HSO or others, any recommendations on one of these that is production or semi custom, for reasonable ($100-150) price?
Ban Tang has the best functional understanding of grinding that I've ever seen and his ultrathin kitchen knives are totally drool inducing, but they are well above $150. I will probably eventually go with one of those unless I find something soon that works well for me/us (my GF and I). well mostly her...
We currently mostly use a small santoku from Walmart that's surpisingly effective, a PureKomachi2 knife by Kai that looks like a fillet knife, and keep procrastinating sending in our VERY disappointing Shun Santoku (the steel on it keeps chipping with normal use on a plastic cutting board - heat treat issue apparently, not to mention the ergos are just subpar for her).
We like the look of micarta but I think it might not be the best from a bacteria standpoint. I guess it wouldn't be difficult to laminate it or give it some kind of poly or synthetic shellac coating.
I personally like pointy-ish santokus, while she likes something with the tip orientation of a santoku, the belly of a chef's knife, and a point somewhere between the two. Or actually more of a wharny/reverse-tanto type tip. Not sure why she prefers that at all, LOL.
My dream knife: http://bantangknives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mini-santoku.jpg
(It's about a 5" cutting edge i believe...we don't find big kitchen knives that useful plus that Shun abomination fills a big knife role..well...sort of)
Her ideal tip/belly but with a horrid handle and too big:
A cursory search reveals Boker and some others make micarta handled knives, but I don't see many/any ultrathin variants.
I guess I may be stuck saving for a BT Stupid Sharp knife but I'm surprised how badly most kitchen knife options out there suck and how poorly thought out they are, compared to the selection of EDC knives now available to the customer for amazingly cheap, and with an amazing array of options. I guess chefs : knives :: cops : guns. Most chefs aren't "knife people" in other words...
Ban Tang has the best functional understanding of grinding that I've ever seen and his ultrathin kitchen knives are totally drool inducing, but they are well above $150. I will probably eventually go with one of those unless I find something soon that works well for me/us (my GF and I). well mostly her...
We currently mostly use a small santoku from Walmart that's surpisingly effective, a PureKomachi2 knife by Kai that looks like a fillet knife, and keep procrastinating sending in our VERY disappointing Shun Santoku (the steel on it keeps chipping with normal use on a plastic cutting board - heat treat issue apparently, not to mention the ergos are just subpar for her).
We like the look of micarta but I think it might not be the best from a bacteria standpoint. I guess it wouldn't be difficult to laminate it or give it some kind of poly or synthetic shellac coating.
I personally like pointy-ish santokus, while she likes something with the tip orientation of a santoku, the belly of a chef's knife, and a point somewhere between the two. Or actually more of a wharny/reverse-tanto type tip. Not sure why she prefers that at all, LOL.
My dream knife: http://bantangknives.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/mini-santoku.jpg
(It's about a 5" cutting edge i believe...we don't find big kitchen knives that useful plus that Shun abomination fills a big knife role..well...sort of)
Her ideal tip/belly but with a horrid handle and too big:
A cursory search reveals Boker and some others make micarta handled knives, but I don't see many/any ultrathin variants.
I guess I may be stuck saving for a BT Stupid Sharp knife but I'm surprised how badly most kitchen knife options out there suck and how poorly thought out they are, compared to the selection of EDC knives now available to the customer for amazingly cheap, and with an amazing array of options. I guess chefs : knives :: cops : guns. Most chefs aren't "knife people" in other words...