What would you do with $500 if you had no knives

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TB_London

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Trying not to hi-jack a thread with something I find really interesting. If you had $500 and no knives, what would you buy. Lots of threads, quite rightly, focus on what's best for the person asking the question. It'd be interesting to know what you'd buy.
I'd go for a DT 270 wa ITK
Forschner paring, bread, boning and a cheap deba with the leftover

What would you buy? I'm purposely ignoring sharpening and boards, though a $200 sharpening kit would also be really interesting
 
$500 budget from scratch, huh?

Hmm... Assuming I couldn't get anything second-hand:

Tanaka blue KU 165 deba - dirt cheap, great bang for the buck
Yoshihiro white 270 yanagi - haven't had one yet, but I think this would be a good, reasonably-priced choice
Konosuke white 240 gyuto - been using a 270, but to save some $ I think the 240 would still be great
CCK cleaver - I'd get a kick-ass cleaver to use, but that'd blow most of the $500 budget in one go

I think this would be a good lineup, should fit in the $500 budget, and I would still be pretty happy in the kitchen. An extra $100 in the budget and I'd probably swap the CCK & Konosuke for a single Takeda, probably the kiritsuke-gyuto.
 
Hmmm, $500?

I'd use it to fund supplies to make 10 of my own. :D

If forced to buy knives....a 270mm DT wa handled ITK knife, a 3.5" Shun Classic paring knife, and the Mac bread knife. Slightly over budget, but close enough.
 
KonHD 270 gyuto, Ashi150 stainless petty, cheap heavy chinese cleaver
or
240 Kikuichi TKC/CarboNEXT, Heiji 150 semistainless petty, cheap heavy chinese cleaver
 
CarboNext 27cm gyuto, 24cm sujihiki and 15cm petty, with sayas.

Yep. I don't have experience with the carbonext knives, but the tkc steel. Best bang for the money. I think it is one of the best steels for western styled Japanese knives other than high priced exotic stainless. I would substitute a 270 suji for the 240.
 
If I worked in a pro kitchen: Shigefusa 240 Guyto (just one knife)

In a home kitchen: DT ITK 240, Fujiwara 120 petty, Torjo Breadknife
 
I would take $450 and offer it to Dave M's UPS driver so he could take a week of vacation. Then I would use the remaining $50 to buy a UPS uniform.

I'm pretty sure I would be abale to build out a decent knife collection for that $500...

:devilburn:
 
If my house burned down and someone gave me $500, I'd buy 3' of cpm154, 8 board feet of walnut, a rare earth magnet, brass rods, epoxy and glue, and a few belts. I'd go to my dad's house(cause my tools are gone, right?), and come out a week later with matching Gyuto, parer, slicer, veg knife, magnet rack, and board.

*edit* I take it back, I like Wildboar's idea. Except I'd just wear all black. I won't mess with the UPS.
 
Old Hickory 7" blade $20.00
Konosuke HD 240 gyuto $250.00
Kikuichi Elite Carbon Suji 270 $150.00
Shun Classic Paring 3.5" $80.00

:shocked3:

No one better knock the Old Hickory....EVERY ONE needs one!
 
Practical answer would be:
Gyuto: Suisin Inox Honyaki 270mm at around $380. This is the original stainless laser-thin gyuto, thinness has a lot to do with how 'sharp' a knife feels when you cut into something.
Petty: Moritaka 150mm petty at around $130 bucks. Because I've read a lot about Moritakas, would like to try the aogami super, and because the kuro uchi finish looks rustic.
I know that already exceeds the $500 budget, so if I still wanted a paring knife I'd get a $5 forschner.

A less practical but more 'fun' answer is that I'd spend $550 on the Fujiwara Teruyasu 240mm White steel #1 gyuto. Because I've been reading at how blinding sharp white #1 can get and I really want one.
 
this is a fun question.

i would probably go with:
Konosuke white 2 270mm gyuto238.00
Gesshin stainless 210mm petty195.00

after that i would take the last $67 and either put it all on red and hope to win and buy a decent tojiro 180mm deba or just save for a week and get it then.
yanagi would be the last knife i would need after that
 
270mm konosuke white gyuto, 180mm deba-ish thing, MAC bread.
 
