Need a kitchen knife that works

[rojodiablo]

The fabulous Ginsu??

People can laugh all they want at Ginsu knives.....

Like it or not, they are awesome blades!

 

[Oscarflytyer]

I have a bunch - and nearly all are good fish filet knives. Nothing over $30, and a lot less then $20. Would also recommend the Opinel knives. I have two of the Classic Carbon short blades. Cut a potato or lemon/lime occassionaly, and it won't rust.

I also use a ceramic butcher's stick for a touch up nearly every time I use any of the knives. Probably annually, I will sit down and stone sharpen all my kitchen knives. The right cutting boards can also help with the edge.

 

[sasu]

We have two German knives, Zwilling J.A. Henckles, and several Al Mars.

We have two basic Al Mars, in the $100 range suggested retail, and they require touching up the edge quite often as the steel in these low end models is not all that hard. But on the other hand they are easy to sharpen.

We also have a $250 suggested retail Al Mar, one step up in their line. It holds an edge longer, having the blade made of two different steels.

 

[BubbaBlades]

There is some good information in this thread concerning very serviceable production knives (i.e. Dexter, Chicago), however, if you don't mind spending a couple hundred dollars or more there are many custom-made knives to choose from. I made several knives like the one pictured above many years ago for the manager of a local Cutlery World. Although I no longer make knives, there are many custom makers that can turn out top quality kitchen knives.
As a half-way to custom kitchen knives, you may want to consider the new Randall Made kitchen knife.

Mark

 

[rwsmith]

I was being silly....

People can laugh all they want at Ginsu knives.....

Like it or not, they are awesome blades!

.....but we went to a Japanese hibachi place a couple nights ago and the cook's knife looked like a Shun.