I have a set, actually 2 sets of Gerber knives I have had for years. They are no longer made but can be bought on eBay. I have nad mine well more than 30 years and they still look great and are sharp and easily honed.
Linda c

Here is a link that might be useful: Gerber steak knives.

cutco steak knives, stays sharp lasts for years, ebay or cutco.com.

I have a set of Calphalon steak knives that came with other knives in a block. They work very well, but they are very handle-heavy which is a slight nuisance.

I love those Gerber knives, Linda!

A nice expensive slab of steak is a very special meal. If I were to look for steak knives, I would:

1. Go to a good steak house restaurant and see what kind of knives they use. Not that those knives are better knives, but itâÂÂs great that it gives you the feeling that you are eating in a high class steak house. Knives can make the steaks taste better. :-)
2. Buy dishwasher-safe knives.
3. Get extras. A few will be missing somehow.
4. Get matt/brush finish on the metal. Mirror finish shows scratches quickly.
5. Steak knives do not need to be very sharp, as a matter of fact, they should not be sharp. Serrated edge is very good, lasts a life time. I donâÂÂt know too many people who like to sharpen their steak knives.

Just my own preferences.

dcarch

I have this full set, so my steak knives came as a part of it. They are the best steak knives I have ever owned, so even if you are not in the market for an entire set, I would still recommend the Cuisinart full tang steak knives.

A

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart knives and block set

I think steak knives should be very sharp, and they should not be serrated. Serrated knives will rip through and tear the steak rather than cut it, or at least that has been my experience. If they are carbon steel, they probably will not be dishwasher safe, and I never wash mine in the DW. It might be a good idea to buy one at a time before buying a set, if that is possible. What works best for one person may not work well at all for someone else. Trying them out at a restaurant is also a good idea. I'm one of the persons who likes to sharpen my steak knives.

Lars

I have a set of 6 Henckel steak knives with rosewood handles that I think are pretty and nice. They have a nice box, too.

I have a set of chicago Cutlery, metal handled steak knives, my Mother bought them for me for Christmas about 20 years ago. They still work fine and are actually very well made and nice knives but they are serrated and like Lars, I prefer a straight edge that I can sharpen.

Annie

If you need a great knife to cut your steak, then I'd suggest the problem isn't the knife!

That said, I dislike both serrated steak knives and those with massive blades and handles as are so commonly used in restaurants. I like to think of a steak dinner as fine dining as opposed to a cave man meal. I'm very happy with my Wusthof Classic set, though I admit I could cut just as well with something far cheaper. They occasionally serve double duty as paring knives when my other parers are dirty.

I second the Cutco knives. Love mine.

s

I also have Gerber knives, but for everyday use, we have an assorted color-handle utility knives from Sur Le Table, bought at different times, different prices, various colors. I've lost silverware, and would hate to lose the Gerber knives, so I bring those out for company and fancy tables. But the French ones we use everyday.

I'm also in the anti-serrated blade camp, most firmly. Only a bread/tomato knife should have a serrated type blade, IMHO.

Here is a link that might be useful: cheap knife

I'm with you on the "anti serrated blade" thing....but would like to add angel food cake to the list of things to use a serrated blade on.
(and I know a preposition is the wrong thing to end a sentence with!)
I use my Gerber knives whenever....for a cheese tray, for cutting apart ribs, for pork chops from the grill.....and I still have the same number I started with. I just better never see anyone prying open a beer can with one!

Heavens, I need to find my Gerber knives and put them on eBay. Dad was the main supplier of the saws that cut the knives so we had about 3 sets here. I think we used them once and packed them up. Like FOAS wrote, if you need a special knife to cut a steak, check the steak. My normal dinner knives have a good blade so I never have had the need to use a steak knife.

Now a Gerber hunting knife is a thing of beauty.

Sorry, Suzy, I am no help here. We just don't use them.

I always laugh when a restaurant gives you a steak knife if you order a burger. Geez, what cut did you grind?

Yup, Angel Food cake!

