what would be your ultimate 3 or 4 knives? and why?

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ruscal

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i've got a pretty decent collection of knives now. and there are some things i like about some of them and some things i'm less keen on other ones.

i keep wondering if i was to start again from scratch, what knives would i buy based on what i now know about the various knives i've encountered.

i think my list would be something like:

* Konosuke HD Gyuto 240mm
* Gesshin Ginga 180mm Stainless Petty
* Mac Superior Bread 270mm
* Masamoto CT Series Sujihiki 300mm

I have the Konosuke SS Gyuto in 240mm. It's an awesome knife, but i'd love to see how the HD felt - both on the board and on the stones.

I have an Ashi 61HRC 210mm stainless petty, and a Masamoto VG 150mm stainless petty. The 210mm feels a teeny bit too long, and the 150mm feels a teeny bit too short. So i think a 180mm might be perfect. I think stainless makes perfect sense for a petty, at least for me. If i'm making cocktails in the evening i need a knife i can use to cut up lemons, and i don't want to have to wash it every time. And i love the profile on the Ashi petty.

I have the Mac Superior bread knife. It's awesome. Can't think of anything that might be better than it. Although i haven't tried the Tojiro ITK 270mm which looks comparable. And i haven't tried a Güde either.

I have a Konosuke Stainless 270mm Suji, and a Masamoto VG 240mm. I prefer the profile of the Masamoto. But both of them are a bit of a pain on the stones. I bet a carbon Suji would be much easier to sharpen. I haven't got any experience of the Masamoto CT but it seems like the best choice based on what i know i like.

So now that i've told you mine, it's your turn. :)

If you lost all your knives today, and had to start again from scratch, what 3 or 4 knives would you buy and why?

Oh, and i think for the purposes of this discussion we should assume that the knives you lost were insured, so you have a decent amount of money to spend on these new knives... Just so that cost isn't the most significant factor in what you would go for.
 
That's really really tough. I think my list would be something like:

ZKramer (or the real deal, if I won the lotto) 240 chef knife
Harner 180 Nakiri
Rodrigue 250 suji
My top-secret parer that Butch is making (or a remake of my wife's parer, by Rodrigue).

All carbon, except the parer.

**edit**

Come to think of it, I could flip the maker's names around on my list, in any order and likely be happy. However, I'd keep the Harner nakiri and if my chef knife was by Pierre, I'd drop Kramer and add Carter as my suji maker.
 
For the sake of the discussion, I'll limit my choices to available, off-the-shelf knives, since custom knives take time, and I need these knives now, according to your premise.

Gesshin Heiji semi-stainless 240 wa-gyuto
Suisin Inox honyaki 240 sujihiki
Gengetsu 180 petty
 
My current top four, I just love the profile of my Masamoto's.

Masamoto Honyaki Wa Gyuto-240mm
Masamoto KS Wa Petty-165mm
Masamoto KS Wa Sujihiki-270mm
MAC Superior Bread Knife-10.5"
 
Oops. Need them now...?

Ok:

ZKramer 240 Chef knife
Carter 240-250 suji
Carter 6sun Funayuki
Sabatier paring knife
 
270mm Kono funy HD gyuto
270mm Takeda suji
180ish Carter kuro-uchi funy/gyuto
150mm Tanaka blue petty
 
Tough one, but I reckon my list would be something like:

Sugimoto oms#6 cleaver; IMO Sugimoto make the best all round cleavers and I would take my Sugi #6 or #7 over anything else I've used so far. Haven't tried the oms series but supposeably it's a little better.

Any Kau Kong style chopper; I use a double lion brand one at the moment. Like $19 from China town and one of the most useful knives in my kit. There's just some jobs that I will not use my good knives on (fish heads, splitting ribs, lobsters etc).

Sab Nogent 10' flexible slicer; good for trimming silver side and fast for small fish. Anything larger I'll just use cleavers for.

Takeshi Saji 15cm petty in AS. Love his knives and the shape of his handles, seems like a good choice for a lot of in hand cutting. Or his Vg-10 or R2, I just prefer carbon.

List would probably change depending on jobs, but I reckon this would suit me well for where I am.

Cheers,
Josh
 
My top four are on order right now and they are...

+Marko 250mm Gyuto 52100: (The time this man spent working with Shigefusa knives and his attention to detail)

+Rodrigue 240mm Sanmai Gyuto Stainless with core of 52100: (I have followed his work since I've been into kitchen knives and his skills have grown tremendously, he also seeks feedback from people who know what they are talking about).

+Rader 240mm Gyuto in 52100: (He created my first custom knife so there's a special place in my heart for Mr. Rader, not to mention his skill level is top notch. When it comes to western style handles, IMO no one does it better than Mr. Rader.

+HHH 250mm Sanmai Gyuto Damascus with core of 52100: Randy is a "relative" newcomer to the world of kitchen knives but the rate at which he improves has absolutely amazed me. He and his son have an amazing passion for working with steel and their damascus is some of the best that I have seen. I have chosen Randy to make my first damascus knife. Randy's work in the realm of non-kitchen knives is also extremely impressive.

These will be the four Gyuto's to rule the world, at least my culinary world.

There are only two more that one day I would like to own but they are beyond my fiscal grasp. Those would be Bill Burke and Devin Thomas.
 
No, not the "ultimate" list, but what I'd actually buy:
Ashi Hamono cleaver, special lightweight, white #2 steel
Ashi Hamono petty, Swedish stainless
Mac bread knife
...and a cheap stainless Chinese cleaver and a couple of Forschner petties to keep people away from the other knives. And an Opinel #8 in carbon for various utility stuff...
 
