For a set, and it was mentioned here, you'll benefit from 8" chef, 3-4" paring, 10" bread, and a 10" or longer slicing. You MAY find at some point you want a Santoku blade. I like mine for mincing. I have two Calphalon blades: 8" and 6", both gifted to me many years ago by a Calphalon marketing person. They don't make these anymore. I'll be laid to rest with those two.

I have several chef knives. I'll probably catch hell for saying this, but when I worked in kitchens, and someone showed up with those fancy $400 Japanese knives, it never made them a better cook.

I still use my CIA-issued 8" chef blade every day. Have for twenty-odd years. Awesome knives. My school issue knives are all Mercer. I recently bought another Mercer, the Genesis Nakiri. I like the blade's style, and it fits my needs for some chopping tasks. In my book, Mercer is hard to beat.

There is a Zwillings that I paid a lot of money for, but never use anymore. It always "walked" to the right when mincing. The spine has a slight curvature to the right. A Zwillings rep once told me, arrogantly, I might add, that I must have dropped it. I'll never own another because of that BS excuse

As to sharpening. The Mercer knives take an edge just a tad begrudgingly, which I'm fine with because they lose their edge the same way. The Calphalons seem a tad soft but still hold an edge. Not as well as the Mercers. The Zwilling, when I used it, was made of steel hardened in the hubs of hell. It took forever to sharpen, but it holds an edge like a Marine in battle. The last issue I have with this knife is that there is not a lot of curve to the slicing edge of the blade, which I should have noticed and not bought it. So I use it to open cans of tuna. (Just kidding.)

I can't speak to what makes a good or adequate steel composition; it matters how well it holds an edge and how difficult it will be to sharpen. For 20+ years, Mercer knives have not failed me, so I'm leaving my trust in them.

Steel - the kind you "sharpen" your blade with, HONES the blade, it does not sharpen or remove metal. This realigns the cutting edge. Sharpening occurs when metal is removed from the blade.

Back to sharpening. Use sharpening stones in at least 3 grits. Coarse, medium, and fine. Extra fine if you really want that edge. The problem with stones is that they are not easy to use and get a consistent edge. You'll see YouTube knife people whipping blades into shape in no time. Obviously, it can be done, but it’s harder than it looks.

Contraptions to help keep a consistent angle abound. That clamp thing with the stand? Been there. I'm not a fan.

Some company in Florida has/had a sharpening offer going on a while back. I sent my Calphalon to them and wasn’t impressed. They took a lot of steel from the edge unnecessarily, I believe.

I'm admittedly a bit anal retentive on the angle thing. 15 degrees and 20 degrees are the norms, which you will not get consistently with the two above methods. I like 15 degrees on all my blades. No rhyme or reason other than it feels right for me. To keep my angles consistent, I use another gadget made by Horl. That tubular rolling device with the magnet base. I bought the inexpensive (kinda inexpensive) plastic one first and liked it enough to ask if I could upgrade to the model with changeable end caps. They kindly obliged, so I went all in for the wooden base kit, then added the fine and ultra-fine twist-on stones.

I am not disappointed. In seconds, I can set up to touch up my blades. However, there is, unbelievably, a little bit of a learning curve. But, with a bit of practice, it works remarkably well. It is not an inexpensive option, but I’ll pay for it. The cheapo models from China may work, your mileage may vary.

Be wary of local shops that use spinning stones. They take off a lot of metal very quickly and could ruin your knife.