In this episode, Editor Will Price joins to explain everything you should know before buying your first–or next–chef's knife. Will details the specifics, from steel types and blade shapes to maintenance and storage tips, ultimately ending with three of his top chef's knife recommendations. Regardless of what you already know or think you might need, Will has advice and tips that'll come in handy when you're shopping around.
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Nick Caruso:
This is The Gear Patrol Podcast. In this episode, editor Will Price joins me to explain everything you should know before buying your first or next chef's knife. Will details the specifics, from steel types and blade shapes, to maintenance and storage tips, ultimately ending with three of his top chef's knife recommendations. Regardless of what you already know or think you might need, Will has advice and tips that'll come in handy when you're shopping around. There is a lot of information here and I learned a ton, including that, well, honestly, I need a new chef's knife. Enjoy the convo, and good luck with your search. If you like what you hear, we hope you'll subscribe. And if you really like what you hear, we'd appreciate a five-star review because they help us get into more ears. I'm Nick Caruso, and I'm glad you're here. Let's get started.
Nick Caruso:
Will, you are a expert in many things, and among them, knives of the kitchen variety. So what do I need to know before I buy a new kitchen knife?
Will Price:
Well, I don't know, I suppose you need to know you could buy some little piece of stamped metal off Amazon for 25 bucks, and some people are happy as a clam with that. What you should know-
Nick Caruso:
Who among us has not bought stamped metal on Amazon?
Will Price:
All the time. All the time. What you should know, though, I guess is really dependent on ... I think the number one thing is, are you someone who cooks a lot? Do you like to cook? Admittedly, I should disclaimer, I'm in the city today, in New York City, and there are many cars honking behind me. Just forgive me, I'm going try to chug through it.
Nick Caruso:
You're in the Gear Patrol offices, in fact.
Will Price:
The office, yeah. Me and me alone in the Gear Patrol office. But yeah, so about half of the available knives in the world ... and this number is completely made up ... but a lot of the available knives in the world are what I would call hobbyist to professional level. There are just so many small makers, small brands, or just big brands making all sorts of really killer knives for people who are really into them. Most of those knives are not really ... We don't really need to discuss them unless you really enjoy cooking and you really specifically enjoy the art of mise en place. I don't speak French, but the art of ...
Nick Caruso:
That was good.
Will Price:
... preparing what you're going to cook. So what you really need to know ... I think the first thing is just understanding, is cooking a chore for you or is it something you like to do? And I'm not going to say pursue, as in you're going to take it on as your career path, but pursue as in try to get better at it, get tools that make you better at it, all that kind of thing. Of course, sharper knives are better when it comes to preparation, but we are talking marginal gains for the most part. There are small things, like some herbs, some meats ... especially fish, for example ... if they're not cut extremely finely, I wouldn't say you've ruined them, but you'll sort of dull flavor or make for a lesser eating experience.
Will Price:
But I don't know, that was a big ramble to say basically, you first need to figure out what is in your heart. Do you enjoy cooking? Do you enjoy prepping food, that kind of thing? And if you don't, then there's like two or three knives I could recommend you'd spend like 80 bucks on and they'll be good for the rest of your life, just get them sharpened every six months. If you do like it, then we have a lot more to talk about.
Nick Caruso:
And we do. I do like it. We're going to assume that those listening do like it or just want to hear you expound on your knife expertise, just like I do. Listening to your heart makes it sound like we're going to do a kitchen knife in the stone kind of thing where like if you're meant to use the knife, you can use it.
Will Price:
Who is the villain in the King Arthur story who's trying to get all the men of the land to pull the sword from the stone? Do you remember?
Nick Caruso:
I can't believe you're making me do this.
Will Price:
Mordred or something. I can't remember.
Nick Caruso:
Morgan le Fay?
Will Price:
Wow, that's it. Yeah.
Nick Caruso:
I think that's actually it. You also said in your opening monologue that ... you were starting to mention herbs and other ingredients, and I thought you were about to tell us that certain herbs would make your knife better, like seasoning a skillet or something ...
Will Price:
No, that would be amazing.
Nick Caruso:
... and I was going to call BS on you.
Will Price:
There are, for example, some foods ... I'm sure we'll talk about carbon steel ... some foods that you might prepare that'll add a degree of protection to exposed reactive metal, like chopping potatoes. I once had a chef tell me that when you first get a carbon steel knife, just make all the potatoes you can because it sort of makes this nice sort of semi-resistant sheen over the knife. Who knows what the exact truth of that is, but it was recommended.
Nick Caruso:
You too can have a strong stomach if you have an all-potato diet. This is health tips with Will Price. So it's a use case thing. Like so many product recommendations are, it's a use case thing. You mentioned pursuits. We talk about enthusiasts all the time. We're product enthusiasts of varying stripes. So if you are a person who likes to have fun in the kitchen making some food ... or I suppose on a grill, wherever ... your ears should be perking up and you're probably wondering, "Well, Will, is there a perfect knife for me? Is there one perfect knife that I should be buying?"
Will Price:
Yeah. Mostly I would say the answer's no, no perfect knife. I mean, everybody's ... A knife thing ... There's all sorts of eloquent quotes from really clever and verbose chefs about how it's like how the wand fits the wizard, that kind of talk about a knife. I don't necessarily buy into that. There are knives that are better for a lot of people and knives that are better for people with bigger hands and better for people who are lefthanded, all that kind of thing. You should get your hands on as many as you can. If there's a kitchen supply store near you, if there's a ... I mean, oftentimes, if there's some kind of just place you can ... even if it's just around the little weird plastic-y thing at a Bed Bath and Beyond, just see how it feels in your hand, see where the blade itself drops.
Will Price:
This is what I'll say. When it comes to knives ... and if we're painting with the broadest brush ... there we go ... three categories. I mentioned stamped metal knives. Those are your knives that are like $50 and down for the most part. It's literally a piece ... They have sheets and sheets of metal and they have a stamp that's going through them, like stamping the shape, then they give it a quick sharpen, then they attach that shape to whatever, a little plastic handle or rubber handle or something. A lot of those are used in commercial kitchens. If you've ever been to Chipotle and seen the knives they have stuck to the wall, it's mostly those, the stamped metal knives, nice and cheap. Whatever. They get the job done.
Will Price:
Then you have forged steel knives. This is kind of a category, could be anywhere between $50 all the way up to infinity as far as price goes. It's stainless steel knives that are made from forged metal. So they have the chromium, which is the magic ingredient that makes normal steel stainless steel so that they're not going to rust at the sight of acid or water sitting on them or whatever. And-
Nick Caruso:
Potatoes.
