They're arguably the most important tool one needs in the kitchen,
unless one's idea of cooking is reheating pre-prepared and processed
foods.
One thing I've noticed is the plethora of cheap
knives in thrift shops. It could be a matter of budget and affordability
but most knives that one finds are of really poor quality, not easily
sharpened (if sharpenable at all) and if sharpened, are too soft to hold
their edges. The answer seems to be disposing of the old ones and
buying a new set (hopefully of better quality). Not exactly economical
but maybe it's a sign of the value of disposibility in modern society.
Branding also plays a big role as one is starting to find knives carrying brands not of knife makers (
messer schmidts
if you want to know where the name came from) but cook ware and cooking
appliances. Consumers get sold on the brand but not the quality, and
find themselves in the cycle of disposing and replacing, not at
insignificant cost.
The quality knives one finds
are sometimes virtually untouched, just needing a sharpening. For some
others, they have been subject to years of use and some shows sign of
abuse and improper use, bent or broken blades, or even rust for older
steel. Some have been sharpened, very crudely such as on stone wheels
or sanding which have taken so much off the blade that the good forged
steel is gone.
Still, it is worth searching for quality knives that can provide many more years of use with some restorative care.
Knowing what to buy helps. The knives one finds are generally made in a few countries: Germany, Switzerland, France, Japan, China, Brazil, Britain and the U.S.A.
Germany and Switzerland probably make the best mass-produced knives given the quality of the countries' steel. Swiss steel is softer. German cutlery is centered around Solingen and most German brands will carry that name on the blade (WMF isn't based near Solingen and is an exception). There are some marketers that put Solingen on the label with no brand, or use German words. Poor grade steel being marketed as German.
Henckels, the largest(?) German cutlery maker has a German-made line (J.A. Henckels) but also has lower-grade items (Henckels International) reputedly made with German steel in Brasil, Portugal and China. While they may be o.k., one can find the better items at similar prices.
Japan is an odd case. It has steel works but its good steel is artisenal, all hand made and very expensive in the hands of professionals. I have yet to see one in a thrift store. You'll only find mass-produced knives from the post WW-II era when Japanese industry was making middling grade consumer goods. Not much past the '80s and then you started to get the cheap, low grade knives from Taiwan and then China, some as branded goods and some as dollar store (or what should be dollar store) goods. I've seen knives offered by U.S. marketers first offered with German steel and then with no-name, presumable Chinese steel.
The U.S. used to have a cutlery industry but production has been largely off-shored. The quality was o.k. but not particularly stellar. What U.S.-made pieces one finds generally are for collector value.
The U.K. also had a steel industry based around Sheffield but the product wasn't of particularly good quality. The only sort of knives one sees from Sheffield are usually meat carving knives purchased as wedding presents.
It's been weeks since I bought anything larger than a paring knife but that's how rare good knives in decent condition are.
