Knife Set

[Falconwithaboxon]

I am looking at this knife set from Ginsu. It has good reviews but it's a bit more than I want to spend, $180. I love that it has a 7" santoku and a cleaver. I cannot find a set that has both of these for cheaper, $120-$140. Should I just splurge and get this one? Or do y'all know of another that is similar for cheaper? I have the money to spend I just would rather go a bit cheaper.

 

[Nemo]

I have no knowledge of this knife line. It looks to be mass produced. If I had to guess, I'd say made in China. To a price. Probably an even cheaper price than it's advertised for.

There are a few things that would make me cautious:
1) Cheap mass produced knives tend to have sub-standard heat treatments. This affects sharpening and edge retention.
2) The grind (cross-sectional shape of the blade) is often not great, so performance in food suffers.
3) The profile (shape as viewed from the side) is not to my liking- far too much belly/curve to the edge.
4) The "promises" made in the advert are vague and unenforceable. Basically marketing rubbish.
5) Except for steak knives, I'd advise against buying knives in a set. Buy the knives you want to use. For most people, this will be a chef's knife. Possibly also a bread knife, slicer, a utility or a parer. Or a cleaver if you like. There is little point buying a chef's knife and a Santoku in a set. These two profiles do the same tasks. Instead of buying a set, buy a knife or two that you will use all the time.

Having said all that, it's worth pointing out that KKF tends to focus on higher quality knives than these. If you are interested in recommendations for a single entry level quality chef's knife, let us know. However if you are interested in the cheapest knife set that you can buy, you may be asking in the wrong part if the internet.

 

[McMan]

Nemo makes good points.

There's some helpful intro in this thread:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...ed-by-electronic-sharpener.54124/#post-823323
My suggestion would be to either get a new 8" Victorinox (~$50) or a used Wusthof from eBay (~$50). One good chef knife will be enough and will do everything a good santoku can do plus more.

Buy one good saute pan--Marshalls/TJ Maxx often have Calphalon for $20 and steak knives (~$20).
All up that's about $100 and will be well spent. After that, you can build little by little by realizing what you need. That's half the fun with a first apartment

 

[Qapla']

What do you think of these?
Santoku: https://www.**************.com/kapssa18.html (righty model)
Cleaver: F. Dick 2 lb. Meat Cleaver | knifemerchnat.com

I'm pretty sure these will be a better value than a knife set. However, a cleaver's quite a specialized knife that you might not need. A chef's knife is likely a better all-around choice than either of the knife types you're looking at.

Disclosures:
* I have knives from Kanehide and from F-Dick.

 

[Jovidah]

I think Nemo already made all the most important points. These look like your average run of the mill Chinese-made 'imitations'. Those can be... all over the place in quality (even within the same line / knife block). Usually those mostly look okay from a distance, but they're not necessarily what you should be looking for.
Especially in this case there's also a shocking lack of detail, and frankly they're not even all that cheap.

Similarly, knife sets in general have a habbit of giving you a lot of knives, but most of the time there's too much overlap or they're simply poor choices. For example if you're on a budget, I don't really see the point in having both an 8" chef knife, an 8" slicer, a 7" santoku and what looks like a 6" nakiri.
Better to have less knives that are actually good than a whole bunch of mediocre ones.

 

[Jovidah]

Err... actually found one page that showed the steel and all I can say is 'avoid'.

Ginsu Chikara Series blades are forged from Japanese 420J2 stainless steel that is known for its stain and rust resistance, strength, and its ability to hold an incredibly sharp edge.

Chemical Composition
The chemical composition of stainless steel grade 420J2 is outlined in the following table.

Element	Content (%)
Chromium, Cr	14
Nickel, Ni (optional)	1
Manganese, Mn	1
Silicon, Si	1
Phosphorus, P	0.04
Carbon, C	0.15-0.36
Sulfur, S	0.03
Iron, Fe	Balance

0.15-0.36% carbon... no wonder they left it out of the specs.... This is cheap junk. Not worth spending a single dollar on. Definitly not worth spending 179 dollars on.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Thanks everyone for your advice. So I gather get a couple "specialist" knives as opposed to a block. From what everyone here said and the looking I have done, I should get a Santoku/Chef, Bread, and a Paring. I have a vegetable cleaver and ulu(best thing I have ever owned) so those 5 cover most anything I would need to do?

