Guys, I am new to this forum, even relatively new to Japanese knives, and I tell ya' my old misconceptions (from, say, a month or two ago) are changing fast. Going back to those very recent (innocent) days:
1) I thought I was a fanatic for spending $80 to $185 on each of my 6 or 10 most decent knives and for similar expenditures on sharpening stones and accessories. My wife frowns at my every acquisition and is still determined to convince me and everyone we know that I have a malady. Now I know that my minor knife obsession really is minor, and rather it is everyone else on KKF who are in need of rehab.
2) I thought all professional restaurant cooks and chefs (besides sushi chefs) use Victorinox or Mercer blades, or else use cheap or rented house knives that a service collects and resharpens for them every week. (When I mentioned to my wife that some restaurant professionals collected and routinely used $300+ knives at work she gave me that look that said "it's just not so, stupid.")
3) I thought well-to-do home cooks pretty much stuck to Shun and Global and Wustof (or Cutco, god forbid) and that their sharpening routine involved once a year dragging the blades through a Chef's Choice electric sharpener. It now seems that many of them, on the other hand, have pretty esoteric high end arsenals and stones.
4) I thought stainless steel knives were best since they did not rust. Now I know the ones that do rust are generally more expensive and have better edges and that their steel types are named after wrapping paper.
Now I realize I am small potatoes, that I am a mere budding enthusiast that knows nothing of the less commercial, or custom, or niche knife makers, or about asymmetrical microbeveling and thinning. I now know people actually buy $4000 kitchen knives, and that there are people who, just for fun I guess, own and have at home a dozen or more high-end wa-nakiris.
I have a lot to learn, and I hope not to go broke during the process.
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