Sab Nogent 10' flexible slicer; good for trimming silver side and fast for small fish.
I scored a vintage stainless sab 10" flexible slicer off eBay for $15 a couple of weeks ago.(professional or VTG I think) it is great, quite the multitasker. I guess it went for cheap because it was stainless instead of carbon, but the steel is really nice for the price. Our fish guy keeps stealing it from me!
I've been admiring that 180 ginga petty for sometime as well Ruscal. It's on the short list of a long list of stuff I want from JKI.
 
Lost my knives and need to pick up my staple 4 on the fly?

1. Z Kramer 10" chef knife carbon
2. Z Kramer 9" slicer carbon
3. Konosuke HD Funayuki 270 (or ZK 8" chef)
4. Stephen Fowler 210 petty.

The ZK's I already have and will never let go of, the other 2 are ones I've been wanting to get...
 
Jmjones 200mm slicer. Best line knife I've ever used
Mario 270 gyuto
Masamoto ks 165 petty
Shigefusa 240 gyuto
 
270 Suisin Inox Honyaki Wa Gyuto
210 Suisin Inox Honyaki Wa petty
270 Devin Thomas AEB-L Suji
10" Z Kramer 52100 Chef's

These choices are based on the OP's premise that I'm starting over from scratch.
 
I love my Devin gyutos (pick a steel) and 300 suji (swr). Gengestu 240 semi stainless gyuto. Heiji 150 semi-stainless petty. T Leder 210 petty SB1. These are all knives I never modded. If you count modded blades, that would be very hard. Some of the nicest Japanese carbon blades (Ashi or Masamoto honyaki, for example) deserve consideration but frankly, they have little advantage if any over this list.
 
I love my Devin gyutos (pick a steel) and 300 suji (swr). Gengestu 240 semi stainless gyuto. Heiji 150 semi-stainless petty. T Leder 210 petty SB1. These are all knives I never modded. If you count modded blades, that would be very hard. Some of the nicest Japanese carbon blades (Ashi or Masamoto honyaki, for example) deserve consideration but frankly, they have little advantage if any over this list.

Even the honyaki you are borrowing?? I think that would have to be up there on the list over a few of the other knives mentioned.
 
Just for fun, all knives I've never used but would love to try

Stainless
Suisin Inox Honyaki 300 Yanagi
Suisin Inox Honyaki 210 Deba
DT 270 ITK Gyuto


Carbon
Doi Blue #2 300 Yanagi
Konosuke Fujiyama Blue #2 210 Deba
Martell/Marko/Mario 270 gyuto?

Hard to choose between a 210 petty/suji/line knife and a nakiri, but the petty probably wins out
 
Even the honyaki you are borrowing?? I think that would have to be up there on the list over a few of the other knives mentioned.
LOL. I was wondering where you've been. Yeah, it's a great cutter but I love the profile Devin uses, they cut nearly as effortlessly and the edge holding is fantastic. Although the Gengetsu profile isn't perfect, I still think it's my best cutter when I factor in food release. It's not a Glestain but it's pretty good. I just don't see a whole lot of reasons to go with simple carbon steels unless it's just the look of it. Anyway, I did say it deserved consideration... I've been using that swr gyuto I bought back from you the last few days. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy using that knife and it's not quite as nice a cutter as the pm stainless one.
 
240mm Kato
Yoshihide Suji
Yoshikane SKD 180mm Petty
MAC bread
 
240mm Kato
Yoshihide Suji

I have both of these as well and can't argue with either selection.

If I couldn't have an all Devin kit (220 suji, 250 gyuto, 270 suji, 150 petty) I might go with the following:

240mm Gengetsu semi stainless (slight edge over Kato because of price and stainless cladding)
270mm Kato suji (never tried one but might be a nice substitute for my not so readily available and fantastic 270 Marko & Yosihide sujis)
210mm Konosuke Fujiyama Blue #2 petty/suji (have one in white #2 that I use constantly)
150mm Gesshin Uraku stainless petty (I use a Devin in 52100, could also go with another Gengetsu or maybe a Heiji)
 
Ginga 100mm stainless petty
Masamoto KS 165mm petty
Masamoto KS Honyaki 240mm gyuto
Watanabe Honyaki 300m sujihiki
 
10-12" slicer
9-10" chef's knife
6" utility knife
3" paring knife

This is essentially what I have, but add a good bread knife since I do cut a a lot of European type breads.

Since I have a large fillet knife in my fishing kit, and I have a dedicated set of knives for breaking down and portioning large animals/game, I guess I could do withoute slicer--but it is nice for slicing cooked proteins.
 
Quite a bit of love here for ZKramer and Gesshin Heiji... interesting...
 
If I had time to wait I'd go:
Rodrigue 260 suji
Martell 240 gyuto
Harner 180 nakiri
Ealy parer

If I needed something right now I guess it would be something like:
Kono Fuji 270 suji
CCK 1303 cleaver
Gesshin ginga 150 petty stainless
Tojiro bread knife
 
Don't use a petty or parer much these days... This is what my top knife list looks like at the moment.

DT ITK 270mm gyuto ( AEB-L )
Martell re-handled misono swede 240mm gyuto
Mike Davis sujihiki ( 1095 )
Fowler scimitar ( W2 )
 
Shig 240
Heiji 240 carbon
old Henckels parer
Forschner curved boner

I've already owned and sold the Shig--mistake and will replace. Getting ready to sell my Heiji (semi-stainless 270)--will replace with slightly different model. The other 2 are stainless, but do the job so well I can't see replacing even though i prefer carbon. Have a couple bread knives, but never use them and would likely never buy another--seems a good sharp gyuto does fine on all the bread I enjoy.
 
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