 

[tostadas]

As McMan said, a Victorinox 8" should be an excellent knife to meet your needs at a fraction of your budget. All of the knives in the Victorinox product line are very good value and you really can't go wrong building a set from them with the ones you need. Even with the many much more expensive knives I own, the Victorinox (3.5", 5", and 8") earned their continuing spot in my collection.

On a side note, with whatever option you choose, eventually your knives will require sharpening. So do think about that, whether on your own with a whetstone, or periodically paying someone to do it for you. If you ask here, most will steer you towards learning with a whetstone (it's not difficult).

 

[Midsummer]

Chef or Santoku. If you do a lot to bread then a bread knife is helpful. A bread knife is great if you have a dull chefs knife. Get the Chef/ santoku, paring and stones to sharpen you new knives. Vegetables are often handled with a chefs. Consider a good cutting board to keep you from sharpening too often and to help you organize your prep work better.

The block does one good thing, it keeps your sharp edges from being banged up. So consider edge guards for you knives.

 

[@ftermath]

Most everything has been covered in previous posts but I would echo the Victorinox 8” Chef knife recommendation. I have made the same recommendation to numerous family and friends. It’s a very solid knife that performs well, stands up to abuse, and won’t break the bank.

Most people here are knife nerds and we spend way too much money and time obsessing over incremental improvements in areas that most people never even think about. That being said, most of us would be happy to pick up a victorinox at anyone else’s house to help prep dinner if we don’t already own one ourselves. Get that one knife for now and see where that takes you.

 

[KenHash]

420j2 is a very low end Japanese steel. It can be found only on the very cheapest kitchen knives, even below the stuff sold in Home Centers. It is however widely used as San-Mai cladding in many outdoor knives. Also some Dive knives due to string corrosion resistance.

 

[cawilson6072]

It is out of stock right now at JKI, but Ashi Hamono packages a home set of a 170mm Santoku and 130mm tall petty. This set plus a bread knife (Tojiro or Victorinox Fibrox) that can be gotten fairly inexpensively seems like a decent home kitchen working setup. Maybe throw in a Herder or Opinel paring knife for pointy work.

I did the counter top block (J.A. Henckels Twin Signature) from the department store about 10 years ago and I still have parts of that set, so it is not crazy talk depending on your usage. There are 2 really useful knives in that set (a satisfyingly tough 7" chef knife and a 5" serrated utility knife) out of about 12 (but wait, there's more!...). As folks have pointed out above, the performance and upkeep (even if you periodically rely on a local sharpener at $1.50/inch) of forged and hand-ground knives with good steel and manufacturing process will be more satisfying over time. Point is, it is not an all or none proposition (workable quality and several hundreds of dollars or TJ Maxx).

I'm very newbie here and to Japanese and other quality knives in general, so I'm only providing the perspective of a newbie - not with much knowledge, but how I would think about that J.A. Henckels purchase of 10 years ago if I had to make it again today.

Ashi Home Set (130mm & 170mm)

Opinel Set Of 2 Paring Knives Carbon

Friedr Herder 3” Sheepsfoot Paring Stainless Cherry

 

[Jovidah]

Thanks everyone for your advice. So I gather get a couple "specialist" knives as opposed to a block. From what everyone here said and the looking I have done, I should get a Santoku/Chef, Bread, and a Paring. I have a vegetable cleaver and ulu(best thing I have ever owned) so those 5 cover most anything I would need to do?

Yeah in the end there's very little you can't do with a chef knife, a paring knife and a bread knife. Even the bread knife is negotiable if you never cut crusty breads. In the end maintenance (actually being sharp) is far more important than actually having a gazillion knives. Sure, specialist knives make some things easier. A longer slicer might be more convenient for slicing large cuts of meat, and a boning knife might make deboning easier... but in the end it's not something you cannot do at all with a chef's knife or a paring knife. It just might get a little easier with a more specialized knife.

When it comes to what to buy... it depends on how you intend to maintain them (keep them sharp) and how much you want to spend. If you just want to spend as little as possible it's hard to escape Victorinox though. More expensive knives will cut better, hold an edge longer and might be more pleasant to use, but in the end, if all you want to do is get cheap tools to put food on the table you can do that with cheap just fine.