I think I have a problem with the other person who lives here ;-o, who volunteers to help clean up the kitchen. I'm only missing one Gerber, but three of the cheap knives, but I added another 4 just the other day for a little present to myself. Should last me about forever.

The cheap ones sharpen nicely, too.

"If you need a great knife to cut your steak, then I'd suggest the problem isn't the knife! "

I have to agree with Foodonastump! LOL

"If you need a great knife to cut your steak, then I'd suggest the problem isn't the knife! "

Indeed. There is a lot of truth in that statement. I donâÂÂt remember how many times I have been invited to backyard BBQs; great steaks were served with serrated plastic knives.

The facts are:

1. The most critical knife is a sushi knife. It must be razor sharp for a long time.
2. A chefâÂÂs knife will need to be sharp and be able to hold an edge reasonably well. DonâÂÂt even think about serrated edge for a chefâÂÂs knife.
3. It is kind of dangerous to have a steak knife as sharp as a chefâÂÂs knife and there is no need for that.

More facts:

1. Most people do not like to sharpen their knifes.
2. Most steak knives are not made with the best steel for keeping a sharp edge.
3. Steak knives will always be cutting on glass, ceramics and bones, a sharp blade canâÂÂt not last very long even if it is made with good steel.
4. A serrated blade can keep a reasonable cutting edge much longer that a regular edge.
5. A good serrated blade can give you a clean cut. Most, if not all, electric carving knives have serrated blades.
6. Serrated blades are getting more and more popular everyday. There must be many people who find them useful.

My opinions:

1. When the question is asked,â I want to give my DH steak knives for Christmas, does anyone have a recommendation?â I feel that it is reasonable to assume that there is a good chance the inquirer may not be an experienced knife sharpener, and the recommendation for considering serrated blades is a rational one.
2. I disagree that a cleanly cut piece of meat tastes better. I can argue the other way. The rougher the surface of the meat, the more surface to pick up flavor and make contact with you taste buds.
3. I disagree that a rougher cut will leak more juice out than a clean cut. I doubt anyone can taste the difference.
4. I believe that a good serrated blade will not mangle the meat.

A quick observation:

All knives, it doesnâÂÂt matter how cheap, and how badly they are made, always feel razor sharp in the store.

BTW, I myself do not use serrated knives. I make my own knives.

dcarch

Dcarch, at least couple of your facts sound like opinions to me. That aside, OP asked for recommendations, so I'm going to recommend what I personally like.

Similarly, I'm sure thick wine glasses with rims/lips are safer than thin glasses without, plus they have the benefit of being tough enough for the dishwasher. But if asked my opinion, I'd not recommend them any more than I'd consider serving a fine wine in them, in my home.

Nicely put Stumpy!
I like setting a steak knife when I am serving grilled Iowa cut pork chops. I like having a steak knife when presented with a platter of baby backs cut into 4 rib sections. I like having a knife that looks nice when the table is set with silver.
Yes, a regular table knife cuts most meat, but a good sharp unserrated knife does so more easily.
I serve my guests a steak knife with any meat but chicken turkey and fish. I figure if a high end steak house serves a steak knife then I should too.
And to Suzy, we have all given you something to think about, serrated or not, stainless handle, fine wood handle....and there is always the price point and several of them have been suggested too.
Since Peppi doesn't like them, perhaps she will make you a deal on one of the sets she has?
Linda c

The OP just asked a simple question, not need to turn it into a debate.

I'd love a a good set of steak knives, the ones I have are old cheapies...

Check out the set in this link....

Here is a link that might be useful: Steak Knives

Discussions, debates in an adult and civil manner is good for everyone.

Posted by foodonastump ----------
âÂÂDcarch, at least couple of your facts sound like opinions to me.

The fact that my facts are my opinions and not facts of course may be your opinion, which may also be a fact, or not. The fact is I would like to know which ones you disagree with whether they are in fact facts or merely my opinions . :-) :-) :-)

âÂÂThat aside, OP asked for recommendations, so I'm going to recommend what I personally like. âÂÂ

And I recommend what I feel may be appropriate for the inquirerâÂÂs situation, not mine. OTOH, nothing wrong with what you have done.

