"simple stainless gyuto" - what would be your pick?

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Matus

Matus

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Being on my search for a western handled gyuto I have come to realise that all I need is a decent simple stainless 240mm workhorse - optimally with a western handle - for up to about $300 (new or used).

Often when one talks about stainless knives in this price range there is a lot of discussion which steel and from which maker. And that is exactly what I am after - which knife (maker) would you pick? DT ITK?, HHH? Suisin Honyaki? Or would you prefer some of the Gesshin lines?

The keyword is - blade performance (combination of steel, HT and blade grind/profile) in terms of sharpness, edge retention & toughness (chip resistance)

I would love to hear your experience!
 
Gesshin Ginga western,
I haven't used the western, but I was very impressed with Wa version.
I think it will tick all your boxes, plus it comes with a saya & under budget.

Depending on your definition of "workhorse" it's not an overly hefty knife, but it is low maintenance, holds an edge and is pretty tough.
 
Get a JCK CarboNEXT, round and smooth the spine and choil, put your own edge on and you've got it. For less than half your budget, even including a saya.

Rick
 
dibs on the $300 dt itk. i'll take 2.
 
My vote would be a Mac Pro and generic saya for around 200. Edge retention good not great, not chippy atall, sturdy with no flexing and wedging, my favorite western handle, and a great profile. Round the spine and choil and bash away
 
Von blewitt said:
Gesshin Ginga western,
I haven't used the western, but I was very impressed with Wa version.
I think it will tick all your boxes, plus it comes with a saya & under budget.

Depending on your definition of "workhorse" it's not an overly hefty knife, but it is low maintenance, holds an edge and is pretty tough.
Click to expand...
+1
 
Tanaka Ginsanko. I have the HHH production and prefer my Tanaka Blue2. It's also a fairly thin knife so might not be good for those harder veggies.
 
hiro AS is carbon not stainless..

carbonext is thin and narrow, i would not consider it a workhorse.

tanaka g3 is excellent steel, but fit & finish is rather horrible, it's a good workhorse but be prepared to get some work done, it is definitely not thin like the blue#2 version (a good thing if you can thin it yourself). i owned both at one time.

aeb-l takes a nice edge but retention is lacking (speaking from experience with dt itk)

for simplicity and not much work needed, i like the mac pro recommendation, the handle is quite good.
 
Geeshin Gonbei comes in at half your budget and was specifically designed by Jon to be a tough western workhorse. How can you go wrong?
 
Konosuke has a stainless line that will probably run you less than $200 equivalent for a Gyuto if you don't need anything fancy on the handle or finish. They're offered by quite a fair number of sellers and even sell direct depending on where you're located.
 
Konosuke has a stainless line that will probably run you less than $200 equivalent for a Gyuto if you don't need anything fancy on the handle or finish. They're offered by quite a fair number of sellers and even sell direct depending on where you're located.
 
Konosuke has a stainless line that will probably run you less than $200 equivalent for a Gyuto if you don't need anything fancy on the handle or finish. They're offered by quite a fair number of sellers and even sell direct depending on where you're located.
 
Wow, thanks. I appreciate your help.

HHH knives - very high on my list. I have already exchanged some PMs with RANDY. His production gyutos look nice (blade not too tall, and amazing handles).

JKI knives - I am in contact with Jon. He has some interesting looking knives (including Ginga, Gonbei, Uraku, Kagero, Kochi) - I am in the process of figuring out what to expect there.

dibs on the $300 dt itk. i'll take 2.
Click to expand...
OK, I may have been a bit too optimistic :razz:

Mac Pro - the weight I have found for 240mm gyuto is 350g (!?) - that is way too much. Apart from that - wold the knife perform any better than the sub $200 offers from Jon?

Tanaka Gisanko - sounds interesting, but bad F&F does not sound too inspiring. Would the knife be worth having custom handle made (the original looks, uhm, not great) ? Maybe that could be an option.

******
One comment concerning the western handles - I really like the shape like HHH gyutos have (or the lovely custom Rodrigue available at the B/S/T). It seems that most production japanese western handled knives (pretty much irrespective of their price or quality) have all very similar uninspiring handles. This may sound naive, but these 'all looking the same' black handles (just like the one on our MAC pro bread knife) just scream to me 'rehandle' ...
 
Mac Ultimate maybe weighs that much.

The Tanaka ginsanko has a sweet grind. The blade itself is not finished. Hiding under the etch are some serious scratches. The handle is an easy fix. The lack of a longish emoto on the wa may steer some away.
 
Some good advices here, so let me add another one.

New knife maker joined KKF not a long time ago: — Ian Rogers of Haburn knives. I haven't seen any reviews about his knives so I ordered a custom knife and gonna write my own when I get it into my hands :)
But have a look at http://www.haburnknives.com/store/full-tang-gyuto-aeb-l — to me they looks awesome. Reminds me of awesome works by Don Nguyen

haburnknivesgyuto8.1.JPG


And the price is right. Ian is very easy to talk to, so you could easily order a fully custom 240 gyuto in stainless steel that would fit into your budget. I personally really like this tall profile.

So imho Haburn gyuto is another option worth considering.
 
This thread is acting weird. It shows up under "New posts" then I click the second page and the last post it says is from daddy yo yo but the last on the thread is Pensacola Tigers?
 
icanhaschzbrgr said:
Some good advices here, so let me add another one.

New knife maker joined KKF not a long time ago: — Ian Rogers of Haburn knives. I haven't seen any reviews about his knives so I ordered a custom knife and gonna write my own when I get it into my hands :)
But have a look at http://www.haburnknives.com/store/full-tang-gyuto-aeb-l — to me they looks awesome. Reminds me of awesome works by Don Nguyen

haburnknivesgyuto8.1.JPG


And the price is right. Ian is very easy to talk to, so you could easily order a fully custom 240 gyuto in stainless steel that would fit into your budget. I personally really like this tall profile.

So imho Haburn gyuto is another option worth considering.
Click to expand...

I just ordered a custom from him and he is going to make it a WIP here. Stay Tuned it is going to be AWESOME!
 
since your in germany, ever thought about a custom schanz? stainless cant get any better then his sb1 i think. waiting time is long tho.
 
Tilman is offering Niolox customs in your price range. And he's in germany, too.
 
I'm not sure what is your definition of "workhorse" gyuto??
for my own own definition of classify:
laser gyuto: spine width <2.5mm & weight< 200g , e.g Konosuke HD, Gesshin Ginga, Suisin Honyaki etc...
all-around gyuto: spine width above 2.6mm & weight between 200g~250g , e.g Kochi, yoshikane, Gengetsu etc...
workhorse gyuto: weight> 250g , e.g watanabe pro, Kato workhorse etc...
I personally like gyuto weight between 200g~225g
I assume you are looking for all-around gyuto not heavy duty workhorse gyuto...
how about yoshikane skd-12 hammer finished yo gyuto? medium weight, good edge retention & not much harder to sharpening than carbon. http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/yminfo/item/10004541/
if you don't mind wa handle, there is one in b/s/t....
 
Info about two more makers - great! I am definitely dropping them an email :)


@cclin: you are right - I am looking more for an all-around gyuto, not a true heavy duty workhorse.
 
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