this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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This is big RE: the kitchen knives. Science/engineering has figured out how to produce good steel, so it actually does not cost much to produce a very capable, good knife. Maybe you had to spend a lot for a good knife 200 years ago, but not now.
I got a Mercer chef knife from a restaurant supply store years ago. Just looking it up, it costs <$25, and it's designed to be used all day by professionals. The often recommended victorinox fibrox is similar. They are easily sharpenable, and can do whatever you need.
I also have a ~$200 chef knife I got as a gift. It's super nice, but the only real non-cosmetic differences are that the edges of the back of the blade are rounded over to make it a little more comfortable to hold while choking up on it, and it has a long warrantee that includes sharpening.
But now is the question about longevity:
Will it hold a year of kitchen work and then be basically done or will it have near/equal/better resiliency than a proper forged non-mass produced knife?
Forging really isn't necessary for a good knife. What matters is the heat treatment, which isn't all that difficult.
Eh, it's really not that much money to get a half decent set. Learn to sharpen/hone a knife and learn how to use a knife properly and you can make even cheap knives last basically forever. Babish has a <$100 knife set that's serviceable as a professional set.
I'm very into cooking and have a $700 set of Wüsthof knives and they're awesome to use, but 100% unnecessary. They'd be no better than a dollar store knife if I didn't learn to take care of them. So many people drag knife edges sideways on cutting boards, cut on improper surfaces, cut in ways that dull the edge quickly, and then throw them in the dishwasher. Then after a year of not sharpening them replace them for more than the cost of a good sharpener.
With proper care/use and almost daily cooking I sharpen my chef's knife once a month, and my other knives once every few months. For $50 you can get a sharpening system with a guide that makes it almost impossible to fuck up and you'll never pay for knives again.
I mean, it's not going to break on me. I think there's enough debate on the "stamped vs forged" issue to show that it's not a huge difference that would be noticeable to most non-professionals. Maybe if I used my knives all day every day, I'd notice a difference in edge retention or ease of sharpening, but just making dinner ever night, I don't notice a difference.
Some of it is also going to be experience using it.
Like I have Rada and Cuisinart and Wustoff knives. The Rada is super cheap, and very sharp and holds an edge well. But its handle is pretty uncomfortable, and god forbid you're trying to chop a large cabbage in half, you'll hurt your hand on the top it's sooo narrow. But I can hit it with something and it's going to cut that cabbage the easiest because it's a narrow blade. The Cuisinart were a gift long ago, and really were just overpriced worse Rada. They have thin blades and don't hold an edge as well as the Rada. The Wustoff have the most comfortable handles to hold IMO, and nice thicker backs that make them hold up to lots of abuse - you can chop bones and such without worry. They also hold an edge pretty well, but also sharpen nicely. People also seem appreciative of Wustoff so you get some status when using them FWIW.
I actually think there are things that the cheap versions can work as well as the expensive ones, but in such a PITA way that you'll infrequently use them. Cameras are one of these things - pretty much any camera can take a picture, but try a low end Motorolla phone camera vs a mid range OnePlus or high end Samsung / iPhone and you'll have so much more frustration with the Motorolla you'll get a different phone to get a "camera that works". Same with ILC - you can get a Canon 4000D and it'll be capable of taking better technical shots than the high end smartphone. It'll just require quite a lot of skill. Put it next to a high end Canon R5 and you'll see how the quality of life improvements and everything else will make it a lot more fun to use.