âÂÂSimilarly, I'm sure thick wine glasses with rims/lips are safer than thin glasses without, plus they have the benefit of being tough enough for the dishwasher. But if asked my opinion, I'd not recommend them any more than I'd consider serving a fine wine in them, in my home.âÂÂ

It depends. Socially I do exactly the same way as you do, privately I have enjoyed fine wine in a coffee mug, which I will never recommend to others. Speaking of wine glasses, it is recommended that different wines really should have different shaped wine glasses, not only that, someone is making wine glasses which has a bump built in, so that when you swirl the wine, it aerates better. I donâÂÂt object to that. Someday I may actually try them out. But where do you stop?

dcarch

The OP has omitted some important information. What is her budget? That will make a big difference in what to choose. Does she want a beautiful knife set with rosewood handles? Or does she want something she can use everyday and throw in the dishwasher? Does she mind having to handwash the steak knives, or would she rather get nylon-handled ones that can be put in the dishwasher?

I myself prefer the non-serrated knives, and I will link an article that discusses why they are preferable to serrated when it comes to steak. Having said that, every time I see DH use one of my Sabatier steak knives (with rosewood handles, from years ago, when Sabatier was still the real Sabatier, not the knockoffs found on Amazon today), I wince as he scrapes the knife along our plates. While I don't agree with Dcarch's post, s/he has a point about using these knives on ceramic or porcelain plates. The article I am linking discusses that. If you're not going to use the steak knives properly, it's better to get serrated. I ended up buying a couple of sets of inexpensive Chicago Cutlery steak knives. They're incredibly reasonably priced, serrated, and I don't care much if they're abused. I also would recommend one of the inexpensive Victorinox sets. Some have nylon handles and can be put in the dishwasher. I have other Victorinox knives, and they're cheap, and stay sharp. My Sabatiers are saved for holidays and fancier meals.

Article about Steak Knivees

Beautiful Lamson Sharp Serrated Steak Knives = $250

Excellent Budget-friendly Victorinox Steak Knives on Amazon

alwaysfixin,

Great post. Thank you.

In fact I am familiar with that article. My other post before is specifically disputing that writerâÂÂs claim that a clean cut will give steak better taste.

Do allow me to be clear, I have not recommended anything, not serrated edge, not regular edge.

IâÂÂve only recommended, under the circumstance of minimum information from OP, that it is reasonable to consider serrated blades as an option.

I donâÂÂt mean to imply that is the way to go.

BTW, wizardnm, the link you linked to, those are very good knives, however, when they say that âÂÂOriginated in Germanyâ possibly that could mean, steel is made in Germany, knife making is in China. Nothing wrong about knives made in China. Many German knife makers do that. It is just that the spec is not very clear. Quality of steel for sharpness for steak knives, unlike chefâÂÂs knives, is not that important for knife makers, it is not easy to find out what kind of metal is used for the blades. I seem to remember that the steel for this knife could be 310 stainless, which is not meant for knife making. 310 stainless is alloyed mostly for tarnish resistance.

dcarch

Wusthoff knives, which wizardnm linked, are made in Solingen Germany of German steel. 18 10 stainless I believe. Perhaps not the best for holding an edge, but they are serrated.
As I recall 310 stainless is good for things which will be exposed to high heat, like a frying pan.

"Socially I do exactly the same way as you do, privately I have enjoyed fine wine in a coffee mug, which I will never recommend to others. Speaking of wine glasses, it is recommended that different wines really should have different shaped wine glasses, not only that, someone is making wine glasses which has a bump built in, so that when you swirl the wine, it aerates better. I donâÂÂt object to that. Someday I may actually try them out. But where do you stop? "

Part of the experience (for me) when enjoying a wine, is to appreciate the color, "legs" and aroma as well as taste. Unfortunately, in a coffee mug, the first three are lost. One of the reasons for the bowl shape of a wine glass is for the aromas to be concentrated so when you stick your nose well down into the bowl, those luscious aromas have been released and are ready for your nose to fully appreciate them before the flavors roll across your palate. The first time I had a truly memorable champagne it was in a jelly jar. Was it still tasty? Of course! was it appreciated to its fullest? Probably not, but I have not had the opportunity to try that particular vintage since, so I can't be sure.

