What Next?

So here goes. I now am the proud owner of the following knives:

1. Blazen 240 Gyuto (Western handled)
2. Ealy Paring (custom handled)
3. Zakuri 100mm Blue #2 Kurouchi Damascus Utility (amazing little knife)
4. Zakuri Special Order 270mm Aogami Super Kurouchi Yanagiba (wa handled)

1,2, and 4 have all come from the BST thread - thank you all! I still have quite a few of my older knives that I use, including an amusingly large cutco set purchased from brother in-law many years ago, a shun santoku, and a super flexible henkels boning knife.

My question is this - I am looking for a tidy line up of really nice Japanese style kit, and I feel like I am missing one or two knives to fill this out. I am thrilled with all four of these knives. I also recently was given a Gesshin 5000 stone for Christmas, and boy does it cut well. Still working on my sharpening, and having fun with it.

What am I missing from my upgraded lineup? I do not have any single bevels, and am wondering whether a deba is next? Are there any other obvious items the community thinks belong in this kind of lineup? I want to keep my collection compact and constantly in use, and do not want to collect knives to sit unused. If I do decided to get a new knife in a style I already have, I intend to sell my existing one. As always, thanks for your input!

ask yourself what else do you do more? fish or chicken / meats.....

Definitely do more chicken and meat than Fish. Probably 10 chickens to every one fish.

I would get a 150 petty or a honesuki

+1 on the honesuki suggestion.

Honesuki or petty and the itk bread knife.

what they said =D

A wa laser gyuto....

Just when you think you have acomplete set of knives, there's ALWAYS a new knife you NEED. :hungry:

But I would just get whatever fits with your job. Breaking down 10 chickens a day? Yeah, a honesuki's a pretty good investment. And FYI, you don't seem to have a "beater" knife. Perhaps a cheap Tojiro western deba?

No - definitely not 10 chickens a day! I am just a humble home cook. More like 10 chickens every 6 mos! (I am addicted to homemade cx stock).

I don't "need" a honesuki by any stretch. Since I can easily break down chickens with my existing henkels boning knife which I actually like, I don't think I need a honesuki. Perhaps I don't need anything more! (that is depressing, but probably true).

I am getting the most use out of my gyuto, seconded by my suji. I really truly like both knives. Still learning to sharpen them well. Perhaps the idea of a second wa handled laser gyuto is a good one - then I can actually see what type of steel, handle, etc. I prefer for every day mise en place. I do really enjoy the wa handle on my suji.

Does anyone have any wa handled gyuto's they are looking to unload, that would be a good example knife for someone who has only ever used a 240 Blazen? Suggestions for buying? Thanks all for steering me - I clearly have a lot of "want", and much less actual "need".

No help on the laser, but curious if you've considered a nakiri or veg cleaver?

Excellent point - no I have not considered a nakiri or a veg cleaver. When I go heavy on knifework, it does tend to be a lot of traditional veg prep. Is the Nakiri cutting motion significantly different from the push cut I use for gyuto work?

No real learning curve with nakiri, some with cleaver, push cutting works as does chopping, both are fun knives for some, while others find no pleasure. I use a rather large veg cleaver on occasion and it is a lot of fun; just sold a nakiri, but will replace once I replenish my rather depleted knife funds. The nice thing about a cleaver/nakiri is you can find inexpensive ones that actually perform decently i.e. CCK cleaver or some of the blue 2 tosa nakiri all less than $75 US. If you like, there are much nicer versions for more cash--my cleaver is a rather large CCK (1103) that I really like.

I suggest you try a laser. I have a SS Wa 270mm Suisin Inox Honyaki and it weighs in at 173 grams. It's hard at 61-62, F&F is great, and you can get it wicked sharp. It really does qualify as a laser. A little pricey but I think it's worth it.