It’s been over a year since I became a member here – and I should thank KKF for all the good times, the support, and the knowledge base I was amply provided with.
My circling of the rabbit hole started before I even knew there was one. I had had a lot of bad knives in my life – really, only bad knives. That’s all I knew. And I was doing a lot of cooking by then, preps had become my everyday solace, and I wanted better tools. That’s how I stumbled into a lot of “The 10 best knives of 2019”… and into KKF.
And it seemed, each time I was just about convinced to buy said Wusthof, said Zwilling, said Shun… stumbling on related posts from KFF as searching all over Google would turn me down. Until I came here first and foremost – lurking and feeding, using the Search function a lot – and decided it was getting pretty ridiculous. So, I became a member.
But even as a member, with fresh advice queried directly here, I started this journey with one very bad choice. Good thing is – I also made one that was quite okay for a starter.
November 2019
Archive: Global G2 Chef 8” – tried it, mulled over my absolute desolation, washed it, repackaged it and sent it back to the vendor as unused. Funny to think that, back then, I thought spending a 100$ over this was such a luxury… Credit went towards an All-Clad SS 12” pan. Good purchase, this.
Current: Victorinox Rosewood Santoku 7” – even searching KKF couldn’t entirely kill Victorinox’s reputation – on the contrary it seems – and I wanted to replace those poor Santokus I had, too.
Consider this picture I took upon receiving both knives:
On the bottom one, see the wide bevel grind...
I was so sure they were gonna be the end of all ends to my needs of a better knife that this was supposed to show an evolution – which it does, but pretty derisively so. And you’ll get to see further iterations of such a picture, as the buying parasite grew to take control of me brains.
In the end, the little Victorinox Santoku would do good by me for a while though since the early BF deal I “scored” to replace the G2, through sheer imbecility from the online store, managed to be delayed until…
January 2020
This I consider the real beginning of the adventure for me. Not to downplay the Victo Santoku for how good it is, but it was some kind of second-thought purchase, as I thought the Global would be really good and steal the show...
These here were the first knives made in Japan I considered mine, and prized above all else – for a while.
Archive: Zwilling Diplôme Chef 8” – oh you heard me blab about it. A knife that made me very happy, and that went through a lot of experiments when I started buying better knives. They may often warp it, and their idea of a J-knife might still not be totally on par, but their FC-61 gave me a taste for better steels for sure! Gave away to KKF in December.
Archive: Zwilling Diplôme Santoku 7” – a consequence of the Victorinox as my first, and only, really nice knife back then, I had ordered this one too. Loved it for a while – how not to at this point of the journey – but nothing like the Chef, and never used nearly as much. Gave it to a friend somewhere last September, and good riddance this was, but he likes it. He should: I thinned the hell out of it and if it wasn’t for being all curve and too much weight backward, cutting performance is neat.
Ending with a trio of knives that would suffice to bring some excitement to prepping food, and were good enough to make me learn and realize things. Enough to make me yearn, also…
Said yearning went deeper and deeper as time passed by, to culminate just when a lot of free time was about to be handed to me on a treacherous silver plate…
April 2020 – COVID-19 lockdown
It really started for me in mid-March, when my store was closed for the lockdown. Just a week home and I couldn’t stop myself: ordered another knife and a couple of Shapton pros. That was me coming across Paul’s Finest, a vendor based in Québec. April would turn out to be a decisive month.
Current: Victorinox Rosewood 10” Chef – firsthand 255/54 – arrived here by the end of March. Still keeping with my resolution to stay within a tight budget, and within a utilitarian frame of mind: I didn’t have any longer and bigger knife, and the Victo was so cheap. Along with it I also ordered a Fibrox 6” petty, and 3.25” Rosewood paring – not pictured here as I go with an essential progression: only knives over 150mm, or over 100$, that were serious purchases. That’s skipping quite a few.
Two days after receiving which, I – finally! – ordered my real first J-knife.
Archive: Misono Swedish Carbon 210mm –firsthand 220/44 – a typical choice indeed, but the one that really pushed me down the hole. I was doomed as soon as I laid my hand on it. Sold in May – not tall enough to my tastes, but a nice profile to use, a good cutter after some work, and a first experience with Carbon steel. That above all else ignited my trajectory.
From here, we should be good to avoid any more blab but the presentation of each next. While I still can add some details, by the end of April I had a full progression of Shapton Pro (320 – 1000 – 5000) at hand too, and had really started my sharpening journey – my first frank success being thinning and getting that here Misono sharp, with tremendous help from @Benuser whom I still cannot thank enough for all the assistance he provided me then and since.
I hope you’ll enjoy the progressive scenery.
Archive: Moritaka Blue #2 240mm – firsthand 240/50 – I learned so much from it… so much that it looked more like a half-Suji half-Gyuto at about 235/45 in the end. Sold in December.
Archive: Takayuki VG-10 Kengata 190mm – firsthand 200/49, loosely for sale since forever without ever pushing it much because I kept using it. Thinned to a great effect, and superseded only recently by a more powerful K-Tip. VG-10 that’s really not that hard to sharpen here. Nice knife, really: in the “under 200$ CAD” range it can take a righteous stand with a bit of work. Sold (finally!) in December.
April 16th 2020:
And it wasn't quite over yet...
Archive: Mazaki White #2 190mm Nakiri – firsthand 188/56 – loved it but did not reach for it when life went back a more normal – thus frantic – pace. Sold in May. First knife bought with Gage @ Sharp Knife Shop.
