Knife Recommendations
Knife Guy asked:
What type of Chef’s knife do you recommend?
I mainly recommend the knife that feels right to you. Definitely high carbon stainless steel, and I advocate spending at least $85-$100, assuming that you’ll treat the knife well and get it professionally sharpened 3-4 times a year.
The knife should be sized appropriately to your hand and have a weight balance that you are happy with—so hold at least 4 or 5 different knifes before you decide on the one you want.
For my full guide to shopping for a knife, read this article and for more tips on the best way to use your knives, follow the links in my knife skills table of contents.
March 14th, 2008 at 8:41 am
I’ve always wondered how to find someone who’ll professionally sharpen good kitchen knives. Do you have any tips?
March 14th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Most stores that sell knives also have a sharpening service. Also, some hardware stores or army navy stores. I’ve never actually had to pay to get my knives sharpened (or, looking at it another way, I paid quite a bit for culinary school and thereby learned the skills to do it myself)—but have seen several places in Pittsburgh that advertise the service. I suppose the best advice I could give would be to make sure that the person who will be doing the sharpening is someone that you’d trust your knives with.
March 16th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
If you live anywhere near a Sur La Table, every April they offer free sharpening on two knives, and a dollar per inch of blade after that. It goes through the whole month, and as far as I know they’re still doing it this year. I took my knives in, and they did a pretty good job.
March 17th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Not to mention (on the DL) that if you go into Sur La Table and express interest in possibly buying an electric slicer, they’ll sharpen 1-2 knives for you for free to demo the capabilities of the machine. Who knows, you might decide you like it…. I actually had been seriously considering getting one, but the free sharpening of my blades just basically confirmed that I do a good job with the three-sided sharpening stone.
And while I’m on the subject of that, if you can get someone to teach you how to use a three-sided stone, they cost a hekuva lot less than a high-quality electric sharpener, and I firmly believe that using one helps you to develop a much better feel for your knives, and that a blade sharpened by hand holds its edge longer than a blade sharpened by machine.