Chef's Knives What Do You Have/Use?

We use Shun.

8” Chef
7” Santoku
6” Utility
3.5” Pairing

 

Most manufacturers have a sharpening service if you are not able to sharpen your own. Just keep the original boxes for shipping.

 

I'm waiting for my father to retire as a chef and to give me his set of 9 Yoshihiro knives he got from his father (my grandfather) when my grandfather passed on.

 

Same here, I use a ceramic sharpening rod on them almost daily.
I do 95% of the cooking around here..

$48 Victorinox Swiss Army 5.2063.20-X14 Fibrox Chef's Knife Black 8 in

Amazon.com: Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 8-Inch Chef's : Home & Kitchen

$25 Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 5" Chef's

Amazon.com: Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife, 5-Inch Chef's: Chefs Knives: Home & Kitchen

$30 Green Elephant Ceramic Sharpening Rod, Lightweight & Highly Durable 11" Shatterproof Ceramic Honing Rod For Professional Chefs and Home Cooks

Amazon.com: Green Elephant Ceramic Sharpening Rod, Lightweight & Highly Durable 11-Inch Shatterproof Ceramic Honing Rod For Professional Chefs and Home Cooks: Home & Kitchen

I have a Lansky sharpening kit in the garage but haven't used it in years..

I'm gonna have to break down and get one of those someday.
They are beautiful..

 

Pic from last night. @gosolo makes incredible works of art.

 

Those have got to be some awesome knives! Post pictures when you get a chance

 

Not specifically listing the alloy being used is an enormous red flag to me.

For kitchen knives I default to stainless for ease of care, it’s enough of a battle getting my bride of the last 19 years to take care of seasoned cast iron skillets. A high carbon steel, or high speed tool steel knife is not something she’s willingly going to care for properly.

Even then I’m kind of picky about stainless steels, and I’ve personally grown fond of VG-10 because it’s stain resistant and hard enough to hold a good edge longer than softer 440 series steels. I know the Uber super duper powdered steels are probably better, and someday I’ll spring for a chef knife made from an SxxV or CPM steel.

I am perfectly happy with pocket knives and field knives in high carbon, or high speed tool steel. My hunting knife is in D2, and my every day pocket knife is a Benchmade “Super Freek” with a CPM-M4 blade. I adore that CPM-M4 blade it really holds and edge and is capable of being shaving sharp with not a ton of effort on my part.

 

I'm in the same boat. I'm going to buy some water stones/whetstones for sharpening and practice on the old crap knives we have.
400 grit cheapest one I can find
1000 grit
3K to 6K don't know what one to get yet.
and last 8K to finish things off.
Still doing research on the stones.

 

I think they are some awesome knives from 2 generations of chefs, and I happen to break the mold and I became a child and adolescent psychotherapist lol, those knives have a lot of history and stories to tell. To bad my parents live out of state. I will try to get my father to take a pic and send it to me to post.

 

Unless your knives are totally shot, a honing steel is all you need. If you need to get the edge back, I recommend manual sharpeners. Whet stones have always worked for me. Start rough and progress from there. I can't quote grits, but my finishing stone feels like a smooth countertop, the first stone feels like sand in your bathing suit. I have a Buck Honemaster if I have to start from scratch. Highly recommend it if they still make it.
I do have an electric water lubed sharpener, it works great for lawnmower blades and garden shears.

 

Some of you will cringe but a 3 stage chef's choice gets it done very nicely. Just get the 15 deg for Japanese or the 20 deg for German, or the selectable. I've made 2 rod guided sharpeners and have done double bevels within 1 deg. I can polish the final bevel to mirror (not great for chef). But I can't beat the ease and edge I get in a few minutes a knife in bad shape and 60 seconds a knife in good shape. For the most part, I just run them all once a year and then hone them once in a while with a rod.

 

Have you visited this thread?
https://www.tundras.com/threads/lets-talk-knives.20945/
With your knowledge about knives and steels, you might enjoy it. I’m interested in seeing pictures of your other knives!

 

I went with the Yaxell Mon 8" and returned the others. handle is on the small side but comfortable, i can deal with it, very sharp, easy to use, no sharp edges other then the blade, blade has a great shape to it for rocking, slicing and dicing, cuts through everything easily, from 0-10 i'd give it an 8.5.