I was never really into knives, as long as mum says german or japanese knives are good. I will simply pick up one box from shopping centre wiithout giving much thoughts to it.
Its only recently that I had a lesson on choosing knives ....... an art of its own
After visiting Nature's glory, which is situated in at Tan Boon Liat Towers, I happened to passby a shop with an appealling interior of european and japanese kitchenwares and pots - Razorsharp Pte Ltd. This company happened to be the supplier of my ceramic peeler whiich i adores. I also found huge a huge display of knives (just what i needed!!), they don't look very cheap too!!
I met with a gentleman who spent a while explaining to me on choosing knife:
Here's what i learnt:
1. You need to know the purpose of getting this knive and usage level eg. Asian cooking usually use chief knief (more multipurpose)
2. You need to hold onto the knife that you like to see if it suits you grip and check if the knife is balanced
When a knife is balance you should have no problem balancing the knife at centre with a finger
3. Choose the shape of the knife blade that gives you the ability to have a rocking action for quick and easy slicing
4. Always keep the knief in a magnetic strip or a knife board as it is made in such a what that keep the sharpness of the knife. Putting knife guard is also useful in doing that too.
Those traditional way of putting knife in upright position predisposed the knife of being scratched at the side
5. You can sharpen the knife through the use of stainless rod (those that most butcher use) or use a ceramic block to sharpen knife. Remeber those good old days where grandma use the greyish blooking blocks to sharpen knife? Those block are poorer grade ceramic which can sharpen knife but do note that they do scratch the knife, so use a better grade ceramic block if you do not want to scratch your knife.
6. Do note that handmade knife are more expensive.