Most versatile suji for service?

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jbl

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Hey guys n gals. Which suji would be most suited to general service use? It's gonna be slicing more than anything, but needs to be good for chiffonade. Am I looking for one with belly? If so, which?
 
Personally I think the best size for a service knife is 210mm as space is a bit tighter.
If that's a size that your interested in then I believe you are looking for a 210mm petty.
You want something that has enough knuckle clearance & slight curve to tip so you can chiffonade. If you want something nice and thin and precise mabie a konosuke hd2 if you don't mind semi-stainless. There should be enough knuckle clearance (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) unless you have enormous hands.
That's just my opinion... And you may feel more comfortable with 240. In which case the missono Swedish sujihiki is pretty sweet. Plenty of people use it instead of a cooks knife .
And it has a dragon on it....
The dragon has a certain seductive charm lol. Sold it for me that's for sure.
 
Depends on your kitchen space , menu , etc.
Any more info?
 
I've used a 210 ginga as a service knife, handy when space is tight, but not great at chiffonade herbs. I used to manage it by holding the blade in my fingertips, and using a chopping motion - not ideal. The most versatile service knife I've ever used was a misono ux10 240 suji. Great at carving/slicing enough knuckle clearance to properly chop, and a great cutter.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend any knife with too much belly, as all that they are good at is rock chopping.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for that info!

I guess I should say that i wanted something stainless; my prep knives are carbon - 2XMisono Swede Gyutos.

The menu is small plates - 10xmeat, 10xfish, 10xveg, 10xdesserts

My main slicer is a Miyabi Kaizen, nice for slicing but a v. narrow blade, the edge of the knife only seems about 1cm below my knuckles.

I need a knife on each station as I work alone most of the time, and my only other stainless knife (+210) is a Wusthof super slicer.

I should have specified that I wanted a stainless suji - 240, with max knuckle clearance (I’m 6’5 w/huge hands and a tiny ****)

As it’s a small plates menu, a dish might be cured sea trout, cucumber jelly and a chiffonade of mint - that’d be all on one board
 
Sorry guys, sold out. Recently the maker has considerably reduced the available models, so I doubt if it will ever come back.
 
But the 240mm is still available. Also, Misono UX10 and 440 series.
 
240mm Hiro g3 suji is pretty narrow; even if it were in stock and I would skip out if I were you
 
Maybe the OP would be better off with a narrow gyuto?
 
OP? What's that?! I've seen the narrow glestain gyuto on the JCK site
 
i work in a japanese kitchen on the larder section. some of my jobs involve slicing raw/cured fish, seafood and cooked beef. i use a 270mm kono hd for this and occasionally also chiffonade some coriander using the tip. personally i'd prefer a 210mm for line work. 5 guys in my kitchen use 210mm ginga stainless petty/sujis. they're pretty damn good in my opinion.

in my experience, i'm much more concerned about the slicing capabilities of my line knife rather than if it can accommodate additional jobs. a tall suji / narrow gyuto might work for some but for me, i feel like it introduces more drag when slicing. slicing is the function that makes the dish, not the chiffonade so i wouldn't compromise on a slicer by trying to make it do more things and do its main function less well.

i'd recommend a regular sujihiki, 210mm to 240mm max.
 
I guess it is a Japanese kitchen for that many guys using ginga stainless petty/sujis.Also speaks highly of the blade.
 
Another line slicer that gets little attention is the Kanetsugu Pro-J 210mm sugi.Hammer finish ZA-18 Cobalt steel hrt 60-61.These knives have excellent convex edges & thin geometry.Nice handles & heat treatment too.Sold at JCK
 
I have been using my Gesshin Heiji 210mm Semi Stainless petty as of late. Stainless clad, great edge retention, sturdy, no worries if it gets knocked around a bit.
 
I have a love for takeda in these situations. When I worked on a hot line and did a lot of on the fly cuts and slices I preferred my 210mm takeda yanagi. Now that I am constantly cutting and slicing and doing technical things I have found a lot more use for a 270mm takeda yanagi. The 270 version is basically a gyuto sized height where as the 210 version is basically a long petty and very little knuckle clearance. If the 240 is in the middle of the two you may have an insanely awesome line knife there.

If anyone has one of the 240 takeda yanagis please chime in.

I love both of the takedas very much and there is something very special about the grinds on the knives that make them insanely sharp and have great edge retention. But the 270 version is like an amazing gyuto, even though they call it a yanagi. Shosui may make a 210 version for you with the same height as the 270 if you were to put in a custom order.

If I had the money now I would order a custom 300mm yanagi from shosui takeda with a little less height than the 270. His knives are amazing.
 
I usually use a 210 fowler, my chef has a 210 kono hd2. I used it the other night as a line slicer, was nice, I chopped a pepper amongst my slicing, it did the job, not much knuckle clearance though, I wouldn't be doing a ton of chiffonading with it. It had reasonably less drag than my fowler, the fowler 210 has plenty knuckle clearance to make it a better all around knife, but worse slicer. Oh, I diced a tomato with the kono beautifully as well :lol2:. Oh and sliced a freakin ton of protein. I know a guy who rates his ginga up there, I have never used it though personally, so I can't tell you. I also have a 240 mario gyutohiki, but it's a little bit long for my line, it's really awesome though.
 
I had the good fortune to test drive Mike Henry's 270 Takeda yani/suji. I never appreciated how amazingly accurate the collective wisdom of the KKF crew could be until I spent a bit of time with that knife. I still struggle to explain why it worked as well as it did. The profile upon inspection told me that it would be a marginal performer, at best. The cutting, however, told an entirely different story. It was nothing less than impressive. I think a Takeda yani/suji in the 250 range might be the perfect line knife assuming the line isn't too tight.
 
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