C.Morris

I must admit that all the information, while nearly overwhelming, is exactly what I need. I love using a good knife, and I am surprised with how long I used to cook with such sub-par edges. I started by learning good knife technique from a lot of Youtube videos and a few books, and I would like to think that I am making good progress by patiently working with the skills I have, improving incrementally always aiming for the best results. Prawncrackers, I always suspected that the Shun cleaver was a bit non-traditional, but I thought the cleaver would be a good starting place. I will definitely start exploring more authentic cleaver technique in the future. For the time being, I am definitely very interested in getting a Gyuto either 240mm or 270mm depending on my options. I really like the Devin Thomas Gyuto that Conal mentioned; although it's on the upper end of my price range, I assume the value of it will hold in the event I do not like the knife so that I could sell the knife. A Hiromoto could also be a really good option. My first step, though, I think will be to get the Edge Pro and see what I can do with my Shun Cleaver, although I might like a second knife to use in the mean time should I screw up the edge on the Shun .

The discussion of different types of performance among knives causes me to reconsider my needs. One concern, however, is that I am not familiar enough with the thin bladed knives to understand all the notions of fragility, so this raises a question that I am sure many of you can answer. When someone describes a knife as fragile, such as one of the gyuto mentioned so far, such that this person would not loan the knife to a friend helping in the kitchen, what specific tasks or foods must the knife avoid? I feel that I am reasonably conscientious when using a knife, so I doubt I would ever abuse a knife, but this does not imply that I understand all the possible methods to abuse a thin, high-performance (using the term loosely) edge.

Dougal, I completely agree with you about the sharpening system. In the past I freehand sharpened using Norton diamond stones--which I loved for their perpetual flatness is aggressive cutting. I always maintained a sharp, dependable edge, but I always wondered whether some sort of angle guide system would be better. Most probably, my next post will be a topic asking about sharpening systems, although I may also invade KnifeForums.com. David, are you familiar with any online stores that would do this trial policy? My other option is to look at knives in Atlanta, GA in a few months after I move there, if anyone knows a good knife store.

I will try to address a little bit from what each of you have mentioned. Dakki, you are correct that I am an enthusiastic amateur. Honestly, my Chinese cleaver seems like it can handle about everything, except it lacks a proper tip and a few things might be larger than comfortable for it such as melons, pineapples, and cabbage, but I've only owned the cleaver for a short while. This knife search will likely be protracted, so I am in no hurry to purchase a knife. I appreciate your question about my intended purpose for the knife because it'll help me keep perspective as I evaluate my cleaver to see if it has any deficiencies. Scubadoo, I know exactly what you mean about the transition to a larger knife. I switched from using the usual 8" knife to a 10", and I admit it felt awkward for a bit, but I quickly learned to like the extra length. I am slightly concerned, however, that space may be limited, especially since I will be moving into an apartment soon for graduate school, so I will mostly be working with a 12" by 12" cutting board for the time being. Conal, I'm about to start graduate school in the fall, so my budget is limited, but one of the few things I like to invest in is a good knife (since I plan to own the knife for the rest of my life). I am comfortable spending as much as $300 if I need to, so I want to keep my options open. Thanks for pointing out Devin Thomas, my familiarity with different knives and makers is somewhat limited. Thanks for everyone's feedback so far. It helps a lot.

I am shopping for a new general purpose chef knife, and I would like recommendations. Previously, I had owned a Global 10" chef knife that I liked it, but I also realize that the only comparison for the Global knife for me at the time were cheap Wal-Mart knives, not exactly a fair comparison. Currently my only knife is a Shun 8" Chinese Chef Knife (a vegetable cleaver), which I enjoy given my inclination for Chinese style dishes that require carefully sliced ingredients. Because already have a moderate sized knife, I am most interested in a 10" knife or even a 12" knife. I rarely have any desire to fabricate meat, so I almost never breakdown a chicken, which means that I do not need a knife for cutting bones. (I actually received a cheap cleaver as a gift very recently as my only other knife.) For an example of what I am looking at so far, I lean toward three different alternatives, as well as repurchasing the Global: Global, 10" Chef Shun, 10" Classic Chef Hiromoto, 300 mm Aogami Super Series Wa Gyuto (Bottom of the page) Ryusen, 270 mm or 300 mm Blazen Gyuto (Between the middle and the bottom of the page) I have a hard time deciding between a 10" knife and a 12" knife. The other difficult point is a pure stainless steel blade or one of the compound carbon and stainless steel blades. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts! Carl

