Petty/Gyuto - knife design question

Hello,

I am on a waiting list for a custom knife from one of our very own. So I have started to think about the knife design, etc.

What I am after is a knife that could be described as petty/gyuto clone with blade of about 150 - 165 mm. The blade should essentially remind of petty towards the tip (that means the tip would be symmetrical and relative sharp) and a gyuto closer to the handle to gain a bit of more working space, so that using the full length of the blade would be easier.

So the design of the blade I am thinking about wold be wider at the handle, but get progressively narrow towards the tip. Reason would be that while I find 150mm petty knife very useful - one often uses only the last 1/3 of the blade (on tho tip side) as the blade close to the handle os often too narrow to be useful.

Purpose of the knife:
Will mostly be used to cut salad and vegetables, cheese, salami, onions. It will be the most used knife in the kitchen (home).

Maybe I am just looking at the wrong direction, but maybe not. I would be very interested to hear your opinions.

To make it more clear what I am after here is a very quick mockup in Photoshop (on tweaking, just to make the point). I have used our Shun 150mm petty for that (pardon the surface finish - that was my attempt to 'polish' the knife .. oh well)

Shun 150mm petty:


Photoshop mockup:

Drop the tip so the edge is more parallel to the handle, otherwise your wrist will be angled awkwardly when you use it on a board. Hattori makes a 150 gyuto, and the profile is worth looking at:

Your photoshopped Shun looks a lot like the 'pettysuke' profiles that surface now and then, including the one Will Catcheside made for me. One of my favorite knives.

That is a good point about the wrist position - I will give it more thought.

Pettysuke - that is the name I was looking for . Would you mind to share a photo of your knife from Will?

This is a Petite Gyuto/Utility by Bill Burke [/IMG]
Here is a link to the EE page with more pics
http://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=91672&photo=6&size=b

You might want to consider a honesuki shape (albeit ambidextrous). It's not so different from your design, and an incredibly useful utility.

A good example of a honesuki can be seen here:

View attachment 20676
http://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=85482

-daniel

Go bigger or go home!

How about something like this? I love this knife and it works great at a petty style knife.

-Chuck

Perhaps this is the shape you are looking for. It does the jobs you mentioned very well for me.

Many of these look excellent. I've got a dwarf gyuto thing pending...it's not as long (~140mm) as the range desired in this thread, but the same basic concept, I think, with a height of ~44mm at the heel and a fine point:

(photo is Butch's, not mine)

I was actually looking for a photo of my Harner that is very similar to that one... It is probably the most used knife in my house. My GF used it for EVERYTHING and I use it quite often. Honestly one of my favorite knives and I don't think it will ever leave my kitchen. I am also planning on buying a second one for my parents because they use it every time they visit and they ask if they can have it (have even offered to buy it from my). I think it is an extremely practical design. It is actually the knife I used tonight to make dinner. Dicing onions, cutting broccoli, sweet potatoes, slicing chicken, mincing garlic, and even chopping some herbs.

-Chuck

Ok, what is all the fuss about these super small petty/gyutos? I use a 210mm Fujiwara Gyuto the most and can't imagine having something smaller. Is this an example of different strokes for different folks or am I missing something completely?

stereo.pete said:

Ok, what is all the fuss about these super small petty/gyutos? I use a 210mm Fujiwara Gyuto the most and can't imagine having something smaller. Is this an example of different strokes for different folks or am I missing something completely?

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I'm not qualified to answer but personally I like the working height and knuckle clearance while being able to do low-volume stuff on a board...garlic, herbs, chilis, green onions, and other stuff that a bigger knife is overkill for. I haven't gotten the Harner I posted above yet to confirm whether my intuitions on that are misguided though.

stereo.pete said:

Ok, what is all the fuss about these super small petty/gyutos? I use a 210mm Fujiwara Gyuto the most and can't imagine having something smaller. Is this an example of different strokes for different folks or am I missing something completely?

Click to expand...

Well, the OP asked about a knife of this style which is why everyone is giving their opinion. The fuss... Some of them are great knives. I can tell you that I can do just about every task with my 6 inch harner that I can do with my 20 240-270 gyutos. So why not? Do I prefer a 6" knife? Well I own one versus the 20+ 240mm+ gyutos so no. It is a very useful knife for home use and I know my girlfriend hates using any of my gyutos but is extremely comfortable using the 6" knife that is always in my kitchen. I have bought 210 gyutos to see if she would use them and she pretends to use them then the Harner comes back out. I know my parents have 3 gyutos that I have passed on or bought them, but yet they only use their 6" petty knife. I am not sure why. But I can tell you it is what they are comfortable using. They loved the Harner because it gave them knuckle clearance. They tried to take it, buy it, and then even steal it.

So, not my favorite, but many other people love them!

-Chuck

First please let me apologise for a late reply - somehow we managed to have a baby in the mean time

But let's get back on topic - these are some great examples and lot of inspiration for me.

Just to clarify - my largest knife is 210 gyuto (if I do not count the MAC bread knife) and while I love to use it for many tasks, preparing a salad or cutting cheese or salami directly at the table - I need a smaller knife for that - 165mm tops.

Interestingly - I was thinking of a "clipped" point (a'la honesuki) too - and now I see that I was not far off

The Harner has particularly interesting design. The petit gyuto from Bill Burke is stunning. The one from Rader looks great (they all do .. )

Now at least I know that this kind of design has been successful and will probably go this way when the time will come (early next year I guess).

Thanks to one FS thread I found out about existence of the arrak knives (from Estonia). Tõnu specialises in puuko knives, but he has one awesome kitchen knife design which he calls "Tuuts":

The blade is 185mm long, 2.2mm at the spine, steel is Niolox (SB1) which should be sort of "improved" AEB-L. Price should be around 200€. It is a bit longer than I am looking for, but I really like the design (and based on this thread it is a great performer too). I am very tempted ...

I love it, buy one and let us know how it is. I would also talk to Son who if I remember correctly purchased a knife from this maker.

chuck239 said:

How about something like this? I love this knife and it works great at a petty style knife.

-Chuck

View attachment 20685

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Sorry to jack the thread but I had to comment. This is an amazing knife. One of the coolest Raders I've seen.