Canadian Newbie Here :)

Hello all, a friend of mine directed me to this site as I am in the market to get a new knife and replace many of the common supermarket blades. I am an RN here in BC so as much as i would love to steal multiple scalpels and take them in to my kitchen, don't think it would be a good idea

With that said, both my wife and I are big foodies and cook all the time, cooking and the kitchen as two major components of my life. My wife is 10 weeks pregnant now so she has told me to buy the knife I have been yearning for before the baby comes and we change focus lol.

I am looking for something in the 200-250ish range in cost, and plan on using it for basically everything in the kitchen. I have a few Shun knifes from a sale on amazon a while back (90 bucks for the paring knife and utility knife shipped so couldnt say no) but I have my reservations about going to their 8 inch chefs knife despite being marked down to 180 as the ken onion line is no longer going to be made.

I do not have any reservations on using any one knife or another, but I really want a solid knife that will be with me for a long time. I have reasonable skills with a steel and also stone for sharpening, but I WOULD LOVE some guidance because after looking through this site (and being impressed) i find myself a little overwhelmed.

Thanks in advance for your time, cheers

Rich
aka Notaskinnychef

Are you in Vancouver? If so there are a couple place worth checking out in the city and testing a few to get a feel for what exactly you want/need.

Welcome

I am in Victoria, and don't actually make it over to Van too often, altho I am sure the market would be much better there, but at least the shipping would be reasonable to get it here from one of their retailers

Welcome to the forum. These guys have a lot of knowledge and will be able to guide you in the right direction. Let us know what you end up getting!

I certainly will. I am excited to learn from the wealth of knowledge here. Also really nice to see vendors and enthusiasts alike here, not all forums have such layouts so it's good to see.

I am not an uber chef nerd or anything, but have some bigger hands (as my name might imply lol) so want something that I can pretty much use for 95% of my kitchen needs without having to sharpen it all the time. I am down for suggestions in the 240mm range

Welcome welcome!

So for a knife that will last you a long time... I presume that you're looking for a chef's knife or gyuto. Do you have a preference/requirement for stainless over carbon? Or does the middle-ground appeal to you, stainless-clad carbon? Do you rock-chop with the knife in contact with the board most of the time or do you lift off most of the time to cut your food?

And... do you want something that looks fancier or is a utilitarian look perfectly fine?

Welcome!!

I'd let others like echerub above guide you with the knife, but I'd recommend buying a gyuto within the range you'd mentioned and then adding some to that (yes, you knew that was coming) and buying a medium-fine combo sharpening stone (not really expensive) to keep 'er going.

Welcome

echerub said:

Welcome welcome!

So for a knife that will last you a long time... I presume that you're looking for a chef's knife or gyuto. Do you have a preference/requirement for stainless over carbon? Or does the middle-ground appeal to you, stainless-clad carbon? Do you rock-chop with the knife in contact with the board most of the time or do you lift off most of the time to cut your food?

And... do you want something that looks fancier or is a utilitarian look perfectly fine?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the warm welcomes, and Echerub, I do not have a specific requirement on blade make, I am fine with middle grounds, which of course doesn't help direct you too much, but I do rock chop more so the front of the knife does tend to spend more time in contact with the board.

as for looks, while something cool is a bonus, i really don't care if i know its a solid knife that will last me a long time. I don't plan on showing it off at any point, at least not make an effort to do so. I know that many of the Damascus styles have visual appeal, but that is far from a priority to me

Welcome Rich

welcome!

I think stainless or at least stainless clad would be the most practical route to go. I think that primarily for two reasons. First, as your primary "good knife" in the kitchen, your wife may use the knife as well and I think it's common for partners & spouses of members here to be a fair bit less meticulous about wiping and drying than the members themselves. Second, with a new child coming, you might have to put down the knife and tend to something quickly and, if you don't already have a habit of wiping before putting it down, going with stainless or stainless clad takes away much of the concern of having the knife sitting on the board upwiped for a bit of time.

Options that I can think of include...

- Tanaka 240 VG10 damascus (metalmaster-ww.com has 'em ... maybe I lucked out with mine, but I think it's one of my best bang-for-the-buck knives)
- Yoshikane 240 SKD (I quite like the one from japanesenaturalstones.com)
- Gesshin Uraku 240 stainless
- Gesshin Ginga 240 stainless (both the Gesshins from japaneseknifeimports.com, made to Jon's specs - I haven't tried these particular knives, but have been very happy with other Gesshin offerings)
- Konosuke HD 240 (toshoknifearts.com is a good Canadian retailer who carries the line)

There are other options out there as well, but these are the ones that come to mind for me.

As others have recommended (or are likely to), you'll want to think about buying a whetstone to maintain your edge. If you go with Jon at JKI or the folks at Tosho, you can get your new knife sharpened nicely before it's sent out to you and they also carry a selection of whetstones.

Thanks all, and also direct thanks to you E for the suggestions, I will take a look at those options when I get home and looking on my PC. I have seen many people be a little apprehensive of the VG10, but I see the tanaka is made with it, any ideas on that? not trying to undermind you, just wondering based on the words i see pertaining to the VG10 here and there

Greetings!

Yeah, some folks aren't too keen on VG10. My only experience with this steel has been on Tanakas, so I don't have broad experience with it.

Even amongst Tanaka knives, I prefer the blue steel versions over the VG10 versions. So on that sense I'd have to agree that there are other steels that I like better.

However, I'm still quite happy with the knife and still use it when, for whatever reason, I want to use something stainless.

KAGAYAKI is on sale atm, and with their ES (extra sharpness) package its only 140 bucks. roughly 50 bucks off. would this be a good deal while the sale is on?

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/KA...extSeries.html

Welcome, and have you thought about a cleaver? Pick up a cheap one at a Chinese market and try it out before you spend money on an unknown.

Hax the Cook CLEAVERS RULE!!!

Think I've almost decided on the carbonext. Don't think a cleaver would be right for me altho there was a really cool blade on an unmentionable auction Site for cheap, love the curvature, was like an uber chefs knife mated with a cleaver

Welcome!