Expensive Knives Are Worse Than You Think 

Yeah, you are the one. While watching the video I was thinking that the music is great and was looking for the name of the song :)

The issue is more that so many brands will just say ‘high carbon’ regardless of the actual quantity, so you always need to check the actual steel composition. It’s such a misused term that it’s essentially useless, I’ve seen knives sub 0.4% marketed as high carbon. I have found that most truly high carbon Japanese style knives are around 1% and above, but yeah I guess determining exactly what is ‘high carbon’ is relative to the type of knife you’re looking for. 0.6% is pretty mid in the overall knife market, unless you’re only looking at western style knives, in which case it’s quite high

Thank you 🙏

Sounds like you think with your wallet and bias and not actual results.

​@@DemoMan-fq9zi This reply reads like a spiteful attempt to validate to yourself that you made the right choice in buying a less expensive knife. His comment is on the fit and finish of the knives and he acknowledges they perform as well as each other. I haven't tried dozens of expensive knives, but the Wusthof Classic's weight, balance, and ergonomics are the best I've felt in a kitchen knife. I also own the Mercer knife, the quality and weight distribution don't even come close. Grinding my knives against bricks and soaking them in water are not real use cases, so what are the "results" that you're lauding?

You should look into Japanese knives. This comparison didn't compare high end knives and low end knives. It compared knives of similar hardness across a price range. Yes a wusthof is an expensive German knife. Which plants it squarely in mid range knife territory. An expensive knife is $1,000 and no cheap knife can even come close to being compared. One handle is plastic, the other is semi-precious stone... and that's just the handle. So if we open our spectrum a little bit. We humans can have a high quality knife for less than an expensive mid range knife that is a wusthof. This knife would be a Tojiro DP. 100 dollars and better in every way than a wusthof except perhaps the handle. I'm not trying to deflate wusthof at all. I'm German, my last name is Hoffman. I would love to love my heritage more than others. But I consider myself a man of science. Wusthof makes great knives. Some of the best German knives that exist on an obtainable level. But there is definetley better to be had. I feel like I have found that level of best knife. It begins with the steel. SG2 stainless is a beautiful sweet spot in blade metal. The cheapest I've found it recently is in Zwillings Miyabi mizu series (I own these) on sale, $150 for the chefs knife. A true Japanese SG2 blade starts around 200 or 250 with a finish applied. This steel stays sharp forever! I haven't sharpened in 2 years. I could keep going but don't see a need, plus I want that razor back! 2 weeks ago it beat the electric slicer on the prime rib @ my mom's for Thanksgiving. I also earned the honor of slicing meats @ family events moving forward I guess... I can't recommend Japanese knives enough. They can actually save you money up front and then more in the long run! If your shopping for good knives that is. And if your shopping on the cheap you're just a decade from shooting yourself in the foot, combined with a decade of hating cooking. I now only buy knives I consider functional art. It becons me to the kitchen to cook. It fills me with joy to use my art to try to make more art just to destroy it all and begin again tomorrow! I have 2 mercer millenias. They are great training knives for the pinch grip, or when testing out a 10" chef knife, or when you want to smash things with your knife. But it's only 50 hardness on the blade. I have sharper paperweights after not too long.

​ Having a German name doesn't make you German. I know lots of people with names from all over the world. They're English. David Hasslehoff has a German name. He's American. You need to work on your copywriting skills for these little promotions you do in the comments.

Wüsthof* chef's knife ...

Nice, the Genesis is one I’m yet to try out

Neither Wüsthof* nor Zwilling offer a lifetime warranty*. The reason why they make rather soft-steel, thick-bladed knives is the European style of cutting and cooking, not any warranty concerns.

@@einundsiebenziger5488 if you look at vintage models from both brands they made spines thicker but they are NOT thick at the edge.

Henckels*

@@einundsiebenziger5488 Thanks for correcting my spelling. I can’t believe I missed that.