My circling of the rabbit hole started before I even knew there was one. I had had a lot of bad knives in my life – really, only bad knives. That’s all I knew. And I was doing a lot of cooking by then, preps had become my everyday solace, and I wanted better tools. That’s how I stumbled into a lot of “The 10 best knives of 2019”… and into KKF.
And it seemed, each time I was just about convinced to buy said Wusthof, said Zwilling, said Shun… stumbling on related posts from KFF as searching all over Google would turn me down. Until I came here first and foremost – lurking and feeding, using the Search function a lot – and decided it was getting pretty ridiculous. So, I became a member.
But even as a member, with fresh advice queried directly here, I started this journey with one very bad choice. Good thing is – I also made one that was quite okay for a starter.
November 2019
Archive: Global G2 Chef 8” – tried it, mulled over my absolute desolation, washed it, repackaged it and sent it back to the vendor as unused. Funny to think that, back then, I thought spending a 100$ over this was such a luxury… Credit went towards an All-Clad SS 12” pan. Good purchase, this.
Current: Victorinox Rosewood Santoku 7” – even searching KKF couldn’t entirely kill Victorinox’s reputation – on the contrary it seems – and I wanted to replace those poor Santokus I had, too.
Consider this picture I took upon receiving both knives:
On the bottom one, see the wide bevel grind...
I was so sure they were gonna be the end of all ends to my needs of a better knife that this was supposed to show an evolution – which it does, but pretty derisively so. And you’ll get to see further iterations of such a picture, as the buying parasite grew to take control of me brains.
In the end, the little Victorinox Santoku would do good by me for a while though since the early BF deal I “scored” to replace the G2, through sheer imbecility from the online store, managed to be delayed until…
January 2020
This I consider the real beginning of the adventure for me. Not to downplay the Victo Santoku for how good it is, but it was some kind of second-thought purchase, as I thought the Global would be really good and steal the show...
These here were the first knives made in Japan I considered mine, and prized above all else – for a while.
Archive: Zwilling Diplôme Chef 8” – oh you heard me blab about it. A knife that made me very happy, and that went through a lot of experiments when I started buying better knives. They may often warp it, and their idea of a J-knife might still not be totally on par, but their FC-61 gave me a taste for better steels for sure! Gave away to KKF in December.
Archive: Zwilling Diplôme Santoku 7” – a consequence of the Victorinox as my first, and only, really nice knife back then, I had ordered this one too. Loved it for a while – how not to at this point of the journey – but nothing like the Chef, and never used nearly as much. Gave it to a friend somewhere last September, and good riddance this was, but he likes it. He should: I thinned the hell out of it and if it wasn’t for being all curve and too much weight backward, cutting performance is neat.
Ending with a trio of knives that would suffice to bring some excitement to prepping food, and were good enough to make me learn and realize things. Enough to make me yearn, also…
Said yearning went deeper and deeper as time passed by, to culminate just when a lot of free time was about to be handed to me on a treacherous silver plate…
April 2020 – COVID-19 lockdown
It really started for me in mid-March, when my store was closed for the lockdown. Just a week home and I couldn’t stop myself: ordered another knife and a couple of Shapton pros. That was me coming across Paul’s Finest, a vendor based in Québec. April would turn out to be a decisive month.
Current: Victorinox Rosewood 10” Chef – firsthand 255/54 – arrived here by the end of March. Still keeping with my resolution to stay within a tight budget, and within a utilitarian frame of mind: I didn’t have any longer and bigger knife, and the Victo was so cheap. Along with it I also ordered a Fibrox 6” petty, and 3.25” Rosewood paring – not pictured here as I go with an essential progression: only knives over 150mm, or over 100$, that were serious purchases. That’s skipping quite a few.
Two days after receiving which, I – finally! – ordered my real first J-knife.
Archive: Misono Swedish Carbon 210mm –firsthand 220/44 – a typical choice indeed, but the one that really pushed me down the hole. I was doomed as soon as I laid my hand on it. Sold in May – not tall enough to my tastes, but a nice profile to use, a good cutter after some work, and a first experience with Carbon steel. That above all else ignited my trajectory.
From here, we should be good to avoid any more blab but the presentation of each next. While I still can add some details, by the end of April I had a full progression of Shapton Pro (320 – 1000 – 5000) at hand too, and had really started my sharpening journey – my first frank success being thinning and getting that here Misono sharp, with tremendous help from @Benuser whom I still cannot thank enough for all the assistance he provided me then and since.
I hope you’ll enjoy the progressive scenery.
Archive: Moritaka Blue #2 240mm – firsthand 240/50 – I learned so much from it… so much that it looked more like a half-Suji half-Gyuto at about 235/45 in the end. Sold in December.
Archive: Takayuki VG-10 Kengata 190mm – firsthand 200/49, loosely for sale since forever without ever pushing it much because I kept using it. Thinned to a great effect, and superseded only recently by a more powerful K-Tip. VG-10 that’s really not that hard to sharpen here. Nice knife, really: in the “under 200$ CAD” range it can take a righteous stand with a bit of work. Sold (finally!) in December.
April 16th 2020:
And it wasn't quite over yet...
Archive: Mazaki White #2 190mm Nakiri – firsthand 188/56 – loved it but did not reach for it when life went back a more normal – thus frantic – pace. Sold in May. First knife bought with Gage @ Sharp Knife Shop.
Last edited: