Recommend a chef knife that works well with a Sharpmaster.

[SorrowsEnd]

Edit: Title should read Sharpmaker. I am bad and should feel bad.

Good Morning Folks!

Odd questions first and then a little explanation. Does anyone sharpen their own kitchen cutlery with a Sharpmaker? Any recommendations of a nice chef knife?

My girlfriend is finally coming around to appreciating proper tools. The Jester on my keychain is now called on for regular duty for household tasks. The titanium Millie has helped with food prep a few times when our horribly crappy kitchenware was not up to par. I'm going to be purchasing a Sharpmaker (or it already is a Christmas gift from the hints dropped) and my girlfriend mentioned that a good knife for the kitchen is way past due. Then she said if I have a good sharpening setup I could keep her knife in proper shape.

Trying to find a nice chef knife that will make her happy. She requested her own EDC knife the other week so I got her a Delica for her purse.

I apologize if this a completely noobish question about kitchen cutlery and not about a cool Spyderco knife...I just thought this was the right place to ask.

Thank you for any comments/opinions. =)

[NoFair]

Most good chef knives are fine with a Sharpmaker. Crappy, soft stainless doesn't work too well, but that doesn't work well with most types of sharpening.

There are some nice one on spyderco.com
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=834
and these should be good as well:
http://www.knivesshipfree.com/blackwood ... t=alphaasc

I normally buy from here:
http://japanesechefsknife.com/SaiunDama ... html#Saiun


Anything in VG10 should be nice and work well in the kitchen.

[The Deacon]

Need some clarification here. Did you possibly mean a Spyderco Sharpmaker? Or are you talking about the United Cutlery pull through blade destroyer called the Sharpmaster?

The Sharpmaker should work with any good kitchen knife. Spyderco is selling some really nice ones made by SETO at the moment. Al Mar makes some beauties, as does Kershaw, and AG Russell sells some very nice ones, But there are plenty of other good ones out there, and nearly as many different opinions of which is best.

The Sharpmaster would best be reserved for the ones you can buy at the Dollar Store.

[phillipsted]

Need some clarification here. Did you possibly mean a Spyderco Sharpmaker? Or are you talking about the United Cutlery pull through blade destroyer called the Sharpmaster?

The Sharpmaker should work with any good kitchen knife. Spyderco is selling some really nice ones made by SETO at the moment. Al Mar makes some beauties, as does Kershaw, and AG Russell sells some very nice ones, But there are plenty of other good ones out there, and nearly as many different opinions of which is best.

The Sharpmaster would best be reserved for the ones you can buy at the Dollar Store.

I wouldn't give the Sharpmaster to my worst enemies. Deacon has it pegged as a "blade destroyer".

TedP

[SorrowsEnd]

Yes I incorrectly posted it as Sharpmaster.

I edited my original post to note the Sharpmaker. I apologize. No more posting before coffee in the morning.

[Syncharmony]

My girlfriend has a MAC Chef's knife, the pro line I believe that she adores. Just about any chef's knife will be fine with the sharpmaker so don't knife shop with that as a worry.

[Evil D]

pull through blade destroyer

Aaaaand I just choked on my drink and spit it everywhere lol.

[Clip]

I wouldn't give the Sharpmaster to my worst enemies. Deacon has it pegged as a "blade destroyer".

TedP

I thought that was Ankerson's nickname from all of his testing.

[Rwb1500]

I like Henckels and Shun, but you get what you pay for.

[ohcyclist]

Wustof, Global, and Shun are all very nice. I am partial to high carbon for kitchen knives, in which case R Murphy out of Mass. is domestically made and very reasonably priced. At the higher end you can always go for the Kramer line by Henckels.

[hunterseeker5]

I like Henckels and Shun, but you get what you pay for.

Not always true. I may catch some fire for this, but Richmond has an Artifex (as well as a few other guyos) in M390 for about 100$. I have one and adore it.

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/riar21gym3.html

It doesn't behave like other kitchen knives, the steel isn't soft and doesn't respond well to a butcher's steel or steeling as a sharpening method in general, but a sharpmaker (or other decent sharpening system or bench stone) will properly sharpen it. Cliff Stamp complained of an initially burned edge on his, so it took a sharpening or two to get to better performance. Mine didn't seem to have that issue, nor did another friend's. Either way, that'd be my recommendation.

