LOCATION
What country are you in?
USA
KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chefs knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
Chef's knife/(wa-)gyuto
Are you right or left handed?
Right
Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
It doesn't matter
What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
About 8.5"
Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
No
What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
~$175 US dollars
KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Home only
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.)
The vast majority of work will be done on vegetables. There will be occasional work on meat, but almost never breaking down a whole chicken or the like. If we will be cutting something with bones, we will use another knife to protect this blade. We'll use a cheapo old knife for cutting through frozen cookie dough.
What knife, if any, are you replacing?
We currently only have inexpensive knives. This is our first high quality chef's knife.
Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this*LINK*for the common types of grips.)
Mostly use pinch & hammer grips, depending on what I'm doing.
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.)
Depending on what I'm doing, I'll use all of these motions at one point or another. Chopping onions, rocking or walking across herbs, slicing melons, etc. Honestly, we're still developing our knife skills and so cannot say which techniques we prefer and use most.
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.)
Sharpness and Edge Retention are important, as are comfort and ease of use.
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)?
Sure, I'd love a Damascus knife at some point, but not right now. Handle doesn't matter as long as it fits well in our hands. I'd love to have a custom Kramer chef's knife and a custom Bloodroot paring knife as my two primary blades. One can dream, right? Maybe in 4 years I'll just have 2 Blood Root Blades, for both chef & paring. I have an idea for how I want to design the handle, and over time I'll figure out exactly how I want the blade too. But that's all dream stuff. I'd like this knife to look nice, and I think the Itto Ryu looks better, but that's not the primary concern, just a side benefit. The Mac is by no means ugly.
Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?
It's gotta be comfortable enough to use every day for pretty much all our kitchen tasks. In both my bigger hands and her very small hands.
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)?
We'll definitely be using it ootb, but we will be getting it sharpened regularly. I have a ceramic hone which we will use before every cooking session, and then have a professional sharpen as necessary. Since we will get it professionally sharpened, ease of doing so isn't important. I'm sure a professional could handle either of these blades just fine. Ideally we'd only need to sharpen once a year, perhaps twice at most. If we're lucky, we could even go longer than a year between sharpening services, but expecting to sharpen once a year. Of course everyone wants a knife that doesn't wedge and releases food well.
Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
Hopefully, with regular honing on a ceramic hone, we would only need to get it professionally sharpened about once a year.
KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
We have an acacia end grain cutting board as our main cutting board. A red polyethylene board for raw meats, and a white polyethylene board for onions, garlic, shallots, etc. Pretty much everything besides raw meat and smelly onions & garlic will be cut on the acacia wood board.
Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
No. But we do have a ceramic hone which we will use before every cooking session.
If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
No, not at all. I don't have the budget for stones, or the time to master the skill. I have enough craft hobbies that I don't really need to add knife sharpening to the list. My business partner is a professional chef, so we will either have him sharpen our knives when needed or have another professional do it.
Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
No, but we have a ceramic hone. The black Mac 10.5" ceramic.
SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS
We are debating between the Mac Pro 8.5" and the Itto Ryu 210mm (links below). These are two quite different knives, one semi-stainless French chef's knife with a western handle, the other a white #2 gyuto with a Japanese handle. In the end the final decision will come down to how the two feel in my and my fiancée's hands, but I am interested in hearing any feedback this forum might have to influence our decision. If the feel of each knife in our hands isn't enough to make a decision by itself, then we will have to consider other differences between these knives.
Although the Itto is a gyuto, if you watch the videos in the link, you can see it's got a decent belly for rock cutting. I think both of these knives will work well for a variety of cutting techniques, and as it will be, for a time, our only decent chef's knife, that's what we want. Both of us need to work on our knife skills and so will be experimenting with grips and techniques.
I know my fiancée will not like the more reactive (and thus higher maintenance) nature of the Itto Ryu's steel, but that's not going to be a major issue, as I want to watch a natural patina develop anyways. I have prepped her on what we can and cannot cut with both these knives, and that's no problem. But the Itto's cladding is semi-stainless, so it's not really going to patina that much over the majority of the blade anyways, not like if it was all W2.
I've already held the Mac, and it's a wonderful knife. My main complaint is the balance is handle heavy. We'll be trying out the Itto in a few days to see if its balance is more natural for us, and then making our decision.
Our decision is down to these two knives. After some time we will be getting a second chef's knife, at which point other options in carbon steel or stainless like the PS90 or UX10 might come into play, but for now it's going to be one of these 2 blades. I know that people are going to have more experience with the Mac knives, maybe none with the Itto Ryu. But if you could just give advice based on the specs in that case, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Mac Knife:
http://www.macknife.com/kitchen/pro...k-85-professional-series-8fq-chefs-knife.html
Itto Ryu:
Not allowed to link to the site, but if you google Itto Ryu 210mm gyuto you should find link to a site known as CKTG for a description. Instead I'll link to the videos on youtube.
[video=youtube;bqyWjdzKr7w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqyWjdzKr7w[/video]
[video=youtube;SMZcBDxbVVk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMZcBDxbVVk[/video]
Thanks for any replies.
Cheers,
chuck_d
What country are you in?
