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I started by. Being taught how to sharpen on a cheap big arse house stone attached to a sink bridge for easy access. The knives were cheap white handle NSF ones so was sharpening multiple times a day!! Turned a 10" chef knife into a honesuki in 6 months lol. First knife I got I didn't even buy but was a gift from a friend, wusthof classic santoku. Used that for first 4 years of my career and I got frustrated with the crap retention and inconsistent sharpening results I was getting. Read bunch of stuff on fred's knife forum and also knifeforums.com, which later lead me to kkf. Gave knife fora a chance but that place sucks. Cktg forum also a cest pool.
 
I started cooking school in 2005. Victorinox kit. Bought a shun but couldn't figure out how to keep it sharp. So mostly used house knives for 4 or 5 years. Got pretty good at keeping them sharp with a steel and a cheap SiC stone. Taught myself to make minor repairs and how to thin knives.

Decided after awhile that the the knife guy and the knife guy knives sucked and that I needed my own knife. I started buying entry level factory Japanese knives. I bought a Naniwa Super 4k to deburr and finish on. Then I bought some Shapton Glass stones. I spent many years sharpening my knives and all of my co-workers and neighbors and friends and relatives knives. I didn't find KKF until I had already developed quite a bit of knife knowledge and experience and then I lurked for a few years. In a way that sucks, because if I had paid attention earlier and participated more I could have avoided lots of mistakes and growing pains. But I'm generally not much of a hindsight guy.

I started participating and asking questions as I became more interested in learning about restoring and making knives. There's a huge wealth of knowledge, experience, and information here, and I'm happy to contribute what works for me in return for getting to keep learning new stuff all the time. Lately, I've spent most of my hobby time on straight razors. My work knives have been idle since about Thanksgiving. December-February is the off season in Boston. And then we all know what happened in March. I don't know if I will go back to the kitchen when this thing is over, but I will probably keep messing around with knives and stones for a long long time.
 
Started out like most cooks, using house knives for a few years and then getting to the point that you think about what you're doing and maybe these cheapo knives are not helping as much as you think.
Got my first real set (decent mercers) in '07 while attending culinary school, got it as sharp as I could and maintained but know there had to be better. Got a tanaka 240mm and takeda nakiri just before my internship and loved them. I worked in an old school luxury resort with a bunch of high strung, competitive, cooks/apprentices who all loved knives and wanted to 1UP each other, got a lot of exposure to good and bad stuff there and have been addicted ever since.
 
Not a chef but always loved cooking, used a real beat up knife from my grandmother that had the cutting edge totally concaved in and could never fully contact the board. At one point I was extremely into Kickstarter and bought the Misen knife, a great improvement over the grandmother knife.

I took a sabbatical from work in 2018 and travelled to Japan and bought a Ginga and Kikuichi while in Kyoto. When I was back from my trip, I took the time to learn more about knives and stones as I wanted to take care of my tools better. Subsequently bumped onto KKF and fell in love with TFs and Wats and the rest is history.
 
Never participated in the kitchen as a kid. But then when I was in graduate school in Chicago living alone, I started to enjoy cooking meals for myself as a way to decompress after a day of doing problem sets (and later, research). At that time, I was using some Chicago Cutlery knives that my parents had bought for me while I was in college. The main knife I was using was probably meant to be a slicer, so I could only cut product close to the board with my knuckles off the edge. At some point, I found using this knife frustrating, although I'm not sure I really knew that what I needed was more heel height. So, flush with what seemed to me at the time a huge amount of disposable income (isn't having no expenses great?), I went to Northwestern Cutlery, and the guy there suggested a really nice, good bang for the buck J-knife to get me started. I disregarded his suggestion and bought a really sexy looking 8'' Shun. 🤷‍♂️

Let's now fast forward through 7 regrettable years buying lots of different Shuns. Somewhere in here, I also bought a 1000/6000 combo stone, but never once used it.

At some point, I began to want to branch out. I'm not sure where I first got the idea, but I put a Misono UX-10 santoku and a Yoshihiro gyuto on my Amazon wishlist and someone bought them for me. That opened my eyes a little more.

Then, in late 2017, I submitted my tenure file to my university and stopped caring about my actual job. Looking for entertainment, I finally brought out my combo stone and tried it on some of my knives. Amazingly, after only a couple sessions, I felt I was getting better results than I had from the local professional (who used some sort of fast and dirty powered system). I then became nervous about the fact that both knives had asymmetric bevels, so I started looking online for info and found KKF. I was welcomed very nicely to the forum by @daveb and @chinacats, and then proceeded to write a super long first post talking through my confusion about asymmetry in this thread, complete with 2 meticulously drawn figures that have now disappeared due to my university's web server changing.