So yes, you can certainly drink ANY beverage from a coffee cup, but you can also look at a painted masterpiece with a flashlight. It doesn;t mean you are experiencing the best of the moment.

Alexa

Alexa, let me just make this very simple becuase I don't want to go off-topic. I am absolutely understand what you are saying, and I agree with everything you said.

I am not proposing drinking wine from a coffee mug. I am only saying there may be flexibilities in many things. I did drink from a coffee mug. I was experimenting how important it was to keep exact wine temperature. A coffee mug chilled to the exact temperature can keep temperature better.

dcarch

Oh wooozooowoozoo another strange "I know better than you" thread drift....

I have J.A. HENCKELS

I'm a fan of the Chicago cheapys. They are a good steak knife but being inexpensive may not be gift sort of material. On the other hand if hubby likes to cut a beer can from time to time they may be it. I sharpen mine every time with a Gerber ceramic sharpener.... just a quick swipe or two on each side makes them razor sharp as they are softer steel.

I have a 28 y/o Gerber Guardian that I used as a utility knife during my military service and then used for everything including opening steel cans while in college. If I recall correctly the high carbon steel in them runs 62 on the Rockwell scale. It is currently stuck between Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Complete Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes on my bookshelf. I have only killed one deer with it... after it was injured by an autombile. I have ate a couple steaks using it but the dimond cross-section blade is not the desingned for slicing. If there is any chance hubby might do some active duty military service he might fancy cutting his steak with a good Gerber survival knife... they are not cheap but last a lifetime.

My boning knife is a Chicago... a few deer turned into meat with that fine knife. For rabbits I use sissors!

I prefer a razor sharp edge... learned not to push it down into the plate. Just a gentle slice to get a bite off the steak. A big somewhat abused R.H. Forschner Victorinox chef's knife is my prefered tool for turning a whole loin into steaks. My Gerber sharpener has given that knife a razor edge. The hard stainless holds the edge while I put my weight into taking a steak off the meat slab. No need to shave the steak when using a knife!

There is no such thing as the "facts". Some people like to dine gently and others prefer to hack that meat into chunks quickly as possible. Some want a knife that looks nice with a fancy bone/horn handle and others are more utilitarian. I eat lots of steak mostly alone so the inexpensive Chicago do a fine job getting dinner in me.

Plain steel sharpens with ease. High carbon or stainless steels take some work. My Gerber Guardian requires a dimond sharpener to get a razor edge.... the ceramic block works but takes a long time to get an edge going. If you are a fan of a sharp knife then a good sharpener might be a nice companion to a steak knife set.

: )
lyra

lyra, "There is no such thing as the "facts". Some people like to dine gently and others prefer to hack that meat into chunks quickly as possible. Some want a knife that looks nice with a fancy bone/horn handle and others are more utilitarian. "

Another great post. Thanks. It is very useful to give reasons why you feel certain ways about things.

Yes, sharpening knives is not difficult, but it does require learning to do it right. If you have a set of expensive knives, it take no time to scratch up the beautiful blade perminently. Sharpening the blade both sides at the correct steak knife angle is a good thing to do, otherwise it create a bias when you are cutting.

But as I said, cutting steak, unlike making sushi, is not very demanding. A serrrated plastic knife can sometimes be used.

dcarch

We have a set of the Chicago steak knives--they're not serrated. I don't use them but my son does.

For some reason, I just 'can't' cut on a glass/ hard surface. I get wigglies up my spine if I try. Yeh, weird. I just plop my steak onto a cutting board when it comes inside from the grill and whack it into bite size pieces with my Do Almost Everything Chinese cleaver and scoop it over onto my plate.

This habit must have developed from when the kids were small & I would precut their meat portions & mine & plate their food before we sat down to eat. They got big but I had this ingrained need to cut somebody's food...

LOL, Cilantro, I know that feeling.

