Kitchen knives...

[Sunray]

Been using a Victorinox chefs knife since 1973. Had it professionally sharpen twice. I think it's a Forschner Rosewood 10 inch. Didn't pay $75 for it though. Cost me $20Cdn. with a paring and boning knife(that I lost and replaced for $40Cdn.) when I went to Hotel School.
Those Sam's Club things are the same toys sold in Dollar stores. You get what you pay for.

 

[ugaarguy]

Here is a question highlighting the reason I asked this forum... What is the difference between a stamped knife and ???? a machined knife???? Both in manufacture and practical usefulness?

Stamped vs Forged. Stamped (also laser or water jet), the knife blank is cut out (by stamping or the other methods noted) of a sheet of steel that's at the final spine thickness. Because these blades start thin they need very little grinding (machining) to set the bevels. After they're ground to profile handles are generally pinned on before final sharpening. Forged blades start with a much thicker piece of steel and they're hammered to pretty close to profile before being machined to final shape. Forged knives can be, and often are, thicker than stamped knives. Henckels bolsters are integral to the forging, while Wusthof has a separate bolster that's heated to expand it, slipped over the blade tang, and then effectively becomes integral because it contracts onto the blade when it cools.

The only big practical difference is that forged knives are often heavier because of their thicker blade spines and beefy metal bolsters. To many people they feel nicer in the hand because of the heft. That heft gets old when you're doing line prep all day. The lighter weight, grippier and better contoured handles, and overall easier sanitization of the Victorinox-Forschners and the Dexter Russels are big reasons (aside from low cost) that they're so popular in commercial kitchens. In actual use America's Test Kitchen consistently rates the Forschner chef knives above everything else because the lighter overall weight and more ergonomically efficient handles let them work with less fatigue than using heavier premium knives.

As far as other concerns, the blade steel that Henckels and Wusthof call X50 Cr Mo V, and that they use for most of their knives, is just German standard 4.116 (usually Thyssen-Krupp 4116). It's not that different than American standard 420HC. So, despite the hype, it's not really a premium steel. With Shun you get excellent multi layer VG-10 laminate blades.

A few years ago I did some sharpening for a friend who owned a nice French restaurant. The thin stamped blades of the Vic-Forschner and Dexter Russel knives made them very easy to sharpen to a nice edge. His personal Shun Classics took a little more time because that beautiful VG-10 laminate just wanted to be honed. By the time I was done a cherry tomato dropped from a few inches above onto the upturned edge would be cleanly cut in half. A few of the kitchen staff had personal forged German knives that they used in the restaurant, which I also sharpened. Those weren't bad to sharpen, but they didn't have any performance advantage over the commercial blades stamped from thinner stock of the same steel.

For personal use, if you want something close to Shun at a lower price, Tojiro's DP line is amazing. If you want the classic German look with very similar forged blades and very similar performance the Brazilian made Mundial brand is a bargain.

I wish some company would make a stamped blade knives with the comfy molded plastic handles, but stamp the blades from sheets of something like VG-10 or another premium cutlery steel.

 

[hso]

Please explain what you mean by "commercial kitchen". Institutional kitchen like a school or correctional facility or a restaurant or fine dining?

 

[entropy]

I have several Chicago Cutlery knives I bought when the Sporting Goods store I worked at at the time cleared out some knives. They are still going strong. I use them to process my deer, as well as every day cooking chores. They're not as pretty as Wusthof or Henckels, but they get the job done.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

Good luck but those Sams club knives are the BOMB.

 

[CopperFouling]

Shun Classic .

I bought those for my wife about six months ago. I'm adding a knife every three or four months. As a result of using them, I have three observations:

1. They slice insanely well. If you've not cut with them before, you will notice an immediate difference if you're used to crappy knives.
   
2. They require a bit of practice with the proper technique.
3. (Related to No. 2) The VG10 does not like hitting the cutting board; it chips if you don't use the proper technique.

You might try going to Sur La Table and trying some there.

Also, I would suggest buying the knives one at a time. I find that my wife and I use the 8" chef's knife and the 6" utility knife far more than the other two.

 

[Mauser lover]

For what we are doing, "commercial" is dealing with a conference center. We serve only a few dishes at a time, but we serve them in massive quantities. We aren't a bunch of short order chefs, or anything like that! I'd go insane!

If it is a good knife in your kitchen, it will be a good knife in our bigger kitchen, as long as it is stainless (due only to time constraints).

It seems that Victorinox has quite a following...
I have used some Dexter/Russel, but I'm not extremely impressed, although I wouldn't say they were bad.

Ergonomic is definitely a plus, but I don't consider it to be everything. If I only need to use a knife half as long because it has a better blade, it can be half as ergonomic and still be fine... at least that is my reasoning. You might say that you need to balance these two qualities on a knife's edge... (sorry)

I am not one who thinks that heavier is necessarily better (unless of course I'm dealing with target barrels on my .22 or something like that).

Thanks for all the ideas, many of these I've never heard of, or wouldn't think to look at.

Is being "the bomb" a good thing or a bad thing?

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

^^^
I think the term used to be referred to as "da bomb" and yes, it is a good thing.

 

[AirForceShooter]

The International line of Henkels is their budget line, the German made Professional is a much better, higher priced, line.

Henkels and Wusthof both had their US headquarters in Westchester Cty. NY when I lived there, and both ran great in house sales once a year.

One time I went to Wusthof for their sale, and they had an enormous amount of Henkels knives. What? Turns out some high end retailer told Wusthof they would only take their line if Wusthof bought out their existing Henkels inventory. So Wusthof was selling Henkels Professional line of knives, blowing them out at $5 for the smaller blades, $10 for the larger blades. I bought 25 knifes, one of each including santoku, different size chef knives, carvers, steak, paring, boning, etc., plus carving sets, knife blocks, scissors, etc., plus extras. Gave extras away as gifts.

Should have bought them all and been an Ebay king. lol

Anyway, you can't go wrong with a better line from either Henkels or Wusthof. Henkels is having a Spring sale right now: http://www.zwillingonline.com/cutlerysale.html

I filled the biggest knife block you ever saw at those sales.
Knives lasted me 30 years.
Everything from 12" to paring and a cleaver.
I don't think the whole thing cost more than $100

Remember it was CASH only

AFS