I've been fortunate in that I've been able to use a lot of knives recently, and handle some pretty great stuff!
You would think this would make me love this question, but all it's made me realize is, the more knives I handle, the more particular I become. Basically, I will admit $500 dollars would only Make me wish I had a bit more to throw around.
Right now though, I'll go with a 120 fujiwara FKH petty, a 180 Pierre petty with his hybrid handle, and a 240 Misono moly gyuto. That would leave about $50 for a king combo stone and a bag of apples.
 
Wow, what would I do. As I have a DT 270, I would initially lean towards that, but I think I would actually go for quantity/value on this one. And I would also wait until everyone else on this forum had spent their $500 so I would have the luxury of buying when no one else could ;)

With that said, I think these would be my choices.

* CCK Cleaver ($40)
* Yoshihiro 240 yanagi ($130 off of eBay)
* Miyabi Fusion Sheep's Foot Parer 3.5 inch ($70)
* Forschner Bread Knife 10.5 inch ($30)
* Dave's Custom Rehandled 240 Hiro AS -- 1st Group Buy Discount ($230)

I know I cheated on that last one, but I would be happy with that set of knives.

k.
 
Hahaha. The funny thing is, I would....
 
What would I do?

All out dinner at one of Keller's places. That oughta cover it.

Knowing what I know about about knife addiction, I wouldn't start down that path again. :slaphead:

At some of his restaurants yes, but at The French Laundry you will be dining along. You meal will run 270 per person with no supplements, drinks or tips.

I'd still spend it on knives though.

k.

CORRECTION: I just checked the website and service is included in the $270. But I bet you would tip the rest of your $500.
 
I would take $450 and offer it to Dave M's UPS driver so he could take a week of vacation. Then I would use the remaining $50 to buy a UPS uniform.

I'm pretty sure I would be abale to build out a decent knife collection for that $500...

:devilburn:


That's probably a good plan there David! :lol2:
 
ad hoc and bouchon wouldn't cost you that much.

out of the three i had the best time at ad hoc even though the laundry was an amazing experience. the price of ad hoc was very reasonable. you could eat there with wine and a friend and still have enough to grab a top notch 270mm wa-gyuto
 
I'd find myself a nice slicing cleaver. Maybe a replacement for my Konosuke, maybe a Hoss DT ITK cleaver. They're a little hard to come by so I don't know if it would take the whole budget or not. I'd also get a decent gyuto if there was any $ left. I like having options.:)
 
Yeah, a DT ITK cleaver would eat up the whole budget. But considering how absolutely nice it is to use, it might not be an issue there ;)
 
ad hoc and bouchon wouldn't cost you that much.

out of the three i had the best time at ad hoc even though the laundry was an amazing experience. the price of ad hoc was very reasonable. you could eat there with wine and a friend and still have enough to grab a top notch 270mm wa-gyuto

Ad Hoc and Bouchon would be fine for wine with a friend, for TFL the tasting menu and wine would most likely be over $500 just for yourself.

Instead go to Eleven Madison Park in NYC for lunch ($56 for 3 courses), and then buy a Shigefusa gyuto with the leftover.
 
Ad Hoc and Bouchon would be fine for wine with a friend, for TFL the tasting menu and wine would most likely be over $500 just for yourself.

Instead go to Eleven Madison Park in NYC for lunch ($56 for 3 courses), and then buy a Shigefusa gyuto with the leftover.

There's a deal going on at Gilt. Four course menu + wine pairing @ the Laundry with a bag of Bouchon breads for $500/person.
 
Hmmm, $500?

I'd use it to fund supplies to make 10 of my own. :D

If forced to buy knives....a 270mm DT wa handled ITK knife, a 3.5" Shun Classic paring knife, and the Mac bread knife. Slightly over budget, but close enough.

Adam is this an indication of your prices in the future?
:)
 
Sure, for the materials part. :D

Now add $200 in labor to that.
 
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