Will Price:
Potatoes, exactly. And then they're great for ... You can like knives a lot. You can just want something that's going to last a while. They're good all around. You could theoretically toss them in the dishwasher if you wanted to. Do not recommend that, but if you wanted to, you could do that.
Will Price:
Then you have carbon steel knives, which fall firmly in that enthusiast category that we talked about. You don't really buy a carbon steel knife unless you're either working in a kitchen yourself or you're pretty into knives. Because there's minor upkeep and they're not as gleaming and maintenance free as the others. And again, prices could range anywhere between $50 to ... we've written on knives, what, Nick, that cost thousands of dollars?
Nick Caruso:
Yeah.
Will Price:
We probably won't talk about them today, but the price-
Nick Caruso:
Bob Kramer, right?
Will Price:
Yeah. The man himself. Google Bob Kramer for some of his ... He's made knives out of meteorite and things like that.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Unbelievable stuff. You've covered him a bunch. You did a big profile for the magazine. Really outstanding knife maker. He's on the West Coast, isn't he? Is that correct?
Will Price:
He is. He's in Washington, Bellingham or somewhere. I don't know. I'm not a Pacific Northwest guy, but he's up there. He's in that land where they make everything by hand.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Really, truly, truly outstanding limited run stuff. Okay, so there are three categories. That's kind of how they break down by price, and that's essentially what we're going to get to at the end of this conversation. We're going to end up with three recommendations based on all the information we'll cover here. And I think it's possible that three actually fall into those categories.
Nick Caruso:
So I want to make a distinction here that I need personally. This is not posturing for a podcast, pod posturing. Is there a difference between a utility knife and a chef's knife?
Will Price:
Yeah. It's mostly size.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Will Price:
Not just length, but also the depth of the knife or how ... A utility knife, I don't know, you might use to piece apart a bunch of smaller foods, maybe smaller vegetables like a cherry tomato, or maybe you're using it to take apart a chicken, stuff like that. Again, utility is the word because there's a thousand things you could do with it. It's kind of in between the paring knife and the chef's knife. And of course, the chef's knife itself is sort of an ambiguous term because there's 150,000 different shapes and cuts and sizes of chef's knives. So really, the difference is just size and tasks.
Nick Caruso:
Got it. And then speaking of different sizes of knives, in the buying guide that sort of covers all of this on Gear Patrol, you make a suggestion that people maybe shouldn't purchase knife sets. Can you tell us why?
Will Price:
Yeah. People get kind of-
Nick Caruso:
And can you tell us what knives we actually need in the kitchen?
Will Price:
Yeah. The short answer is, if you look at a knife set ... Like the block? Is that what we're kind of talking about, the knife block that you buy as a gift ...
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, like you get a-
Will Price:
... and it's got like 17 knives in it?
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, exactly.
Will Price:
I mean, I really think if people just evaluate one ... I don't really have to do the explaining. Evaluate, if you have one of those or if your parents had one when you were growing up, how often were you using the sixth knife in that set, or even the fourth knife in that set?
Nick Caruso:
Right. My filet knife might be-
Will Price:
You really don't. Exactly. If you're, like you said, fileting a huge rack of lamb, yeah, there are people who could use all those knives. For the most part, you need three knives. You need a chef's knife, which is what we're mostly talking about, of course. You need a bread knife, specific the serrated ... If you try to cut a big, nice, crusty loaf of bread with a normal knife, you might, A, ruin your knife, and B, probably just kind of smoosh your bread, and that's just not satisfying. And then the third one you truly need is a paring knife. A lot of people make an argument for a utility knife, but the paring knife is that little tiny knife you kind of choke up really far on and you use to do all sorts of very tiny, very precise tasks. For those knives-
Nick Caruso:
Paring. A lot of paring.
Will Price:
Yeah, a lot of paring. Those knives are all of $10, sometimes less if you buy them from OXO or whatever else. And then bread knives themselves I almost never recommend anyone spend an extraordinary amount of money either, because, I mean, even if you eat bread every day of the week, the rigors that you're putting through a bread knife ... What, you're going to slice off two pieces of toast. It's not really going to put the knife to the test like a chef's knife, which you really do need to stand up for as long as it can.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. I'll give a shout out. I have, I think, a $9 or $10 bread knife from Ikea that is one of the best purchases I've ever made for the kitchen. It really is my Excalibur in the bread knife category. I followed my heart and it worked out. Okay, so we're talking about intent, what we intend to use these knives for dictates what type of chef's knife. What are the various elements of a chef knife, or the qualities of a chef's knife that we should be considering when we're out there shopping?
Will Price:
I think a couple of the main things to think about are ... Weight is one. Some people really like kind of a sizeable ... something they can really feel in their hand. I find that a lot of people ... and again, this is not a de facto rule. A lot of people who are perhaps less trusting of themselves or less trusting of their knife skills ... maybe we don't say that they lack confidence in themselves. They lack confidence in their knife skills.
Nick Caruso:
We believe in you.
Will Price:
They want something heavy in their hand so they can kind of feel it going up and down as they're moving it quickly. There's something to it. So weight is one. Whereas a lot of people who ... if you're quite good with a knife, you really like that ... it almost feels like a part of your hand, a really lightweight knife. A lot of Japanese knives are extremely lightweight. Japanese-style knives, I should say. There's a lot of Japanese-style knives that are not made in Japan. So that's one thing. Consider that. I'm not saying that you're bad with a knife if you like a heavy knife. That's, of course, a really silly thing to say. But just something to consider. And again, the best way to know what you prefer is to go into a store and kind of do the weird pick it up in each hand and embarrass yourself in a Bed Bath and Beyond.
Will Price:
The other things to think about are, do you want to bother with washing it by hand after you use it, or are you going to be someone who's just going to toss it in the dishwasher? If you're going to toss it in the dishwasher, I'm just going to point blank say, just go ahead and buy a nice budget knife. Buy a Victorinox. Not all of their knives are cheap, but they have an excellent knife that's like $35 and no problems at all, throw it in the dishwasher. But if you want to buy a nicer knife, just consider that they really shouldn't be run through the dishwasher. So maintenance is the second thing. Weight, maintenance. And then the third, there's a lot of kind of more taste-based items, like whether you like dimples in the knife, which are those little things that people say it helps food come off the knife more easily, kind of a specious claim, maybe. But there's aesthetic options, that kind of thing.
