first post from Y.A.N.

[jsph]

hello everyone, from Yet Another Newbie in canada getting increasingly swallowed up in this ~addiction. not sure at this point whether making the mistake of letting myself finally register and jump in will cost me more in money on the buy/sell forum or in time, just reading and reading and reading, but at least "Lonesome No More", as the old guy'd say.

 

[Nemo]

Welcome to the forums.

It's a deep series of rabbit holes... but you will get some great advice here.

 

[Qapla']

Welcome eh/Bienvenue han. What kinds of knives do you currently use?

 

[jsph]

thanks for the friendly welcome.

nemo: (1) it most surely is, and (2) i already have, retroactively, starting to search through existing discussions. (i have a feeling one very dangerous bit of advice is going to be "buy it! buy it!"

qapla: thanks very much. nice to be registered finally. current knives... not going to sound too impressive at all, i'm sure. the super common and i'm sure boring wusthof classic chef knife for ~20 years; the likewise ubiquitous cheapie-but-goodie "america's test kitchen" victorinox fibrox, also for nearly 20 years; the very low end but super light/thin/sharp miyabi koh 9.5" chef/gyuto; misc cheapie wusthof/zwilling paring/utility knives; chinatown special $7 stainless-steel cleaver ugly-sharpened to a surprisingly good edge; unknown low-end/generic one-sided yanagiba (?) that needs sharpening; that kind of random thing. i'm here because i want to finally get, over the next little while, a really good carbon steel knife and/or a really good powder steel (e.g., sg2/r2) knife, both in the sort of 240mm - 10" gyuto/chef category -- could be stuff like the zwilling kramers, could be "laser" "ks"-style japanese with wa handle, that kind of thing. because it's a big jump in price, wanted to make sure to do some reading/studying first. also, it's a pain because, being in canada, shipping stuff here is slower and more expensive, making, e.g., returns/exchanges difficult if there are problems, so i can't do too much trial-and-error.

 

[jsph]

oh, forgot: this'll sound silly but also have the 5.5" zwilling pro prep/utility knife (fc61, like the miyabi koh) and it is... amazing. was able to get it at a great price one or two years ago and, goofy as it is to say, it's pretty much tied at first place for best knife in the house. the bigger story is, i had a chance to get the zwilling pro chef knife at an amazing price a long time ago and, on the one hand, i absolutely hated it, both for the blade profile and for the unbelievably bad balance of the super heavy handle versus the super thin blade, and on the other hand, thought that, for the price, the steel was excellent (and came extremely sharp from the factory). i decided that if i could get the same steel and sharpness in another pen that wasn't weirdly shaped and weighted, i would, and soon after that, i found that prep/utility knife. same fc61 steel is in this low-end miyabi koh, too, and it's pretty good, but it seemed to lose its initial super-duper-sharpness faster than i would have like; now it's just super-sharp.

 

[Qapla']

i'm here because i want to finally get, over the next little while, a really good carbon steel knife and/or a really good powder steel (e.g., sg2/r2) knife, both in the sort of 240mm - 10" gyuto/chef category -- could be stuff like the zwilling kramers, could be "laser" "ks"-style japanese with wa handle, that kind of thing. because it's a big jump in price, wanted to make sure to do some reading/studying first. also, it's a pain because, being in canada, shipping stuff here is slower and more expensive, making, e.g., returns/exchanges difficult if there are problems, so i can't do too much trial-and-error.

Here's a thought: Perhaps such shipping/etc. issues in Canada might not be quite as much a problem with Canadian knives?
I'm aware so far of:
https://northarmknives.comhttps://couteauxdeva.com/https://www.vachonknives.com/
Perhaps the forum's Canucks can point out further ones. They definitely can help finding Japanese-made knife vendors in Canada (I know offhand of Paul's Finest and Ai And Om, but I'm sure there are others.)

 

[jsph]

qapla: thank you so much for all these links and leads. going to be fun to take some time to look through. you're totally right, there are options in canada, and i've looked (online, i mean) some at paul's finest, knifewear, ... some ~professional kitchen supply places (e.g., williams) that have a lot of western options, etc. the ones you linked to are definitely new to me, so that's a lot of fun. i guess i was just getting frustrated by find some good items and deals in the u.s. and then realizing the currency conversion and shipping (when shipping's even a possibility with a given seller) would pretty much kill the whole thing. ... and there are other little frustrations, i guess -- e.g., tied at #1 (sharing that position with some as yet undiscovered 240mm sg2 "laser" gyuto) for "next ['last'] knife to buy" is the zwilling kramer 10" _carbon_ chef knife; well, in canada, almost every mainstream seller has the zwilling kramers, but only the stainless ("essential" line, i think?) and the damascus sg2, never the 52100 carbon line (or, worse, to taunt me, they do have the carbon line, every last item, except for the chef knife [seriously, do people go out of their way to buy 52100 carbon _serrated bread knives_ for some weird reason?]; so, on that particular score, over and over the only option i find are u.s. sources for that guy, standardized to $350 u.s. plus international shipping, and then i just get sad. i guess i'm banging my head on that wall too much and should just set it aside for a while, but i suppose that's why i've gotten a bit myopic about things in canada being a little restricted compared to stuff available in the u.s. and with decent pricing. that's all. i really appreciate your tips here and already starting to look through those sites. thank you so much.

