looking for a thin (laser?) AEB-L petty knife

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nomnommish

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I have a few knives - Tojiro DP petty, gyuto, a sandwich Ao Super nakiri, a Wusthoff chef knife, and a 240mm Richmond Artifex.

I am now hooked to the Richmond AEB-L knife. Love the steel, love the balance, the thinness, edge retention, and ease of sharpening. I actually have feelings for this knife!!

I was hoping to find an AEBL petty.. For regular kitchen slicing and push cutting and draw work - veggies only, no meats. Pinch grip when I use, hammer when my family uses. This really is for both my family and I. Hoping to not spend a lot of money - less than $100 USD if possible. My location is Chicago. Have also heard of lasers and in general, I love the thinness of my Artifex so hoping for something similar. Also a conventional double edge that can be sharpened by family on a off the shelf sharpening device.

Checked cktg but Richmond Artifex doesn't have a petty for some reason. Are there any other options for an AEBL thin petty? I see some custom knives but they are all in the $300 range. Or if not petty, a small chef knife (180 or so)? Actually 180mm would be a real nice size - small enough for my family and large enough for me.

We treat knives with reasonable care - and do use composite wooden cutting boards. I also have a sharpening stone but don't have time so end up using one of those off the shelf sharpeners.. The ones with two wheels where you run your knife through a few times. And I use a ceramic honing stick.

My budget is a bit flexible too.
 
No offense, but for the way you sharpen I wouldn't recommend a J-knife. How about a Sabatier?
 
Thanks, chinacats and chiffonodd. I guess I had that one coming. I do use stones and although a newbie, was able to get an edge back again on my Tojiro DP. Having said that, it is very rudimentary - Smith's Arkansas stone - 400 and 1000 grit.

And I am also looking for a better sharpening solution. If you could suggest an entry level stone, that would be quite helpful too.

What do you mean by a j-knife?

Edit: Got it.. I think you mean a Japanese knife. Is there anything at all with AEBL steel in a small chef knife or petty size and a conventional double edge??

Thanks once again, and sorry for my newbie questions.
 
Thanks, chinacats and chiffonodd. I guess I had that one coming. I do use stones and although a newbie, was able to get an edge back again on my Tojiro DP. Having said that, it is very rudimentary - Smith's Arkansas stone - 400 and 1000 grit.

And I am also looking for a better sharpening solution. If you could suggest an entry level stone, that would be quite helpful too.

What do you mean by a j-knife?

Edit: Got it.. I think you mean a Japanese knife. Is there anything at all with AEBL steel in a small chef knife or petty size and a conventional double edge??

Thanks once again, and sorry for my newbie questions.

J-knife refers to a Japanese knife. And I agree with the above, if you're going to gift said item, I'd go with a softer steel/low HRC knife. HRC refers to the relative hardness of the knife. 56-59 or so HRC is pretty soft by most of us knife geek standards. The softness will help with most non knife geeks abuse of said knives.
 
I would suggest purchasing a King 1k/6k combination stone and something with which to flatten said stone. The 1k side dishes fairly quickly so you will need to flatten every time you sharpen (and maybe in between if a big session) but it is a solid stone for the $$ and many here learned on one. Toss the thing with wheels in the trash or give it to someone with ****** knives.:laugh:

BTW, I use a Sabatier petty (nogent 4 star/elephant) myself so that was actually a serious response.

As to searching for a knife by steel you will find that to be a very poor way to find a suitable knife. Best to fill out the new knife questionnaire and let people throw out some suitable suggestions without regard to steel (other than to say you want stainless).

As to the cutting board, would suggest putting an end grain board on your shopping list, it will help make your edges last a bit longer.

Cheers!

Oh and forgot to say Welcome!
 
This is the Sabatier Chinacats was referring to.

http://www.cookfoodgood.com/?p=409

Exactly, but just remembered OP wants stainless so bad call on my part...that said if he has good habits as he says, then why not give a carbon a try. (If you cut a 'lot' of citrus ignore that--I do but mine's almost black at this point so it doesn't seem to matter).
 
How do you order from this site? Do you just do a google translate and fill in the blanks in English?


Rick

Honestly not sure. On second thought, better to order directly from the maker because they definitely ship world wide and will probably communicate with you in English if you email them:

http://www.ashihamono.com/products/gin_petty.html

A bit more expensive this way - about $114 for the 180mm but more security.

