first knives, but which one ?

[Squadz]

Hi everyone!
I don't have much knowledge about knives in general.
I was looking between Japanese and French. In my understanding, the Japanese require less maintenance, but it's more complicated to maintain than the French blades.
I'm from far to be a "Grand Chef", but I'm looking to step up in Cooking.

So my questions are :
- What would be your dream knife brand ? (any countries)
- What brand/model would you recommend for my first purchase ?
- If you have the choice between a French brands which one would be your favorite between : Sabatier-k, Perceval, Opinel (or other ?)

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[Qapla']

Have you contacted any French makers?

@HSC /// Knives can likely offer you a suitable French-made knife (I think he's in Rivesaltes).

 

[NickMinton]

Hey there! Welcome to the forums!

I can’t speak for French brands or experiences but a common brand that people recommended to me for Japanese knives was Tojiro.

I will say that a Tojiro 210 or 240 won’t break your bank and will let you get a small taste of what a Japanese knife can do performance wise.

10+ years later and I still have my Tojiro 240, though it’s now kinda a gyutohiki!

 

[Benuser]

Japanese Western and traditional French profiles are much closer than modern Germans with their high tip and lot of belly. Main difference is in the hardness of steel: the French being traditionally soft, allowing daily maintenance with a steel rod, while most Japanese are thinner and harder, and best be maintained with stones. Japanese Westerns are typically optimised for right-handers.
Please do yourself and us a favour, and use the questionnaire, and post it in the same directory it came from.
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/new-knife-questionnaire.63548/

 

[HSC /// Knives]

come on down to Rivesaltes and you can make your own kitchen knife with me over 2 days.

 

[Jovidah]

My 2 cents:
-I don't really see a point in going high end when you have no clue what your preferences really are; at that point it makes more sense to try some different things at a lower price point.
-There's a pretty wide spectrum of Japanese knives (even wa-handle or yo-handle can make a significant difference), so even amongst Japanese knives there's quite some variety.
-Maintenance is a bit different but I wouldn't necessarily say one is more than the other; also depends a lot on steel choice.
-I don't think there's such a thing as a dream knife for everyone. People have different preferences. There's a ton of good knives, but the important thing is not to copy the one that's best for someone else but find the one that's best for you and your preferences. If you know what your preferences are the forum can do a decent job at finding a knife for them, but it's hard to help someone figure out their preferences. There's no substitute for your own experience.
-Haven't used Perceval so I don't have an opinion on them, but I'd take K-Sabatier over Opinel kitchen knives. It's not that Opinel is terrible, but their kitchen knives are just nowhere near as good as their folding knives (thicker behind the edge). The profiles are also really wonky.
-Like Benuser said, we really need the questionnaire to say anything sensible at all for recommendations. It's hard to say anything when we don't know what length you're looking for, what cutting style you mostly use, etc.

 

[M1k3]

My 2 cents:
-I don't really see a point in going high end when you have no clue what your preferences really are; at that point it makes more sense to try some different things at a lower price point.
-There's a pretty wide spectrum of Japanese knives (even wa-handle or yo-handle can make a significant difference), so even amongst Japanese knives there's quite some variety.
-Maintenance is a bit different but I wouldn't necessarily say one is more than the other; also depends a lot on steel choice.
-I don't think there's such a thing as a dream knife for everyone. People have different preferences. There's a ton of good knives, but the important thing is not to copy the one that's best for someone else but find the one that's best for you and your preferences. If you know what your preferences are the forum can do a decent job at finding a knife for them, but it's hard to help someone figure out their preferences. There's no substitute for your own experience.
-Haven't used Perceval so I don't have an opinion on them, but I'd take K-Sabatier over Opinel kitchen knives. It's not that Opinel is terrible, but their kitchen knives are just nowhere near as good as their folding knives (thicker behind the edge). The profiles are also really wonky.
-Like Benuser said, we really need the questionnaire to say anything sensible at all for recommendations. It's hard to say anything when we don't know what length you're looking for, what cutting style you mostly use, etc.

Or...
Hear me out....
No, for real...

come on down to Rivesaltes and you can make your own kitchen knife with me over 2 days.

 

[Jovidah]

As enticing as that sounds, how useful is that really when you have no clue what you'd want to make? When you don't know whether to make a 180 laser nakiri or a 240 workhorse gyuto.

 

[mengwong]

Yoda say, make own lightsaber a Jedi must, but cut off own hand many a youngling has, about them most casual observers due to survivorship bias know not.

 

[HSC /// Knives]

As enticing as that sounds, how useful is that really when you have no clue what you'd want to make? When you don't know whether to make a 180 laser nakiri or a 240 workhorse gyuto.

Every student customer I’ve had doesn’t know what they want to make. They come for the experience.