I've been wanting to buy a "good" knife for a while, and I've decided to finally make the plunge. I'm not an avid cook, but I cook enough to want something better than what I have. There's a certain knife in the classifieds here that catches my eye, but more ideas and opinions are always a good thing.
1)Pro or home cook? I'm a home cook.
2)What kind of knife do you want? - (Gyuto, Santuko, Petty, Paring, Sujihiki, etc.) I definitely want to start with a Gyuto, but eventually I would like to replace all of my current knives.
3) What size knife do you want? - I currently don't have anything beyond 210mm, but I think I would be happy with a 240. I do have a rather large cutting board.
4)How much do you want to spend? - $200-ish A little more or a little less is fine.
5) Do you prefer all stainless, stainless clad over reactive carbon, or all reactive carbon construction? - I'm looking for full reactive, I have no reason to be fast in the kitchen, so I don't mind babying a good knife.
6)Do you prefer Western or Japanese handle? - I definitely want to try a Wa handle. I've never used a knife with one before, but I've tried pinch gripping my knives and I feel like I would prefer it with the right handle.
7)What are your main knife/knives now? - They're all cheap hand me downs. I have a Chicago cutlery santoku, a 3 piece set of Tramontina carbon knives from a 8.5in chefs knife down to a paring. I have a no name cleaver and bread knife. Not terribly impressive for a collection.
8)Are your knife skills excellent, good, fair? - I'd say fair. Being more precise and developing better technique is something I'd like to do.
9)What cutting techniques do you prefer? Are you a rocker, chopper or push/pull cutter? - Probably more rocker/chopper, although I'm open to switching that up.
10)Do you know how to sharpen? - Yes, I've been sharpening for about a year. I wouldn't describe myself as an A grade sharpner, but I've gotten knives to the point of shaving my arm with them. I have a 200 DMT Stone, and 1k/6k King stone, which I'm looking to upgrade at some point.
I feel like spending more on a knife that doesn't need a bunch of fixing and sanding and a new handle, and that looks good, will be more enjoyable. By the time I've done all that stuff I might as well spend more.
And I'm an advocate for buying used with most valuable things. If it's already depreciated from it's new cost in someone else's hands, then it has more resale value for me. If I decide to sell the knife I get in the future, recouping most of the cost of a used knife is a lot easier than a new one.
I've been perusing the classifieds and found a few knives that I like, one in particular. Used just seems like the logical way to go. But I'm open to different ideas.