Just scroll down to the 180mm and select one under the stainless category, japanese style for the wa handle.

I know many people here have ordered from this maker so you should have no trouble. But it may be a good idea to email them first at the address listed if you want to confirm how the process works.

Enjoy! I have a carbon gyuto in this series and just love it - whisper thin, really awesome.
 
Honestly not sure. On second thought, better to order directly from the maker because they definitely ship world wide and will probably communicate with you in English if you email them:

http://www.ashihamono.com/products/gin_petty.html

A bit more expensive this way - about $114 for the 180mm but more security.

Just scroll down to the 180mm and select one under the stainless category, japanese style for the wa handle.

I know many people here have ordered from this maker so you should have no trouble. But it may be a good idea to email them first at the address listed if you want to confirm how the process works.

Enjoy! I have a carbon gyuto in this series and just love it - whisper thin, really awesome.

Just received two knives from Ashi, super easy to communicate with, friendly. Paid with PayPal, got tracking number and had knives within 3 days. Very well packed and actually wrapped like a gift... Would absolutely recommend buying from them. I personally love communicating directly with the maker...
 
How about starting off with some stones ?

Buy a couple of good stones to start with , learn the basics and sharpen your german knife first then the rest of the gear starting from the cheapest and moving up as you feel more comfortable with them until you understand the mechanics and you are happy with the results. Then you can invest in better knifes and go from there.

I completely agree with China on this; Plus, if you put a J knife through the "wheels of death" chances are you won't see the real performance of the knife or the true benefits of Japanese knifes .
 
How about starting off with some stones ?

Buy a couple of good stones to start with , learn the basics and sharpen your german knife first then the rest of the gear starting from the cheapest and moving up as you feel more comfortable with them until you understand the mechanics and you are happy with the results. Then you can invest in better knifes and go from there.

I completely agree with China on this; Plus, if you put a J knife through the "wheels of death" chances are you won't see the real performance of the knife or the true benefits of Japanese knifes .

Thanks. I will do that. I used to use my Arkansas stone somewhat regularly until babies happened and the task suddenly became too much effort. For what it is worth, the reason I said AEB-L was because my Richmond Artifex sharpens quite well even on the wheels of death, and on top of it, retains their edge for quite a while as well. I also use the ceramic rod to keep them honed.

In this respect, the Artifex is leagues better than the VG-10 Tojiro DP. The Dojo Hayashi is much better than the Tojiro DP but the Artifex beats even this.
Again, I fully concede that I may be 100% wrong since I am not using the right equipment and possibly technique to sharpen them. Still - my person observations. I don't like using the Wusthof - I think it is too handle heavy. Again, the Artifex is just so well balanced and light and nimble.

Following the suggestions of chinacats, I stumbled upon the whole world of "new old stock" knives. Have to say a bit guiltily that I ended up placing the order for a couple of slicers (guilty because I also bought it for the looks and the vintage charm). They were the right size and profile I was looking for, even though this is a blind purchase and I am basing it on the images. I simply loved the rosewood handle and the vintage look. It reminded me of a carbon steel knife I used to have that was handed down. I misplaced it unfortunately but there's something about the old world carbon knives - I didn't realize I liked them so much until I stumbled upon them.

Once again, thanks for patiently replying to my noobish questions and requirements. I should have also rightfully filled out the questionnaire although I had originally typed my post from a tablet and it was difficult to copy paste the template.
 
I wouldn't bother getting a Sakai laser if you're going to persist with the "wheels of death". They are delicate knives which tend to be very thin behind the edge.

As someone who used to own a minosharp, I would wager the reason that the Artifex is more tolerant to this method of sharpening is due to the fact it's thicker behind the edge than the other two.
 
I ended up buying the Sabatier "new old stock" 7" carbon slicer. Fit and finish was not superb, but this knife has quite a nice story/history, so I was intrigued. Here's the writeup: http://www.thebestthings.com/knives/sabatier_old_stock.htm

Apparently, they had an old forgotten stock of forged and ground knives that were handmade. They have the 4 star elephant logo on the blade and a grapes logo on the handle (genuine rosewood handle). I haven't used it yet, but have been handling it, and I quite like the profile, size, and weight. It came decently sharp out of the box.

Here's a picture of my knife that I received yesterday.

http://imgur.com/fm1M6ot

I am also learning more about stones and reading up - to buy a decent one. Loved the Bob Kramer video - he makes it look so easy.
 
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