kitchen shopping (arriving tomorrow, maybe in time for dinner)

ok
so, since i've been doing all this chopping
which usually i don't do
i've had a chance to reconsider my knife roster

i have a chinese vegetable cleaver style
which i bought some years ago
when i talked myself out of the nakiri
and i still like it
i have my etsy knife
also bought some years ago
that was made from an industrial saw blade
i still love it too

the cleaver is great for cabbage and onions
but it's a little unweildy for smaller vegetables
it makes me uneasy
i guess i should say
and
i find myself again wanting a nakiri

so i started doing some reseach
and
of course i haven't held any of them
but this is the one that i decided i wanted

a produce knife
(i got it cheaper, though with a code from a youtuber)

and
i'm not certain how this will work on gourds
i don't like the cleaver on gourds at all
what i want for that
that i used to have
is this deba

it's very heavy duty but it's got a point
deba's are traditionally used for butchery of fish
but i bought the mercer initially
both because i was attracted to the japanesque qualities
and because an 8" chef knife felt too large for me
it's cheap but it's a good knife
apparently culinary students often use them as utility knives
i was always unsettled by the non-foodgrade-ness of the handle
but they have them food grade

i've looked at more expensive debas
but
i don't think i need that
and maybe i don'tneed the cheap one either
imma wait until i try out the produce knife first

i looked at a bunch of inexpensive nakiris
and they just didn't seem like what i needed
then when i saw the produce knife
i thought it was a nakiri too
and i looked and looked and i cannot find a youtube review for this knife
although there are a bunch for other dalstrongs
which was what led me to that knife
apparently they are polarizing because they are chinese
and
maybe they suck
or maybe they are just bad
because they are hurting the better knife companies
but
i don't have money for an expensive knife
and
for trying it out, cheap is better
but
i'm not a chef
i don't need expensive knives
i just need to feel comfortable with the knives
and the cleaver scares me a little
in certain circumstances


hope you had a really great father's day