Sean/Matt what is the brand of knife or who makes the knives you guys use? Levi asked me so he can check them out.

That is a loaded question.  I bought a knife for daily use that has the best fitting handle and balance for my hand, not the one whose edge I like the most.

This is what I use for 95% of my knife work: 10" Shun Classic 

https://shun.kaiusaltd.com/knives/knife/classic-10-in-chefs-knife

I think I paid around $140 for it.  The only reason the $140 is relevant is that I gave myself a $500 budget to buy the knife that fit me best with a reasonable blade.  This one did not out cut other knives, but I felt more confident and polished with it.  That is of course WAY more important than anything else.

If I were buying based on blade alone, the 10" MAC chef's knife is a winner (so is the 8 if you are smaller than me).

https://www.macknife.com/products/chef-series-10-chefs-knife-bk-100

If it fits your hands that is fundamentally price point wise I think the winner in the knife world.

Outside of the Shun, I have a full set of Cutco knives (which we won) that I use for the beach/camping etc.  They are fucking terrible.

For our wedding we were given a full set of Global knives.  Why these are good blades they are shit compared to the MAC and handle wise are made for Japanese or women or those of rather small stature.  They are a bitch to sharpen as well.

For steak knives I have the set of budget Wusthof's.  I think $70 or so for the 8 knives.  They are okay, but need to be sharpened A LOT.

Lastly the knife that I use when I am not using my Shun is a 32cm custom made Masamoto sashimi knife.  I use this for all fish work and slicing anything that has nothing hard in it.  It is a 7deg one sided blade, so you can fundamentally shave with it.  I had it custom made for me in Tsukuji, Japan to fit my hand and the knife smith.  It was a bit under $500 as I opted for 4 upgrades in the steel.  The knife is amazing.  It is the upgrade from this one, but I can't find it on the web.

https://www.hocho-knife.com/masamoto-cobalt-steel-fuguhiki-sashimi-300mm/?gclid=CjwKCAiAo9_QBRACEiwASknDwdseMOjI3I3VZyZ6UCFlv7cQgRA0MF9LlZ2tvcbbjNPHBC1cvYHPxhoCmAsQAvD_BwE

The only other must knife to have in my block is the bread knife.  For this the global is a winner.  In fact it is too sharp to cut buns in your hands.  For that I actually keep the Cutco bread & butter knife in a drawer and use.  I hardly consider that a cutting blade though as I mostly use it for spreading butter/mayo/cream cheese.

The other knife most people use is a pairing knife.  I use my 10" chef knife for this work outside of 1 task.  That task is peeling apples.  For this however any $15 knife that fits in my hand is fine.  The MAC makes a great pairing knife but it is so sharp that for stuff like this it can break the skin.  The motion used for peeling the apple is to draw the knife into your thumb and then rotate and bite again.  I have a Global one that I just don't sharpen I use for this, but I don't like it.  Of course I haven't replaced it because a unitasker for only Apples seems absurd.

shit, won't let me edit.  By Costco knives, I meant Cutco

Ok, now it did.  WTF.

Sean explained it

 

My main kitchen knife is a Miyabi, sandwiched Damascus with a harder steel core.  I think it was endorsed by Morimoto from iron chef.  It was a good price.  

 

I also have an extremely long sashimi knife, and for a butcher knife, I use a Deba Bocho

So that may be hard on Levi, but balance and handle are more important than the blade.  Of course with the perfect handle and balance a shitty blade still sucks.

The other thing most people miss out on is that ANY blade can be sharpened to a wicked sharpness, the only question is how long can it keep it and how easy is it to maintain.  This is one area I like the mac.  Same angle as the fiskar so their pocket stone sharpener works which is huge for noobs.

