Speaking of good knives, which brand do you prefer?

I will require a video demonstration of you slicing through a cinder block with a CUTCO bread knife. :)

Japanese knives, and only Japanese knives. They have the best steel in the world, the best craftsmen in the world, and damn aren't they pretty. Working in a professional kitchen, I demand a lot of performance out of my tools, and when I was bitten by the Japanese knife bug years ago, I never turned back. Using a few different high-end Japanese steels, I've settled on Aogami Super Blue, which in my opinion is the best form of carbon steel out there for knife making. Extreme hardness for edge retention and laser sharpness, yet also extremely easy to put the edge back on when it comes to sharpening.

Pretty too, aren't they? I'm into Masakage knives now after experimenting with several different Japanese companies, and settled on the Koishi line. Koishi knives from Masakage are made with the ultra-hard Aogami Super Blue carbon steel I mentioned above, which is quite reactive and will rust without proper care, but it is clad between two layers of stainless so that you only must worry about the edge when concerning rust. The best of both worlds, a carbon edge and the rest stainless. The knife above isn't mine, it's a virgin blade without a patina. Once you use these things the carbon edge begins to form a patina which will protect the steel in future uses from rust and corrosion, and the pattern each knife makes is completely unique from the rest making them truly special.

I bought this set at Williams-sonoma. It was my first quality set and I have to say I don't think I could ever go back to those stamped stainless steel ones you get at Target. You can just feel the difference. I chose the western style over the Japanese as an aesthetic preference. But I think I did feel each in my hand and I liked the feel of the German knives over the Japanese ones.

Nothing beats second prize.

Not CUTCO!

I thought this thread was about switchblade knives and I was going to start chirping about how I really liked my Smith and Wesson linerlock.

Henkle. I used to have a $200 Asian style knife of theirs and it was amazing

I use Global myself. I just love the shape of the handles.

@jams said:

I bought this set at Williams-sonoma. It was my first quality set and I have to say I don't think I could ever go back to those stamped stainless steel ones you get at Target. You can just feel the difference. I chose the western style over the Japanese as an aesthetic preference. But I think I did feel each in my hand and I liked the feel of the German knives over the Japanese ones.

I have the exact same set, and it does the trick of slicing and dicing. But damn it @jams, that Japanese knife looks amazing!

@jozzy: Doesn't it? If I bought one of those I would feel bad about using it to slice foodstuffs. Would want to hang it on my wall as art. :D

I generally tend to prefer Hattori Hanzo blades.

Also, nice poll. LOL.

Shun, mostly. As was mentioned already in this thread, Japanese knives are the cat's pajamas. Though I do have a Wusthof bread knife and it's no slouch either.

I have a Shun 10" chefs knife that is incredible, but I almost never use it. Having worked in Kitchens for the better part of fifteen years I find that my well maintained cheap-ass Henkels (the yellow handled ones) are the kings. If anything happens to my $40 knife I can just throw it away or save it for later use. Break the tip on my $20 Victorinox paring knife, shitty, but I can just pull out a new one.

I use a set of carbon steel knives I made for the kitchen, a Mora for work and an opinel no.8 because.

Kershaw for folding knives. Kyocera for ceramic cutlery.

aaaah man, over at a friend's house and helping in the kitchen. open drawer to find shitty stainless kitchen knives rattling around loose with other misc kitchen utensils. silent, tearful disappointment. I rescued the chefs knife and tried to put an edge back on it. but of course no stone in sight. sandpaper taped to glass was the best I could come up with. I cried a little bit knowing the soft stainless would only hold an edge for a few days in that drawer.

Cutco is the most generic name for a company that specializes in knives and knivery.

I have only a small interest in knives, but im a spyderco guy myself.

Benchmade for folders. Henckels for kitchen knives. Cutcos are also pretty solid. The scissors are probably the best scissors I have ever used.

Whatever it takes to get the job done.

I'm super picky about folders, so I don't have a preferred brand. Thing needs to feel right in my hand.

For straight blades though, love me some ESEE. My kitchen knives, though, are horrid.