Knife Buying Guides, Reviews and Sharpening Help

Hello there! I’m Gary Portman: a man with a passion and a mission to educate home chefs, professional cooks, and everyone in between about the best knives in the business. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been puttering around in the kitchen, surrounded by ingredients, tools, and sizzling cooktops. Over the years, I’ve picked up a pretty good working knowledge of kitchen instruments of all stripes, including knives.

Gary Portman

But the more I spent time with others, the more I noticed that most people didn’t know the difference between a chef’s knife and a paring knife. Worse, people had real trouble finding the best knives for their specific needs or interests. You can’t imagine how many kitchens I’ve worked in with less-than-stellar knife collections.

So, I decided to be the change I wanted to see in the world and created KnivesAdvice! It’s my hope that this site will be a one-stop shop resource for anyone who wants to learn about knives, especially those looking to flex their cooking skills in the kitchen.

You can learn more about me here.

Why Should You Trust KnivesAdvice?

Let’s be frank: there are a lot of subpar review sites across the Internet. If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a paid review singing the praises of a product, only to get that product yourself and find it to be a poor pick, you know the risk of trusting sources you don’t know personally.

So, why trust KnivesAdvice? Because I tell you how I pick knives, what each one does badly as well as what it does well, and I never let a maker pay for a spot on this site.

Every guide on this site is written by me. I don’t accept paid reviews from manufacturers, so there’s no risk of a particular knife getting higher than average scores just because the maker slipped me a few bucks.

More importantly, even if someone were to try to pay me for a review, I would never guarantee them a positive review if I didn’t believe in the product. Simply put, I won’t tell you that a knife is good and worth your time and money unless it truly is.

I’m dedicated to providing real, actionable, authentic information about knives of all kinds and price points. That way, people who read my site can walk away with good information!

How I Choose the Knives I Recommend

Every guide starts with the job, not the brand. A brisket slicer, a paring knife and a hunting knife need different shapes, lengths and edges, so I work out what the job needs first and only then look for knives that fit it.

Shape and size for the task. Blade length, profile and edge type (straight, granton, scalloped or serrated) decide most of how a knife will work for you.
Steel and handle, from the maker’s own specs. I look at the steel, its hardness, how the blade is made (forged or stamped) and the handle material, because those decide edge life, sharpening and grip.
A real range of budgets. A good knife doesn’t have to be expensive, so most guides include a cheap pick that does the job well next to the premium ones.
Honest downsides. Every pick gets a con, and I say who should skip it.
Only knives you can buy. I check every pick is currently available before a guide goes live, and I go back through the guides to replace knives that have been discontinued.

I don’t claim to have tested knives I haven’t used. When I describe how a knife will perform, I base it on its design, its materials and what the maker publishes, and I say so when something is my opinion.

What Do I Get Out of Reviewing Knives?

I love knives and writing about them. Although I don’t accept paid reviews, and I don’t publish them either, I make money through an affiliate program.

Specifically, I’m a member of the Amazon Associates program. KnivesAdvice makes money by showing you knives that are sold on Amazon, then linking to those products. If, for example, I review a stellar chef’s knife and you decide you want to purchase it, clicking on the link on my website and purchasing the product through Amazon means I get a small slice of the profit (the commission).

In this way, I can make enough money to keep the site up and running and keep doing this out of passion. But remember, just because I get a commission for each knife sale doesn’t mean that I make knives sound better or more valuable than they actually are.

I do this because I want to share my knowledge, not to make money. That’s just a side benefit I funnel right back into this website. Thanks for checking out KnivesAdvice, and I hope you enjoy the information and guides I have to offer!

Affiliate Disclosure