The Gyuto Name Drop Contest aka What knife should i buy

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?

RIGHT

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?

JAPANESE

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?

270-300

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)

NO

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?

NONE



KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?

PRO

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.)

No Bones, but cant be afraid to do heavy work

What knife, if any, are you replacing?

not replacing, but my favorite styles are takeda/moritaka (I seem to have only bought one in a millions)


Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.)

ALL

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.)

ALL

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 but not lazzer, 2.5-3 at heel max, perfect grinds, perfect heat treatment, can be considered a show piece, handles of dark wood with matching saya but don't have to be too fancy. Can be clad or honyaki, any steel, any finish. I like a good amount of belly, 58mm minimum. Rounded spin and choil.





KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)

YES?

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)

YES



SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS

Willing to do custom order, I prefer japanese smiths, no offence to american smiths, I just like helping to preserve japanese smith culture. Or if you could pull Murray Carter out of customs retirement that would be great...

Watanabe!

chinacats said:

Watanabe!

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have not thought about them in a while! nice choice. are there any sites with a lot of pictures of his work other than his own sites??

Itinomonn maybe, love mine.

cheflivengood said:

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 but not lazzer, 2.5-3 at heel max, perfect grinds, perfect heat treatment, can be considered a show piece, handles of dark wood with matching saya but don't have to be too fancy. Can be clad or honyaki, any steel, any finish. I like a good amount of belly, 58mm minimum. Rounded spin and choil.

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My bad, I need to do a better job of reading before posting.:O

Scratch the Watanabe from your list--I missed this when making the suggestion. That said, it is a great knife but not on the thinner side--my 240 is ~20 grams heavier than my 240 Kato

Cheers

I would suggest to order a Yoshimitsu Tamahagane/Watetsu Gyuto in 240 mm or 270 mm from Takeshi Aoki at Aframestokyo. It is an extraordinary knife and represents the best of old school Japanese blade making. It is made from iron sand and carbon cooked together in a hand made tatara and the resulting piece of steel gets forged to produce an unique knife like no other. You can read the posts on Tamahagane steel in the forum, The Yoshimitsu brothers are getting very old and probably will not be making many more of those and it would be a prize to have like the Keijiro Doi blades are now.

chinacats said:

My bad, I need to do a better job of reading before posting.:O

Scratch the Watanabe from your list--I missed this when making the suggestion. That said, it is a great knife but not on the thinner side--my 240 is ~20 grams heavier than my 240 Kato

Cheers

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the honyaki at znives.com is 3mm at the heel which i thinc is thin for a honyaki. i'm still keeping it on the list!

Casaluz said:

I would suggest to order a Yoshimitsu Tamahagane/Watetsu Gyuto in 240 mm or 270 mm from Takeshi Aoki at Aframestokyo. It is an extraordinary knife and represents the best of old school Japanese blade making. It is made from iron sand and carbon cooked together in a hand made tatara and the resulting piece of steel gets forged to produce an unique knife like no other. You can read the posts on Tamahagane steel in the forum, The Yoshimitsu brothers are getting very old and probably will not be making many more of those and it would be a prize to have like the Keijiro Doi blades are now.

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Awesome suggestion!

bump

If i'm not mistaken, one can ask a customized thinner watanabe blade with the man. There's still hope!

I would vote for a Tanaka R2 ironwood.

Casaluz said:

I would suggest to order a Yoshimitsu Tamahagane/Watetsu Gyuto in 240 mm or 270 mm from Takeshi Aoki at Aframestokyo. It is an extraordinary knife and represents the best of old school Japanese blade making. It is made from iron sand and carbon cooked together in a hand made tatara and the resulting piece of steel gets forged to produce an unique knife like no other. You can read the posts on Tamahagane steel in the forum, The Yoshimitsu brothers are getting very old and probably will not be making many more of those and it would be a prize to have like the Keijiro Doi blades are now.

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Anyone have any use with these? I know that tamahagane is not the best steel, but are the grinds and heat treatment still good. this would obviously be more of a sentimental buy, but i would still used it a lot and wouldn't want it to fail.