I always would store my food, at least before cut, on the board and transfer to a bowl or plate once finished, so I can see the merit to having the corners of a rectangular board handy. I've also considered the opposite extreme, getting a smaller--12" square or 12" circular--board and using before cut and after cut plates. The smaller size would also make hand washing of the board much easier. My largest concern, however, is that I prefer larger knives; in general, I choose the largest knife that is reasonable for a task because I like the extra blade length for making cuts in one motion (minimizing the need for sawing motions) and also, in some cases, the extra heft--although I'm not really a fan of heavy knives. If I prefer to use a roughly 10" long chef knife, what board dimensions would be good to use at a minimum? I think 12" along one dimension would be a reasonable minimum, but I've had only limited experience. I know my mom uses small boards with about a 6" x 9" workable area because she prefers to use small utility knives and paring knives for most work. I find such a surface very difficult to work on with a 10" chef knife. Edit: I forgot to address the Sani-Tuff boards. Because I live in a very, very small town, I am pretty much restricted to mail order--online ordering in reality--with the exception of grocery stores or Wal-Mart. I assume that a few restaurant supply stores must be in the area for local restaurants, but I have my doubts about their selection in any case.

I better understand what you mean. In the past, I had a wide range of Norton diamond stones, ranging from extra-coarse to extra-extra-fine, which I will surely buy again. With these stones I was able to get a Henckel chinese cleaver to nearly the same sharpness as my Global chef knife, although the dramatically different blade thickness made the comparison difficult. I'm a definite amateur at knife sharpening, but I always felt that I got good results without much of the hassle of maintaining water stones. I have always been curious about the more traditional (if that is the right word) Japanese knives, but I had always heard mixed reviews from the high carbon steel. I shied away from them for fear I would end up with poorly maintained, rusty, and or chipped knives, hoping stainless steel would be more forgiving. I am also a big fan of Chinese cleavers (or chef knives as they are also called), so I am about to purchase a Chun Chinese chef knife based on some reviews. Is the lead time on a board from the Boardsmith usually long? the site wasn't entirely clear, and a round board appeared to definitely be a special order.

I appreciate all of the feedback so far. I think what Peter said is something that draws me to round boards. Originally, I always thought a rectangular board would be more efficient for surface area according to the same rational as Dakki's. I am, however, not sure how useful or frequently used the corners of a cutting board are. I am very interested to hear other's experiences with differently shaped boards. Ojisan, you mentioned that Global knives have a poor reputation. Other than viewing the knife boards in general, do you have a recommendation of a topic or search to do to get some of this information, other than the usual search of Global as a name throughout this forum? Thanks, Carl

I'm new to the forum and fairly new to cooking, so I'm just establishing myself with a decent set of equipment. I'm faced with the unusual circumstance of starting from scratch with my cooking equipment. I had quite a decent random collection of stuff from Wal-Mart and even a few nicer items, such as my two prized Global chef's knives (10" and 6") and a Global paring knife. This collection, however, was lost entirely to an apartment fire. On the bright side of things, I can take about five years worth of collecting and learning to hopefully buy the right thing on the first try this time (like the Global knives ). As I rebuild my collection, I plan to again buy the Global knives, and I would like to buy a nice end-grained cutting board to match, which would protect their edges and provide me with a better cutting surface than my old polymer boards. About the maximum size I think I can handle would be in the ball park of 12" x 24" simply because apartment kitchens tend to be small. My primary question, however, is as follows: what are the key advantages of round versus rectangular cutting boards? I have seen both used in YouTube videos or other cooking demonstrations, but I'm not sure why a person would opt for one over the other. For reference, I am considering buying my board from BoardSmith. Thank you, Carl