Will Price:
But the one thing I do want to ... the last thing, the last very important thing, and it's something I think a lot of people don't think about when they are shopping for chef's knives in particular. We all know the tip of the blade, at the very, very top, whatever. At the bottom of the blade is ... I'm going to call it the heel. It's got a few different names, depending on who you're talking to. The heel of the blade, look at how it ... if you have a chef's knife in your home or whatever, in your silly little block you have, look how it drops. Is it a straight drop that goes into the handle, or is it a curved drop? Does it have a place for you to kind of choke up on? How is it shaped? And then think to yourself, "When I'm holding this knife, the way I'm holding it," because everybody grips maybe a little different, "Is it comfortable to me?"
Will Price:
A lot of times, a straight drop ... which is really popular with Japanese-style knives ... is kind of uncomfortable for a lot of folks who weren't trained to hold them like that because it can kind of dig into your thumb and give you a small blister. Of course, you could just tough it out and deal with it. But a lot of Western-style knives, the heel has a little curve to it so you can almost slide your hand in there to get choked up on the knife and it's not going to blister your hand. So that's something that's a very small thing. Well, it seems small, but to me, it's sort of what makes or breaks whether the knife is for me. Not necessarily if it's good or bad, but whether I enjoy it.
Nick Caruso:
This is hard to demonstrate orally without seeing it, but-
Will Price:
We'll do our best.
Nick Caruso:
I was taught that you grip the knife between your forefinger and your thumb on that heel part to control it better. Is that true? I mean, you're talking about choking up on it, getting fingers at the heel of the blade, but ...
Will Price:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What you're describing is more or less the ... I think they call it ... I can't remember if I'm getting my tennis and my knife skills confused, but I think the continental grip maybe.
Nick Caruso:
Probably. It's impressive, whatever it is.
Will Price:
Someone will backhand me for this treachery. But yes so that's [crosstalk 00:17:11]
Nick Caruso:
Is that a tennis reference?
Will Price:
It was.
Nick Caruso:
Wow.
Will Price:
Yes, that's the general way you're going to be taught to hold a knife if you Google, if you YouTube knife skills or whatever. There's a few other ways you might hold it if you're chopping different things, you'll find. Like Jacques Pépin, for example, if he's chopping or dicing a bunch of garlic-
Nick Caruso:
OG.
Will Price:
Yeah. The absolute king. If you want to learn how to cut vegetables, to do anything with a knife and you have no idea, just Google him, Jacques Pépin. But he'll hold the knife by the heel and by the tip and kind of rock it back and forth almost, like ... I don't know. I have no idea what item that would be, but ... So it depends a lot on how you're using it. But yes, that is the general way you're holding it. So your thumb and your forefinger and your pointer finger kind of gripping just above the handle on the bottom of the blade, just above that heel part. So that's why that shape, that dropdown, can matter a lot, because if you're over-gripping ... which you might do if you're trying to push your way through ... I mentioned breaking down a chicken earlier or something ... then a straight drop will kind of cut into your hand a little more than something with some curvature to it.
Will Price:
And I sound like I'm just trashing these straight ... I mean, that is the de facto knife design for thousands and thousands of companies and loads of professionals use them all the time. So it's not as if you're going to use one and it's going to make your hand bleed or something. But it's a personal choice, is kind of what I'm trying to get across, I guess.
Nick Caruso:
Right. Yeah. Be careful. The straight drop knife heel lobby is going to come after you. Speaking of the blade, let's get into some more of the specific details of a chef's knife, and I want to start with materials. But fair warning to you, Will. I talked with Tanner, our ...
Will Price:
Oh dear God.
Nick Caruso:
... yeah, on our outdoors and fitness team a couple weeks ago about pocketknife blade materials, and he went off like an atomic reaction. It was-
Will Price:
Can we just copy and paste his reply and we can deep fake his voice into mine so I can ... Yeah, I'm not going to be as eloquent, but I'll do my best.
Nick Caruso:
Okay. Well, yeah. You've basically separated it into a couple different types. As I understand it, the two main materials are stainless steel and carbon steel. So we don't need to get into necessarily the code designations of stuff, but ...
Will Price:
Thank God.
Nick Caruso:
... can you sort of compare and contrast those two against each other?
Will Price:
Yeah. The main functional differences between stainless and carbon steel are that ... before we get into the science ... is that carbon steel is a harder steel, and I'll get into what that means in a moment ... than stainless steel. So harder means it's going to keep its edge longer than stainless steel. Another thing that carbon steel has ... and it sounds counterintuitive, but I promise you it's the truth, I'm not just making this up ... is that despite it being harder, carbon steel, it's easier to sharpen than stainless steel is.
Will Price:
And this brings us to a point that we'll talk about, I'm sure, but there's not a knife on this planet that's been designed that will not need sharpening after regular use, however many months into using. So first of all, just get that out of your mind that there's a knife that you can just use for 10 years and never sharpen. I have a bevy of really, really nice knives that I use in my kitchen and I get them serviced pretty regularly just so I can keep them at a performance level that's comfortable and I'm not risking my fingers because I'm hobbling around a tomato or whatever.
Will Price:
So yeah, that's the first thing to think about when it comes to carbon versus stainless, is that stainless is harder, easier to sharpen, will hold its edge longer. Now, stainless is obviously ... not necessarily for this reason ... but it is usually a more expensive knife. You can buy more commercial angled carbon steel knife that are really good value, but usually, it's more expensive because it's being sold to people who are into them, more enthusiast crowd. Now, you obviously, with carbon steel can't ... you have no option of leaving it in the sink, or you can't slice a lime for margaritas and then leave the knife on the cutting board. Think of carbon steel like a cast iron skillet. If you leave acid or water or anything like that on those products, they degrade and they rust and they kind of get that weird metal-y smell. It's not ideal.
Will Price:
So the maintenance for a carbon steel knife is higher, despite you not having to sharpen it as often, because you do have to mind it after you've done cooking, which everyone knows it's a unique pain, after you're done cooking for 45 minutes. No one in their right minds is like, "I am ready to do the dishes." But with a carbon steel knife, it is wise to at least wipe it off. Those are the two main things I think are worth considering. And then talking about stainless steel, there are now high-carbon stainless steel knives, which basically just mean they don't have as much chromium or other materials. They don't have as many or as much ... I don't even know, the element? Yeah, I guess the element that makes a knife stainless, they kind of go lower on that so you get a knife that's sort of a hybrid. So it's like maybe stain free, or I don't know if I would call it a true stainless knife. Those are more popular now, but-
Nick Caruso:
Stain resistant.
