Nakiri's - who likes them more than their chef's?

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bonestter

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I'm finding I'm using my Nakiri more and more (veggies and the odd protein slice)

I bought a budget one to try and find I could do with more height, so am thinking of investing in another

Before I do I thought I would ask to get a feel of their popularity...

So, fire away

And thanks
 
I love the looks more than actually using one ... can't even describe exactly why. I do love tall ones though, but I love tall knives in general. It might depend on the makers though. I have a Fujiwara Maboroshi that gets stupid sharp. I know some people here don't like his knives much, but it's pretty good. I also have a Masakage Yuki that I will probably sell, just don't use it much because I think one Nakiri is enough for me ...

You will probably find out that people do like Watanabes pro Series Nakiris a lot. And having bought directly from him, I can only encourage you to reach out to him. He's a pleasure to deal with and will accommodate certain wishes for modification. On top of that, you can prepay and take advantage of a still very low Yen (assuming you are in the US?!) that's supposed to go up (but who really knows ...).

Cheers
 
I used a takeda nakiri for a while and it was a fun knife. Decided to stick with gyuto's tho when I heard one knife maker compare a nakiri to a gyuto that just had the front end cut off. Never looked at it like that but it made sense to me. In the end I would rather a taller laser gyuto over a nakiri for the versatility if I was so inclined to go for a "veggie" knife.
 
My first nakiri was a Tojiro DP, which has quite a round edge profile. After massive thinning I found it a very enjoyable rock-chopper with that radiused polished "tip" that wouldn't chew up my board or dull if I were pivoting at that point.
I own other nakiri now and give the radiused tip just the right sharp/blunt/polish and rock chop with them all. Just something I enjoy doing.
 
I generally like the shape but find them small and not very useful compared to a Chinese/Japanese full size cleaver. And overall, more likely to grab a gyuto.
 
I pretty much got straight on to 240 gyuto's, but have an 8" coming which may well tell me the 8" is what I'm hankering for... maybe
 
alterwisser said:
Funny thing I might add: Why do so many people hate (on) Santokus? They really are nothing more than a Nakiri with a (useful?!) tip?
Click to expand...

Maybe because there's boatloads of crappy Santokus around?
 
alterwisser said:
Funny thing I might add: Why do so many people hate (on) Santokus? They really are nothing more than a Nakiri with a (useful?!) tip?
Click to expand...

I don't know the exact reason but I love my Nakiri and indifferent about santuko ( I don't hate it but it feels a bit is lacking)

I like nakiris as the edge is straight which makes chopping and slicing Veges an ease. I don't think the edge on a santoku is straight, more of a curve on it
 
alterwisser said:
Funny thing I might add: Why do so many people hate (on) Santokus? They really are nothing more than a Nakiri with a (useful?!) tip?
Click to expand...

A santoku is my fave for avacados. After the pit is out it's a grand thing to scrape out the shell with the rounded spine. Just feels 'right'
 
Find them small that why I ordered one wakui little bit extra long 188 mm.
Find it good, Still using my nakiri 165 mm but only on the pass to portion cooked meat.
 
They're lots of fun, and a great excuse to buy another knife. I've owned about five, and I'm down to three. All are lasers.
 
I had a Tojiro dp nakiri I really liked, had a surprisingly thin grind toward the edge.I found from time to time however I would miss having the tip as on a gyuto or even a suji/petty.
 
I have really enjoyed the cheapie Tojiro w#2, bowed blade and all. Some days at work I can almost get by without reaching for another knife. Really fun to swing around. It is a deep, nimble laser. I am considering upgrading to a nicer longer nakiri in the near future but haven't decided on one yet. With that being said, I will still use a gyuto 8-9/10 of the time.

'Variety is the vary spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.' - William Cowper
 
skewed said:
I have really enjoyed the cheapie Tojiro w#2, bowed blade and all. Some days at work I can almost get by without reaching for another knife. Really fun to swing around. It is a deep, nimble laser. I am considering upgrading to a nicer longer nakiri in the near future but haven't decided on one yet. With that being said, I will still use a gyuto 8-9/10 of the time.

'Variety is the vary spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.' - William Cowper
Click to expand...

Is that the KU Tojiro? I have one, one of my very early
j-knife purchases. Still using it sometimes, it's ugly (plastic ferrule) and a lot of folks wouldn't touch it, but I keep it in sight in my block because I'm not worried if a guest grabs it and messes it up...
 
I am in a bit of a weird spot because I like small cleavers, but don't love big cleavers and struggle a bit with my appreciation of nakiri.

18-19cm long, 8-9cm tall is a great size for me at home.

I've got a few nakiri and like them, but they feel a bit short for veggie scooping, which is a habit I have trouble letting go.
 
alterwisser said:
Is that the KU Tojiro? I have one, one of my very early
j-knife purchases. Still using it sometimes, it's ugly (plastic ferrule) and a lot of folks wouldn't touch it, but I keep it in sight in my block because I'm not worried if a guest grabs it and messes it up...
Click to expand...

Yes, the KU one. I really don't mind the KU cheapie series. I have used/owned 6 different ones. The grind on a few of them have been pretty bad and took a little extra effort to get working okay. For the price I don't think they are too bad. Nice way to try out carbon.

The nakiri with the bow in the blade still sharpens up nicely. It is fun to hand off to newbies in the kitchen to see their reaction. Once I replace it I will gift it to someone.

