How was your last year of buying, selling, testing, cutting, sharpening, polishing, and crafting kitchen knives? What are you hoping to do with this weird hobby in 2022?
Personally, my level of investment went waaaay up in the past year. I bought three knives in 2019, three knives in 2020, and then a whopping 16 knives in 2021! At the same time I've been trying to keep the collection to a manageable size with ten sales/trades this year as well. I tried out quite a few perennial favorite Japanese makers for the first time (Watanabe, Toyama, Wakui, Takamura, Ashi) as well as dipping my toes into western makers (Prendergast, Kippington, Toksvig, and now Spåre). I learned: how great a good convex grind can be, that western lasers and iron cladding really aren't my jam, that carbon monosteel is pretty sweet, what really outstanding cutting performance feels like, that really outstanding cutting performance doesn't necessarily cost much, and that once you have a few great cutters aesthetics and F&F can really make the difference in what you reach for and what you don't.
For the coming year, I'm aiming to winnow down my kit and reduce to a small core set of great knives with maybe one or two rotating slots. I get a lot of satisfaction out of having high-performance tools for my hobbies, but quality is much more satisfying than quantity, and having $Xk tied up in luxury items that I only use occasionally doesn't sit well with me. That said, I do still have a list of makers I want to try... Y. Tanaka, Myojin, TF, Shi.Han, Dalman, Marko, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. And I feel like the 180-ish gyuto/tall petty slot in my kit is still waiting for the perfect match.
How about you all?
Personally, my level of investment went waaaay up in the past year. I bought three knives in 2019, three knives in 2020, and then a whopping 16 knives in 2021! At the same time I've been trying to keep the collection to a manageable size with ten sales/trades this year as well. I tried out quite a few perennial favorite Japanese makers for the first time (Watanabe, Toyama, Wakui, Takamura, Ashi) as well as dipping my toes into western makers (Prendergast, Kippington, Toksvig, and now Spåre). I learned: how great a good convex grind can be, that western lasers and iron cladding really aren't my jam, that carbon monosteel is pretty sweet, what really outstanding cutting performance feels like, that really outstanding cutting performance doesn't necessarily cost much, and that once you have a few great cutters aesthetics and F&F can really make the difference in what you reach for and what you don't.
For the coming year, I'm aiming to winnow down my kit and reduce to a small core set of great knives with maybe one or two rotating slots. I get a lot of satisfaction out of having high-performance tools for my hobbies, but quality is much more satisfying than quantity, and having $Xk tied up in luxury items that I only use occasionally doesn't sit well with me. That said, I do still have a list of makers I want to try... Y. Tanaka, Myojin, TF, Shi.Han, Dalman, Marko, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. And I feel like the 180-ish gyuto/tall petty slot in my kit is still waiting for the perfect match.
How about you all?
. If I feel too good during 2022, I know what I will do then.