I do have two Tamahaganes , a Wa-Gyuto 210 mm and a Santoku 167 mm. I am not the right person to comment on the quality of the steel and therefore you need to take my opinion only as that, an opinion, however, I chose them for what keithsaltydog calls "the cool factor", that is to say, the fact that you are preparing food with a unique knife made in the same way as centuries old traditional bladesmithing from Japan. To me it has enormous value and and I draw tremendows joy from using it for both its superb performance and for what it represents. I find it beautiful but by no means it is meant for show, it definitely is made for use.

I would like to add that in my very limited experience, the knives are like no other I have touched. You can see the small imperfections on the steel and the changes in light reflecting from the blade. The steel feels "substantial" or "dense" to the touch in comparison to other blades. The "feel" during sharpening is also different and I like the edge it holds. The handles are superbly done in my opinion and on the smallish/thin side but help balance the knife perfectly, and in the case of the santoku, it has something I have never seen, a copper jacket around the body of the handle, and inside of the horn ferrule. Here are a few pictures of the Santoku:










And a comparison of profiles and data from the knives including that of the Santoku



I would guess that most forum members would argue that there are other choices if you are looking for top quality steel but the Tamahagane brings a uniqueness that appeals in a different and more subjective manner.

Casaluz said:

I do have two Tamahaganes , a Wa-Gyuto 210 mm and a Santoku 167 mm. I am not the right person to comment on the quality of the steel and therefore you need to take my opinion only as that, an opinion, however, I chose them for what keithsaltydog calls "the cool factor", that is to say, the fact that you are preparing food with a unique knife made in the same way as centuries old traditional bladesmithing from Japan. To me it has enormous value and and I draw tremendows joy from using it for both its superb performance and for what it represents. I find it beautiful but by no means it is meant for show, it definitely is made for use.

I would like to add that in my very limited experience, the knives are like no other I have touched. You can see the small imperfections on the steel and the changes in light reflecting from the blade. The steel feels "substantial" or "dense" to the touch in comparison to other blades. The "feel" during sharpening is also different and I like the edge it holds. The handles are superbly done in my opinion and on the smallish/thin side but help balance the knife perfectly, and in the case of the santoku, it has something I have never seen, a copper jacket around the body of the handle, and inside of the horn ferrule. Here are a few pictures of the Santoku:

And a comparison of profiles and data from the knives including that of the Santoku

I would guess that most forum members would argue that there are other choices if you are looking for top quality steel but the Tamahagane brings a uniqueness that appeals in a different and more subjective manner.

Click to expand...

you are awesome. thanks for the info

Ernesto didn't know you got 2 of them. My 178mm Santoku use every day, great for small prep. Certainly no drawer queen

I use my Santoku every day as well and love it. I had been thinking about a gyuto in 210 mm for a while and finally opted for the Tamahagane instead of a different maker. I ordered it from Takeshi San and came in the last week of December. I think there is still one left at Aframes. I absolutely love it. I had never known about them except for you Keith. Thank you so much

By the way Keith, i have found a link where you can find a video of the Yosimitsu brothers building the tatara to make the Tamahagane as well as another video of the forging knives. Here it is

http://www.yosimitsu.com/tataraseitetsu.html

You are a man after my own heart, on the search for "that" knife. I have even gone so far as to order a second of the dreaded Moritakas, another 270 but in AS to test against my B#2. These come from a Montreal supplier and are different from each other in weight, grind and board feel.

cheflivengood said:

Anyone have any use with these? I know that tamahagane is not the best steel

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I thought tamahagane was a pretty good steel. What don't you or others like about it?

toddnmd said:

I thought tamahagane was a pretty good steel. What don't you or others like about it?

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its just all the best tamahagane goes to swords and by todays technology standards its just an ok steel...at least that is what I have gathered from my research

cheflivengood said:

its just all the best tamahagane goes to swords and by todays technology standards its just an ok steel...at least that is what I have gathered from my research

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It is pretty good steel as carbon goes. The knives themselves are very thin behind the edge. I enjoy using it for home cooking, would not use it in a production kitchen for massive prep. where would have to sharpen it more often. It functions well takes a screaming sharp edge, easy to sharpen. My Honyaki carbon has better edge retention.

You mentioned Honyaki's as consideration. The Honyaki blades sold by Marko Tsourkan out of V2 steel I like a lot. Bought one off a forum member here 270mm. The handles great for workforce knives. I sold it to a Banquet Chef here who was looking for a good production knife. He has been using it for a while now I am sure it is getting a real workout.