any experience with the watanabe standard line?

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riba

riba

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I recently acquired a Watanabe Pro Nakiri and am seriously impressed with its cutting performance.

I am considering getting my wife a Santoku ( yeah, yeah, but our yusuke gyuto is too pointy and the nakiri is too squary ;) ) and I saw that there is quite a price difference between the standard and the professional line. I'll be going for a stainless clad in any case.

Is there anybody that can comment on the differences in the lines (especially wrt grind), or on the standard line? Or should I just shell out for the pro line?

Looking forward to opinions!
 
I've used the standard line but never the pro versions. In general, the standards always seemed pretty basic for the price but I have no real complaints about performance.
 
You said, "I'll be going for a stainless clad in any case.", which makes the Standard vs Professional decision moot. The Standard line is not stainless clad. Actually, only some of the Professional line are stainless clad - the nakiri and santoku, the petty knives and the short (180) gyuto.

That said, the standard line does not have the level of fit and finish that the Professional line does.
 
yeah, so I am comparing the pro santoku (21000 jpy) to the standard with stainless cladding and chestnut handle (13500 jpy).
stainless cladding is kinda a necessity for my wife ;)

thanks for the comments so far :)
 
I didn't even knew there was that option to order standard version with stainless cladding, but now I have found what you are talking about. It looks nice on pictures and I think you could later easily fix f&f issues (if any). And ask Stefan to make another Hello Kitty handle for your wife ;)

I'd try standard version considering price difference. Though I have no experience with it so far.
 
I have the standard santoku with the original iron/kuro uchi cladding but that had started to come off and I eventually cleaned it off completely. As was said before, there has been less time invested in making it look pretty, smooth edges etc, but it is a nice and thin cutter, easy to sharpen. I actually use it fairly often even though I have more expensive alternatives. BTW, that was from his standard set, one of the first things I bought when I got interested in Japanese knies, so I have had it for quite a while now. And it is the only knife from the standard set that I kept...

Stefan
 
icanhaschzbrgr said:
And ask Stefan to make another Hello Kitty handle for your wife ;)
Click to expand...
Hehehehe, my wife would kill me. Though oddly enough I wouldn't object against installing such a handle on my nakiri, kinda like it in an odd way.

icanhaschzbrgr said:
I'd try standard version considering price difference. Though I have no experience with it so far.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's my current plan is :)


apicius9 said:
I have the standard santoku with the original iron/kuro uchi cladding but that had started to come off and I eventually cleaned it off completely. As was said before, there has been less time invested in making it look pretty, smooth edges etc, but it is a nice and thin cutter, easy to sharpen. I actually use it fairly often even though I have more expensive alternatives. BTW, that was from his standard set, one of the first things I bought when I got interested in Japanese knies, so I have had it for quite a while now. And it is the only knife from the standard set that I kept...

Stefan
Click to expand...

Hi Stefan, that's great to hear! F&F isn't that important, it being a nice and thin cutter is very much so. And I can always have it rehandled later ;)
 
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