Cheers,
rj
 
XooMG said:
I am in a bit of a weird spot because I like small cleavers, but don't love big cleavers and struggle a bit with my appreciation of nakiri.

18-19cm long, 8-9cm tall is a great size for me at home.

I've got a few nakiri and like them, but they feel a bit short for veggie scooping, which is a habit I have trouble letting go.
Click to expand...

I feel the same. I worked with a little CCK chuka exclusively in a pro kitchen for over a year straight, and loved it. Nakiri and no. 6 style cleavers? Nope.
 
Liking my shig KU nakiri as its nice and flat (unlike the Takeda I used to have). If push cutting vegetables and not needing a tip it can't be beat. If a tip is needed and/or you don't want to have multiple knives on the go at once is where a nakiri has it's downfalls IMO.

Yes I actually use my shig. It recently fell and it chipped towards the "tip" :(.
 
Have nothing against Nikiri's or Santoku's. For small amounts of prep. Never used either design in a production kitchen Gyuto's, Cleavers, Deba, & Yanagiba.
 
brainsausage said:
There's boatloads of crappy every style of knife around...
Click to expand...

That may be but around here Santokus seem to be the new buzz thing for the last few years that all crappy knife lines are going for... Admittedly I'm talking mostly 'bottom' of the market here, but somehow you see either wortless chef knives or worthless santokus (with full-size bolster even), but few of those producers ever make gyutos.

Heck I'll even admit I once bought one of those cheapo Santokus (before I was 'in the know') and it's probably one of the worst knives I have. Really made me prejudiced against santokus even though I now know it was the knife more than the profile...
 
My fav knife aesthetically will always be a nakiri but I used it for veg only and even do brunoise of shallots using the pull cut technique. However with only 165mm, the length is always the biggest issue in a pro kitchen. It's impossible to rough chop 6-10 carrots/leeks or a couple of bunches of celery at once. I am not a purist that I use a specific knife for a specific job. Till now my most used knife is still the k tip watanabe gyuto. With a hamaguriba edge and the heft and thickness it's great for a lot of task.
 
If I had to choose, I would choose one of my chefs, not one of my nakiris. I'm not a pro, just one of them crazy knife collectors/home cooks. I have a bunch of nakiris in different sizes, but for some reason I don't use them as much as I should. Every once and a while when I actually do use a nakiri, I enjoy it very much and think "this is fun, I should use this more often". However, when I reach for a random knife without thinking, for some reason I seem to prefer the ones that got a tip.

My most recent nakiri purchase was a stainless Kurosaki Megumi with VG10 core steel. I have mostly carbon steel knives, but I find the Megumi to be very practical to use at home when I'm a bit distracted (for example by guests or a lot going on in the kitchen). It feels refreshingly uncomplicated with it being stainless and with no tip. And also, it's a very pretty knife.



And here's a picture from almost a year back when I'd just bought a big Toyama Noborikoi nakiri. It's very blade heavy, but I soon got used to it. Using it was like using a nakiri for the first time again, it was great fun.



So, I think I need to "reprogram" myself to use these knives a bit more often... :)
 
limpet said:
If I had to choose, I would choose one of my chefs, not one of my nakiris. I'm not a pro, just one of them crazy knife collectors/home cooks. I have a bunch of nakiris in different sizes, but for some reason I don't use them as much as I should. Every once and a while when I actually do use a nakiri, I enjoy it very much and think "this is fun, I should use this more often". However, when I reach for a random knife without thinking, for some reason I seem to prefer the ones that got a tip.

My most recent nakiri purchase was a stainless Kurosaki Megumi with VG10 core steel. I have mostly carbon steel knives, but I find the Megumi to be very practical to use at home when I'm a bit distracted (for example by guests or a lot going on in the kitchen). It feels refreshingly uncomplicated with it being stainless and with no tip. And also, it's a very pretty knife.



And here's a picture from almost a year back when I'd just bought a big Toyama Noborikoi nakiri. It's very blade heavy, but I soon got used to it. Using it was like using a nakiri for the first time again, it was great fun.



So, I think I need to "reprogram" myself to use these knives a bit more often... :)
Click to expand...

wow! What a nice collection. Wish my nakiri was 180mm!
 
Asteger said:
Agree. And the avg J chukabocho is a little XL. Too bad, though I still like the Yoshikane I have
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brainsausage said:
I feel the same. I worked with a little CCK chuka exclusively in a pro kitchen for over a year straight, and loved it. Nakiri and no. 6 style cleavers? Nope.
Click to expand...
I think the size I described is a common "default" for home cleavers here in Taiwan and parts of China, but there's minimal effort in making really nice ones. I have been fortunate to find a decent stainless-clad [hard] carbon 175*80cm cleaver on which I reground the bevel, and now it's one of my more competent (if slightly ugly) knives, and cheap if not considering the labor.

Still, I wish there were more mid/high level options for little cleavers outside the cheaper Sugimoto option. I went to Ashi Hamono a while back and they were open to the idea, but I didn't follow through since I wanted to find one with a distinct bevel that could be thinned and sharpened.

Unfortunately they're unconventional enough in this community that doing a batch order from Butch likely wouldn't work out.
 
XooMG said:
I think the size I described is a common "default" for home cleavers here in Taiwan and parts of China
Click to expand...

I always thought so, so not really sure what J chukabocho were made that much bigger
 
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