8" chef’s knife and 5" paring knife, both Victorinox…i’ve never needed anything else…

I love my Globals.

My favorites–because they are as great to look at as they are to use–are my Shun Kershaw knives which really are sharper than any European knives I’ve found. I have 3: a 10" chef’s, a 5" santoku and a 9" carver. For more basic tasks, though, I use Henckels International knives (the forged ones from Spain–I find Henckels various lines confusing).

For professional and at home use, I like my Wusthof Trident Santoku.

Costco has a great set!

I buy only pre-1986 virgin steel (both carbon and stainless) blades from a source in L.A. The brands represented are Henckles, Forschner and Solingen.

My favorites are the 9.5" carbon Solingen utility, the massively built 12" ss Forschner chef’s knife, and the 10" ss Henckles granton edged slicer.

I use a very old carbon steel JA Henkels 8 1/4 inch blade. Old virgin carbon holds a very sharp edge way better than anything you can buy today and far superior to any stanless blade. I also use a Tramontina Santoku commercial carbon knife that I purchased in a two pack for about $20 at Sams Club that I would stack up against any $100 modern knife. Sharpens very well and hold an edge. I use an old 10 inch blade Sabatier for the big stuff. For pairing I use vintage Mac knives in 4 and 6 inch If you have never seen or used a Mac you might want to look at them they are definatly top grade and one of the best kept secrets in knives. You can still pick them up at a very good price. Anything over a 10 inch actual blade size is very tough for me to handle and I consider myself pretty adept at knife work. I am amazed when I see someone handle a 12 or 14 inch knife with skill. I have bought many great quality knives on EBAY from a gentleman who always has interresting stuff named qualcut….Russ

Henckels

10 inch chef
serrated bread
filet
cleaver
curved carving