USA
KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chefs knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
Chef's knife/(wa-)gyuto
Are you right or left handed?
Right
Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
It doesn't matter
What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
About 8.5"
Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
No
What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
~$175 US dollars
KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Home only
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.)
The vast majority of work will be done on vegetables. There will be occasional work on meat, but almost never breaking down a whole chicken or the like. If we will be cutting something with bones, we will use another knife to protect this blade. We'll use a cheapo old knife for cutting through frozen cookie dough.
What knife, if any, are you replacing?
We currently only have inexpensive knives. This is our first high quality chef's knife.
Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this*LINK*for the common types of grips.)
Mostly use pinch & hammer grips, depending on what I'm doing.
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.)
Depending on what I'm doing, I'll use all of these motions at one point or another. Chopping onions, rocking or walking across herbs, slicing melons, etc. Honestly, we're still developing our knife skills and so cannot say which techniques we prefer and use most.
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.)
Sharpness and Edge Retention are important, as are comfort and ease of use.
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)?
Sure, I'd love a Damascus knife at some point, but not right now. Handle doesn't matter as long as it fits well in our hands. I'd love to have a custom Kramer chef's knife and a custom Bloodroot paring knife as my two primary blades. One can dream, right? Maybe in 4 years I'll just have 2 Blood Root Blades, for both chef & paring. I have an idea for how I want to design the handle, and over time I'll figure out exactly how I want the blade too. But that's all dream stuff. I'd like this knife to look nice, and I think the Itto Ryu looks better, but that's not the primary concern, just a side benefit. The Mac is by no means ugly.
Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?
It's gotta be comfortable enough to use every day for pretty much all our kitchen tasks. In both my bigger hands and her very small hands.
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)?
We'll definitely be using it ootb, but we will be getting it sharpened regularly. I have a ceramic hone which we will use before every cooking session, and then have a professional sharpen as necessary. Since we will get it professionally sharpened, ease of doing so isn't important. I'm sure a professional could handle either of these blades just fine. Ideally we'd only need to sharpen once a year, perhaps twice at most. If we're lucky, we could even go longer than a year between sharpening services, but expecting to sharpen once a year. Of course everyone wants a knife that doesn't wedge and releases food well.
Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
Hopefully, with regular honing on a ceramic hone, we would only need to get it professionally sharpened about once a year.
KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
We have an acacia end grain cutting board as our main cutting board. A red polyethylene board for raw meats, and a white polyethylene board for onions, garlic, shallots, etc. Pretty much everything besides raw meat and smelly onions & garlic will be cut on the acacia wood board.
Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
No. But we do have a ceramic hone which we will use before every cooking session.
If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
No, not at all. I don't have the budget for stones, or the time to master the skill. I have enough craft hobbies that I don't really need to add knife sharpening to the list. My business partner is a professional chef, so we will either have him sharpen our knives when needed or have another professional do it.
Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
No, but we have a ceramic hone. The black Mac 10.5" ceramic.
SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS
We are debating between the Mac Pro 8.5" and the Itto Ryu 210mm (links below). These are two quite different knives, one semi-stainless French chef's knife with a western handle, the other a white #2 gyuto with a Japanese handle. In the end the final decision will come down to how the two feel in my and my fiancée's hands, but I am interested in hearing any feedback this forum might have to influence our decision. If the feel of each knife in our hands isn't enough to make a decision by itself, then we will have to consider other differences between these knives.
Although the Itto is a gyuto, if you watch the videos in the link, you can see it's got a decent belly for rock cutting. I think both of these knives will work well for a variety of cutting techniques, and as it will be, for a time, our only decent chef's knife, that's what we want. Both of us need to work on our knife skills and so will be experimenting with grips and techniques.
I know my fiancée will not like the more reactive (and thus higher maintenance) nature of the Itto Ryu's steel, but that's not going to be a major issue, as I want to watch a natural patina develop anyways. I have prepped her on what we can and cannot cut with both these knives, and that's no problem. But the Itto's cladding is semi-stainless, so it's not really going to patina that much over the majority of the blade anyways, not like if it was all W2.
I've already held the Mac, and it's a wonderful knife. My main complaint is the balance is handle heavy. We'll be trying out the Itto in a few days to see if its balance is more natural for us, and then making our decision.
Our decision is down to these two knives. After some time we will be getting a second chef's knife, at which point other options in carbon steel or stainless like the PS90 or UX10 might come into play, but for now it's going to be one of these 2 blades. I know that people are going to have more experience with the Mac knives, maybe none with the Itto Ryu. But if you could just give advice based on the specs in that case, it would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Mac Knife:
http://www.macknife.com/kitchen/pro...k-85-professional-series-8fq-chefs-knife.html
Itto Ryu:
Not allowed to link to the site, but if you google Itto Ryu 210mm gyuto you should find link to a site known as CKTG for a description. Instead I'll link to the videos on youtube.
[video=youtube;bqyWjdzKr7w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqyWjdzKr7w[/video]
[video=youtube;SMZcBDxbVVk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMZcBDxbVVk[/video]
Thanks for any replies.
Cheers,
chuck_d