I think that perhaps reading Jon's post in that thread brought me to JKI, at which point I ordered an Gesshin Uraku 150 petty. The rest is just an unfortunate neverending spiral that is best left untold to polite company.
 
After 10 years of using the same 5.5" cheapo knife I finally decided to "splurge" and get a good knife ... I remember thinking "it can't possibly be that complicated".

Being obsessive, all the nuances really drew me in, I was frustrated by lack of coherent information, lots of conflicted personal opinions and few answers to all the "why"s ... and I've been tumbling ever since.

It's been fun though. Some mistakes, some very pleasant surprises .. and getting quite happy with the small set I have.
 
Early in college, I got myself hired as a dishwasher in one of the town's better eateries and managed to insinuate myself into doing some prep work and occasional help for the pastry chef. So naturally I needed my own knife. I listened and got myself (no surprise) a Forschner. The local knife shop had the Brazilian Marks brand so I eventually got myself a couple of forged knives. Still have a couple scars from playing with those knives stoned out of my gourd.

In college I got pretty good at French so latched onto a summer abroad "stage" program at restaurant in Strasbourg - Le Buffet de la Gare, no less. That was fun. Learned a little Arabic! Also got myself great tutelage in how to work a French line - and acquired a Sabatier-like chef's knife from a local store. Carved my initials in the handle. What a wonderful knife. Still have a real soft spot for Baeckeoffe and Alsatian wines.

Back home I didn't pursue a career in cooking but kept my affinity for nice knives. Added some Global when they came on the scene - and gifted a set to my mom - a Shun Santoku (became my wife's fav) a massive Messermeister, a wonderful locally made damascus mid-sized Santoku-like thing, a Honesuki and a few more. So there's a drawer full. And somewhere along the way I figured out how to sharpen.

It is nice to see how often I still reach for the Victorinox.
 
Got my first home and proudly bought a victorinox plastic handled chef home to use as an ‘interim’ knife, while I saved up for the “Best” knife I could find in the department store - a Global.
when their pull through sharpener and ceramic rod didn’t do the job, I checked online to find out what I was doing wrong...
And found a bunch of knife forums. Now I have a ton of knives and no money to buy produce.
 
I was always into cooking but never particularly cared about knives until I studied in Japan for a year in grad school. My mom's new husband had been a chef and she asked me to find a good Japanese knife for him as a present. This was around late 2008, and I got sucked into the old In-The-Kitchen forum. Happened to live two hours away from Sakai and made a trip to visit all the major shops, which only pulled me in deeper. At the time I had been very into headphones and active on the head-fi forums, but had pretty much settled on my favorites at that point, so finding 'the perfect' knife became my new obsession. Feels like next will probably be woodworking tools.
 
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bahamaroot said:
I went looking for a better way than a carbide pull through to sharpen my perfectly fine Victorinox knives. In my hunt I found some forums, learned of whet stones and 8 years later I've spent over $1k on stones and $9k on knives. Who knew....
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Consider yourself lucky. Those numbers could be bigger. A LOT BIGGER!!!
 
daddy yo yo said:
e

Consider yourself lucky. Those numbers could be bigger. A LOT BIGGER!!!
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I think I've spent over $20k in the last six months.

ETA I was in a near death accident last August and got a good payment from his insurance. I make good money but am hardly rich. This is my longest hobby so it was my way of feeling better.
 
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This is meaningless though. If we really want to express how deep into our obsession we are, we should be talking about what percentage of our yearly income we spend on knives. Although even that is misleading, since rich people have a higher percentage of disposable income generally. So everyone should calculate the following:

100% * K / (I - E)

where K is amount spent on knives/stones, I is income, and E is essential expenses like staple groceries (not counting $100 dry aged ribeyes, etc), childcare, tuition, housing (no second homes), etc..

Or maybe there’s a bug here somewhere. I did my calculation dutifully and carefully, and got something a little over 200%.. Hmm... ;)
 
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ian said:
This is meaningless though. If we really want to express how deep into our obsession we are, we should be talking about what percentage of our yearly income we spend on knives. Although even that is misleading, since rich people have a higher percentage of disposable income generally. So everyone should calculate the following:

100% * K / (I - E)

where K is amount spent on knives/stones, I is income, and E is essential expenses like staple groceries (not counting $100 dryaged ribeyes, etc), childcare, tuition, housing (no second homes), etc..