They do slightly different jobs. When you use a knife the blade will go slightly out of alignment at the almost microscopic level, like little sharp teeth. A honing steel pushes these ‘teeth’ back into alignment - it’s a way of keeping the knife well maintained for longer before you eventually have to sharpen it again. A strop is used just after sharpening to remove the burr, which is basically a small amount of excess metal still clinging onto the edge of the blade

I have several expensive (to me) brands, including Global, Wustof, and Myabi, but I frequently use a Kiwi Brand #288 that also has an HRC around 52. It's lightweight and the blade is so thin that wedging is never an issue. With regular stropping or a smooth (not grooved) steel, I can keep the edge very sharp despite the softness of the steel. Coincidentally, I also have a Kai Shun Kai Wasabi santoku. It's a good knife for the price.

That`s what I do, I use an S grip, so I completely agree (:

Japanese steel. If your on a budget. Tojiro classic DP, $100, VG10 (60-62hrc),western grip, full tang with bolster, been in the industry for decades, considered a laser by professional chefs world wide, tested by me today against a $400 knife and held up well. If your on less of a budget bypass VG10 stainless and go for SG2 Stainless. Its more about the metal than the brand. The cheapest ive seen in SG2 are my very own miyabi mizu 8" chef for 150 on the zon. If your on even less of a budget im in love with my Nigara homono SG2 kiritsuke nakiri with custom western grip. The thing is a true unicorn nakiri with a sharp pointed tip! I keep calling it a gender bender lol... Other top notch brands 300-600 for a gyuto depending on the grip. Different finishes vary the price as well. All of these companies have SG2 lines. Takeshi Saji Yu Kurosaki Ryusen Homono

@@brandonhoffman4712 Ive seen a chai dao by yu kurosaki, ofc it was sold imediatly. Id love to add it to my bunka/gyuto combo. Im a bit of a fanboy, good quality.. hefty price though.. but things like that u can use for 20+ years.. makes it worth the investment. I also use cheap victorinox/zwilling knives.. its about the mood ur in. But things like these makes cooking more fun for sure.

My personal opinion, comparing to Victorinox: Dexter-Russel knife steel rusts quite easily. Victorinox knife steel is quite a bit more rust-resistant. Victorinox knives have better edge retention. Victorinox knives take a finer edge than Dexter-Russel knives do. However, both manufactures make knives that easily easily surpass the degree of sharpness suitable for general-purpose use in western kitchens. I prefer the feel of Dexter-Russel knives, but a large part of this has to do with texture-sensitivity; I don't like the way the texture of Victorinox's "Fibrox" feels to my touch. I much prefer the texture of Dexter Russel's SaniSafe grips. (As a point of reference: I don't like the way velvet feels to my touch either.) So... If you throw your knives in the sink for a while, and leave them in the drying rack for a while after washing, avoid Dexter-Russell. Otherwise, mince a couple onions with knives from various brands, and choose the one that feels best to you. Here are the notes I made about my initial impression of the Dexter-Russel 8" Cook's Knife S145-8 with SaniSafe handles: This knife arrived a little dull, but about 50 swipes through the Rada wheel sharpener was sufficient to sharpen it to my standard sharpness for cooking knives. The top surface of the blade had sharpish corners, which I ground round to avoid finger irritation. The knife's tip was rounded rather than pointed, so I ground the tip to give the knife a good point. Overall, my initial impressions are 1) this is not a premium-quality knife, though quite usable, and 2) the steel on this knife is softish. Expect to touch up this knife regularly. The handle is comfortable. It appears the designer intends the user to pinch the handle rather than the blade when using a pinch grip.

@@warpedweirdo I asked because years ago, it was my wife's job to clean up after the kitchen ladies at a church. One day she noticed that a 6" Zwilling utility knife was missing. The lady who ran the kitchen said that they could no longer get it sharp, so she threw it away. You never seen a proud woman do a header into a trash can so fast. She came out with that Zwilling and a 6" Dexter Russel cook's knife. For the rest of her life, I was not allowed to touch those knives except to sharpen them. She passed a year and a half ago and I had to go back in the kitchen for the first time in 30 years. Out of the knives available in that kitchen, the Dexter Russel is my favorite. I was just wondering if I should seek to improve on it. I still don't touch her Zwilling. LOL.