Will Price:
Yeah. Whatever you want to call them. But they're still fewer and further between than just the classic forged stainless steel knife. I think you can get a great stainless steel knife from companies like ... Most of them, I would say, are Japanese companies, Tojiro or MAC or even something like ZWILLING, which is, I think, Swiss. Victorinox makes good. A lot of your mainline brands make really excellent stainless steel knives, because that's what most people want, because of the lower maintenance time cost. It's really up to you. I'm not here to say one's better than the other. I will tell you ... and I think this would probably be reflected by sales and marketing angles ... but carbon steel knives are far more popular with professionals for a reason, and it's that they hold their edge for longer and that if you do want to sharpen them yourself ... which, of course, you don't have to, there's plenty of services that will do it for you ... they're far easier to sharpen yourself than a stainless steel knife will be. That I can attest to. I have cut into some fingers trying to sharpen cheap stainless steel knives and it is not a great time.
Nick Caruso:
No, that's never ... it probably ranks under or at least parallel with washing the dishes. So is it safe to say then you're talking about, overall, you should think about your use case. Here it seems like most amateur or just kind of the average home cook might make the best use of stainless steel, but if you're going for really high-end stuff, you go carbon. But is it also worth considering what ingredients you're slicing through, like you mentioned up top? Like if you're making, I don't know ... you're finely slicing something? Prosciutto or something?
Will Price:
To be honest with you, I have ... I wish I were slicing prosciutto right now. I don't-
Nick Caruso:
Splitting hairs, maybe.
Will Price:
I don't really sweat the material of the knife when I'm deciding what I'm preparing or what I'm cooking. If you're at a restaurant and you're breaking down 50 lemons, or if you're at home and you're making lemon chess pie and you need like 15 lemons, maybe lay off the carbon steel and go stainless so you don't eat through the metal. But most things you're cooking are not going to require you to go to an extreme like that.
Will Price:
I do think the last little bit for carbon steel knives, I would say, is that ... and this is very few people, so everyone else can just mute me for a minute. But there's far more carbon steel knife makers who are kind of in it for the craft of making the product. I've mentioned Japan a few times because it's sort of the classical home of knife and blade making, or at least one of them. You can find so, so many just guys who make knives out of a studio somewhere in Seki City, Japan or whatever ... which is an actual place. I didn't just make that up ... and you buy them for a pretty reasonable rate. So something with a little more story to it, something with more ... not a handmade feel, but is made by hand. Sites like Chef Knives to Go, there's hundreds ... well, not hundreds. There's dozens of sites that import wicked, wicked knives like that. Absolutely check them out. If you're into something a little ... maybe a gift, so you're not just giving someone a knife they've seen a million places, it'll be something that they've never seen before. That's it. That's all I got.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Particularly maybe like a partner or something, you give them a knife like it's a hint to make better food.
Will Price:
It is so tricky to gift cooking ...
Nick Caruso:
I know.
Will Price:
... supplies for that exact reason. Like, "Hey, maybe you should cook more."
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, exactly.
Will Price:
What does that mean? It's like giving someone workout shorts. It just feels like such a twist of the knife.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, wow. What about other ... are there other materials? I know there are ceramic knives and plastic knives people use for various things. They seem gimmicky to me.
Will Price:
Some people like them. I get it. If you like them, keep using them. I'm not going to tell you that they're the worst things on the planet. But they chip and you can't sharpen them, right?
Nick Caruso:
Right.
Will Price:
They're done. They chip and they're done. They may be affordable, but I'm not really personally interested in replacing knives constantly. One, I think it's just bad economics, and two, just I hate having to constantly reorder the same thing because it wore out. Just kind of against my consumerist creed. But yeah, I mean, they're fine. I'm not going to tell you they're the worst things in the world, but they're quietly the worst things in the world.
Nick Caruso:
Okay. And also, they don't make our top three recommendations, certainly.
Will Price:
No.
Nick Caruso:
Okay. Let's move on. We have an idea of materials. What about tang? Not the monkey in space kind, but the-
Will Price:
Wow. Shout out to Tang, though.
Nick Caruso:
Right? That's 55, 60 years, maybe more. Probably more. I don't know how long Tang's been around. It was in space 50 ... This doesn't matter. Tang-
Will Price:
Can I briefly say something?
Nick Caruso:
Yeah.
Will Price:
I went to an Airbnb and it was a room in this wonderful older couple's home in the Hudson Valley and they made me, in the morning, toast that they had somehow infused Tang powder into the consistency of a nut butter and spread it on toast. It is one of the best things I have eaten in years. I am not exaggerating. I can't remember their names or the house, but if I could steal that recipe from them, I would sell it for so much money.
Nick Caruso:
Wait, it was literally Tang?
Will Price:
Tang. But it was somehow infused into the consistency of a nut butter. It was incredible.
Nick Caruso:
Wow.
Will Price:
It was genuinely incredible. I'm sorry. I just ... blast from the past.
Nick Caruso:
That's okay, Will. We allow you your little tangents so long as you come back to us. If anybody listening knows what that is, write in. I mean, we could Google it, but we're not going to. Let's talk about other tang, metal knife tang. Knife tang. It's starting to sound like a weird word, but what is tang in terms of a blade, and why is it important?
Will Price:
Yeah, it's essentially the knife and the metal and how it fits into the hangle ... the hangle ... the handle, excuse me.
Nick Caruso:
Hangle tangle.
Will Price:
So if people say a full tang knife, that just means the knife itself, the metal from it is running all the way through the handle in one solid piece. The pros of it, it's extremely sturdy. I'm sure people ... well, maybe I'm not sure, but there's a lot of affordable knives out there ... or not all cheap knives aren't full tang, and not all nice knives are. But the knife itself actually can come dislodged from the handle, whether it's from constant use or whether it's from maybe a little water got in there, whatever it is. So a full tang knife, that's not possible because it's running all the way through. It's essentially one with the handle, if you will. So the cons are that. It's the construction. You're not going to have any issue there. The pros or ... Did I just say the cons? That is the pro, that you're not going to have any construction issues, you're not going to have any detaching knife from handle, nothing like that. The con is that it basically guarantees that the knife is going to be heavier, you know?
Nick Caruso:
Sure.
Will Price:
It's a lot more metal. That's why I mentioned a lot of Japanese knives are pretty light. Most Japanese knives are not full tang for that reason. We're going to talk about a couple that are, I think, in a second here.
Nick Caruso:
[crosstalk 00:30:28]
Will Price:
But yeah, it's kind of a weight/construction trade off. It's something to consider, but I don't think it's necessarily a make-or-break feature.
Nick Caruso:
Right. Again, it comes back to use. That's maybe even more reason to kind of feel those knives, like go into your knife store, wherever you're going ...
Will Price:
Yeah, exactly.