Or maybe there’s a bug here somewhere. I did my calculation dutifully and carefully, and got something a little over 200%.. Hmm... ;)
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When I was in grad school, (I-E) was negative...
 
spaceconvoy said:
... At the time I had been very into headphones and active on the head-fi forums, but had pretty much settled on my favorites at that point, ...
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What headphones did you end up settling for?

@ian - It’s not about the money, its about time one spend on the hobby and around it.
 
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Started about 60 years ago when I was about 11. For some reason my parents bought me a soft Arkansas stone as a Christmas present. 2”x8”, still have it. I used it to ruin my mother’s kitchen knives for about three years until I got the hang of feeling and listening to the blade while I sharpened it. I sharpened my parents, friends and neighbours knives until I went to college. Got married and learned from my first wife that if I wanted to eat I was going to have learn how to cook. Pulled out my Arkansas stone to keep my cheap stainless steel knives sharp? I still sharpened knives for the odd friend and my parents. Mostly English knives with bone handles and slightly less cheap stainless blades of various sorts. Flash forward about 6 years and a friend bought me a Wustoff Classic 8” chef’s knife. I was blown away over what decent steel could do. Honed my sharpening skills (if you will pardon the pun), collected about 10 German Knives and an American folder ... can’t remember the name but great steel. Continued sharpening and started to appreciate what a sharp edge really was. Still used my Arkansas, and went through another wife that couldn’t cook. Got into BBQ and bought a 10” Victorinox for larger cuts, as well as a brisket blade Henckel. Got better at cooking and became intrigued with the carbon pans used in most restaurant kitchens. Bought a French carbon pan, can’t remember the brand but still have it. Threw away a bunch of tri-ply stainless pans that I’d bought when I was first married and bought a few more carbon pans. Absolutely transformed my love of cooking. Got to thinking that if carbon steel pans were so great perhaps I should try carbon steel knives. Did a bit of research and bought a Tojiro carbon steel Gyuto and petty from Korin. I gifted those knives to a friend but for the first time in my life I learned what a real edge could be. Started buying a few Japanese stones and a few more Japanese knives. The Lord and my third wife blessed me with a son at age 62. By this time I had retired and was still sharpening for myself, friends and neighbours. The local knife store sent a few people to me looking for someone who could freehand sharpen their more expensive Japanese knives. One fellow gifted me my first Takeda. Aogami super, a dream to sharpen, cut anything like a banshee. I was hooked!!!! My son, who was four at the time, started sitting with me while I sharpened and asked questions about the knives and sharpening. A soft spot I guess because my parents had got me started with sharpening and knives. I got this idea that I would put together a collection of knives for him. My third wife moved out (she’s 38 years younger than me ... probably a good idea) ... too bad though because she was a chef (small “c” on purpose) and could cook. Still spend LOTS of time with my son, though.

Last count ... 142 knives, and about 20 stones ... Only one Jnat, though. Couldn’t tell you how much I’ve spent but it’s a lot. I don’t sell my knives because I don’t really consider them to be mine. They are my sons. I traded once in a three for one trade to get a real quality knife that I wanted. Regretted the trade immediately. I bought two of the three knives in the trade back and still feel like I’ve abandoned a child when I think about the third Knife in the trade. One day I’ll get it back.

The destruction of the stock market has stopped my buying cold. It’s tough enough exchanging Canadian dollars for US dollars to buy knives. Selling stock at half their recent value to do the same is dumb in the extreme. There has been some amazing buys on BST lately. But one thing I’ve learned is that there’s no such thing as the last good deal on BST. Every week brings one or two quality knives at great prices.

That’s my story.
 
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Ruso said:
What headphones did you end up settling for?

@ian - It’s not about the money, its about time one spend on the hobby and around it.
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Yes, completely. It just seemed like there was a competition going on in the thread about who spends the most money, so I thought I'd add some progressive perspective to it. ;)

Although maybe it's not even a competition, and is about spending whatever time/money you want or can afford on something you enjoy.
 
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Ok, here’s the story: my mom worked as a waitress and later head waiter at some very good places. For several reasons (most of them having to do with her work schedule) I hung around a lot in the kitchens. Since there was nothing to do there except tasting everything and bugging the cooks I started helping out with easy prep. I probably destroyed more than I helped out but the cooks were nice to me. This was in the Mac, Global, Sabatier and Wüsthof days. I continued helping out in restaurants considering it the obvious future career. Got my first paid job at 17, first fulltime at 18. But... I couldn’t take more than a year of it. I was way too soft for the kind of work, so I worked as a fish monger for a couple of years then leaving food and the industry altogether. I kept the knives and the love for food, though.
Sharpness and sharpening were complete mysteries. I managed to maintain my own knives with a Diamond rod (that was stolen) and a Mac ceramic rod, until the rod couldn’t help me get the sharpness back. Since all chefs I worked with warned me about sending knives to the local sharpening service my own knives just got worse and worse. And then I discovered cleancut’s sharpening service. I had them sharpen my knives once and then decided I had to get myself some stones.
Came to KKF like yesterday. And you guys haven’t exactly helped decreasing the number of knives in my possession. But I’ve learned a lot. And I get my daily dose of fun just reading through posts here.
 
