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Buy it for life | This versatile Japanese chef’s knife has lasted longer than some of my relationships
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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Buy it for Life
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A place to share practical, durable and quality made products that are made to last, with an emphasis on upcycled and sustainable products!
Guidelines:
Things that are well-made and durable (even if they won't last a lifetime) are A-Okay!
Unlike that other BIFL place, Home-made and DIY items are encouraged here, as long as some form of instruction is included in the body of the post.
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A limited amount of self-promotion is accepted, IF the item you are selling aligns with this criteria:
- The item must be made with sustainable or recycled materials.
- If electronic in some way, the item must be open-source.
- The item must be user-serviceable (if applicable).
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- The post must be clearly marked with a [Self Promotion] tag in your title.
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Basically anything short of a stamped metal boning knife is "buy for life" if you actually know how to sharpen it. No, not the grinders but a whetstone. And then just hone it (optimally every time you use it... so like once every other month).
Different metals will dull/misalign faster but basically no home chef will really have to worry about that. It is only really an issue when you are dicing dozens of pounds of veg a day (so restaraunt and some recipe developers). And the big difference there is just that you are sharpening once or twice a week instead of two or three times a year.
The real benefit to a more expensive knife is almost always balance and ergonomics of the handle. And unless you know what you want, you are just going to waste a lot of money.
Saying "this knife is buy it for life" is like saying "this hammer is buy it for life".
One other caveat. A lot of people will see a youtube chef cut through the joint of a chicken leg or carve out the spine or something similar. Unless you know what you are doing, that is where those cheap stamped metal boning knives come in handy. THAT is how you chip and break a blade because you weren't actually cutting through the cartilage (?) connecting the joints and were instead hacking through the bones themselves.
BIFL tags for kitchen knives differ for the average buyer since I assume most people do not sharpen their knives. So how well knives retain their sharpness will be the main factor for the average buyer.
No, they don't.
A dull knife is a dangerous knife that is frustrating to use. And if you use a knife, it will dull. Saying "this is BIFL even if you don't sharpen it" is like saying "this car is BIFL because you only have to change its oil half as much".