Knives recommendations


 
D

DennisT

TVWBB Member
Looking for recommendations on knives - specifically a knife for trimming brisket (looks like many use a boning knife) and for carving. I want something that is going to last but not too high priced.
 
I'll go a different way. Go buy yourself an easy to use knife sharpener:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CW4T6RS/?tag=tvwb-20 - like the Ken Onion edition

Go to the thrift shops around and pick up a $2 knife (or a bunch of them). While I love nice new shiny things, knives to me are semi-disposable tools. The cheapest knife at the thrift shop will still be razor sharp for many a brisket...and when your wife goes to cut weeds with it, you won't want to bury her in the yard for using it!
 
Beginning with a good knife and learning how to take care of it is money well spent.
Thrift store knives that I’ve seen are trash, there is a reason people are getting rid of them. No matter how cheap, when you cut yourself, you will not be thinking about how much money you “saved”! Garden knives are a different animal, kitchen cutlery and gardening tools are far and away different pieces of equipment. Sorry Grant, I feel totally the opposite of your idea here.
When I was 14 years old I bought my first Chefs knife, Chicago cutlery 10” with walnut handle, I’m 63 in August and it is still in my block and sees use daily. Buy buy good equipment, take care of it and it will last you many many years.
The Victorinox pieces I’ve had have served well and are a good value. A good boning knife is good for a lot, a good slicing knife is another good investment. Don’t buy cheap, buy good value which will give you years of service.
Nothing wrong with “Cutco” either, I picked up one of their “adjustable” fillet knives that is pretty darned nice, it wasn’t cheap but, it should last me the rest of my life.
End of my sermon.
 
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Sadly the Chicago Cutlery you bought is not the same as today's CC products which are now just just cheap Chinese imitators of what they once were. But yeah good knives are like good tools. You cannot go wrong
 
Yep, fully aware of the decline in quality but exactly, cheap tools are no bargain if they don’t do the job!
I have a really beautiful ten inch Chefs knife from the Warther knife company in Dover Ohio. Elegant knife! Good tools are a good investment, then take care of them.
 
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This is going to sound silly, but I'm a former chef and I stopped buying all those fancy German knives when I discovered the Mercer Millennia series of knives. I think the boning knife was about $10 online, and I've been buying that line exclusively since my first purchase. They hold a great edge and are a fraction of the price of Henkles or Wuhstoff.
 
I too have a +20 year old Chicago Cutlery knife set with walnut handles, I use it daily! For slicing brisket, ribs tri-tip etc. I use a Victorinox slicing knife.
 
I have heard very, very, good things about Mercer knives, never used one though. I got a “Cutluxe” 12” slicer from Amazon and so far it’s really dandy, only used to for brisket and ham but, balance is good and the edge is excellent!
 
Larry D. said:
The Victorinox Fibrox line gets good reviews.
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Start here!! I wanted to upgrade my knives and just went down a rabbit hole.
I decide to embrace the victorinox knives I had and added a few. They are great, easy to sharpen and if you mess one up it won’t ruin your day.
 
Bruno said:
Start here!! I wanted to upgrade my knives and just went down a rabbit hole.
I decide to embrace the victorinox knives I had and added a few. They are great, easy to sharpen and if you mess one up it won’t ruin your day.
Click to expand...
So we couldn't suck you into the Japanese blade? :)

Most of my "daily" knives are Victorinox fibrox handled knives (chef, boning, santoku, paring, 12" granton slicer.) All hold a good edge, and are easily sharpened in my Chef's Choice electric. I do have one "fancy" Japanese chef's knife......I'm the only one who uses it. :)

R
 
DennisT said:
Looking for recommendations on knives - specifically a knife for trimming brisket (looks like many use a boning knife) and for carving. I want something that is going to last but not too high priced.
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Go to a few stores and handle the knives you're most likely to use, and buy the ones that feel right because price, reputation and country of origin don't mean diddly when it comes to actually cutting something.

And if you already have a bench grinder you don't need to buy a knife sharpener, just a stone or a steel to true the edge between sharpenings.
 
Rich G said:
So we couldn't suck you into the Japanese blade? :)

Most of my "daily" knives are Victorinox fibrox handled knives (chef, boning, santoku, paring, 12" granton slicer.) All hold a good edge, and are easily sharpened in my Chef's Choice electric. I do have one "fancy" Japanese chef's knife......I'm the only one who uses it. :)

R
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I do still want that one amazing chefs knife but too many choices.
 
I know very little about knives--and less about sharpening--but I bought this 4 years ago and I'm well-satisfied with it for trimming:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QCNJ3C/?tag=tvwb-20

When I need a large blade for slicing this works well for me:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CFDB9/?tag=tvwb-20

For routine carving of items such as poultry, ribs, or, say, a Tri-tip I use a KitchenAid chef knife whose link I don't have.

