kurty[B]

I want to get myself a good set of knives, both a full set of steak knives, to large cutting knives of course with a holder to put them in. I want something with strong blades that will not bend, and that will last extremely long (like my dad's set he got when he started cooking school 20+ years ago).

Suggestions?

bparker805

No matter what brand you get, you are going to want to go with a forged knife as opposed to a stamped blade. I work in a cutlery shop and we are very happy with a brand called messermeister. You can check out their product here http://www.messermeister.com/. Good luck.

Jolt

Generally speaking...good steel only comes from 4 countries...US, England, Germany, and Japan. China, Korea, and Brazil are only capable of producing butter knives.

A decent set of knives will likely run you $300 or so; chefs are likely to invest well into 4 digits. $29.95 will get you the aforementioned set of butter knives by such brands as Farberware or Tramontina.
You will most likely buy the rack separately.

Another consideration is buying a set of knives may force you to accept what someone else thinks you need. You may need to buy separately to get what you want.

I'd suggest starting with a Parer or two, a Chef, a Slicer, a decent Cleaver, and a *good* whetstone.

maleficent

Don't buy those types of knives that claim to be able to cut thru a tin can or a brick but never need sharpening. Whatever knives you do get, get a good sharpening steel to go with it - -and learn how to use it.

THe most versatile knife you get will be the chef's knife -- Most knife sets will come with a bread knife, unless you are a baker, you'll probably never use it, my other most used knife is my cleaver, they get sharpened before each use.

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GM2

I must recommend the 5-star series by J. A. Henckels. They are pricy but damnation that's a good knife. I got the santoku 7 inch with the curved handle for about 75 bucks. It's got some heft, is well balanced, and sharp as the devil himself. I can see no problems cutting off Norman's little pinky with it.

edmos1

Hi Kurty, I would recommend checking this post:
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...ighlight=knife

pixelbend

I cannot stress this enough. Full Tang. the last thing you want is an expensive knife with no handle.

I feel like I'm confessing a sin here, but I have a set of Martha Stewart kitchen knives and have been extremely happy with them.

I need to get them sharpened though. The honing steel is just not doing it anymore.

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