially when using a pinch grip). Japanese knives are also lighter, so longer knives are not as heavy. It's a bit short compared to some gyutos. Not sure if the 240 is taller. I like its profile, which is fairly flat in the first 3/4 of the knife. The handle is nice, if a bit on the thin side. Really not an issue if you use a pinch grip. It's a fully stainless powdered metallurgy steel called SRS-15, hardened to ~64HRC (pretty hard). It comes OOTB with a pretty good edge, but will take an even better one. Edge retention is fantastic. It does chip easily if you bang the edge against something (only took me one chip to learn that lesson!) but not in general use. It's been pretty easy to sharpen on Edgepro and on Choseras (harder than carbon but no harder than other Japanese SS such as AUS8 and seems to me to be easier to deburr than German SS). The chip sharpened out easily.

I suspect that you'll need a reasonable set of stones on it. As mentioned, my Choseras really don't have any trouble. Not sure how others would go.

Hope this helps.

catastrope said:

The sad part is, I wasn't absolutely sure and by the time I checked the site again, the discount was over and the price is now 300$. Which made me realize that discounts change every two hours(dumb me). Now the same knife in 180mm (yes, the same exact one you have apparently, what a coincidence) is on sale. But I feel like having something longer might work better for me

But I have a rough idea about the knife I want to buy now. Probably a 210 or 240mm Gyuto stainless steel knife with either a classic western handle, or something a bit different. I will keep checking the site every two hours to see the discounts. If I stumble upon something that fits, and looks decent, I'll post it here AND look around other places for reviews, since the discount time is very short and I might not get a response here in that time frame.

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If you like the idea of a great value PM gyuto, look at the Shiro Kamo at K&S (http://www.knivesandstones.com/syousin-suminagashi-by-shiro-kamo/). I have the 270 and it is my go-to gyuto. Nice convexity, understated damascus pattern, sturdy spine but thin behind the edge. It's quite tall, which suits me well. The SG2 takes a fairly good edge. Haven't had to sharpen yet, but SG2 (AKA R2) is not super-hard to sharpen. Not on special but great value anyway. And James is a pleasure to deal with.

Keep checking the Epicurean Edge sale. It may come around again.

Yeah I'm checking it every two hours, thanks

And Nemo thanks a lot for your suggestions, I've asked you a few questions on pm in order to not spam this topic much.

It looks like the plan right now is to check EE for a sale on a knife I like, and if not, go with Nemo's suggestion and get the "Syousin Suminagashi R2 Damascus Gyuto 240mm By Shiro Kamo". We'll see how it goes.

EE is good but you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you don't try and connect with Jon at JKI as well. Especially so if you're not fairly certain of what you want.

daveb said:

EE is good but you'll be doing yourself a disservice if you don't try and connect with Jon at JKI as well. Especially so if you're not fairly certain of what you want.

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+1

give john a call

I've e-mailed him. I can call him on skype too if he does that. And don't worry, I'm definitely not buying a knife without getting his opinion first. If the sale ends by then, so be it. If I wanted to just get a random knife that looked "good" to me, I wouldn't be here. Barely knowing about choosing a knife means I need to take my time. And If I miss a sale or two in the process, it's fine.

That's really smart (calling Jon). Thing is that you hear so much buzz about knives on the internet and many times, despite this, it won't be the best knife for you. Jon knows knives and his customer service is exemplary. If you communicate clearly on what you want, he'll focus on meeting that need. He's extremely familiar with the characteristics of each knife he sells. There's a reason so many of his knives are out of stock so quickly. Moreover, not only does he have sharpening gear, but he has a great number of sensational videos at YouTube which educate you how to properly sharpen your new bestest friend.

The sale is great if you know what you want, but I agree that working with Jon at JKI is a great idea for someone just getting into high quality knives. No need to rush.

Buying from James is always a good idea too, but since your friend is in the US and James and K&S is in Australia, that probably would not work for your situation.

Yeah, call Jon. if you are looking at the Akifusa (which should a perfect knife for your preferences) then, like already stated, ask about the Geshin Kagero which is very similar.

...And since those are on your short list, the Takamura R2 210 gyuto from MTC Kitchen is a very strong candidate as well. Another great PM stainless steel knife with good reputation, edge retention and F&F.

but like no pressure for me not to suck or anything :sofa:

HAHAHAHAH Hello Jon. I have full confidence after all these people recommending you. Even if you suck, you are the one.