Knife set - £1k budget

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Discussion

ReaperCushions

5,949 posts

183 months

Wednesday 11th December 2019
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Prohibiting said:
After reading this thread it gave me the motiviation to spend 45-minutes sharping one of my ProCook chef knives on my whetstone. Much frustraion arose after I was failing to get it sharp enough after having watched a load of youtube videos on how to sharpen a knife. It was much better than before but compared to the japanese sharpened knifes where you can slice a tomatoe horizontal, without even supporting the tomatoe, I'm not impresed with my efforts.

PH strikes again as I'm now eyeing up this £210 Miyabi Japanese knife:

https://uk.zwilling-shop.com/Kitchen-World/Special...

My ProCook 6-knife set was £150 odd. I guess that's where I made the mistake many years ago thinking they'd be decent.
I own that exact knife and can thoroughly recommend it. Incredibly sharp and amazing to look at.

Check the price though, I got it here in the US for $130

Prohibiting

1,734 posts

117 months

Sunday 25th October 2020
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What did the OP buy in the end?

I've just pulled the trigger and bought my first "proper" knife. I was getting fed up with my 15cm ProCook Chef knife which is pretty much the only one I use.

After a lot of research I decided to go for a Japanese 18cm Santoku knife which is the Japs version of a Chef knife suitable for meat, fish and veg (I mainly chop veg).

https://www.miyabi-knives.com/uk/en/series/knives/...

Purchased here: https://uk.knivesandtools.eu/en/pt/-miyabi-6000mct...


Edited by Prohibiting on Sunday 25th October 21:59

Prohibiting

1,734 posts

117 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Surprised no more posts here.

Anyway, it turned up this morning and it's a dream to use. Tested it on a couple of potatoes and spring onions which went through so easy which makes it super easy to chop quick and thinly.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time practising with my ProCook knives on a couple of whetstones. I've got them sharper than I've ever been able to before but still not as sharp as the Japanese Miyabi knife. The ProCook knives have almost double the thickness of steel and it burs over easily when using the whetstone so I guess this is why it's difficult to get really sharp. The Miyabi knife steel is much thinner (and I assume harder).

Digger

14,588 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Which ProCook knives do you have?

Turn7

23,498 posts

220 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Ive had a G65 Global Santoku for years, and its about the only knife I use.....Id rather give it a quick wash than use something else.

DoubleD

22,154 posts

107 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Prohibiting said:
Surprised no more posts here.
I think you saying that you had "pulled the trigger" has put most off replying.

spikeyhead

17,222 posts

196 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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DoubleD said:
Prohibiting said:
Surprised no more posts here.
I think you saying that you had "pulled the trigger" has put most off replying.
It's better than "giving it palm time"

cbmotorsport

3,065 posts

117 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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On the pro-cook knife subject, I got a free santoku from them when I bought some baking trays a while back. It's made it into my knife roll after some b*stard stole my decent santoku on a job. It's had plenty of hammer in a commercial environment, and has been fine. It sharpens up well enough, does the job fine. it's an x50 i think, so pretty cheap and cheerful. I think people overthink knives. I know many chefs that treat them as disposable items and use and abuse, myself included.

DoubleD

22,154 posts

107 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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I think there is a thought that a better knife will improve your cooking, but the reality is it wont. Really, its just blokes liking shiny expensive objects. Spending £1k on a few knives is a waste of money IMO.

drmike37

456 posts

55 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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I think the idea of getting something nice for a couple of hundred, and going on a course to learn how to sharpen and use it properly would be my choice.

FWIW my go to knife is an 8inch chef’s that was part of a really cheap set (I’m talking pound shop cheap). What makes it is the whole day I spent regrinding it by hand about 20 years ago. I’ll be sad if/when it dies. I think it might be the extremely cheap steel that means it sharpens with very small imperfections (micro-serrations) so it’s brilliant for meat.

dickymint

24,088 posts

257 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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drmike37 said:
I think the idea of getting something nice for a couple of hundred, and going on a course to learn how to sharpen and use it properly would be my choice.

FWIW my go to knife is an 8inch chef’s that was part of a really cheap set (I’m talking pound shop cheap). What makes it is the whole day I spent regrinding it by hand about 20 years ago. I’ll be sad if/when it dies. I think it might be the extremely cheap steel that means it sharpens with very small imperfections (micro-serrations) so it’s brilliant for meat.
I've posted similar earlier. Knife sharpening is simple and quick with a circular whetstone no need to "go on a course" Youtube is all you need. Here's a guy using a Tormek ripoff - to be honest he doesn't look as though he's used a whetstone very often but even so he does a good job and can shave his arm with his attempt...............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1RpecAZmgI

Get a cheap version of a Tormek (mines a Triton) but buy additional Tormek jigs as they are superior. Chisels, scissors, axes, drill bits, the list is endless what can be done.