Otherwise spyderco's old kitchen knives were quite nice, so I'll go out on a limb and guess that their current ones are nice as well. I hate lame pukey under-hardened VG10 as is all too common on kitchen knives like a friend's laminated Shun. That thing took a very sharp edge relatively easily, and would almost hold it for your entire first cut. :P

[springnr]

Enjoy your first good kitchen knife

[Blerv]

I actually picked up a set of 6 Kai Pure knives at Costco for $29. I recall its a budget set from Kershaw. Thin "high carbon SS" or something. Plus vibrant colors just like my personality :p

[defenestrate]

I was wondering about those, Blake. If they serve decently at that price, I might try them. I don't think I will have a budget for these finer knives, but I do prefer to avoid junk. The Kershaws I've used have been pretty nice so I'd trust them more than many companies.

[Cliff Stamp]

Cliff Stamp complained of an initially burned edge on his, so it took a sharpening or two to get to better performance.

Unfortunately this has become almost an instant conclusion now the minute that anyone has even a hint of a problem with sharpening / edge retention on a new knife.

John Davis has a video about this awhile ago and noted that if the sharpness/edge retention improved after sharpening it could be any number of issues; initial edge had a burr, the grit was not optimal, the angle was changed, etc. .

It is at least a better alternative than the people who use a knife initially, have chipping problems and then instantly conclude the steel is faulty as they are at least sharpening it once and trying it again, but the conclusion is still likely to not be well justified.

However in this case, the one I had was over heated to such an extent you could actually see visible scaling. As stainless steels have a very high resistance to oxidation (it is why they are stainless) it had to be exposed to very high heat to generate that. It was also over buffed.

The edge has improved, but even after sharpening several times to the point that the entire primary grind had to be brought down to thin the edge back, it still is only at the level of matching the better AEB-L and VG-10 knives on cardboard. I think there is a decent knife in there. I will revisit it in awhile.

[gaj999]

Define "good". Victorinox is a good value. Global is a good balance of value and performance. Henkels and Wusthof are good if you like to sharpen your knives often. Chicago Cutlery is good if you want US made. Any number of really nice knives are available if "good" means "really high end".

Gordon

[bh49]

I actually picked up a set of 6 Kai Pure knives at Costco for $29. I recall its a budget set from Kershaw. Thin "high carbon SS" or something. Plus vibrant colors just like my personality :p

Blake,
I am stunned. Would you EDC this kind of pocket knives 6 for $29?
Just get a good stuff up to level of you spydies and lights. You will see the difference. I am using Kanetsune 8" K02 Gyuto for few years and love it. My Yang not even close in cutting performance. I decided to go cheap on paring knife and got $20+ low line of Shun. It looks good, but grind is too thick. Get a good Japanese Gyuto or at least Victorinox. The steel is not there, but grind on Vics is nice, thin.

[Cliff Stamp]

While there are a lot of low performing inexpensive knives, not all of the inexpensive kitchen knives are such. As just one example :



The blue knife on top is very inexpensive yet it has :

-an edge which is only 0.014" thick
-secondary edge bevel which is ~ 14 dps

It has no real issues with the design/execution. The steel sharpens easily and is very corrosion resistant.

Like most knives I would recommend sharpening it a few times before you judge the steel. These knives can be bought locally for < $5 (you can often get them two for $5) and they work very well in the kitchen, some people even like the color coding.

[einstein2001]

I've got a CCK 1303 on the way. :D

[chuckd]

Ive got shun, cutco and wusthoff chefs knives. In order of awesomeness starting with the favorite is the shun ken onion 8". The shun is an amazing cutter, sharpens up really well and holds the edge well too, not to mention the ergonomics are fantastic. Wusthoff is next with a better blade design than the cutco, it is a definite slicer and takes a really good edge and holds well. I like the cutco and use it for certain tasks, but while still being a very nice knife, it doesn't quite make it compared to the other 2.