jklip13
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Here is a little comparison I thought I'd share on steel performance based on my experiences of the past 3 months. I started working in a Kaiseki restaurant in Manhattan in June and have had the opportunity to greatly increase the volume of cutting I do every day.
One of the daily prep tasks I do is cutting 5 bunches of Tokyo Negi (aka scallion). I've been using this time to compare steel performance between 4 gyuto.
The 4 knives are:
Konosuke White#3 Honyaki Gyuto
Konosuke HD2 Gyuto
Yoshikane SLD Black Damascus Gyuto
Mutsumi Hinoura White#2 Gyuto
I think this is a relatively good way to test the edge holding ability of the knives for a few reasons:
The geometry/grind of the knife has very minimal effect on the cutting because of the nature of the vegetable. Sticking, wedging and food release don't play the role they would on cutting onions or potatoes for instance.
Cutting the scallions thinly require a very sharp knife, so I find it quite easy to notice any kind of dulling.
Scallions are also very fibrous and abrasive from all the grit that's in them so they dull a sharp edge faster than something like carrots. This speeds up the loss in sharpness and makes the differences in edge holding more noticeable for me.
I'm not pretending this is any kind of science, but here are the control variables that's stayed consistent over the course of the 3 month period:
Number of scallions: 5 bunches each bunch about 2 inches in diameter
Cutting board: Hinoki wood
Sharpening: for the sake of consistency I sharpened all 4 of the knives the same way. Every night before on a 5k stone.
Number of cuts: depending on the length of the scallions I would cut between 350 and 400 times per bunch.
The scallions all came from the same farm in Japan, quality was pretty consistent between days.
These are just my thoughts guys, the results definitely could be biased.
I'm scoring the knives out of 100. A 100 score would mean that I noticed zero dulling or drop in performance over the course of cutting the 5 bunches (1750-2000 cuts). I tried the job with a x50crmov Mercer knife, it was terrible! that is going to be the base line. A score of 0 would mean the knife performed equally to the Mercer.
OK, enough screwing around!
The results:
Konosuke HD2 Gyuto score: 70
Yoshikane SLD Gyuto score: 91
Mutsumi Hinoura White 2 Gyuto score: 78
Konosuke White 3 Honyaki Gyuto score: 94
Interestingly the more expensive the knife, the better it performed for me but the relationship is not linear. For example the Honyaki costs 4 times more than the HD2 but only cuts 24% better IN MY OPINION.
for me the next step is seeing how they perform on a plastic poly board. I hate using them because how how quickly they dull the knives but i have to use them sometimes. I wonder if the ranking will stay the same
One of the daily prep tasks I do is cutting 5 bunches of Tokyo Negi (aka scallion). I've been using this time to compare steel performance between 4 gyuto.
The 4 knives are:
Konosuke White#3 Honyaki Gyuto
Konosuke HD2 Gyuto
Yoshikane SLD Black Damascus Gyuto
Mutsumi Hinoura White#2 Gyuto
I think this is a relatively good way to test the edge holding ability of the knives for a few reasons:
The geometry/grind of the knife has very minimal effect on the cutting because of the nature of the vegetable. Sticking, wedging and food release don't play the role they would on cutting onions or potatoes for instance.
Cutting the scallions thinly require a very sharp knife, so I find it quite easy to notice any kind of dulling.
Scallions are also very fibrous and abrasive from all the grit that's in them so they dull a sharp edge faster than something like carrots. This speeds up the loss in sharpness and makes the differences in edge holding more noticeable for me.
I'm not pretending this is any kind of science, but here are the control variables that's stayed consistent over the course of the 3 month period:
Number of scallions: 5 bunches each bunch about 2 inches in diameter
Cutting board: Hinoki wood
Sharpening: for the sake of consistency I sharpened all 4 of the knives the same way. Every night before on a 5k stone.
Number of cuts: depending on the length of the scallions I would cut between 350 and 400 times per bunch.
The scallions all came from the same farm in Japan, quality was pretty consistent between days.
These are just my thoughts guys, the results definitely could be biased.
I'm scoring the knives out of 100. A 100 score would mean that I noticed zero dulling or drop in performance over the course of cutting the 5 bunches (1750-2000 cuts). I tried the job with a x50crmov Mercer knife, it was terrible! that is going to be the base line. A score of 0 would mean the knife performed equally to the Mercer.
OK, enough screwing around!
The results:
Konosuke HD2 Gyuto score: 70
Yoshikane SLD Gyuto score: 91
Mutsumi Hinoura White 2 Gyuto score: 78
Konosuke White 3 Honyaki Gyuto score: 94
Interestingly the more expensive the knife, the better it performed for me but the relationship is not linear. For example the Honyaki costs 4 times more than the HD2 but only cuts 24% better IN MY OPINION.
for me the next step is seeing how they perform on a plastic poly board. I hate using them because how how quickly they dull the knives but i have to use them sometimes. I wonder if the ranking will stay the same
