Cooking

i wouldn't consider the kiwi a shitty knife. It's a cheap knife, yes, dulls quickly, yes, but it's a perfect slicer.

We have knives that cost 10 or 15 kiwis, with good steels and impeccable handles, i still reach out to kiwi for quick preparations

I had a pair of $40 knives from ikea that lasted years (more than a decade, maybe close to two). They were moly steel so they didn’t loose edge quickly, and had decent balance.

I eventually upgraded to Whustoff ikon classics (the POM handle,) for the 3 knives I use (8” chef, boning, pairing.)

The reality is you can sharpen a shitty Walmart butter knife to a razor’s edge very easily. Being sharp doesn’t make a good knife- it’s the steel quality that affects edge retention; as well as the balance and the grip’s contour/shape; the stiffness and thickness of the blade, etc.

Imo, the cheapo ikea knives performed just fine. For their value… they’re quite probably better than whustoffs, no question. They’re both made with reasonable quality steel, both full tang, with similar contours in the blade profile and handle, etc.

But if you consider side by side, the whustoffs do perform much better. It’s not any one thing- the balance is better, the blades are thinner, stiffer where they they’re supposed to be, etc.

There are a lot of small things that add up to that. The distal taper, the taper from spine to edge (in the ikeas they’re flat in both directions,); the steel is better and holds edges longer while being more easily, less strain on my hand;

Ultimately, you don’t need whustoffs or anything expensive- and a lot of your expensive knives are shit knives with marketing (especially “japanese” knives of dubious provenance).

But if you can afford them, they are better. Especially if you cook a lot. If they’re “better enough” to justify their cost is a personal decision. My mom uses Costco steak knives for everything. (And in part because they can’t keep knives sharp so don’t see the point. They float around the sink… get stuffed in the dishwasher, etc,)

I guess I can understand what you are saying. I have lived out of my vehicle off and on for about ten years, and having a full tine, good "chopping" knife that I can sharpen with what I might use on a shovel is really nice. I have had the same maine knife for 15 years. It is ok. I don't have to work on it much. It says "Chicago Cutlery" on it. It has been put up wet, been used in snow, and I have no money invested in it. It works great.

I also worked in a kitchen once, with really nice knives, it isn't that nice. But it was cheap. Full tine, and not that weird serrated but not serrated.

I'm not speaking on cooking knives as I already have a set of handmade carbon steel knives from a local blacksmith. I also have a cheap chinese made 1075 carbon steel cleaver from amazon. (One I had to modify to get it to be what I wanted.) I'm speaking from pocket knife experience.

I daily carry a Spyderco Tenacious, which if you know steels, has a pretty soft steel in the grand scheme of things. (8cr13MoV)

I've attempted trying knives with the "super steels" and it's such a chore to sharpen them when they get dull that the time just isn't worth it.

I honestly prefer the D2 from Boker as it holds an edge far better, but still is only slightly annoying to sharpen.

There are pros and cons to all these metals but that harder crap I tend to save for jobs that actually need that kind of steel. (Lean meats, etc.) Chopping some veggies wouldn't call for me to break out my nice knives as they take too much care to keep in good condition for just chopping up some spring onions or what-not.

There is something to be said for a knife to be able to make a simple job that much smoother and easier for sure. Not worth the trade-off in total time consumed though. Cheap, shitty wal-mart knife and a honing rod > $800 1095 carbon steel Japanese super knife.

What do you mean they sharpen beautifully? You also say they’re garbage is that just because the handles?

The cheapo carbon steel cleaver is my favorite knife in my set. I got a block of Victorinox knives as a gift and yeah they work fairly well (you're right about sharpening being annoying tho), but the $13 cleaver is where it's at. It's sharp, it sharpens well and that style of knife is just so useful. I pull out two other knives generally these days, the serrated one for bread and a ceramic one for tomatoes. The rest? Cleaver time, baybee!

Also, mincing things with the cleaver is great. Mincing things with TWO cleavers? Now that's joy.