I don't know how to sharpen by manual process and since I have no ambition to learn I need something with distinct edge guides and a step-by-step guided process, so I use a Chef'sChoice 130 or 15XV. The Work Sharp Ken Onion works well but I don't enjoy changing belts to progress through the sharpening process.
 
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BFletcher said:
I know very little about knives--and less about sharpening--but I bought this 4 years ago and I'm well-satisfied with it for trimming:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QCNJ3C/?tag=tvwb-20

When I need a large blade for slicing this works well for me:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CFDB9/?tag=tvwb-20

For routine carving of items such as poultry, ribs, or, say, a Tri-tip I use a KitchenAid chef knife whose link I don't have.
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Both of those were my first knife purchases or very close too, once I started BBQing briskets!
 
BFletcher said:
I know very little about knives--and less about sharpening--but I bought this 4 years ago and I'm well-satisfied with it for trimming:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QCNJ3C/?tag=tvwb-20

When I need a large blade for slicing this works well for me:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CFDB9/?tag=tvwb-20

For routine carving of items such as poultry, ribs, or, say, a Tri-tip I use a KitchenAid chef knife whose link I don't have.

I don't know how to sharpen by manual process and since I have no ambition to learn I need something with distinct edge guides and a step-by-step guided process, so I use a Chef'sChoice 130 or 15XV. The Work Sharp Ken Onion works well but I don't enjoy changing belts to progress through the sharpening process.
Click to expand...

I bought the large slicer back in 2011. It's gone up in price since then - I paid $35 and back then, couldn't believe I was paying "so much" for a single knife. :ROFLMAO: It's been good though.
 
JimK said:
I bought the large slicer back in 2011. It's gone up in price since then - I paid $35 and back then, couldn't believe I was paying "so much" for a single knife. :ROFLMAO: It's been good though.
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Hilarious I had the exact same thought.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Beginning with a good knife and learning how to take care of it is money well spent.
Thrift store knives that I’ve seen are trash, there is a reason people are getting rid of them. No matter how cheap, when you cut yourself, you will not be thinking about how much money you “saved”! Garden knives are a different animal, kitchen cutlery and gardening tools are far and away different pieces of equipment. Sorry Grant, I feel totally the opposite of your idea here.
When I was 14 years old I bought my first Chefs knife, Chicago cutlery 10” with walnut handle, I’m 63 in August and it is still in my block and sees use daily. Buy buy good equipment, take care of it and it will last you many many years.
The Victorinox pieces I’ve had have served well and are a good value. A good boning knife is good for a lot, a good slicing knife is another good investment. Don’t buy cheap, buy good value which will give you years of service.
Nothing wrong with “Cutco” either, I picked up one of their “adjustable” fillet knives that is pretty darned nice, it wasn’t ap but, it should last me the rest of my life.
End of my sermon.
Click to expand...

I have no problem with a differing opinion, but a couple of your statements are really just pure nonsense...

First off, my opinion is, like many things, a significant portion of the knife business has gone PURE marketing hype...with all the wannabe cooks and home chefs...they are easy targets. Go out and spend $350 on a Japanese carbon knife...then they don't even take care of it properly and use it until it is dull...or for not even the correct purpose.

I've see numerous thrift store knives which are actually very good steel and known brands. Often some very OLD, unknown/unmarked knives which have amazing steel in them. I go once a week to search through them and other items. They are not all trash (though certainly many are). People are idiots and throw out incredible items of quality because they are old or dull. I've found carbon steel and also two Henckel Profession S last year which are incredible. But even the cheapest Chinese stainless sharpens and hold an edge for quite some time when you are only using them a couple times a week. I have three knives in my RV which I paid a total of about $10 for...and they are all razor sharp on third year now...just because they only get used a few weeks every year.

"When you cut yourself...." That is just pure BS. Learn some knife skills before buying a knife. Dull knifes cut people, not CHEAP knives. 90% of people if blindfolded would not be able to tell the difference between two similar chefs knives. The cheapest $2 knife, when sharp, cuts pretty well the same as a $200 knife in the hands of an average person. Sorry, but don't blame the tool! Even many profession chefs do not even purchase their own knives anymore - they use relatively inexpensive NSF grade knifes and resharpening services and they swap them out weekly etc.

Sorry, but my opinion is the average "home" chef is just throwing away money on the highest end knives. They are beautiful to have and use for sure, but I've sharpened over 60 knives in the last year for friends/family (and a little profit as a little side gig) and nothing but incredible happy people using them. 90% of them come with Walmart brand knife sets...it's pretty uncommon for the average household to have expensive knives. I have one customer who brings me knives once every few months as she has a home business doing salads in jars and not a single knife she owns is worth more than $20. She has a paring knife that has been sharpened so many times it is concave now...and she loves it and would not trade it for anything.

So, if you want a knife to keep forever, and KNOW how to use and take care of them (or are willing to continually pay to have them sharpened) for heirloom purposes, that is one thing. If all you want is a knife to trim brisket...well, if you want to spend the $$ on a blade, that comes down to a personal direction.
 
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