.1)Pro or home cook? Home (Everyone in the house is right handed).
2)What kind of knife do you want? (Gyuto, Santoku, Petty, Paring, Sujihiki, etc.) Boning to clean up ribs, roasts and brisket. I generally don't "French" my rib roast bones (lamb, pork or beef) as I usually let the butcher do it for me. A less brittle blade might be helpful for "Frenching" but I so seldom make a crown roast that it's low on my list of requirements. I can use one of my old beater knives if needed.
Separately I also want to try a wa handled laser Gyoto or Kiritsuke (210-240) to see if I like the Japanese style before spending bigger dollars.
3) What size knife do you want? 150-165mm (fairly stiff boning)
4)How much do you want to spend? <$100-150 (My son is asking what I want for Father's day)
5) Do you prefer all stainless, stainless clad over reactive carbon, or all reactive carbon construction? Reactive is fine for my use, though less reactive would be better for family members. Edge sharpness and retention is preferred.
In the future, I want to try a less expensive but high performance Japanese style high carbon Gyoto or Kiritsuke to see if I like the style. I also want a prep/chef's knife where food doesn't stick to the blade as much as my Ken Onion and Henkel Chef knives.
6)Do you prefer Western or Japanese handle? Aren't boning more often Western handled? Ready to try Wa handle on Chef Knife. Like the Wa on Santoku.
7)What are your main knife/knives now? 50% German (40 yr old Henkel 10" Chef, 10" carving, 6" slicing, 4" paring) and Wustoff (8" carving and 8" serrated bread knife) and 50% Shun (Classic Santoku with Wa, Ken Onion curve handled 6" and 9" chef's). Bunch of old beater and paring knives to take to the beach for BBQs. One Kanehide Honesuki single bevel high carbon knife that I honestly don't use as much as I planned (don't break down as many chickens as expected) but works just fine. Probably should have bought a Hankotsu or a curved blade boning instead.
8)Are your knife skills excellent, good, fair? Good to better than average for home cook.
9)What cutting techniques do you prefer? Are you a rocker, chopper or push/pull cutter? Depends on product and knife. Chopper with Santoku, probably more push/pull with small chef's, slicing for carving and taught rocker technique when I worked restaurant prep and line. This will be mainly used for breaking down pork, lamb and beef roasts, and prepping ribs and briskets for BBQ. Sharpness and functional is most important but pride of ownership in a specialty knife is still appreciated.
10)Do you know how to sharpen? Yes. Shapton Glass 500, 1000 and 4000. Flattening diamond stone. Leather piece for stropping but looking to add stropping kit. No sure if I need a more fine stone if I add the strop kit. Both steel and ceramic rods. Also need a more coarse stone as my wife and son tend to microchip the Shun blades as they often leave knives on the cutting board or even counter after use (They don't use the reactive Honesuki). Thinking 220 grit or so.
Please also add any additional pertinent information that can help everyone with suggestions. I hope that isn't too much detail, but I do plan to add few more specialty knifes to my collection in the future. Thanks to everyone.