 

[ModRQC]

You have a lot of resources around here - more than you think, and depending where you are in Canada, taxes aren't always incurring PST.

I'm in Qc - follow the lead:

Knifewear - full taxes, 250$ minimum for free shipping, not always such good prices, but sometimes yes, and carries a lot of stuff.

Ai & Om - GST only, I think you get free shipping as soon as you hit 150$, lot of Sanjo knives.

Knife Toronto - full taxes, 250$ minimum, not always good prices, but carries some rarer knives in this country and sometimes price is right.

Tosho Knife Arts - I know I tested for taxes, think it was full taxes but can't remember. 150$ minimum, currently still holding 20% off across for BF.

Sharp Knife Shop - some nice knives to be had there if you go check back often enough, GST only,150$ minimum, when he does a rebate usually it's really worth it. You'll also get some nice goodie after the first and second orders, if he still goes by the same model.

Stay Sharp - nice concentration of rarer knives, full taxes for me obviously as it's in Montréal, 150$ minimum order.

Paul's Finest - nice place to get stones usually. Selection of knives is limited, especially choices of interest, but still worth a quick look around. Located in Qc too, 100$ minimum order.

Cook's Edge - GST only, 150$ minimum, worth a look around as he has a couple of lines other CAD vendors don't carry. Prices competitive.

I've had good feedback with Douglas @ Ai, Eugene @ Knife, Adam @ Cook, and had amazing service with Gage @ SKS. Paul @ Paul is an awesome guy, and Olivier @ Stay Sharp thought it important to left me a personal thank you note with a single knife purchase. Douglas also left me a thank you note as well as a gift with my second order - that despite me asking him more of a rebate beforehand.

So I don't see how you'd be afraid to order knives around Canada, or how you wouldn't find what you are looking for.

 

[ModRQC]

Kitchenware vendors: I like William's Food best, they're faster and GST only for me, but limited selection. Cook store has a lot more stuff, but they're basically taking two weeks before even shipping, and prone to imbecility.

Kitchen Virtue can be a nice place to check for Naniwa stones and some basic J-knives.

 

[ModRQC]

If the Kramer is really the one you want, stay tuned with Butcher Block. @esoo who's in the same boat than you and me mentioned seeing the 10" 52100 for 200$ if memory serves me.

Alternatively check with Bernal.

 

[esoo]

The Zwilling Kramer 10" Carbon is a nice knife, but unfortunately Zwilling Canada has stopped carrying the Carbon line (I think due to the issue that were had with the original wood choice on the handle)

Patience will be your key to getting one at a good price. I'd had one, sold it and then regretted it and kept looking to buy one again. As @ModRQC stated, I've seen it on good sale twice this year here: Phils Real Deals & "Steels". The first sale was $200USD and second sale was $250USD. I bought one on the first sale, shipping was fast via FedEx for $18USD and arrived in Toronto 2 days later without being charged duty/taxes.

 

[esoo]

And if you like Zwilling stuff - make sure to sign up their newsletter. When they run their warehouse sales you can get some good prices on B-stock, and of the pieces I've handled, everything has been near mint excluding the slightest blemishes.

 

[DaBishop]

Welcome

 

[jsph]

thanks, dabishop. i appreciate that.

modrqc -- mind: blown. blown and boggled. like qapla, above, i can't thank you enough for all this. stunned. (what's that line from blade runner? "you've done a man's job, sir.") esoo, too: that helps a lot, re: the butcher sales; reading through the forums, i found myself (back*) there and this time saw their $250 price on the 10" -- and out of stock, which then made me wonder whether that was ever a real and/or recent price, if not associated with actual stock to sell. (i did write a couple days ago to ask whether/when they might have stock again, haven't had a reply.) guess now i'm going to be glued to that page and hitting refresh thrice a day for the next 6 - 18 months. ... while, in another window with >60 tabs, going through mdrqc's kaleidoscopic ride of canada's greatest hits. unreal....

[* have often come across those re-handled ones, which make it too expensive for me. if i can't get that carbon 10" at a low price, i can't get it. see, cuz, i shouldn't be buying anything at all, and... well, you know. ]

thanks again, guys. i'm really blown away here.