Your First Good Kitchen Knife (My Recommendation for Home and Pro Chefs)

I highly recommend anyone invest in their cooking by buying a good knife to prepare meals. This does not mean spending a lot of money on a knife block from the local cutlery store. A quality chef knife is the workhorse of prep and great options can be had for $25. More importantly a well maintained inexpensive knife will blow away a poorly maintained expensive one.
I recommend the Victorinox fibrox 10" chef and mercer renaissance 8" chef as the first knife due to their comfort and high quality materials and construction for the price. The F Dick Eurocut honing steel is a must to keep these going at peak performance day-to-day and should be purchased along with the knife. For smaller jobs any paring knife will help take care of smaller jobs and the Victorinox 3.25" paring is inexpensive and works great. In the long run, all knives will dull and a proper sharpening will be required so a King 1K stone with some stropping compound will bring back a razor edge.
After learning how to properly use these tools you will develop preferences and can then start investing in other products to replace or fill in gaps. Of course these could be the last knives you ever buy because they are that good!
Tools:
Mercer Renaissance: www.knifemerch...
Mercer Genesis: www.knifemerch...
Mercer Millenia: www.knifemerch...
Victorinox Fibrox: www.knifemerch...
F Dick Eurocut: www.knifemerch...

[@rtenorio58]

Very informative, very helpful.. Thank you for posting for us newbies

[@EngineersPerspective701]

Glad it was useful!

[@Drmikekuna]

Good advice. Over 20 years ago I picked up an 8" food service chef's knife from Sams Club. Its form factor is very similar to the Victorinox. I treat that cheap knife well, always hand wash it, an always run it lightly through a manual "pull-type" sharpener every time I use it to prepare a meal. Two to 3 times a year I use my electric sharpener on it. It is razor sharp. I have friends who have high end knives but they don't maintain them. Their edges are significantly duller than my cheap knife. In fact, some are so dull that i would say they were dangerous. I'm not a pro-cook so edge retention is less of a big deal as my knife is being used to prepare dinner for 5, not 500. My knife is nothing fancy to look at but form follows function.

[@JeffSmith-eq3kc]

Building a set to me is the best advice. I have always preferred Japanese knives. Started with a Miyabi "chef knife", then a Shun Santoku, then back to Miyabi for a Nakiri, then a Tojiro utility knife that i love. Those 4 i had for quite a while and honestly they covered all my bases. Then added a Miyabi slicing knife and bread knife. One thing I'd add is that for either a home cook or professional, having a nice pair of shears is a super useful tool to have.

[@EngineersPerspective701]

Great point on the shears! Love having a nice pair at hand. Agreed on developing a set. Adding as one goes along learning their preferences and needs.

[@nicholasbrassard3512]

Man, you are a resource of interesting knowledge, I'm going to try out the mercer, thank you for the vid :)

[@EngineersPerspective701]

Thank you for the comment and enjoy the knife!

[@dbkfrogkaty1]

I started my knife collection years ago. I bought Wusthof knives. In recent years I discovered Mercer knives. I prefer the Genesis series. I just love the handle so much more than the Wusthof. I can maintain a good grip even with wet hands. If you need inexpensive "beater" knives give the Kiwi brand a try. They are razor sharp.

[@EngineersPerspective701]

My folks have the genesis and that was my first introduction to Mercer. Really enjoy those knives and they’re super easy to maintain

[@MnPfan]

Great video. I definitely agree about the F. Dick honing rod but as a knife sharpener, the Kyocera 9 inch ceramic rod works better for me personally

[@EngineersPerspective701]

Personally just not a fan of the ceramic rods. Too aggressive in my use and leave what feels like a burr edge when cutting. Could be user error and follow up with a strop would fix too I’m sure

[@swamp.stomper]

I found an 8” Fibrox flexible boning knife at the thrift store yesterday for $4 yesterday 😳 I think it’s the same one you reviewed! It’ll be good as new after a spin on the King KDS 1000/6000. Great video. Thanks for all the content

[@EngineersPerspective701]

I love my Vic boning knife! Use it as a utility knife/fillet/boning knife all the time!

[@thiago.assumpcao]

I think its great advice to buy a chef knife that will not break your budget and that you are not scared to learn sharpening and maintenance. There is one thing I disagree. Ribbed honing rod create massive metal fatigue and reduce edge durability. With daily maintenance on ribbed steel usually people go back to stone after one week. I cook about once a week and a 56HRC knife lasts shaving sharp without any touch up for about 3 months. Cheap chinese VG 10 at 60 HRC lasted over 8 months shaving sharp without any touch up until I stopped counting swapped it for another knife. At home I just hone on a 3-6k splash and go stone. A few alternating strokes edge leading is enough to bring it back shaving sharp. If you want to use honing rods I think ceramic is the best option.