One other knife in my arsenal that I really like.  It is the Global boning knife.  I use it pretty much for only 2 things.  Removing the rib bones from locally caught fish. (will do the whole fish if it is Northern or Walleye, but if it is a bucket full of crappies the slabs get separated with an electric knife).  The other purpose is of course boning poultry or beef.  LOVE the blade for this.  By far the best combination of flexibility, sharpness, and long term stability that I have used for this.

https://www.globalcutleryusa.com/classic-g21.html

I would prefer a bigger handle, but the blade works and I don't use it very long at any one point so I haven't replaced it.

2 minutes ago, dem beats said:

Sean explained it

 

My main kitchen knife is a Miyabi, sandwiched Damascus with a harder steel core.  I think it was endorsed by Morimoto from iron chef.  It was a good price.  

 

I also have an extremely long sashimi knife, and for a butcher knife, I use a Deba Bocho

Why the hell are you awake.  I have little ones that took care of it for me...

For someone wanting to start a knife block, here is exactly what to do and how to spend:

$150-175 - Chef's knife

$25 - Bread knife

$20 - Pairing knife

$40-70 - Boning/filet knife depending on how often you use it and for what

$50-70 for a set of steak knives

Next jump would be a sashimi style knife, but those you need to spend $200+ and for that you better cut A LOT of fish.

Spending money on ANY set or anything else is ludicrous.  Nobody EVER uses the other knives and when they do it is because they are clean or they don't know how to actually use a knife in the first place.

If you need to cut budget I would do it on all the non-chef's knives first and it last.

Then if you are concerned and can't use the chef's knife for most tasks the next $30 you should spend is on a knives skills class.  In general that is ALWAYS the best money on knives you can spend.

Ok, I think I'm done.  Lol

Most I've spent on a knife is $7.  

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Why the hell are you awake.  I have little ones that took care of it for me...

I'm having a rough go of it.  Lol

50 minutes ago, Tirefryr said:

Most I've spent on a knife is $7.  

It is a tool...in your case one that you don't use as often as other tools so your priorities are different.  

I would like to elaborate on handles for a moment.

 

Ideally I like an octagon or mild "D" shape.  Add your jokes here.

Spending anything on a knife if you don't cook is kind of silly.  I've had my hands bleed from cutting vegis before , so if a knife makes me feel better, I don't care if it's $900.  That said, my chef knife is my most used by a ton, and my sashimi knife it used next to never.

 

55 minutes ago, Tirefryr said:

Most I've spent on a knife is $7.  

I think you mentioned you don't even sharpen them right?

 

Amazing stuff.  I'm impressed with that atitude.  I'm always obsessed with finding the best version of anything.  It's a sickness.

2 minutes ago, dem beats said:

Amazing stuff.  I'm impressed with that atitude.  I'm always obsessed with finding the best version of anything.  It's a sickness.

Yes my brother.  Sick indeed...and obviously a shared family trait.

2 minutes ago, ///M5 said:

Yes my brother.  Sick indeed...and obviously a shared family trait.

I'm 35 and I still haven't figured out how to pump the breaks on just soaking up info for something that may not exactly matter.

:-D

I wouldn't know what to do with a proper knife.  In my instance, ignorance truly is bliss.

Cheaper too. 

The ability to be comfortable in that being happy is something I'm honestly jealous of.

Wait, wha?  That is possible?

1 hour ago, ///M5 said:

Wait, wha?  That is possible?

I don't know, Ryan (both) seem to find exceeding levels of joy living in the moment and even in reflection of those moments.  Best car scenario we are enjoying time with people we love.... But upon reflection, even with a mind full of joy, you and I are gonna work on our sous vide game or fill in the current goals there.

 

Some people have also told me there are brief moments where people find something called "inner calm".

 

It's really strange that I don't have a really hard drug habit.  

The worst part about goal setting is once it's in Me, my work ethic says 105%.

 

I was kidding.  Mostly because I am jealous as well.  Although I am sure there are certain things in life we take for granted that others greatly stress over.  Just not sure what they are.

I need to get me some good knives..I had a hell of a time carving ham....I still have a whole ham that got sent home with me in the fridge to carve..I didnt carve it cause my knives are garbage ..I just need something deccent on the cheap