@@Clubtender Doesn't hurt much to experiment. Just make sure you know what you're getting into before doling out more than $100 for a knife. You'll find some expensive knives have poor reviews because the purchasers don''t understand just how fragile the edges are on super-slicers. They do things like run the blade into an avocado seed, then twist to remove the seed from the avocado. Or hit a bone while cutting. Or use the knife to cut "hard" vegetables. The blade gets a big chip, prompting a bad review. I've even encountered a couple negative "I dropped my knife and the blade snapped in half!" type reviews. Everything is a trade-off. For me personally, the tradeoffs favor sub-$100 knives, of which Victorinox would be king were it not for the texture of their "Fibrox" handles.

as a knife guy this video is garbage from 30 seconds in. I have a collection of kitchen knives worth tens of thousands of dollars and I have seen and used just about everything on the market. The first thing he says is "quality steel." this is nonsense. even knives made of obsolete out of date, high maintenance low performance steels that were never even designed for use in knives like Japanese "white" steel can make excellent knives, and there are many knives made of this steel that can cost thousands of dollars. Obviously this video is directed at folks looking for a tool in the kitchen not necessarily a fancy ceremonial object or status symbol or even ultra high end knife... anyway, what matters the most is not the steel. the matters very little in the end. The difference between good knives and junk knives is how they are designed and made. This comes down to factors like the weight, balance, the cutting geometry ie the way the steel is grinded, etc. etc. The stainless steel used in German knives 4116 is basically the lowest end stuff you find in decent knives and yet in a well designed knife it can work just fine without any issue. What matters is the cutting geometry, how thick or think the steel is behind the edge, the blade profile, the balance, the weight distribution, all these things. And yes of course materials matters also, but to say steel is the #1 thing to look for is really dumb and I wanted to end the video after 30 seconds. if you want a high end knife as a kitchen tool, the most common suggestion for folks who know what they're doing is something like a Takamura R2. That's a solid one. Well worth the cost of around under $200 for the 210 mm gyoto. Which is on the lower end for high end knives. Really nice knives usually cost twice that. The good thing about German knives with bolsters is the bolster gives a lot of rigidity which enables them to grind the blades thinner than they otherwise would be. But some makers like zwilling still make chunky junky knives. Even the Japanese knives Zwilling sells like Miyabi mostly tend to have not great grinds on them.

@@jeffhicks8428 the Victorinox will cut up carrots just as well as any other knife. Him saying steel is important is referring to the knife being made out of a named knife steel that should be a pre requisite for buying a knife that will perform at acceptable levels. Your suggestion to buy a $200 knife is not at all realistic for most people when a Victorinox will do as good of a job. Despite you thinking it takes a lot of money to design a knife at the end of the day it is a wedge for seperating material fine blanking can make almost any shape for the blade and injection molding plastic can make almost any shape for the handle and if you are making a lot of knives it doesn't add that much cost to optimise both.

@@jeffhicks8428 the Takakura R2 does look to be a great knife but for the general kitchen knife user they are likely to chip it due to the high hardness and the steel will be more likely to rust and it will be hard for them to sharpen. I think a general non knife person will get better service out of the Victorinox.

@@JohnFrumFromAmerica You missed the point. A vnox out of the box is a fine knife for most folks. There are similar options for less money these days, but leave that aside for now. With some modification, ie of the cutting geometry, the vnox can be made to hang with almost anything, despite being made from a rather low end stainless steel called 4116. The point is steel doesn't matter as much as you think. everything else does. the reason i suggest the takamura r2 is because it's a turn key high performance knife. out of the box, it can hang with anything. the one benefit of those German knives with bolsters is the bolster allows them to grind the blade much thinner if they choose to. this affords higher cutting performance, but a lot of products have the bolster and dont even take advantage of that, like a lot of zwilling stuff ive seen. the fact of the matter is, 4116 can't get very hard, isn't tough ie can chip easier, and it doesn't hold edges very good. vs. another higher end steel like say R2. but the whole point I'm making is steel doesn't matter as much as you think. the design of the knife, the ergos, the balance, and critically the way the blade is ground, ie the cutting geometry, matter MORE than steel. I can modify a vnox to cut circles around knives with fancier steels that cost 5x as much. but the idea of suggesting the takamura is for a knife thats not too expensive that is already top notch performance without needing any modifications. this is why so many pros use that knife. it's the most common suggestion you will see in kitchen knife forums for a reason. for entry level, the vnox is a fine choice as well. like I said with mods, I can hang with almost anything. steel doesn't matter that much.