[@erokjenkins]

Do you have a link to a stone you might recommend? Also I’m narrowed down to a Mercer renaissance series chef and petty style OR the Tojiro DP…thoughts for home use

[@EngineersPerspective701]

I appreciate you asking! Couple questions first: 1) What knives do you have now and are comfortable with? 2) Do you use a honing rod of some kind currently? 3) What is your budget for a sharpening stone/setup?

[@EngineersPerspective701]

Rough guess is go with the Mercer and the Shapton Pro 1K. www.chefknivestogo.com/shpro10.html

[@lvyper876]

just get a fine/coarse oil stone, will last forever, Norton is the way to go. Its what we always used since culinary school, there is no better for a western knife, dont get sucked into the whetstone gang, they are better for eastern steel.....you probably wont be able to sharpen any better with them anyways.

[@identifiesas65.wheresmyche95]

What is the engineering argument for the renaissance over the genesis if they use the same steel at the same hardness?

[@EngineersPerspective701]

IDK if there is an engineering argument. If you want a rounded spine and nicer looking handle then go for the renaissance. If you want a more comfortable handle then Genesis. You can get half bolster versions of the Genesis if you don't like the full version.

[@YoToddYo]

More info on cutting board? And how to strop a chef knife?

[@EngineersPerspective701]

The cutting board is a $40 target branded one we got from our wedding. It works totally fine so I haven’t upgraded. As for stropping I have tons of videos on sharpening so just check a few of those out!

[@YoToddYo]

@@EngineersPerspective701 thanks!

[@YoToddYo]

Awww☹ but I want to pick up a wusthof ikon ☹

[@EngineersPerspective701]

The ikon really is great, but so are the mercers!

[@alexworm1707]

You forgot about a cutting board to not destroy the blade

[@EngineersPerspective701]

You’re absolutely right. Doesn’t matter how expensive a knife is if a “fancy” granite cutting board is involved

[@alexworm1707]

@@EngineersPerspective701 or glass, stainless steel, bamboo

[@dennisleighton2812]

I have been maintaining kitchen knives for a long time and I'd like to share some thoughts about this topic. Firstly, I have a large Victorinox knife like the one in the video. I touch up the edge probably no more than once a year! Great edge retention, right? Wrong, not necessarily. You see I VERY seldom actually use it - mainly for carving large meat portions, on special occasions. For this reason I tend to disagree with you choice for a beginner. On the 8 inch, those I use a bit more, and sharpen/touch up more regularly. Here this is good choice to begin with. I also have a 5 inch chef's knife ( Scanpan, from Denmark). Fantastic knife. [I now have the full set of 3 knives, but that is not relevant to this discussion.] However, I also have a bog-standard 4 1/2 inch utility knife, off the shelf from Ikea! This I use a LOT as it gives very good control as I am closer to what I'm cutting. VERY good steel and a champion for edge retention, and CHEAP! Brilliant knife. Victorinox paring knife. What more can I say - without doubt, the MOST used item in the kitchen! So much so, that I have 3 or 4 of them, and when I touch up/sharpen knives I always do them all at once! (I use a Lansky kit with diamond stones). Mostly used for all those many small fruit/veg cutting jobs, and most in-hand cutting, like pealing fruit like oranges, apples, etc. Indispensable! More recently, however, I acquired a really nice Santoku knife, and I now use this a LOT, mostly for vegetable prep. I much prefer the forward/backward cutting style (Japanese) to the rocking style you demonstrated (European). The reason is that it cuts rather than chops as in the rocking style. I find edge retention is somewhat longer lasting. I do not use the honing rod. The reason is that it is very difficult to maintain a constant angle on the edge bevel, so that after a while, the bevel becomes rounded and dull. Then, it becomes a major job to cut a whole ne bevel from scratch. As I said before I use my Lansky kit for maintaining that same edge angle. One addition I did make to the standard Lansky stone set is that I have a ceramic 600 grit wet honing stone for my finer edges (ie 17 degs), like the Santoku and the 8 inch. The other heavier use knives I sharpen at a more obtuse angle (20 degs) and use up to the standard "fine" stone. I hope this helps viewers make some informed choices, and will happily engage should anyone have questions about my experiences in the kitchen. Cheers mate! PS Your point about a well-maintained knife was an absolute gem!