Best Chef Knife That Isnt Silly Expensive?
i want to buy my GF a chef knife as she is a trainee chef and christmas is looming 
. im looking for something that isnt silly expensive but not plastic cheep i would like one that is nice looking and has a good blade so it can last her as long as she needs. i heard that 8-10 inch is best for multipurpose so that would be nice.
also i do know engraving will weaken the blade but meh is there any companies that will do it for me if buy any chance an answerer is from Bpool or preston have u got any ideas where i could get it done ?
thank u for any replys
It’d really help if you told us approximate budget. Silly expensive starts from 50$ for many people, but there’s a lot of folks who pay 700-800$ for a chaf’s knife and are very happy with it(myself included)…
Anyway, let’s assume your GF is using western kitchen knives. Based on that:
Chef’s knives can be anywhere from 5 to 12+ inches long. What she prefers and likes better is what you should get. 8-10 is best for multipurpose is very vague statement. At some point I liked 10″, then as I got more effient I prefer 12″ chef’s knives, but even if I use longer yanagibas or slicers, I don’t feel I want longer chef’s knives, at least for now. So, dunno if you can ask her, but best is to buy whatever shew likes and prefers length wise. I’ve seen relatively short folks using 12″ blades and being very comfy with them and 6″ tall dudes feeling not so sure with 8″ knives..
As far as western kitchen knives go, High end Henckels and Wusthofs are both made of X50CrMoV15 steel, and it is very unlikely anybody can tell the difference between those two, so it’s purely up to you which one of those.
Alternatively, Messermeister uses slightly better steel, x55CrMoV15, and initial edges on Messermeisters are better than on Henckels/Wusthofs. And they’re heat treated better , or so the rummor is. Either way, they will stay sharpen a little longer.
Here’s the steel comparison graph if it helps – http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/ste…
Globals are better performers that any of the above, but have more delicate edges. Well, more expensive too. But they’re not as fragile as true Japanese kitchen knives, on the other hand those cut a lot better compared to Globals and western knives and stay sharper much longer. Just need more care and attention.
Here’s a few chefs knives reviews for you – http://www.zknives.com/knives/kitchen/kt…
And Japanese guytos – http://www.zknives.com/knives/kitchen/kt…
Engraving when done properly doesn’t weaken anything. Whether it’s laser or etching it shouldn’t be a problem. I know few online sources, but since you want something local I can’t really help.
Few hints what not to do:
Ignore general knife marketing BS:
1) Forged vs. stamped – As knife marketing tells us good kitchen knives have to be forged, and have full bolster and tang. NONE of that is true. E.g. Stamped Globals are much better performers than most of the forged mainstream kitchen knives. Stamped Forschners are made from the same steels as Wusthoffs and Henckels and I’ll bet 1000$ to anyone they won’t be able to tell the difference neither in edge holding nor in cutting performance.
I bought Forged and stamped versions of the same chef’s knife from Global, and I didn’t get anything but extra weight and spent more money on forged knife.
2) Full tang – Another BS, Katana swords and bowie knives are not full tang, yet they can cut through armor and leather, so I really doubt you need more strength than that in the kitchen.
3) Bolsters make sense only on narrow boning knives to protect your hand from slippage, but on other wider knives blade choil area does the job, bolster just makes sharpening a nightmare.
4) Avoid both, Cutco and Furi. Both have very misleading and aggressive marketing, but as knives both are junk.
5) Avoid any kitchen knife that doesn’t specify the steel, in 99.99% of the cases it’s real junk despite of the shiny looks. “High carbon surgical” blah blah.. It’s gonna be 420 or 440A and wont’ hold the edge worth a damn…
More on how to choose kitchen knives here – http://www.zknives.com/knives/kitchen/mi…
I like Mercer knives specifically the Genesis line…Low cost but works almost as good as my Wusthof knives. Link is below! Hope this helps!
http://www.recipes.com
i dunno( thats an answer right?)