I'm looking for a first (and hopefully my last for many years) chef's knife and have a budget of around $200, willing to spend up to $240 maximum. The characteristics I'm looking for include:
The knives I've considered so far (to give you a visual sense of my style preferences) are:
Any comparison between these listed would be stellar!
The above items are all for an ideal world but I am open to suggestions. I've spent the whole day researching and many hours before that and have discovered that Shun's mass produced knives tend to be overpriced for what they are with lots of forum users saying they "have plenty of other better quality knives in mind for that kind of money", but never mention what they are. Any wowing suggestions that meet most or all of the above criteria? Thanks in advance
- thin blade - 10-14 degree grind is ideal
- A unique, non-Western handle style such as the Shun Fuji Chefs Knife's handle.
- Can still be Japanese style and ergonomically formed, such as
- tall blade (dimension from blade edge to spine)
- large, thick handle - no less than 5.5 inches as I like to have a sturdy grip on the knife
- concave bolster for an easy pinch grip
- 58-60 Rockwell hardness scale interior steel - I've mostly read that this is a great balance between edge retention and chip resistance as long as the knife is treated well and dried immediately after use
- Dimpling/hammering to prevent food from sticking. I would prefer a random-looking dimpling to the classic hollow-ground dimpling that many German blades feature as it's just so boring.
- Damascus pattern preferable (although if this is present I would only like it to be a result of steel folding (minimum 15 layers per side) and not simply printed on (which often signifies a cheap knife and fades with time)
- Chef's style with curved cutting belly, not Santuko
The knives I've considered so far (to give you a visual sense of my style preferences) are:
- Bob Kramer Carbon Steel 8" Chef Knife by Henckels: http://www.surlatable.com/product/P...n=true&expiredSession=true&_requestid=5192318 --- I can't tell what's really significantly different (other than the obvious styling differences) to these two: http://www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-180374/Bob+Kramer+Carbon+Steel+Chefs+Knife and http://www.surlatable.com/product/P...n=true&expiredSession=true&_requestid=5198350
- Shun Fuji 8" Chef Knife --- I'm considering this one even though it's overpriced because of the hammering/dimpling in the blade which really helps food from sticking. Check out the video on the page to see how easily tiny onion pieces fall away from the blade.
- Shun Classic: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000Y7KNQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 all my criteria, gets the job done cheap, but it's nothing special.
Any comparison between these listed would be stellar!
The above items are all for an ideal world but I am open to suggestions. I've spent the whole day researching and many hours before that and have discovered that Shun's mass produced knives tend to be overpriced for what they are with lots of forum users saying they "have plenty of other better quality knives in mind for that kind of money", but never mention what they are. Any wowing suggestions that meet most or all of the above criteria? Thanks in advance
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