Knife for super-fine cutting?

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stevenStefano

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I am in the market for a knife but basically at the minute I am not sure which to get, hence this post. Part of my job involves cutting up salad-type ingredients such as lettuce, onions carrots and all that. At the minute I use a white steel 210 petty. However, I am thinking of getting a knife that can perform super-fine cutting a little better, but I don't know which to buy. I am thinking a yanagi? perhaps an usuba? I really don't know. The knife would be used for things like super-fine julienne of carrots, or cutting translucent slices of tomatoes, that kinda thing. Anyone any idea which knife would perform such tasks the best?
 
Sounds like a job for an usuba with the right technique since the edge is dead flat.
 
It's simple to do fine cuts with a Nakiri, the small size makes it agile, and its flat edge, did nice straight cuts. I wouldn't be surprised, if a Nakiri,had a longer flat edge, then a 210mm or even 240mm gyuto. The downside of a Nakiri is the same as any small knife a lack of production.

The lack of production was reason enough for me to try a small cleaver. The nakiri did a better job at cutting, but its not a significant difference over the cleaver. The difference is similar to suji and a gyuto. The suji does a better at cutting, gyuto at production.

A while back, when I was looking at double beveled kiritsukes when it occurred to me, that it was a long nakiri with a tip. I ordered a Moritaka, because it was cheap. The long flat edge does a nice job with vegetables. The surprise was the tip. It gets very thin towards the edge, but it feels like its on a strong and stable base. So I have no worries about breaking it off, unlike some of my thin knives.

Jon with JKI, has a Konosuke HD 240mm double beveled kiritsuke, that would probably be ideal for your situation. A less expensive option would be the Sugimoto #30 cleaver.

Jay
 
An usuba or similar single bevel knife is the obvious choice and probably the route I'd take. However, an extremely asymmetrically ground double-bevel knife will do a reasonable job but depending on how extreme you push it, it may lose some of it's all-purpose functionality due to edge weakness.
 
If you've got gentle boards and demand perfection over productivity, I'd go Usuba.
 
definitely usuba. this is, in fact, precisely what i use my usuba for.
 
I guess a babied double bevel knife could perhaps do the job but to be honest I wouldn't mind trying something a little different and I own no single bevel knives at present. Kamagata usuba or the normal nakiri like one? Any suggestions about size? A twist is that I am a lefty. I am thinking of just emailing Koki and asking which makers don't charge such a premium for left handers
 
Lefty here too. The traditional knives Koki has have a 40-50 percent bonus for lefty versions (at least they had when I asked about two years ago). Maybe ask Jon if he can pick up something while in Japan to ensure the blade is okay. I might be interested in a 210 Kamagata usuba myself.
 
I think I'll try Koki first and then Jon. BluewayJapan have a few lefty usubas which aren't super-expensive but they are mostly 165 and I wonder if they'd be too small
 

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