@@jeffhicks8428 I think you are reading too much into the steel is the number one thing about a knife. All the knives he chose have very basic steels. He is not saying everything needs to be a powder steel. All he is saying is a knife should be made out of a steel that is designed for cutlery. For the non knife person this is important as they often buy no name knives with really bad steels. But as you said basic steels can perform reasonably. If you only want to spend $50 to $20 then this video is good advice. If you want to spend 200 to 300$ then the considerations would be different and your advice sounds good but that would be a different video with a different audience.

Where can you buy a Wüsthof knife for the same price as a Victorinox Fibrox knife?

Victorinox* / not* heavy

Well, they both have great marketing departments...

Misen is already out of business due to bankruptcy.

I own handforged japanese knives, also expensive european ones.. but mostly just grab my victorinox chinese chefs knife.. the cheapest thing i own.. but the most fun to use.. I am looking to upgrade sometime to a better chinese slicer.. (maybe japanese made, but hard to find). I would reccomend anyone thats in to cooking to atleast try one sometimes.

I can't recommend Tojiro DP enough. Blows the pants off a wusthof and my last name is Hoffman! Seriously though, I just cut with one for the 1st time and my eyes widened in amazement. It's rivaling my 450 dollar Nigara. They come recommended by many chefs and now I see why. I got one for my mom for Christmas and my Nigara @ the same time. Told myself the Nigara couldn't be the first true Japanese knife I used. So went to test mom's Christmas gift. She's going to be so happy! A Tojiro DP Chefs knife runs about 100 bucks. Is made of VG10 with a hardness of 60-62. I'm a stickler for SG2 stainless. I prefer 62-65 hardness for my blade steel. I sharpen 1x every 2 years. I'm right @ 2 years and 2 weeks ago my knife sliced a med rare prime rib better than an electric slicer. I could probably make it to year 3, but would feel like a heathen! I too take my blades to 8,000 then strop. I've heard you can stop @ 4,000-6,000 on German steel. I've heard that taking it to 8,000 is redundant on German blades and professional knife sharpeners don't do it. At least according to knifewear, one of my knife sources. It has to do with the grain structure of the steel.

@@brandonhoffman4712 I'll look into that....I'm really happy with the longevity and keenness of the edge on Gustav...I use the stone maybe twice a year, and 5000 grit wet and dry to remind me where the edge is when giving it a touch up on the ceramic steel...my original Gustave 10", is still on use, but it's a bit thicker at the edge now... probably lost 3 mm over the years..but I'll get it back to it's former glory... eventually...it's a pretty hard steel to convince...and I won't put it near a grinder....I'm old fashioned.. cheers for your input anf channel

@@alimitchell5346 have you looked into thinning your old blade. Technically its supposed to be part of the sharpening process. I dont know how often, but i think every 2-3 sharpenings. It can still be done on yours, but it might be a bit of work. You might want to consider sending it in to a shop. I would think on a 10 inch your probably talking 30 bucks and that includes a sharpening. Ive never sent a blade in to get thinned, im just going off some pricing ive seen. Im still pretty new to sharpening and havent thinned a knife yet myself. Though it seems if done right, over time you can make your blade more perfect than the factory. Because they work on grinding machines that remove much more material. It should get that guy working as good as new through those carrots.

Dalstrong*

Cheap knives made of steel? You realize ANY mix of carbon and iron is steel right? No matter how cheap or expensive.

@@SergioPena20 His post reveals a lack of knowledge about knife steels, but that doesn't necessarily invalidate the value of his opinion for other people. He should supply a little more contextual info about his experiences so readers can determine how closely their preferences and use cases match his. Personally, I discount his opinion not because he knows nothing about knife materials, but because his language is ridiculously strong given the number of subjective factors in knife selection. It's as if he thinks his uses, needs, and preferences are the only ones that matter, all others are irrelevant. Typical of a highly self-centered person.

Wüsthof*

💯 I would bet good money that none of those factory edges would have scored better than 200g if the test had been done properly. Per Edge on Up's instructions, each test should take 4-6 seconds--not .5 seconds.

I big man brute force all things roar! Real man no need precision and ergos roar! Guys nowdays more n more panzies. Want utility and comfort ain't manly. Real man ignore discomfort difficulty lack of refinement roar! Me go thump my chest now. ROAR!