Inexpensive (or maybe just really good value) Knives

if you want to experience Japanese hammer forged gyuto, check out YAMAWAKU v2 gyuto. very thin edge & wickedly sharp ootb! V2 steel is very easy to sharpen & good edge retention. handle is sub-par but you can replace a nice wa handle very easy

 

I don't think I'm up for the higher grade knives yet. I've been eyeballing a Tojiro DP 210 Gyuto. Any recommendations for a carbon core clad with stainless that fits in the OP guidelines? Also the Where would you recommend purchasing?

 

Well, the knives from Hidatool arrived. Handles are serviceable (but pretty low end). Blades have a nice kurouchi finish on them and are lacquered. Grinds are decent, but the blasting they used for the Kasumi finish is VERY rough...I tried the normal scotchbrite and norton pads on it and they didn't make much of a difference. Didn't try to cut with them yet; I will remove the lacquer from the blade roads and see if that helps at all. Not horrible for $42, and they would be useable, but the very rough kasumi finish would make a lot of drag.

 

What a smashing idea Andrew - I found two lovely quality Chinese knives on Aliexpress.I paid £60 for them both a year ago...now they`ve gone up a bit in price..The Chinese are getting better at hand forging and maxing out budget steel plus a few esoteric exotic metalurgy ones too.

The green one is pretty to me and so is the black one.

WAK knives 8" 67 layer damascus stainless Forged 9Cr13 Mov ( Aus10 equivalent ) HRC 61 kiritsuke - green ceramic handle
WAK knives 8" 67 layer damascus stainless Forged 9Cr13 Mov ( Aus10 equivalent ) HRC 61 santoku - ebony handle.

I also found some lovely Japanese hand forged carbons for $50 upwards - most are under $100.Not amazing finish but very sharp hard steel knives.

My one is this:

Motokyuichi Shirogami 9" White #2 hand forged HRC 62 carbon Kurouchi Gyuto - cherry handle

A lot of big knife brands have them made in China of Japanese, German, American and Swedish steels as well.The Chinese have been forging knives for over 1500 years.They had an ancient empire.

I love my inexpensive functional Chinese cutlery.

 

You can get a lot of relatively inexpensive good quality hand forged Japanese knives from chefknivesjapan.I`ve got some mega bargains there.They do carbons, semi stainless, powder metalurgy and more well known stainless steel types there.Plus if you ask nicely and don`t mind waiting weeks/months they can do you bespoke knives to your specifications for $300 upwards.Then they are unique heirloom pieces that only appreciate in value with time.Also there are some really good bladesmiths on Etsy too.