Nick Caruso:
... and really pick those up and feel the difference. I bet Jacques Pépin has a full tang.
Will Price:
I bet you he does.
Nick Caruso:
Don't you think?
Will Price:
I think he probably uses a heavier knife. I don't know, there's something about him that just ... He feels like a man of the people.
Nick Caruso:
God, he's such a badass. Sometimes I just watch ... I leave his videos on in the background and find myself staring. It's great.
Will Price:
Yeah. I've watched his how to make an omelet video no less than 100 times.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Yeah. Fast Food My Way. Those videos. Great, right?
Will Price:
Let's just do a podcast on Jacques Pépin, greatest hits.
Nick Caruso:
Let's get Jacques on here.
Will Price:
Oh my God.
Nick Caruso:
Let me just actually just give the microphone to him. Okay, last thing on ... So this is tang adjacent. This is a tang-gent.
Will Price:
Wow.
Nick Caruso:
Is that okay?
Will Price:
Well done.
Nick Caruso:
I just made that up. That's good, right?
Will Price:
Well played there. Yeah.
Nick Caruso:
I'm going to start using that in every episode. So this tang-gent, I want to talk about handles themselves. Is there a consideration there in terms of materials or shape or, I don't know, whatever else?
Will Price:
Yeah. I mean, one thing that I think ... A classic Western handle is a little bit more ergonomic, or at least looks that way, than the classic ... I keep mentioning Japan versus the world when it comes to knives, but those are the two kind of general knife design shapes. So if you look at a Zwilling or a Victorinox or really any knife that's made in Europe or made in America, they'll have a handle that kind of looks like it's meant to fit into your hand. It's got curves all over it. The end of it has a little bump and that's as far back as you're supposed to hold. Whatever, right?
Nick Caruso:
Right.
Will Price:
It's kind of like the bottom of a baseball bat situation. And then a lot of Japanese knives, they'll have ... I think it's called a Wa handle, and it's just straight back. There's no slots to put your finger, like the side of a Gatorade bottle or whatever. At the end of the day, I think it's more important to look at the ... I can't believe I just referenced a Gatorade bottle.
Nick Caruso:
That was good. That was good.
Will Price:
At the end of the day, I genuinely think it's far more important to see how your hand fits onto the bottom of the blade. We've mentioned that thumb and pointer finger, how they're gripping the knife. That part is going to be more important than how your hand fits around the actual handle. Because very rarely ... I mean, think about how often you're holding the knife specifically just the handle. It kind of is just the murder pose, right? You look like Scream or whatever, just holding the knife up. You're not really doing a whole lot of swinging the knife like that, so you can-
Nick Caruso:
Brandishing, I think, is the word.
Will Price:
Yeah, brandishing. It's worth considering and looking at, but at the end of the day, it's more important how you're going to hold it in cutting action.
Nick Caruso:
Fair. Okay, glad I asked. Tang-gent's over now.
Will Price:
Well done.
Nick Caruso:
You mentioned that we were going to mention this, so let's move on to the difference between Japanese and German-style knives. They're decidedly two different schools of thought in terms of how the kitchen ... the chef's knife, rather, is approached.
Will Price:
Yeah. And again, of course, there are more styles of knives than we can talk ... The podcast, it'd be 10 hours ...
Nick Caruso:
Nope. We're ending here.
Will Price:
... and no one would listen to it.
Nick Caruso:
This is it.
Will Price:
But a Japanese knife is typically going to be ... There are many different types of Japanese chef's knives, as anyone who's Googled it knows. But they're typically going to be a little bit lighter. They're going to have a handle that's more straight back, more streamlined. There's going to be less grooves and bumps and ergonomic bits, and the knife heel itself will often be a straight drop. It'll go from handle straight down to heal, like almost a 90-degree angle. That's regardless if we're talking about a Gyuto or any other Japanese-style chef's knife.
Will Price:
A Western chef's knife, typically going to be a little heavier, typically going to have more little hooks and areas to put your hands ... Hooks is the wrong word. But the handle's going to have more of a shape that looks like it's going to fit your hand. I mentioned the Gatorade or Powerade bottle earlier. The heel of the knife will often have more of a curve to it. And the knife itself will probably be a little bit taller, so just talking about if you have the knife like you're chopping on a cutting board, the height from the bottom of the blade to the top of the blade typically will be significantly taller.
Will Price:
Those are the key differences. There's not a right or wrong or a better option. I think a lot of the time, it just comes to what you're used to and what fits your hands.
Nick Caruso:
Do you know why those style ... You're talking about Western knives, German knives are sort of interchangeable. I guess the question is, have those knives come about because of the different cuisines, or is it just a preference of different cultures.
Will Price:
That's a good question. If I had to just pretend to be an expert right here, I would say that maybe it's just due to ... Well, always. It's probably due to ... Hmm, do I want to just pretend to be an expert? No. I'm going to say this. I don't really have a firm idea. I would guess ... For example, a lot of Japanese kitchen knife making, the design to some extent is derivative of sword making in that region thousands of years ago. There are actually brands that you can buy chef's knives from that their histories go back 600 years where they were making katanas for shoguns and things like that.
Nick Caruso:
No way.
Will Price:
Yeah. I'm being dead serious.
Nick Caruso:
Like Hattori Hanzō kitchen knife?
Will Price:
I'm dead serious.
Nick Caruso:
That's wild.
Will Price:
I mentioned Chef's Knives to Go. It's a great resource for this kind of thing.
Nick Caruso:
That's so cool.
Will Price:
You can buy knives from the same people, the same family who's been making swords for [inaudible 00:36:52]. Just incredible stuff.
Nick Caruso:
That's crazy. I love it.
Will Price:
I would probably guess some of the design is imparted from that history, but I'm not going to give the, I don't know, knife history for dummies lesson here.
Nick Caruso:
You're going to be ... Yeah. You're not going to put your foot down on it. That's fair. So considering all of that, we've referenced a couple times quality of the knife, and you say in your guide ... There's a quote. You love when I quote you. You say, "The point is, you can get the job done with cheap or expensive knives. Just focus on quality." So what determines quality, then? I know we've kind of asked that, but what is the thing?
Will Price:
One, I think ... We have a $45 or $50 knife in our guide. I've mentioned Victorinox. The Victorinox Fibrox Pro is the official name.
Nick Caruso:
Love them.
Will Price:
I think that second word is just what the handle's made of. That knife is a quality knife, but it is a cheap knife. So it's quality in that it's sharp, it will stand up to any amount of chemical washing or dish washing or what have you, and it's well designed. The shape of the knife is nice. It doesn't come out of the handle. It is a quality knife for the money. And at the end of the day, you can still sharpen it to a reasonable extent if you've had a little practice in doing so. There are other knives at that price point, and I would say especially in the affordable price point, which shouldn't be a surprise, that are cheap and not quality.
