ottawa foodies

Tempted to pick up the Henckels Santoku 'value brand' 7" knife from Canadian Tire. Not top of the line, but nice midrange I think. They charge $40

Any opinions or better deal in town?

Let us know how you make out.

I'm also shopping for a knife. My 8" Soligen Henckels Chef's knife has given me many years of great service (and a few cuts), but you can only resharpen them only so many times.

The Can. Tire one I got my eye on is :

www.canadiantire.ca

Here is it's pic.


Other choices I'm looking at are:

www.leevalley.com,40733,40738&ap=1

or

www.leevalley.com,40733,40738,45507

Bottom line is ... well... the bottom line, or how much to pay. Would like to get something decent for 70-80 bucks. Am I dreaming ?

CC I've never been a big fan of Henckels they are hard to keep sharp and are heavy to work with. Paradis sells Sanelli knives and Sanelli makes an excellent santoku which you can certainly get in your price range. I would also reccomend a rolling sharpener as the best and easiest way to keep it sharp.
best of luck

You might want to check out this discussion on knives from earlier this year:
www.ottawafoodies.com
CC ~ I have that 8" chef's knife from Lee Valley (Item B in the second link) and I really REALLY love it. Very versatile for different jobs, sharpens well, and a great weight (for me of course). Ah yes, knives are a very personal thing.
If we had show & tell at work I'd bring it in...though carrying it in could be dicey :)

I have that Lee Valley Peasant's knife and still absolutely love it!

Have been eying those other Lee Valley knives you linked though. Glad to hear from AMR that it's a good one.

I've got the Lee Valley Peasant's knife too, and I think it's great. Admittedly though, it's the only real chef's knife I've ever owned, so I don't have a whole lot to compare it with.

I ended up grabbing the Santoku, as I prefer the style over a french blade. It's nicely balanced and a nice weight for me.

Chopped up 3lbs of carrots for cream of carrot soup as a test, and I'm quite happy with it for that task, can cut paper thin with ease if wanted. I'll give it a go with some meats tonight I hope.

The Lee-Valley knives are a good price, might have to pick a few up for xmas gifts since people seem to be happy with them.

BTW, Loblaw's / Superstore has a line of really cheap knives now - we bought the paring knife for a fraction of what I paid for an identical Grohman. The PC ones are an epoxy handle which I prefer to wood for durability in the dishwasher. Sharp as heck and in all ways identical to the Grohman. We'll probably try out some of the bigger ones too.

I got the Lee Valley peasant's knife as a gift a few Christmases ago and the blade became oxydized, for some reason... Otherwise, it was a great knife.

The last time I went to Home Outfitters on Merivale, they had some very affordable Calphalon santokus in a variety of sizes.

yes, of course it oxydized - it's carbon steel not stainless. that's one of the reasons it's as razor-sharp as it is and holds that edge so long. So you have to take a bit better care of it and even then it will get black and this is normal

Those lee valley knives look a lot like those made by Sabatier (note the graphic logo on the blade)... and what can I say, other than I'm a big fan of Sabatier knives. I scored some great commercial knives at Home Sense or Winners or something. Also, the PC brand knives are surprisingly quite good from what I've experienced, which is to say, not a lot since I bought their paring knife and I only ever use a paring knife to cut up apples for myself.

Oh, and to second bruce-the-chef's comment on henckels being hard to maintain, I definitely agree. They are usually very lofty as well, which some people tend to enjoy... it's just not for me.

"So you have to take a bit better care of it and even then it will get black and this is normal"

When I say it oxydized, I mean it rusted. It turned orange. I've always washed and dried it by hand immediately after using it; I don't know what happened.

Yes, it will rust. Again, this is normal for carbon steel. And in fact it is desirable if you need more iron in your diet (seriously). Mine gets a bit of rust but I don't worry about it. We're all too used to stainless steel.

I don't know if this counts as a tip or not, but instead of getting a santoku I just use my 8" chef's knife (Shun Classic) and it seems fine. Actually, now that I've used it for a couple of years I don't feel badass enough and am thinking of getting a 10" one to go with it.

One thing that sells me on the Shuns is that the edge on them lasts forever and they come with a 16-degree edge from the factory. That be sharp!

A little off topic, but if anyone is ever in Toronto's Chinatown district there is an excellent little store on Spadina called Tap Phong Trading Company. They sell a few brands of knives along with all sorts of other neat stuff like sake sets, sushi mats, and cuttings boards all at rock-bottom prices. I bought my Global knives there for probably 30-40% less than CA Paradis sells them for. They're awesome Japanese knives that are incredibly sharp and light as a feather (endorsed by Bobby Flay among others if you're into that type of thing!)