My young beef tends to be relatively tender, not melt in your mouth because it lacks the fat marbling, but pretty tender because it's very young, nearly "baby beef".

As Michael mentioned, there are no "facts" involved here, really. There are preferences. I like a straight edge, others like serrated edges. I don't drink wine, but Elery does, and when we first started dating he drank his wine from a coffee cup because I didn't have wine glasses, having no use for them. Now we have "souvenir" glasses from various winery tours, all about the same size and shape, so he uses those no matter what wine he's drinking. He does care about shape, as long as it isn't tiny, LOL.

My knives were a gift, and they seem to work as well as Elery's much more expensive straight edged knives, but I like the way the others feel in my hand. Again, it's a personal thing, I have small hands and some handles are just too large or shaped so I can't handle them easily or comfortably.

As mentioned, the original poster did not state a price range or a preference in handle material, etc. I'd love to have a set of those Gerber knives, but I've vowed to not buy anything until Elery and I combine households and I see what we need!

Oh, and I bought Dave (who is a dedicated meat eater), a set of Wusthof steak knives, not top of the line, but pretty good. He likes them a lot.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: Wusthof knives

Posted by ci_lantro " -----Yeh, weird. I just plop my steak onto a cutting board when it comes inside from the grill and whack it into bite size pieces with my Do Almost Everything Chinese cleaver and scoop it over onto my plate.---"

No, not weird. More than 1/4 of the people in this world do it. Asians consider it uncivilized and unlucky to have weaponry (Knives and forks) on your dinning table.

dcarch

Dcarch, at least couple of your facts sound like opinions to me. That aside, OP asked for recommendations, so I'm going to recommend what I personally like.

Similarly, I'm sure thick wine glasses with rims/lips are safer than thin glasses without, plus they have the benefit of being tough enough for the dishwasher. But if asked my opinion, I'd not recommend them any more than I'd consider serving a fine wine in them, in my home.

sorry - for some reason when I post from my phone's browser I'm subject to multiple posting, even though I try to delete cache, history, etc. So don't mind me!

Annie's Amazon link got me looking at knives. Found some interesting french shepard's knives and such. One set of steak knives was listed for $1300!... LOL they ain't worth that unless you light cigars with a $100 bill. Lots of nice steak knife sets from $40 to $400! German sets, French sets, Swiss sets... a gift shopper should find lots to look at!

Btw... no such thing as Damascus steel anymore. The technology was lost centuries ago. The original recipe called for a chunk of genuine damascus steel to be melted in with the new batch and the only samples left are all important museum pieces. Back in the day a damascus sword could cut a regular steel sword in half!... not good if you were the soldier with a regular sword.

Anyways... found an interesting listing for a knife set. Not so much the knives but if you scroll down there is a nice description of some of the terms and a how-to lesson for steeling a knife edge. Free info from Amazon! Looks like a decent set btw... I need a solstice gift for michael from lyra.

: )
lyra

yes I'm addicted to Amazon...

Here is a link that might be useful: hope this linky works

My oh my, such a verbose group for my humble request. To fill in some of the blanks darch asked, budget is always foremost, the best value for an object to be used 2 or 3 times a month. Something I can set for guests for pork chops and lamb besides steak. And, the last reason for the request, I haven't come up with anything else to get DH for Christmas. Thanks, this was fun!

Posted by bunnymanâÂÂ-----Btw... no such thing as Damascus steel anymore. ------âÂÂ

Lyra, I see from your posts you have an idea what the whole complicated thing about knives is all about.
Damascus knives are very pretty and impressive for showing off. I agree, for cutting, it is irrelevant.

Having said that, I am sure you would not mind having a set of Damascus steak knives.

Recently I got a piece of 1095 steel. It took me a long time to shape it for a 10 inch chefâÂÂs knife. In trying to temper the steel using a charcoal furnace, I got a little too aggressive to see if I can get it to be over 60 Rockwell on the C scale; I quench it in ice water. The thing cracked in several places. Bummer!

dcarch

Ouch, bummer is right. Same thing happened to me last week, so I appreciate the frustration.

;-)