Article by JT Hats
By buying a knife set you could start out with a set of good knives you'll never need to upgrade or replace, and at a bargain price. I started with an economy set with everything I could possibly need in it and all of it perfectly functional -- but many people don't get along well with permanent solutions, and I'm one of them. I like exploring.
The thing I enjoyed least in that knife set was that it gave me no reason to try anything else. If you take care of your cutlery, sharpen it as needed and rework the edges once or twice a year, even inexpensive steel works just fine. If maintenance isn't your forte, a more expensive brand fills your needs better. Again you'll have no reason not to be satisfied forever, unless you have the roving eye.
My current collection is an eclectic mix of mostly good knives and a few bad knives. I'm always tempted by bargains if they have a professional look. All-stainless steel knives catch my eye often but I own an equal number of classic forged knives with riveted handles, some of wood and some composite. I own knives from Japan and knives from China, older American knives in carbon steel, newer versions in stain-free steel, and very few of them have failed me. Sometimes a knife does turn out to be a bad idea, but not often.
An example would be an all stainless steel Chinese vegetable cleaver I bought from a local Asian grocery -- the kind of place where you go in to buy a snack and a few cans of coconut milk and you come out with a double armload of things you never realized existed. Like many Asian markets it passes often from new immigrant family to new immigrant family, but the stock remains much the same. You may get a real bargain, like the packages of pork dumplings labeled "Expired Product! Buy one, get one free!" or the Pokki sticks free at the counter. If you're not familiar with Pokki, it's a cracker stick labeled with nonsensical fortunes, along with an ice cream flavored cheese dip.
The cleaver wasn't free -- but at just .00 I couldn't see anything wrong with it. Not that I needed a new cleaver -- I have an older forged cleaver which works well but isn't nearly so nice. The first few times I used the stainless steel cleaver I was extremely impressed by the razor sharp, thin steel. If the old knife were a barge, this knife would be a ski boat.
The knife lasted about three days, until I cut through a carrot and felt something odd in the knife's response. I noticed a hairline mark curving from the corner of the edge to about a quarter inch from the spine, a crack right where I like to put top pressure with my palm. Fingertip pressure could have snapped it in half.
I keep the cleaver in the drawer to remind me that everything's not a bargain. Still, I can't help looking at the .00 sushi knife there on the back shelf among the bundles of plastic chopsticks and the bamboo steamers. It's not that I need a new sushi knife -- but for a twenty dollar knife it looks very well made.
About the Author
JT Hats writes for OnlyKnives.com. He's recently written about Shun Knives here and about paring knives here.