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Ruso said:
What headphones did you end up settling for?
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I can't remember exactly, lol. Some random Panasonic open-ear headphones I found in an electronics store that let you try them in person. And some lower-end Sony closed cans. Neither were great because I was in grad school, but they fit my taste perfectly for my budget. I'm still treble-sensitive and prefer darker headphones - some might say 'veiled' but I say their hearing is probably shot. Currently satisfied with the Sennheiser 558 at home and Sony MDR-1 in the office.
 
Forty years ago I visited Hot Springs, and spent two or three days in the Arkansas stone mines with what at the time were "old men", less than my age now,
miners. Watched all of the mining, including blasting with black powder. Less brisant, much lower velocity explosion, and they said the higher detonation velocity explosives tended to shatter, and all they wanted was the lift... Then drilling holes in the boulders from the powder, and hydraulic splitters to break the large boulders into manageable chunks.... I got a bunch of chunks from the guys, of different particle sizes, and brought them home.. About five years ago I joined the Houston Gem and Mineral society, and used their saws, grinders, and laps to make my own Arkansas stones.... I wish I could use them as well as the guys in this group who are master sharpeners, but I seem to get by.
 
dafox said:
3 years ago I was cooking at my son's house and left my chef knife there, when I got home I realized I wouldn't be back for a while so decided to go on line to look for a new knife, had been using the same knife for a few decades, did lots of research/shopping, found the CKTG website and this forum, bought a Shun at a local kitchen store but returned it-thought it was too expensive and seemed impractical, then bought a Tojiro DP gyuto and a Konosuke HD gyuto. Learned to sharpen, which has been very rewarding, and have had about 50 knives come through my house, still discovering my preferences and enjoying the journey. Still miss my old knife, it was ruined by a "sharpener" who sharpened it on a grinder. It was a no name 9" french shapped stainless, with a bolster, had a low heal height. Still wish there were more 225mm gyutos available.
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for me the knife journey started when i was about 6 or 7 and i got a mora from my father to use at school, we were going out in the woods camping.

i guess i only had moras and saks up to maybe 2001 or so. then i got a few nice folders from the US. emerson/spyderco/microtech etc.
and after that i knew there was better stuff out there. then i got a sharpmaker to sharpen my knives.... after that it all went to hell!

after a while i got tired of folders since they are suboptimal for my work, and basically suboptimal for everything.

then i got a straight razor and stones for that.

i got a fiskars chefs in about 2008. sharpened it on the sharpmaker every week. then i thought i should get a knife that i didn't need to sharpen every week.

I think i got a mac santoku from a shop that was closing. the one with the grantons. and then a victorinox santoku, also with the grantons, then i needed real stones, and it kinda escalated from there. i was very happy with only 3-4 good knives and 3-4 stones for several years.

i think my first real good knives were the mac and victorinox, a shiki damascus, and then a blue moon i guess. all santokus. then i got a masamoto blue 2 santoku.

i still have the shiki and masamoto. the rest i gave away.
 
Kippington said:
My knife skills and collection were getting pretty good at this stage. Eventually I needed to start making some knives for myself to answer some advanced questions. Learned how to do it from books and stuff online. I didn't know any better at the time, but some of the stuff bladesmiths said made no sense too, and I started with forging with charcoal (instead of stock removal) because I was lead to believe it was superior. Quenching in water was also a hard pill to swallow, the failure rate is insane. I learned a lot about the nature of steel from these decisions.

Now I'm pretty happy with what I know, so I started giving back some of the things I've learned. This forum is a great place to do it.
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i know that feeling. on the different knife forums back in the day most people just talked out of their ass, most of the makers included. and most of the ones that actually really knew anything quickly got silenced, and it didn't take me too long to understand this. some guy names cliff suggested i go loan some books about steel at the library, and i did... and now i'm so addicted i'm even making my own knives :)

i also knew i needed to be in the metal industry somehow. and pretty much all my jobs have been directly or indirectly related to metal mining/machining/manufaturing/servicing different machines for these markets etc etc.
 
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