Kitchen knife

[Anonymous No.11163695]

/ck/, I implore you to help.
I'm sick of having to resharpen my shitty knive every two weeks.
What's a good brand of knife to buy? I assume knives are one of the cases where the brand actually matters since it would determine the quality of steel used, right?
I've seen decent things said about Tramontina, how true are they?

[Anonymous No.11163701]

Maybe your cutting board just sucks?

Tramontina is commercial-grade, it's a step up from bottom of the barrel gas station knives, but best bang for your buck is a western style knife from a large-ish, but not too large, Japanese manufacturer of kitchen knives. Misono and Mac come to mind. Some of the "tsukiji" brands (the mainstream stuff, masa, aritsugo, etc). Tojiro has been memed to death and their main line DP is overpriced. Don't buy any of the following:

Wusthof/Henckels/Zwilling/Victorinox (including all "Japanese" models like the Miyabi shit)
Shun
Kiwi
Cutco
Chinese cleaver shit
Anything made in USA

[Anonymous No.11163702]

>>11163701
>Maybe your cutting board just sucks?
Will you yell mean words at me if I say it's a cheap-ass plastic one?

[Anonymous No.11163712]

>>11163702
Meh, I'm not feeling angry enough right now but it's a knife thread, hopefully "Angry Drunk Luthier Guy" will show up and unload his extensive personal problems on everyone including you soon enough.

You could certain go for an upgrade, a lot of folks like end grain but the problem is the cheapest ones (if you live in the US) are made by religious maniacs in flyover states who probably want to ban abortions, force kids to learn about weird nonsense instead of science, and perform ethnic cleansing.

So the best option is either a sani-tuff (which as far as I am aware, is manufactured in a blue state, could be wrong though best research it first), or better yet the Hi-Soft boards from Japan, so you're not supporting people or business who are actively working to destroy America.

[Anonymous No.11163717]

>>11163712
Well I certainly don't live in the US of A, I'm Russian.
Does end-grain really give any significant benefit compared to edge grain apart from superior aesthetics?

[Anonymous No.11163726]

>>11163717
Between end grain and edge grain you're already chasing marginal gains, so, unless your knife is pretty good, and your cutting technique isn't stupid (like twisting the edge or dragging it sideways across the board), and your sharpening doesn't suck, it's probably not worth sperging hard over.

[Anonymous No.11163796]

BREAD KNIFE

THE BREAD KNIFE IS MOST UNDERRATED KNIFE

CAN BE USED FOR ANYTHING WONDERFULLY

NEVER HAS TO BE SHARPENED

HUGE SAW TEETH ARE INVULNERABLE

BREADU KNIFE!!!!

[Anonymous No.11165032]

>>11163717
In general, end grain are known to be more durable and better for sanitation. A cheap plastic board is fine, though. So long as you aren't cutting on a ceramic or glass "board" or hacking into the thing, it won't affect your knife all that much. If you are having to use a lot of pressure with the blade on the board, your knife isn't sharp enough to begin with, and this will only dull it faster. Edge retention on knives is generally a marginal difference as well, and tends to come at the cost of some combination of price, ease of sharpening, and corrosion resistance. It is more likely that your sharpening or cutting technique is not great and you will see a greater improvement in edge retention by improving those more than you would by buying new knives. However, if your knives are like these >>11163695 buy new ones that are at least ground through the heel of the blade.

[Anonymous No.11166530]

>>11165032
Honestly it might really be that I just suck at sharpening.

[Anonymous No.11166576]

>>11163695
do you have a homegoods, marshalls, tj maxx in your area? if so you can get high quality knives for 1/3 to 1/4 retail price

[Anonymous No.11166584]

>>11166576
>>11163717
oh, nevermind. Uhhh...good luck. I don't imagine russia can get high quality products very easily :(

[Anonymous No.11166588]

>>11163796
The bread knife is the ultimate pleb filter, right next to posting in all caps.

[Anonymous No.11166589]

>>11163796
Hmm, you make a valid argument.

[Anonymous No.11166875]

I unironically use a Cold Steel Kobun as my primary kitchen chopper. It's tough as nails, rust resistant, just the right size, razor-sharp, and has some style to it.

[Anonymous No.11167480]

>>11166530
>I just suck at sharpening.
Make sure you properly remove the burr after sharpening, that is often the root cause when knives seem to go dull very rapidly after sharpening. Drag a woolen sock along the edge, pressed against the side of the edge. If you can the wool "catching" it is a burr, especially if it happens only on one side.

[Anonymous No.11167488]

>>11167480
>If you can the wool
if you can *feel (or hear)* the wool

[Anonymous No.11167496]

>>11163701
>don't buy Wusthof or Victorinox
>don't buy Chinese cleavers

This is like the worst advice possible.

[Anonymous No.11167498]

>>11166875
Dou you use a riding mower for your daily commute and holiday trips too? because it would be suited for that just as well as the Kobun is for prepping food.