Will Price:
If you just Google "cheap chef's knife," or Amazon "cheap chef's knives," whatever, and you will just come up with so many brands, one, you've never heard of, and two, that just kind of looks a little too good to be true. They'll tout Damascus steel and all these different things, and hardness levels on their $35 knife. Generally speaking, as with all things, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. So yeah, quality is in a product that is vetted, is used, isn't just one that you found on Prime Day and you really wanted to get $10 off.
Nick Caruso:
Right. But look for the good ones on Prime Day for sure. Okay. So let's say our faithful listener has heeded all of your advice, your fake professional guidance, as you purport it. They have a knife and need to maintain it and store it. What are your top tips here? This is a big, broad one too.
Will Price:
Okay, the quick and dirty. Ditch your knife block if you're using one, the thing that you ... It's got little slits and you stab your knife into. Ditch that-
Nick Caruso:
Like a wooden knife block, yeah.
Will Price:
There's been all sorts of research done in the last 10 or 15 years that points to a lot ... a lot ... of bacteria and kind of nasty shit grows inside those blocks. Think about it. I know this is a little bit grody.
Nick Caruso:
Gross.
Will Price:
Some water splashes in there, or maybe some grease from your cooking because it's in the kitchen, whatever. Or, I don't know, maybe you don't clean the knife perfectly before you put it back in. I mean, everything that goes in there is just sitting at the bottom of that knife block. You can't clean the inside of a knife block, so it's kind of gnarly.
Nick Caruso:
I have one of those blocks that is the really slender plastic dowels, sort of infinitely adjustable kind of thing. It's probably just as bad, huh?
Will Price:
Yeah, I mean, it's not as good as a bar or getting little individual, I guess, sheathes for your knives to put into a drawer or what have you. But I would say it's marginally less bad than a knife block. How's that?
Nick Caruso:
That's all I wanted to hear. That works perfectly.
Will Price:
Justifying your decisions for as long as you need.
Nick Caruso:
Yep. I go to the pod for validation. So in terms of maintenance then ... If we're storing things properly, it assumes that we are also aware of just proper maintenance in general in terms of sharpening, you mentioned rust spots. Run me through what people should be doing with a proper chef knife once they buy one.
Will Price:
The very first thing is ... I say no matter how cheap, but some people, if you're buying the absolutely cheapest, perhaps go for it. The first thing is, don't put your knife through the dishwasher. There's a huge amount of extremely ... let's just call them aggressive ... chemicals that can sort of eat away at the edge of your knife. It's not going to come out with splotches of red rust, but you're wearing down your knife more than you need to, much more than you need to. So that's the first thing. Just wipe it off by hand. I mean, what do you think it takes? 15 seconds to clean a knife?
Nick Caruso:
If that.
Will Price:
Some water, a sponge, a towel, done. And then that goes for stainless steel or carbon steel. Obviously, you don't want to put carbon steel in a dishwasher. So that's the first thing. If you want to be kind of extra, or you're just kind of like, I don't know ... you're kind of a hobbyist, a do-it-yourself kind of person, whatever ... pick up a few sets of whetstones on Amazon. You can get a decent setup for like 40 bucks, maybe. We're not talking the rolling wheel whetstone where you sharpen swords and-
Nick Caruso:
With a pedal kind of thing?
Will Price:
Yeah, yeah. Although, I mean, that would be ... If I could have that, I would have that. There's a store in New York City, if anyone is there, anyone in or around the city, called Korin. They make their own knives and sell others, and they actually have one of those in the store and you can bring your knives or mail your knives there and they will sharpen it on that for you.
Nick Caruso:
Is that in Manhattan?
Will Price:
And that is truly ... It is. It's in, I think, Tribeca. It is truly a joy to watch because it's something ... I mean, the origins of that go back however many thousands of years. I have no idea. It's awesome. But you don't need to do that.
Nick Caruso:
Okay. So if we're not going to the Brooklyn Museum and finding an artifact to sharpen our knives on, what ... You talk about whetstones. You give various grits and stuff.
Will Price:
Yeah, yeah. You get one higher grit and one lower grit to start and work your way from there. There's thousands of tutorials on YouTube how to get started and explaining how to sharpen a knife over a podcast is probably not the best medium, so I'll let people ...
Nick Caruso:
Fair.
Will Price:
... pursue those how-tos themselves. But I can tell you, it takes all of one or two sessions or tries to get yourself acclimated and comfortable with doing it. And I think what people will find is, one, they've probably been using dull or dull-ish knives for most of their lives without realizing it. A freshly sharpened knife makes everything in the kitchen so much easier and I think it's far more fun as well when you don't have to struggle to angle your knife through an onion or a tomato. It kind of just glides right through it. You can bring a dirt cheap knife to an extremely nice edge once you know what you're doing. It's worth pursuing. You also save yourself some money of sending to a professional.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. It's safer, too. I mean, a sharp knife is far safer because it cuts better. You don't have to force things. You're not going to-
Will Price:
Yeah. Imagine when you're wobbling around on a cutting board trying to, like you said, squish through whatever, a potato, a tomato, a squash, anything.
Nick Caruso:
Your finger.
Will Price:
That is bad news. Yeah, anyone who's worked in a kitchen knows that a bad knife can chop off the end of your finger pretty easily.
Nick Caruso:
Yep. I've done it.
Will Price:
Maybe not chop. Let's not use chop. Let's use slice.
Nick Caruso:
What about things like the handheld sharpeners with the three different options, or the rods that you can drag your thing across?
Will Price:
That's a good question. The rods, those are called hones, a knife hone.
Nick Caruso:
Really?
Will Price:
Yeah. A knife hone is different than a sharpener. Think of a knife hone as polishing the edge you already have, so you pull it out and use it, give it a few glides over it before you start chopping some shit up. It's not sharpening your knife, though. For example, if you have some kind of like ... I almost said microchips, but small chips in the knife that maybe are really hard to see, or that edge has kind of lost its shape a bit, which happens over time ... There's a million reasons why you would need to sharpen a knife, but the hone will not bring those back, but it will allow a sharp knife to remain really smooth and cut through something without, I guess, rigidity or kind of that herky-jerky nature of cutting if it's not completely there. It brings your edge into a nice, I guess, unison, in a straight line kind of thing. So yes, they're useful. You can buy them for, what? 10 bucks on Amazon?
