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elflofo

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Hi my name is Lois I´m writing from Spain, I´ve been reading this forum as well as cheftalk forum for a couple months and I love it, I´m a home cook and I´m a vegetarian, I bought my firsts water stones a couple of years ago and I´ve been practicing mostly on a cheap chef knife I bought here, I think I´m not bad at the job and manage to clean-cut paper with it, the second it gets dull I´m in on the task, I really enjoy it.

I´m looking for a Gyuto and I´ve been checking a lot this forum to see what you recommend to people but, as I live in Spain, I think I´ve more trouble finding a website where I can purchase, JCK its basically the one place I know wont charge me a lot in taxes, I´m interested if you know more sites where I can order from here. I´m looking for something gets really sharp, not interested in MAC knifes, I cosidered Misono Swedish and Takamura R2, discarded the last cos I only found the 210mm and think its a little short for me, as for the misono I have my doubts, I don´t mind at all taking care of the knife, thats not a problem, but as I´m gonna be cutting just vegetables I understand that the patina won´t be the prettiest, I know its a ****** reason but thats one of my concerns, but still its my first choice, also I consider forcing patina and not to worry.

I Understand a Nakiri would suit better for the task, but as this is gonna be my first good knife I would like it to be a Gyuto.

With that said here I go

LOCATION

Spain


KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in?

Gyuto

Are you right or left handed?

Are you interested in a Western handle?

I don´t mind which one

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

240mm

Do you require a stainless knife?

No I´m open to carbon

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?

250€ would be my top max

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:

Veggies

What knife, if any, are you replacing?

a 15€ chef I bought here, but will keep it for hard tasks

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use?

Pinch grip

What cutting motions do you primarily use?

Push cut

What improvements do you want from your current knife?

Well I´m looking mostly for sharpness, insane sharpness, I would like to slide through veggies effortless.

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)?

Don´t mind

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?

Don´t mind

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)?

Don´t mind if the knife doesn´t reach the whole potential out of the box, I´ll take it to the stones sooner or later anyway.

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?

The longer the better, but I i said, rather to use the stones once a month and have it really sharp than twice a year and not as sharp.

KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board?

I already purchased a good quality end grain 400x350mm cutting board.

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

Yes

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives?

no, I own one 400/1000 grit and one 3k KAI stones, and waiting for the stock of one ******** bamboo 6K, will replace the kai In the future


Thank you in advance!
 
Besides Misono JCK carries Masahiro Virgin Carbon, without advertising them. 240mm gyuto $116. A bit harder and less reactive than the Misono Swedish. Don't expect Misono's refinement in Fit&Finish. Both are clearly asymmetric, so if you were left-handed you should consider a specially made, inverted version.
 
You could take a look at the Masakage Yuki Series on cuttingedge, however I think the Gyutos in both sizes are out of stock currently. It's stainless clad with carbon steel core, so prolly a good compromise. Also worth looking at are the Shiro Kamo Knives from cuttingedge.se . They pretty much all have a relatively thin grind going into the edge. The Black Dragon series gets noticeably thicker above the shinogi though - it is more of a budget option. The carbon damascus and migaki series tread on laser teritory. The migaki more so than the carbon damascus. However the carbon damascus knives are reportedly not very reactive, whereas I can tell you from experience that the iron clad migaki series definitely is. The Kotetsu knives on cuttingedge are also good, however being PM-Steel they require more caution and technique from the user and some struggle with sharpening them. Additionally the 240mm version unfortunately busts your budget as is.
 
Thank you for your replys its good to know about japanesenaturalstones I read aa lot of good things about the itinomonn I like that option, I also noticed that I forgot to say I m right handed
 
Sure, as I said I understand a nakiri its the knife I should be looking for, but as I have never used it and this would be my first quality knife I think a gyuto is better bet for me :)

I almost purchase the itinomonn but its out of stock now :(

Thank you all for your replys and forgive my crappy english :wink:
 
Besides Misono JCK carries Masahiro Virgin Carbon, without advertising them. 240mm gyuto $116. A bit harder and less reactive than the Misono Swedish. Don't expect Misono's refinement in Fit&Finish. Both are clearly asymmetric, so if you were left-handed you should consider a specially made, inverted version.

Concur with this. I've bought two of these as "conversion knives" and the fit and finish on one was a little off the mark, but they are great knives. You could also try searching "Zakuri" on rakuten, they make a 240mm in blue steel that is killer with a little clean up.
 
Sure, as I said I understand a nakiri its the knife I should be looking for, but as I have never used it and this would be my first quality knife I think a gyuto is better bet for me :)

I almost purchase the itinomonn but its out of stock now :(

Thank you all for your replys and forgive my crappy english :wink:

They just moved to a new location. There are pictures in Facebook of that. I think that's why things are going slow on JNS. Too bad you didn't come here a couple weeks ago, they made 20% off on the whole store because of the moving.
 