[Anonymous No.11167501]

>>11163701
>Don't buy any of the following:
>Wusthof/Henckels/Zwilling/Victorinox (including all "Japanese" models like the Miyabi shit)
>Shun
>Kiwi
>Cutco
>Chinese cleaver shit
>Anything made in USA
All the knives mentioned here are perfectly good except maybe for the Cutcos.

[Anonymous No.11167512]

>>11167480
I'll keep that in mind.
What about stones? I have a dirt cheap one I bought for what must've been under 2 USD.

[Anonymous No.11167523]

>>11163695
Are you honing it at all between sharpening?

[Anonymous No.11167530]

>>11167523
Well, shit.

[Anonymous No.11167533]

>>11167530
Are you actually sharpening it, or only honing?

[Anonymous No.11167545]

>>11167533
Assuming I understand the terminology properly and sharpening refers to making a burr and subsequently removing it with a sharpening stone and honing refers to maintaining the edge with a honing rod, the only thing I do is sharpening.

[Anonymous No.11167549]

>>11167545
Frequent sharpening without honing is often done in Japan but it's usually easier to do both.

[Anonymous No.11167555]

>>11167549
I really should get a honing rod before thinking about buying a new knife then.
Better to learn how to maintain my current tools properly than to throw money at a good knife then ruin it because I don't know how to take care of it.

[Anonymous No.11167595]

>>11167555
You can do a similar thing with your finer stones, it's just not as convenient as grabbing a rod out of a drawer or knife block every now and then. Also, beware that excessive use of a rod will make your sharpening sessions more laborious if you are at all concerned about the shape of your edge. I'm not shitting on rods, just pointing out that there are trade offs.

[Anonymous No.11167975]

>>11167496
>he bought a Chinese cleaver
Look buddy, we all did back when they were getting hyped on KKF, most of us realized how shit they were immediately
>>11167501
>I know absolutely NOTHING about knives

[Anonymous No.11167976]

>>11167545
Honing = Sharpening
The mistake is you listened to one of those "honing vs sharpening" morons, the clue was that he talked about Japan as though it were an alternate dimension, the reality is it's 2018, "best practices" are basically shared in common around the globe by anyone who gives a shit about cutlery
Please don't listen to people abusing words, because they're wrong, not to mention stupid

[Anonymous No.11168018]

>>11167512
Do you kknow what grit it is? It mayy be fine as long as it not either clogged up or too rough/loosely bound so the particels will scratch up your blade. A combo stone with a 400 and a 1000 grit side is pretty much the optimum for stainless steel kitchen knives.

[Anonymous No.11168021]

>>11167555
>I really should get a honing rod before thinking about buying a new knife then.
the unglazed ring on the underside of ceramic plates will do just as well in a pinch. It also adds a little bit of abrasive action so the edge gets honed AND (a bit) shaprened att the same time.

[Anonymous No.11168026]

>>11167975
>I know absolutely NOTHING about knives
I have been collecting knives for 30 years and I can almost guarantee you that I have more kitchen knives in my collection than any other person on /ck/. All those knives are proven reliable workhorses you can find in thousands of commercial kitchens worldwide. The only ones I dont have in my collecction are Cutcos (not available in Germany) and Shuns.

[Anonymous No.11168033]

>>11163695
/k/ here
In general, knives with a higher carbon content have harder steel, meaning they
>have better edge retention
>rust easier
>are less flexible
Blade geometry is also VERY important. Look for knives with a quarter hollow or half hollow grind, as they tend to have a better sharp/strong ratio.

As for their cullinary applications, someone else is better off answering that. Try not to pry with your knives

[Anonymous No.11168043]

>>11168033
>/k/ here
Stopped reading right there
All you guys know how to do with cutlery is stick it in your cargo short pockets, and stab phone books. Have fun struggling to cut up an onion with your SERE LOCKBACK DELTA FORCE RESCUE BUSSE EAGLE COLT TACTICAL SURVIVAL SERE TANTO with a blade thicker than a ham sandwich

[Anonymous No.11168052]

>>11163701
>everything popular is bad
some things are popular because they're reliably good

[Anonymous No.11168059]

>>11168043
>Not using a bayonet
Found the nufag

[Anonymous No.11168062]

You know, I'll try taking the knife to get sharpened then see how much of a difference that makes and how long it lasts to determine whether it's the knife or my sharpening skills being the main issue.

[Anonymous No.11169889]

You people all have the worst taste in knives/ Especially the hipster who made a list of everything popular and the faggot who was ranting about how people who make cutting boards apparently hate abortions and want to commit ethnic cleansing.
The fuck is wrong with you, second person?

[Anonymous No.11169905]

>>11163695
According to your preference of blade styl,e get either this:
http://a.co/d/btu4CIi

or this:
http://a.co/d/3CMfmM7

And don't let anybody sell you on any other shit.

[Anonymous No.11169910]

>>11163796
Fucking fuck bread knives, those fucking made for right-handed people only pieces of shit.