Nick Caruso:
Yeah.
Will Price:
I have one in my ... If you see one for 50 bucks and it's talking about diamond whatever this or that, just ignore it. Just get a normal steel hone. The electric sharpeners can be useful. I find that a lot of them take too much metal off the knife, which is, I should say, the fundamental difference between a hone and a sharpener. When you're sharpening, you are removing and exposing metal to bring about a new edge in the knife. So a lot of the electric sharpeners will take too much, and within a few sharpening sessions, your knife all the sudden looks a little smaller. And I'm not really exaggerating. You genuinely see it. It's a little bit odd. And maybe you could say you can get around that by just not pressing your knife as hard through them or so on and so forth, but just be careful with them that you're not running a knife through them more often than you need to.
Will Price:
I think a manual whetstone situation is probably preferred. But if you're not comfortable with getting your fingers that close to a knife's edge, totally get it. Get an electric. Just be cognizant of the fact that you are chewing through metal and kind of extending the knife's sharpness, but you are reducing its lifespan in doing so.
Nick Caruso:
There's also the handheld manual ones too, right? With the cross cut ... You know what I'm talking about? Are those worthwhile? They have like three different ... There's a ceramic, a fine, a rough, that kind of stuff?
Will Price:
Yeah. It's a similar idea. It's not as aggressive as the electric ones. I think at the end of the day, the whetstone is just preferred because you have so much more control over where you're sharpening, the degree to which you're removing metal, that kind of thing. It will obviously take a little more thought and practice, but they're going to be pretty affordable in their own right and you won't ruin your knives on accident, I don't think.
Nick Caruso:
Well, that hearkens back to the enthusiast bit we were talking about at the onset, right? If you're going to get into this, you should get into taking care of your knives too. So a lot of tips there. There's a lot more we could go into in terms of maintenance, storage, et cetera, et cetera, all the details about knives. We've covered a ton of information. We've done materials and lengths and types and all this, uses. Let's get to the guide. You have three top recommendations. You have a full guide that goes through 10 or a dozen knives that people should consider, but we have three top picks as usual. Let's walk through them and see what you think. Get a little weigh in. And you've tested all these, is that right?
Will Price:
I have, yeah.
Nick Caruso:
Personally?
Will Price:
Yes. I'm the sole tester of the kitchen knife guide. I think every knife in this guide is one that I either have in my apartment currently or have tested for at least a couple months before ditching to a coworker or sending back to a brand or what have you.
Nick Caruso:
Right. All right, so the top pick we call Just Get This, and you may need to correct my pronunciation, but I believe it's the Tojiro DP Gyuto? Does that sound right?
Will Price:
Yeah, that's close enough I think. Yeah. The Gyuto is just the shape of the knife. It's going to have that straight heel drop and the top of the knife or the spine sort of curves its way downward to a pointed edge. It's kind of the picture of what most people think of when they think of a Japanese kitchen knife. This knife is-
Nick Caruso:
Right. So it's full tang, it's that whole deal, right? And it's 85 bucks.
Will Price:
85 bucks, yeah. I really can't stress how much this price feels like highway robbery. When you use this knife or you set it next to, as I have, knives that are two times and three times the price, out of the box it's one of the best knives I've ever used. It's a stainless steel knife. It is a Japanese-shaped knife, the Gyuto. It has the straight dropdown heel, so it may take a little getting used to if you're not used to that. But it is a real joy to use for $85, and if I hadn't known the price when I was testing it, I would have assumed $160, $200. The blade itself is extremely thin, which is pretty common for Japanese knives. It sort of helps with specificity in cuts, precision, that kind of thing.
Will Price:
But despite that ... and this is one of the things I like a lot about it ... it's not light as a feather, like a lot of higher-end Japanese knives. It's got a little bit of heft to it, to the point where I think it is more comfortable for folks who have been using a Western-style knife for most of their lives. So it's kind of this nice in between hybrid between the spaces, which is something I prioritize a lot because at the end of the day, it's better to have the strengths of both design styles than just to go full hog into one. And yeah, it's got excellent balance. It doesn't feel like it's falling forward. It doesn't feel like it's too heavy in the handle, that kind of thing. It's just a really, really, really nice product for $85. And despite it being a lesser known brand in the States, this is a legitimate company. It's not like you're buying from what I would call a "Amazon brand" or whatever.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. It really is pretty. I was looking at it as you were talking. It looks very serious. It's also ... I'm not sure we actually talked about a typical chef's knife length, but this is a 13-inch long item, so it's no joke. If you're holding this ...
Will Price:
Yeah. There's some size.
Nick Caruso:
... you're holding a serious knife. Yeah. Great. So for 85 bucks, you really can't go wrong. That's why we call it the Just Get This pick. Obviously, all these links are going to be down in the show notes and on the post, so if people want to click right through to those, get to it.
Will Price:
And I should say ...
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, please.
Will Price:
The blade length is just over eight inches. The full knife itself is 13 inches, so the handle included. Just so we're in ... 13-inch blade would be a pretty extreme chef's knife.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. That'd be a chef's sword. Let's move on to ... we go to the Smart Spend, which is the less expensive pick that is still recommended if you want to spend a little less. This one is 45 bucks, so about half as much. It is Victorinox, which we've talked about a lot. The Fibrox, which you mentioned earlier, and it's the Pro Chef's Knife, which you also mentioned earlier. You've talked about this knife already. So what do you like about this one as the inexpensive pick?
Will Price:
This has been a recommendation for our site, and I think if you just look far and wide ... maybe not too far or too wide. But if you look at other-
Nick Caruso:
Stick with us.
Will Price:
Yeah. If you don't trust us, pretty much everywhere else will recommend this for their cheap pick. So when we set up this guide, I really set out to make sure I wasn't just parroting the same old sort of narrative, like, "This is the best cheap knife." So we tested a dozen knives in this $30 to $50 range. A lot of them are very similar, but at the end of the day, it really kind of set itself apart. I think the first thing is that Victorinox is a serious company, and if you have an issue or what have you, they have customer service that does reply and whatnot. And despite this being an affordable product, I think people are entitled to having a quibble with the company if there's an issue with the product.
