High carbon steel kitchen knives are made from steel with a lot of carbon (America’s Test Kitchen says “typically” more than 0.5 percent; Hunker says at least 0.8 percent). The sources say they take a very sharp edge and are easy to sharpen, but they rust and stain unless you wash and dry them right … Read more

Sharpen to the angle your knife was made with. As a starting point, that’s about 15° per side for Japanese-style knives (some use 10°) and roughly 14° to 20° per side for Western knives, depending on the brand. America’s Test Kitchen says Western knives traditionally had 20° edges, but many manufacturers now sell 15° blades, … Read more

Never toss a knife loose into the trash or the curbside recycling bin. Wrap each blade in several layers of newspaper or cardboard, tape it, and put it in a sturdy sealed box. Then pick the route that fits: donate it if it’s still in good condition, take it to a scrap metal recycler or … Read more

Buck sells seven kitchen cutlery sets on its official site, all in 420HC stainless steel, made in Post Falls, Idaho, and backed by its Forever Warranty. Prices run from $139.99 (4-piece steak set) to $649.99 (12-piece block set), and up to $1,499.99 for the elk-handle 12-piece. The limited reviews I found praise sharpness and easy … Read more

I found no independent, hands-on test of the Matsato Osuren knife. Most “reviews” in search results are paid or promotional pages, and the few independent signals are mixed: a forum thread is mostly unimpressed, Trustpilot scores for the Matsato brand are high but for similarly named shops are low, and one security scan rates a … Read more

The kitchen knife brands that come up most often are Victorinox, Wüsthof, Zwilling (Henckels), Global, Shun, and MAC, with Mercer, Misen, and Takamura also common. I couldn’t find market-share or sales data, so “popular” here means how often a brand is mentioned by home cooks and recommended by testers. Victorinox leads on both counts, largely … Read more

To care for a kitchen knife, wash it by hand with mild soap and lukewarm water, dry it right away, and store it in a block, magnetic strip, or sheath rather than loose in a drawer. Hone it often to keep the edge aligned, sharpen it once or twice a year on a whetstone or … Read more

To choose a kitchen knife, start with one good 8-inch chef’s knife that feels comfortable and balanced in your hand, then add a paring knife and a serrated bread knife if you need them. Look for a full tang (steel running through the handle), a non-slip handle, and a steel that suits how much care … Read more