Knife buying guide

Where to start: three knives are enough

The question we hear most is “How many knives should I buy?” The honest answer is three. A boxed set of eight looks impressive, but after six months five of them sit untouched in the drawer, dulling from neglect.

Three knives do 95% of the work in a Vietnamese kitchen:

• One main knife, 180–210 mm blade. A gyuto, santoku or Vietnamese cleaver — whichever feels familiar. This is the knife you pick up every day for onions, meat, garlic and cabbage.
• One paring knife, 80–100 mm blade. For peeling potatoes, deseeding chillies, trimming spring onions and julienning ginger. Small jobs that need a close grip.
• One chopping knife, 4–6 mm spine. Vietnamese cooking cannot do without chopping chicken, ribs and marrow bones. This is the only knife you are allowed to bring down hard on the board.

If your budget is limited, put the money into the main knife. The difference between a 1.2 million and a 2.5 million main knife is something you feel every day. The difference between two paring knives at those prices is almost nothing.

What blade shape decides

Blade shape affects daily comfort more than the type of steel, yet few people notice it. It decides how you cut without tiring your hand.

Strongly curved (Western chef’s, gyuto)

The belly curves from heel to tip so you can rock the knife, keeping the tip on the board and pivoting the wrist. It is the fastest way to mince herbs or chop meat. Choose it if you cook Western dishes, make sauces or mince garlic and chilli in quantity.

Straight edge (nakiri, santoku, Vietnamese cleaver)

The belly is almost flat, touching the board along its whole length. You cut with a push-and-press motion, and each cut goes cleanly to the board with no strands left attached. This suits the way Vietnamese cooks slice: lots of vegetables, lots of thin cuts.

Slim and narrow (boning, fillet)

A small contact area that follows the curve of the bone. Not for vegetables, because the narrow blade brings your hand too close to the board.

One thing few people mention: blade height. A blade 48–52 mm tall leaves enough room between your knuckles and the board. Under 40 mm and you will keep knocking your fingers on the board when cutting fast.

Choosing steel: harder is not always better

Hardness is measured on the Rockwell C scale (HRC). Kitchen knives sit between 56 and 64 HRC. Sellers often treat the number as a score — the higher the better. In reality it is a plain trade-off:

• Harder steel holds an edge longer, maybe 2–3 times as long between sharpenings.
• Harder steel is more brittle. At 63–64 HRC, one knock on a bone or a drop onto tile is enough to chip a sliver the size of a pinhead.
• Harder steel is harder to resharpen and needs good water stones and skill. A 58 HRC knife is back to sharp in minutes; a 64 HRC knife ruined by the wrong angle can cost an afternoon.

A practical tip: if you have never sharpened a knife, don’t start with a 64 HRC one. Take a 60–62 HRC stainless knife, use it for a year and learn to hone and sharpen. Once you can feel the angle in your hand, step up to hard carbon steel.

Handle and balance

This is what customers underrate most before buying and regret most six months later.

The balance point is where you rest your index finger under the knife and it stays level. On a 210 mm main knife it should fall right at the junction of blade and handle, or 5–10 mm toward the blade. Handle-heavy balance feels stable for slicing meat; blade-heavy balance feels powerful for chopping but tires the wrist.

A quick test in the shop: hold the knife the way you will use it (pinch grip on the spine, three fingers on the handle) and mimic cutting 20 times. If your wrist already wants to change posture after 20 cuts, that knife doesn’t suit your hand — however beautiful it is.

On handle woods:

• Ebony, ironwood: heavy, dense and moisture-resistant, pulling the balance point rearward. Good with thin blades.
• Walnut: lighter, beautiful grain, warm in the hand; oil it 2–3 times a year.
• Full-tang steel handle: the most hygienic and good for restaurant kitchens, but cold and slippery when wet.

One small but important detail: the spine edge where your index finger rests should be rounded. If it is still sharp, after 30 minutes of continuous cutting your finger will ache. Careless makers skip this step.

Which blade length suits a Vietnamese kitchen

Vietnamese kitchens often have a round board 30–36 cm across and narrow counters. That is a practical limit to respect.

• 165–180 mm: the most flexible for a medium round board, and our best-selling length. Long enough to halve a cabbage in one cut, short enough not to catch when you turn the knife on a small board.
• 210 mm: if you have a large rectangular board or often cook for six or more. It slices a thick piece of beef in a single draw instead of sawing — which keeps the grain looking better.
• 240 mm and over: only if you cook professionally. On a home board the tip often overhangs the edge, which is dangerous.
• Chopping knife 170–190 mm, 380–520 g: weight does the work for you. A light 250 g cleaver makes you swing harder, and swinging hard is when accidents happen.

A simple measurement before ordering: measure the diameter of your board. The main knife’s blade shouldn’t exceed 60% of it. A 30 cm board → 180 mm at most. A 36 cm board → 210 mm comfortably.

5 mistakes when buying a knife

1. Buying a set instead of single knives

An 8-piece set at 3 million sounds cheaper than three knives at 4 million. But you are paying for five knives you will never use, and the three you do use are made from second-grade steel. Buy single knives, one at a time.

2. Choosing by HRC on paper

A 64 HRC figure won’t help if you forget to dry the knife and leave it in the sink overnight. Choose for your real habits, not the habits you hope to have.

3. Using a thin knife to chop bone

This is the number one cause of chipped knives coming back to the workshop. A 2 mm spine gyuto at 62 HRC will chip the first time you strike a chicken thigh joint. A dedicated cleaver costs far less than resharpening and losing 2 mm of blade height.

4. Ignoring the board

Glass, stone, hard plastic boards and stone countertops wear an edge faster than anything. A good knife on glass dulls quicker than an ordinary knife on wood. Solid wood or end-grain bamboo is the right choice.

5. Not counting the cost of sharpening

Every knife goes dull. Before buying, ask: does this place resharpen, how long does it take, how much? A cheap knife nobody can sharpen becomes a knife you use for two years and throw away. An expensive knife with lifetime sharpening is, in the long run, the cheaper one.