Best stainless makers?

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jgraeff

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So I know Mario makes great cpm154 but he's not currently producing.

Marko, I know he's using some but haven't heard much about feedback
Compared to his amazing 52100.

Devin t I'm sure, but most likely out of my price range.

If anyone can recommend someone that'd be great, I'm looking for a workhorse that's a great cutter, good food release, great edge retention.
 
What about a Blazen? I got one recently and I like it a lot, it's night and day compared to my other lighter gyutos. They're not exactly trendy at present but I like mine
 
I'm looking for a workhorse that's a great cutter, good food release, great edge retention.

tanakas ginsanko line offers a great steel with great food release and excellent retention. its pretty cheap so dont expect much as far as fit and finish goes. gengetsu has pretty good food release, depending on what it is your cutting. the tilman gyutos are custom ofcourse so you could get him to make a grind in such a way to aid food release. mine was convexed on one side and did a great job with food release. personally, i think glestains are pretty awesome too. kfeds glestain may have had the best food release of any knife ive ever used.
 
Yusuke Sakai makes a dynomite stainless!

+ 1 on that. I've sold off most of my stainless knives but I've held onto my Yuke. I don't know what they are doing with that steel but it's great. It might not be up to the same level of some of the stuff the customs makers are putting out but for a production knife it's thought to beat.
 
Based purely on my experience with non-custom knives (ie. not taking into account the customs), I'd take a look at the Hattori Forum gyuto, and/or ask if someone is looking to get rid of a DT ITK. Ahem.
 
tanaka r2 is great really good retention sharpens easy and gets really sharp.
 
Pierre and Butch first and foremost. Not sure what ss is Pierre's go-to these days; when he made a paring and petty for me a couple years ago he was using CPM154. Butch used CPM154, but recently switched to Carpenter XPS (I think that's it) for some slightly improved properties. I don't think you can go wrong with either of them for a straight ss gyuto. And Butch has a few already made but not sold, so you might be able to get one pretty quick.
 
I'm with David on this one. I forgot about Butch's gyutos he has right now. Huw just got one and seems pleased. They're both awesome makers, and They both do SS very very well.
 
Another vote for Sakai yusuke.. doesn't have a lot of bling but the grind fit and finish is awesome. Hard to top in terms of value.
 
people love the suisin IH and while the performance is certainly solid, i think they are fabulously over priced. haven't used stainless for a while can't be of much help beyond that at the moment.
 
anyone have any experience with yusuke ginsanko? I love all the ones mentioned (Harner, Del, Susin IH) and have DT and Mario to try now and add to the list.
 
anyone have any experience with yusuke ginsanko? I love all the ones mentioned (Harner, Del, Susin IH) and have DT and Mario to try now and add to the list.

Ginsanko is the stainless used by Sakai Yusuke.
 
They have very few ginsanko knives, I have only seen a few Sakai Yusuke ginsankos and they have been single bevels

That was true some time ago but on a recent visit to the SY shop in Japan I noticed there were only white or Ginsanko knives. - double bevel. I have several here - all double bevel that are stamped 'ginsan'. So to clarify, my earlier comments were all referring to double bevel ginsan knives from SY.
 
Ah, I've seen both ginsanko and swedish stainless being offered, is that not the case?
 
Ah, I've seen both ginsanko and swedish stainless being offered, is that not the case?

Yes it is. 'Swedish Stainless' is a bit mysterious but in the case of Sakai Yusuke it seems very similar the Sandvik 12C27 (which is Swedish) used by Suisin. I find that they both sharpen very easily but the ginsanko seems to have better edge retention.
 
I'm more interested in custom than production but I may have to try the yusuke. Always hearing good stuff about them.

I will look into some makers mentioned here. Thanks guys!

P.s pictures of your favorite knives are always welcome :)
 
Well if you are going for custom...there is Devin and then there is everyone else. There is a reason his reputation precedes him, he does more work researching and testing different heat treat formulas than anyone and it shows. Marko works with DT to develop his heat treat recipes, so personally I would go with either of those two. I don't think anybody else comes close.
 
Yes it is. 'Swedish Stainless' is a bit mysterious but in the case of Sakai Yusuke it seems very similar the Sandvik 12C27 (which is Swedish) used by Suisin. I find that they both sharpen very easily but the ginsanko seems to have better edge retention.

suisin inox honyaki is 19c27 not 12c27 or 13c26
 
so all the before mentioned suggestions are great. i think no matter which choice you make you will probably be happy atleast in terms of retention/ease of sharpening, but ive owned suisin inox,kono hd, kono stainless,yusuke stainless, multiple devin thomas itks,tanaka ginsanko,ginga stainless....and for me tilman niolox is just perfect. i dont really think there is a one steel for all answer here but if your looking for a stainless knife that touches up similar to carbon yet has superb edge retention tilmans niolox really has separated itself from the rest of the pack.IMO :razz:
 
suisin inox honyaki is 19c27 not 12c27 or 13c26

Actually Jon I wasn't referring to the honyaki line (kind of bugs me that they refer to them as honyaki BTW). Just the inox but I'm not 100% sure they use 12c27 in those come to think of it. Maybe AUS-8? In any case I prefer ginsanko over the lot of them. Just a personal preference.
 

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