[Anonymous No.11169929]

I don't wanna make a new thread for myself but this is something I've been meaning to ask for a bit. I have some stones for sharpening my knives, but I feel like my technique is really sloppy since it seems to take me a really long time to get them sharp. I was wondering if you guys could link me to some reliable tutorials, video preferably, some that you've used or something. I keep feeling like I'm struggling.

[Anonymous No.11169950]

>>11169905
>wusthof
>good
Nice overpriced trash you've got there.

>>11169929
If it's taking too long you're starting on a stone thats too high grit.

[Anonymous No.11169973]

>>11169950
>Nice overpriced trash you've got there.

[Anonymous No.11169979]

>>11169905
>full-bolster chef knife in 2018

absolutely disgusting

[Anonymous No.11169984]

>>11169973
Wusthof makes knives for housewives who are more concerned about having a knife they can leave in a sink overnight than actually cooking. It's a step above a walmart knife for 10x the price.

[Anonymous No.11169998]

I have a Shun Sora chef's knife, bread knife, and paring knife. I don't see what issue folks take with it other than that it's weeb shit. The edge lasts for goddamn ever, they're not difficult to sharpen, and they stand up decently well to abuse.

I'm looking to expand into some other knives so I can compare and contrast more but in the last year and a half I've yet to be let down.

[Anonymous No.11170013]

>>11169998
Most of the people who hate on shun are just shitty home cooks who've never worked a line and had their knife really tested.
If you're looking to spend a bit more, look into HAP40 knives. Those things never lose their edge. Harder to sharpen than vg10 though.

[Anonymous No.11170025]

>>11169984
not falling for it

[Anonymous No.11170042]

>>11170025
You can buy knives made of comparable materials at walmart for 20 dollars. You're paying for a name attached to an ugly knife that can't be sharpened properly because of the huge bolster.

[Anonymous No.11170066]

>>11170013

I'll give that a look. That's really the only concern I have with the Shuns is that it's a relatively small amount of VG10 on the edge and, even though sharpenings are few and far between, I'll probably eventually push back to the non-edge steel.

[Anonymous No.11170076]

>>11170066
You misunderstand how they're made. It's like a sandwich of steel, with vg10 in the middle and some stainless on the outside. The entire middle portion of the knife is vg10.

[Anonymous No.11170083]

>>11170076

Even the Soras? I was under the impression that only the first little bit of the edge on the Soras was VG10.

[Anonymous No.11170088]

>>11170042
I just hope OP won't fall for it.

[Anonymous No.11170096]

>>11170088
Defend your viewpoint then. The steel they're made of is comparable to 440c stainless and they're machine made.

>>11170083
What drives the price of the sora knives down is that it's not clad in damascus, and it has a polmer handle instead of wood. The damascus on shun knives is entirely cosmetic.

[Anonymous No.11170179]

>>11170096
>Defend your viewpoint then.
What don't you understand about "not falling for it"?

[Anonymous No.11170287]

>>11169929
>it seems to take me a really long time to get them sharp
Many knives come from the factory with a pretty high bevel angle. If you sharpen them on the stone for the first time it can take a good while to gronf down the "corner" or "shoulder" between the bevel and the bladeface, especially if you use a high grit stone, like 1000 grit. Paint the bevel with a black sharpie marker to see where you are removing material and whether you have hit the apex. Checl for burr formation by pressing a woolen sock or a soft cotton cloth sideways against the edge then then dragging it along the edge. If you cant feel or hear it "catching" you havent formed a burr which means you havent hit the apex yet.

[Anonymous No.11170292]

>>11170287
>gronf
LOL *grind*

[Anonymous No.11170390]

>>11170025
He's not wrong though, what are you the Wusthof Internet Defense Force? Sorry but WIDF as an acronym is already taken

[Anonymous No.11170505]

>>11170287
>>11170292
That seems like it's more advice for reprofiling than for sharpening.

[Anonymous No.11170540]

>>11163701
You sound like a retard. Probably because you are.

[Anonymous No.11171242]

I went to culinary school for awhile, I recommend almost any of the german based companies (Victornoix, Heineken, etc) Im sure i spelled some of those wrong. If you want something cheaper I recommend Mercer, knives dont stay sharp forever though op.

[Anonymous No.11171434]

>>11163695
One word for knife brand: Enkel.
They sign every blade with their signature spearmen. They are expensive, but stupid people will sell these knives at yard sales thinking they are garbage. My mother found a tomato knife by Enkel at the local thrift store for ONE CANADIAN DOLLAR, thats 0.75 cents usd for a knofe valued at 85$ usd

[Anonymous No.11171604]

>>11170390
Henkel

[Anonymous No.11171609]

>>11170505
I dont think you know what reprofiling is. It is for correcting the curve of the edge when seen from the side, for example after a knife has been worn down by too much steeling or sth. similar.

[Anonymous No.11171638]

>>11163695
soft steel aka your carbons = soft easy to sharpen. good for beginners
hard steel aka your stainless = hard to sharpen but holds the edge much longer.
I was a stock removal knife maker for a few years.