1st Carbon Gyuto Recommendation?

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SolidSnake03

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Hey Everyone!

So I'm looking for a "fun" knife or something that I can kinda just mess around with and do some experiments on/practice with. Basically, I'm new to Carbon having only used Stainless before and want to see what this type of knife is all about. I want to see what a patina is like, maybe force one to make some interesting design, practice sharping on something easy to sharpen etc... I figure this will be a fun experiment type of thing for myself and an affordable way to try Carbon knifes.

LOCATION
What country are you in?
USA

KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chef’s knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
Gyuto
Are you right or left handed?
LEFTY!!
Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
Doesn't matter but given my budget I don't think Wa handles are really an option?
What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
210-240mm, I'm honestly ok with either, 210 might help on pricing but of course I would always take the extra length if possible. Either way it's not a deal breaker
Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
NO
What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
$100-130ish. Purposely leaving it a bit vague but really don't want to go too expensive, less expensive is a plus


KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Home
What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
Pretty much everything minus breaking bones or filleting meats/fish. Lots of veggie, fruit and bone-less protein work
What knife, if any, are you replacing?
Tojiro DP 240mm
Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.)
Usually pinch, very rarely hammer grip
What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)
Push Cut, Slice, Chop, some rock chop but not usually
What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.)
Thinner, lighter, better handle shape (less big/boxy), easier to sharpen and sharper overall, also less wedging would be great!
Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
Not overly concerned with this, its for home use so not going through massive quantities of food, if anything it gives me more practice. That's not an excuse for terrible retention just saying it doesn't have to last for months....

KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
Synthetic as in your typical food service style boards, couple of PolyP and PolyE boards, love the low/zero maintenance and easy cleaning
Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes
If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes but could be much better, I'm fairly new at this
Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes, have a set of Shapton Pro 1k and 5k stones

SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS
I have looked a few knives already and am wondering what you guys think of them in addition to any I may be missing.
Suisin High Carbon
Misono Swedish
Kikuichi Elite Carbon
Fujiwara Carbon FKH
Togiharu Virgin Carbon

Also, I'm picky about my Fit and Finish, I know at my price point it won't be perfect but ideally it would be as nice as possible. No rough spots on the handles or miss-aligned scales etc...
 
Looks like you did good homework already. The wa handle will be lighter, however in cheaper knives they will lack in quality. The Suisin & Togiharu you can get from Korin with the left handed option at a very reasonable price.
 
Regarding the left handed option, do you really think it makes a truly appreciable difference especially given that it would add another $20 on to my limited budget? Is the 70/30 grind really enough for there to be a marked different in performance or feel for a lefty?

The reason I ask is that I have used the Suisin Inox Western and Masamoto VG (non-lefty) and didn't notice a thing. Same with the Global G2 and the Misono UX10. These were all co-workers knives I was able to borrow for a couple weeks to try. (work for a food company so a lot of knife fans :laugh: )
 
Korin is also having a 15% off sale this month. I recently got a Suisin high carbon sujihiki from them with a great edge. They can apparently set up the 70/30 edge for lefties as well, though I have not experienced that service. The right handed 70/30 edge is quite noticeable for me compared to 50/50 edges. The 240 gyuto comes close to your price guideline...

The Misono Swedish carbon steel does not come with the dragon in 210, you have to move up to the 240 for that and it starts to head well past your price.

Good luck on your search.
 
The Misono Swedish has a strong right bias. Almost the entire left side of the blad is flat, so a lefty should expect some food release problems, even after the edge being neutralized and steering addressed.
 
Thanks for that info on the Swedish, do you know if any of the other knives I mentioned have this issue for a lefty? Or if any of those might be a better fit then? Sadly I'm not in a place where I can actually try or look at these knives so I can't do some of this myself....
 
Also, is the sticking really that bad? I have read a few other posts from lefty's here that seemed to thoroughly enjoy the Misono Swedish knife....

*can't seem to edit my last post to include this, sorry*
 
Expect all gyutos to be more or less asymmetric and expect all good blades to have one face flatter and the other one more convexed. With so called lasers, very thin blades, it's less pronounced because there isn't much material left to convex.
Most retailers will offer an edge correction but this doesn't solve the grinding problem. A better solution is ordering a left version. Most makers do offer that possibility even if retailers understandably don't advertise it. The premium is some 25-30%. Other unscrupulous retailers don't hesitate to recommend evidently right-biased blades to their left-handed clients.
If I where left-handed I would get as a gyuto an adapted blade. This retailer has them in stock:

http://www.knifemerchant.com/products.asp?productLine=44
 
Also, is the sticking really that bad? I have read a few other posts from lefty's here that seemed to thoroughly enjoy the Misono Swedish knife....

*can't seem to edit my last post to include this, sorry*
Two factors: most left handed are used to work with poorly adapted instruments. With good technique a cook can learn to work with the wrong blade, correct steering and reduce stiction. People reporting here happen to be pretty good sharpeners and will modify the blades geometry to compensate for steering, e.g. by heavy thinning the left face.
 
Thank you for that additional explanation on this, it is greatly appreciated. I would have to say I'm in the camp of "adapting" to right handed tools. It is how I have done virtually everything in my life having never owned anything really "lefty-specific". This is why I was wondering about the left handed thing because I have used a "righty" knife as a lefty for so long I'm wondering if it's truly worth the premium.

That is a good point about the people here being good sharpeners, I most definitely am not in that grouping nor would feel comfortable doing that sort of work myself for a long time.

Do you happen to know if of any fairly well known 50/50 gyuto's or one's closer to that? I have talked to Jon at JKI in the past and he mentioned the Suisin Inox Western and Gesshin Stainless knives as being Ambidexterous.....or at least that it wouldn't be a problem for a lefty in that he could easily adjust them. The Suisin Carbon isn't listed though on his site so not sure if that knife follows this trend?
 
Not sure if he makes left handed gyutos. But a tanaka in blue #2 would fit really well around $100-150 the heat treat is really good. But the knife needs a bit of work smoothing and stuff.
 
I would really prefer not to have to smooth and sand the knife to make up for poor fit and finish. I'm fine with playing around with patina formation and what not but don't want to have to DIY the actual knife into a usable form, to me that is just sloppy on the part of the producer/manufacturer
 
I have a question for you guys, since I want to try out a laserish type knife, are the Tanaka knives from Metalmaster lasers, b/c I have heard some people say they have gotten one from some dude in michigan and they were lasers?
 
I'm a lefty, too. Don't have a ton of gyuto experience- all I've used thus far is an Artifex (with a truly yucky wedgey grind and I wasn't crazy about their implementation of the AEBL steel, either), and a Zakuri from Jon at JKI in aogami super. The Zakuri was pretty nice, but it just made me realize I like cleavers better than gyutos. Anyway, it could be that the Uraku in white #2 would be a good knife to try:
http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com...in-uraku-240mm-white-2-kurouchi-wa-gyuto.html

I don't have any personal experience with this particular knife, but I will say that you'll get the carbon experience in spades, if it is anything like my experience with white #2- easy to sharpen and gets super-sharp. Not sure how it would compare to your Tojiro in terms of handle size and thickness, though.
 
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