Yea he does actually cook ... mostly Tomahawk steaks (that I know about) - and yea he eats healthy, and preps his own food. - he has a wife and a family of 4, He's just trying to get a nice little collection going.
I think he's fine with carbon blades. -- probably not white paper, but a Aogami should be fine.
I'll most likely do his sharpening as needed.
A nice carving set ... yea .. they are just things i really dont know about. And I really cant recommend your typical Henkels stuff.
*Side note* -- dude your in Lachute, thats amazing. my wife right now is at her family's cottage in Brownsburg.
*side note* -- Yep, Lachute is a great place to be. Less than an hour into Montreal,,,close to Ottawa... tends to feel more like "country" rather than "city" living.
Regarding recommendations,,, do you have a total budget in mind,,, and how many knives are you considering? Should a cleaver for example,,, even be considered? There are so many types and sizes of cleavers.
What I'm having trouble with, is "value" and "damascus",,,, then throwing "performance" into that mix. For example; the Mercer Millenia 10" bread knife sells for only $28, at Amazon,,, yet it's one of the best performing bread knives you can possibly own. Not fancy,,,, but a performer none-the-less. Plain-Jane looks,,,,Plain-Jane handle that offers outstanding "grip". That raises the question,,,, do you buy performance with no "looks",,, or do you buy something that is stylish just because it "looks" impressive and is more expensive,,,, and does that take away from the budgeting for other more essential knives?
Typically, people recommend three essential knives,,, paring,,,chef,,, and bread knives. Personally, I feel the petty is even more important, and if I only had one knife, it would definitely be a 6" petty. (not a 6" chef) I make that distinction because a 6" chef tends to be taller than a well-designed petty, and as such, I find that taller profile to be less conducive to carving/ slicing, as well as too much "belly". That said, I'd definitely add a petty to the mix;,,,, paring, petty, chef, and bread knives. A good boning knife is also a welcome addition to that list if your petty is not up to that specific task.
Next would come a good carving knife,,, preferably a 10" knife. The 6" petty can take care of most slicing/carving chores for smaller roasts, chickens, etc., while the 10" would be more useful when carving larger items such as turkey, large hams and roasts, as well as larger salmon, etc. A 10" carver would also be more of a "presentation" knife, for carving at the table, etc. As such,,, a matching carving knife and fork set can add to that presentation factor. That said, you could be the only person in that room that remotely cares if your knife and fork match, let alone what it looks like. For those who do however, a beautiful presentation knife can be an interesting conversation piece.
Next comes the chef knife, and that can be a real head scratcher. Although most people would probably recommend 8",,,and since I already own a 6" petty, I'd probably choose a 10" chef knife/gyuto. I have both 8" and 10" lengths, and find the 8" handy "in the kitchen" but not so much for "table presentation".
Now,,,, what about chipping? Which of those knives would probably encounter the highest potential for chipping? Off hand, I'd say the 8" chef knife,,, so take that into consideration when choosing the knife you'll tend to do the most chopping with. Harder steels may sound attractive at first glance, but not necessarily in the hands of a novice or less disciplined cook.
To my way of thinking, that just about covers the essential choices. Others you may want to consider at a future date might be a Chinese cleaver and/or nakiri. I'm not crazy about santoku's, but, I do have a couple. Cheese knives are also nice to have.
