I really like cheap stamped stainless knives. In the photo are a Viking, a Kiwi, and something unbranded. Total was $8.20 USD. They are garbage, the handles are terrible, though the ridiculously small Deba has wood scales. They sharpen beautifully.
While you huff and curse under your breath, I have owned custom made Japanese knives, vintage carbon steel Sabatier, as well as all the other stuff, Wusthoff, Global, evs. They aren’t better, just much more expensive.
I am happiest with a cheap carbon steel cleaver (bit of a misnomer as these are really slicers) or a stamped stainless blade. Not Victorinox though, they have too much Nickel and Chromium so they aren’t as prone to rusting. It makes them a bitch to sharpen.
I’m not speaking on cooking knives as I already have a set of handmade carbon steel knives from a local blacksmith. I also have a cheap chinese made 1075 carbon steel cleaver from amazon. (One I had to modify to get it to be what I wanted.) I’m speaking from pocket knife experience.
I daily carry a Spyderco Tenacious, which if you know steels, has a pretty soft steel in the grand scheme of things. (8cr13MoV)
I’ve attempted trying knives with the “super steels” and it’s such a chore to sharpen them when they get dull that the time just isn’t worth it.
I honestly prefer the D2 from Boker as it holds an edge far better, but still is only slightly annoying to sharpen.
There are pros and cons to all these metals but that harder crap I tend to save for jobs that actually need that kind of steel. (Lean meats, etc.) Chopping some veggies wouldn’t call for me to break out my nice knives as they take too much care to keep in good condition for just chopping up some spring onions or what-not.
There is something to be said for a knife to be able to make a simple job that much smoother and easier for sure. Not worth the trade-off in total time consumed though. Cheap, shitty wal-mart knife and a honing rod > $800 1095 carbon steel Japanese super knife.
I modified my cleaver too. I like to choke up on the blade and the spine was sharp. I ground the spine down and added a rest to the back of the blade.
Here’s what I have here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HNWBVGB/
Had to remove that tab behind the edge because it was annoying. Had to chamfer the spine because it was sharp as shit. Then I had to stabilize the shitty handle it came with because it had splits and holes in it from their shitty attempt at stabilizing it.
Even after all that though it’s still a great knife for the price. Just needed a little love.