Fwiw I've had and tried a lot of knives and love my misono dragon. It's reactive but I used it in a pro kitchen for years and was fine. I love the profile, f&f and I find the steel very easy to sharpen. One of my favorites.
 
Good to know about the misono, also found a site, japansemessen which have de masakage yuki, the knife looks beautiful, but its 260€ I don´t know if I´m crossing the line here. They also sell the kurosaki AS, 280€, it´s also beautiful and looks like people who tried it love them and think it´s a great value for the money.

The more I read, the harder seems to make a choice, maybe I´m overthinking it and I should get the Misono they are probably all good knives.
 
Lois, have you checked out cleancut.se ? Swedish, but they are in that half of the planet - perhaps the Euro to kronor exchange rate is advantageous. Of the the knives there I can highly recommend the Shiro Kamo - I have the 240 gyuto and it is a light and nimble number; certainly my personal pick for stainless (albeit I have preferred carbon lately).
 
I don't see any genuine "stainless" Kamos on cleancut. Only SG2 Kurai and Octo Series. Which besides being debatable if they're a good fit for a beginner (even if some shaprening experience is there at least), are also both above budget.
 
SG2 is stainless AFAIK ? But yes, had forgotten that she had put a budget down at the start, mea culpa ! Blame it on my desire to spread the Kamo lovin'.....
 
Well it is rust resistant, yes. I like to view PM Steels kind of as their own deal though. Guess I'm being somewhat nitpicky, but I feel it's worth pointing out that the steel is kinda special and somewhat more demanding from the user. And I know that Kamo love all too well :).
 
That would be at the top of my budget, 266 €, I´ll consider it too, but I would be very thankful if someone could tell me if the site I posted with the kurosaki as at 190€ makes sense, cos I can´t understand the price difference between the two webs, it´s maybe another knife? In the pictures the color seems different but that could be because of the camera, I love the looks of the kurosaki and that price its attracting me too much, but I wanna buy wisely.

Thank you all :)
 
Well as you pointed out, they could be different knives. For a start the italian site lists it at 62Hrc (which seems somewhat low) and the dutch site at 63-65 Hrc which is what you would expect. On neither of the site is it possible to accurately judge the geometry, which can be a major cost factor. It should be obvious that forging and/or grinding a knife thinner or with more complex (convex) geometry takes more time, therefore increasing cost.

Another factor is just the location of the vendors. Different countries have different custom fees and taxes. The former especially also tend to vary by country of origin.
 
Well as you pointed out, they could be different knives. For a start the italian site lists it at 62Hrc (which seems somewhat low) and the dutch site at 63-65 Hrc which is what you would expect. On neither of the site is it possible to accurately judge the geometry, which can be a major cost factor. It should be obvious that forging and/or grinding a knife thinner or with more complex (convex) geometry takes more time, therefore increasing cost.

Another factor is just the location of the vendors. Different countries have different custom fees and taxes. The former especially also tend to vary by country of origin.

62HRC fits with the number from other pages, like K&S for example... I would take any HRC values from the dutch side with a pinch of salt... bought a Konosuke W2 there last year and while every other vendor put the HRC value in the 60-61 range, the dutch shop stated it as 62-63.

The knife from that italian store looks legit, the box and the knife looks pretty much identical to the Kurosaki sold by K&S ... would go for it.
 
Well I guess there's no way to know for sure without someone actually testing it, preferably on several knives. It's just that normally you see even Aogami #2 knives put somewhat above that, at least 62 - 63. And AS is normally hardened further isn't it? Btw. cleancut also has the knife http://cleancut.se/butik/knivserier/kurosaki-2-serier/kurosaki/kockkniv2015-01-16-15-03-42-18582015-01-16-15-16-03-detail for a higher price than the italian one. Unfortunately doesn't mention HrC, could shoot them an e-mail though asking about it (not me :spin chair:).

Edit: You can kinda see the geometry on cleancut, doesn't look too bad.
 
Well, thank you all for your opinions, the website seems to be Ok, I doubt its a fake but wonder if its another different knife, I think I´ll purchase it, fits the price and I really like it.

I´ll think about it a couple days anyway.

As I said thank you all, good job with the forum
 
Allright then, hope you're gonna have fun with your purchase then :). It would be great if you could remember us and post about your experiences (with pictures if possible :detective:) once you used it for a bit.
 
Did anyone buy the Kurosaki AS from the Italian site?
Without VAT and free shipping it's $170 USD.
I'm so tempted.
 
Did anyone buy the Kurosaki AS from the Italian site?
Without VAT and free shipping it's $170 USD.
I'm so tempted.

Nope, but I saw that they also had the kotetsu r2 210 gyuto for less than 200€...went for it using PayPal just to be safe...
 
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