I wrote this article after I went through the unpleasant process of choosing a new kitchen knife set to purchase. There are so many brands of kitchen knives to choose from, in a myriad of styles and prices, all with different features. The biggest decision I had to make was in choosing between stamped kitchen knives and forged kitchen knives.
Many people believe that forged knives are much better than stamped knives. While this was true years ago, it is no longer true today. The manufacturing process of stamped knives has improved so much that they are now considered to be equal to forged knives by most experts.
Chef Knife
There are differences between the two styles and each has their own separate benefits. A stamped knife is much lighter and many professional chefs agree is more flexible because it contains a thinner blade. A forged knife is considered to be a little more durable because of a thicker steel blade. Without getting too much into the manufacturing process, the major difference between the two is the stamping process involves using a cookie cutter method where the blade is actually punched out of a larger piece of steel while forging involves heating and flattening the blade repeatedly. Temperatures as high as 1900 degrees Fahrenheit are used.
Both methods can contain very sharp blades that hold their edge well. The higher the grade of stainless steel is what determines sharpness here and that can basically be determined by price. The more expensive the knife the better the steel is that's used. In the end, your decision should be made based on how you are going to be using the knives most. If you plan on cutting a lot of heavy meats and large vegetables, forged is the way to go. If you do more stir frys or Asian type cooking, stamped is better.