this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2025
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On the topic of knifes, my cheap store brand knife lasts for 5 years now without ever seeing a sharpening tool. I think knifes are just hard to fuck up.
It depends on what you want from a knife.
I want a knife that will take and hold an edge, will resist chipping and setting into a bend, but is also fairly easy to re-sharpen. For what I want, san mai forging using plain carbon steels gives nearly the best results. If you want a knife that will be extremely tough and resistant to rusting or staining, plain carbon steels would be a very poor choice. My favorite vegetable knife needs to be cleaned immediately and oiled lightly after every use, and is absolutely not dishwasher safe. Most people would prefer a stainless steel construction over a knife like that.
Different people have different needs. All I want is chopping onions and not worrying about it too much. If you have different needs, then I guess my knife would be pretty bad for you.
I have a 12 euro kitchen knife from 2005 that I sharpened twice, and a 8 dollar kitchen knife from Ikea that I never sharpened that's from 2012, and they both still work fine. I thought I would be sharpening every couple months, but these kitchen knives.
I'm not cutting paper or cans with them, but they cut though tomato so it's not even that bad. I'm on your team, I think knives are done, we did it, the tech is fully matured
What I'm looking for in a knife is shaving cleanly and easily; a knife can be fairly dull and still cut a tomato.
One test I've seen is rolling up a single sheet of paper into a tube, standing it on it's end, and then cutting diagonally slowly with your kitchen knife. You should be able to cut the tube of paper cleanly, without knocking it over. If not, your knife should be honed or stropped.