indecisive shopper

soooo i was originally thinking i wanted a bunka or a santoku and just try to cope with one knife for a while but now i'm sorta leaning towards getting a 210 gyuto and a 165 nakiri and a vg10 santoku for my girlfriend (a pastry chef). can anyone help me decide or has anyone got any thoughts on these knives? without guidance i'm gonna spend the next month trawling the internet looking at knives and my girlfriend will not be happy.
Masakage, Koishi, Nakiri 165mm 1 £174.99
Yu Kurosaki Megumi Santoku 1 £129.99
Masakage, Kotetsu Gyuto 210mm 1 £199.99

I just bought the Kōtetsu bunka - not a gyuto, obviously, but the same range. It is made (designed) by Takayuki Shibata who is best known as the house sharpener of Masakage. The knife is made at Takefu Village, but as far as I am able to understand, is not part of the Masakage range – even though it is sometimes claimed. You can read about it here http://shibataknives.com/knives/

The knife is very nice, excellent f’n’f and sharp OOTB (not a surprise since it is sharpened by Takayuki Shibata himself). Pretty thin and very hard, but not too annoying to sharpen even though it is stainless (SG-2 steel). So far it does not seem prone to chipping.

So can I recommend the Kōtetsu – yes, but if I was to buy another knife I would probably opt for a stainless clad carbon because it is just so much nicer to sharpen. I would possibly look for the Koishi, but no regrets… the Kōtetsu is a nice knife.

Can you sharpen? And do you have equipment? If you do I'd go for the yuki series (I'm kind of a white steel fanboy lol). Stainless clad, nashiji finish and shirogami #2 core. The handle is damn sexy too. Edge retention is so-so but it feels great on the stones, and gets screamin' sharp real quick

I test drove a buddies koishi Nakiri for a week in exchange for a good sharpening. Edge retention was spectacular (at least through that week) but the edge gets pretty crisp, and was a bit more difficult to sharpen than the yuki. The finish (while very well done) felt odd against my skin, I found it a little distracting. The koishi is also thin thin thin at the edge, I'd consider it a precision/finesse oriented blade. She definitely demands respect. I got a bit cocky with her and she took my knuckle off and chipped all in the same session. Great knife, don't get me wrong, just be cautious; she's not meant for abuse.

Great manufacturers, the Kotetsu is better in Bunka form as the gyuto shape could be awkward. The Megumis are beautiful things and the Santoku very well priced too...I check stock levels once in a while to convince myself I do not need to buy it RIGHT NOW!

Check the Fujiwaras at te chopping block too, they have a few Nakiris and those blades rock (very rustic though).

Oh, just realise I forgot to mention that the Kōtetsu has some stiction issues. Not too much of a problem for a home user, but might well be annoying in a prof environment.

I second the endorsement of the Fujiwaras, but they are - at least the nashiji line - very rustic, and you'll probably need to round the spine and the choil.

i can sharpen, but my stones are all in australia and i'm moving to london and will be ordering these when i get there.
i'll buy a 1000/3000 combo to start with untill i have somewhere to live and i've settled in to work. i'll be working in a professional kitchen and i'll be working a lot of hours so something that takes too much work could be an issue.

the nakiri will be for "pretty" cuts and fancy fine stuff as well as herbs and bulk veg prep. i want a gyuto that's a bit of a work horse that will go hard, be sharp and capable of precision but i don't want to have to baby it and spend the litttle free time i get keeping it sharp
. at home i was using 2 ryusen blazens (sg2) as my work horse knives and then i had a selection of masamoto's and mizuno tarenjo's and a couple others for the precision stuff.

MrOli said:

Great manufacturers, the Kotetsu is better in Bunka form as the gyuto shape could be awkward..

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it appears to be in bunka form but labelled as a gyuto, i assumed the edge was just the same as that of a gyuto and it would perform in a similar way but maybe not... i think the R2 steel and the sexy profile kinda won me over but it may not be to most practical choice for a professional kitchen, especially seeing as i don't have my 20kg knife case to retreat to should it not work out very well.

Check the Fujiwaras at te chopping block too, they have a few Nakiris and those blades rock (very rustic though).

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yeah i was looking at those, pretty cheap and they look really good. i had initially decided on getting one until i dug around on here a little and read a few mixed reviews. i'm all for rustic, i don't care if it's not shiny with a damascus rainbow pattern but it needs to perform and i wouldn't know where to start if i had to fix the grind or alter the knife before i can get to work. i'm more or less homeless so besides getting a couple of stones to keep them sharp i can't really be build a workshop in a hostel dorm. i'll have a look through "the chopping block" now