Will Price:
The second thing is the knife and the way it fits into its kind of cushy rubber-like handle, which it is made that way, to be really grippy even when wet. Because I think this knife was originally designed for commercial use or in a kitchen. The blade itself doesn't ... I've had one for, I don't know, four years, and the blade itself has not removed or has not started jiggling or moving around from the handle, which is really, really common in this kind of ultra affordable space. So that's a big thing for me. And it's a stainless steel knife. It's pretty tall. It's kind of a classic Western shape. It's comfortable enough in the hand, and because of the way it's designed, it's not going to be great for manual sharpening. It's kind of more difficult to sharpen, just because it's very high in chromium and it sort of fights with you a little bit, but that's the case with pretty much every knife at this price range. And this price range ... I don't know if I mentioned it ... I think it's $45 retail, and it goes on sale in the $35 range with some frequency.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah, keep your eyes peeled. A few things to mention. First of all, the utility knife I have is a Victorinox, and if people are not totally familiar but this sounds familiar, that's because this is the Swiss Army brand. This is the same parent company. And I should say, you do test all of these. You said that. And your ratings are agnostic of external stuff, but on Amazon as I was looking around, this specific knife, the eight-inch chef's knife from Victorinox, has been rated 10,950 times and it has a five-star rating. So-
Will Price:
It's pretty obscene.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. This is really the one to get if you want to spend 45 bucks, another great option.
Will Price:
Yep. Totally agree.
Nick Caruso:
Okay. So on the other end of the spectrum, 175 bucks. This is almost twice as much as our Just Get This pick, is the MAC Professional Hollow Edge Knife. I want you to tell me about it, Will.
Will Price:
Yeah, this is a weird one. Maybe "weird" is not the right word. It's a very cool knife. I think it's pretty much the perfect hybrid between Western and Japanese-style knife design. It's got some weight to it. It's full tang, forged stainless steel. I will say it is higher carbon stainless steel than most, so it's not one that I would say put through your dishwasher or leave out soaking wet or covered in lemon juice or whatever. That does mean, despite it being stainless steel, it takes manual sharpening really nicely, which normally you kind of have to struggle against it, which is something that I found really, really nice. And it also just ... One, I think it looks pretty badass, but because it's this hybrid between Japanese and Western design, the little heel drop that I keep talking about is slightly angled and is a little bit more comfortable for my hands. And the handle itself is a little bit more ... it's not straight back like a lot of Japanese knives. It's got a little curve to it. It fits the hand really nicely.
Will Price:
That combined with a nice weight and balance profile, for me, this knife ... I think it retails at $175. It's pretty much one of those things on Amazon that's almost always on sale from 15 to 30% off, so you'll probably get it for like $140-ish, if I had to guess. It's the knife I use the most in my kitchen, which is a kitchen that has, I don't know, a dozen chef's knives or whatever, that are sitting on the wall. I just go back and back and back to it. It's a great knife. You can buy it at any kind of kitchen-y retail store, I think, as well as, obviously, on Amazon any time. It's just great. I think the only real knock on it I can think is I don't really care for knives with dimples, which are those little rivets cut out that are said to help with releasing food when you're chopping. I don't really buy that they do anything. I just kind of think they're annoying and they make cleaning just slightly more frustrating. But that's the only knock I really have against it.
Nick Caruso:
Do you not believe they do anything because you don't think physics are real? I mean, that seems like a really ...
Will Price:
I mean, it's just-
Nick Caruso:
Do those really not do anything in your opinion?
Will Price:
I mean, you can look up blogs where actual chefs have talked about this. Maybe there's the most marginal difference, but at the end of the day, food comes off a knife when you're chopping it if you're moving quickly. I just can't think of many situations where you really need dimples to really make a serious difference when you're chopping garlic or onions or whatever else, you know?
Nick Caruso:
Okay. Fair enough. It does look really cool, though. It's a full tang knife. It looks really substantial in the handle, and it says the word "mighty" on it.
Will Price:
It does.
Nick Caruso:
MAC mighty, so that tells you all you need to know really.
Will Price:
I think it's a selling point.
Nick Caruso:
Cool. Well, those are the three picks there, like we said. There are something like a dozen on this list, and if you don't find what you want in those three, there are several other options of all varying price points that go up to ... There's a $450 knife on this list, which is, of course, at the extreme end. And then the Victorinox is the most affordable by far. So all sorts of options, a lot of information to apply to your purchase, and that is a great place to start. So Will, you've kind of alluded to this many times now, but I just wanted to finish with a sort of traditional question, which I guess you did just answer. But what is your go-to knife? Is it the MAC?
Will Price:
Yeah, I adore the MAC. I think it's just ... There's not one feature that I just go, "Wow, this is why it's the best knife." Because at the end of the day, we're talking about products that, especially once you get into the $80, $100, $120 price range, a lot of the products are made using similar materials, various blends of steel that are ... they're very close, at the end of the day, so it comes down to balance and craftsmanship and reliability. And I think it kind of just in aggregate is just a very, very cozy thing to use if you're cooking often. Nice weight, extremely sharp, easy enough to maintain and keep sharp and clean and everything. It just kind of does everything as you'd want it to do. It's an impressive product. Yeah, I recommend it to pretty much everybody who's willing to cough up a little bit of money to get a good tool.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Or anybody who's willing to sit through such a substantial, sort of lengthy conversation.
Will Price:
Yeah, [crosstalk 01:01:28] this far.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. So congratulations if you made it this far and heard the reel rack. Will, thanks so much for all the info. Love to pick your brain, and this is a topic we haven't explored yet, so it's fun to learn things I didn't know about kitchen knives and chef's knives.
Will Price:
Always, always.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. And as I understand it, because we had such a thorough conversation about this, I think you and I are both automatically cast in Knives Out Two.
Will Price:
I believe so. Sort of contractually obligated, yep.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. If you like a joke, we'll get along. Will, thanks so much. Everybody, thanks for tuning in. Really appreciate you listening to the podcast. If you do like what you hear in this episode or any previous episodes or any future episodes, I hope you will consider subscribing and giving us a rating. Kind of like that Victorinox knife, we'd love a five-star review because they help jog the algorithm and get us into more ears and spread the word about really good knives.
Nick Caruso:
You can find us on social media. Our handle is GearPatrol. It's one word. It's on every platform as GearPatrol. You can get a hold of Will ... Will, do you want to drop your email here? You always do. I figure I'd-
Will Price:
Oh. Wprice@gearpatrol.com. Send all your friendly banter that way. Please no anger though.
Nick Caruso:
Yeah. Banter-
Will Price:
The world's hard enough as it is.
Nick Caruso:
Banter and Rian Johnson movie memes. And you can comment on articles on the website if you have anything to say, and you can email me at podcast@gearpatrol.com. Will's email address is his name. My name is actually Podcast, so that's a fun fact for everyone. Okay, that's chef's knives. Thank you everybody. Thank you Will. I'm Nick Caruso, Podcast Nick Caruso, and until next time, take care.
Will Price:
Buh-bye.