Knife for the wife

I've been learning and getting to love J knives. My wife and I are young so it is relatively recent that we got our own place, and thus a need for knives.

She has tried using all my knives and they are either too large (a 210 Gyuto really intimidates her) or they are too tall at the heel and thus, her elbow and wrist ends up too high in a weird angle (my Bunka).

We bought a 150 petty for her (Mizuno Tanrenjo Hontaren) which turned to be a lemon for her needs, as there was no knuckle clearance and the cladding was simply too reactive. She tried to love it but gave up on it. It sits there all sad in the knife drawer.

She is scared of all my knives. She is 1,50 m tall, tiny hands, etc. I am looking for a petit chef (tiny Gyuto), in hitachi steel (powder could also work but prices then go up), non-reactive clad. As long as it's functional and pretty, it will do. She uses it for celery, onions, garlic, tomatoes and coriander. She does mostly push cutting and rocking for herbs. Either a Wa or western handle would do.

I am thinking of a Ko Bunka, either a Masakage Yuki or a Kotetsu Ko Bunka (but the shibata is too expensive for our pockets). Is there anything else out there we may be missing?

We already have a couple santokus in the house so we are not looking for that.

Thanks!!

PSL Her go to knife is a Richardson Sheffield 15 cm Zenith Ceramic Cook's Knife... a major pain to resharpen and so fragile, it microchips all the time...

How about a Tanaka VG10 150 damascus petty from K&S. Very affordable and good enough to make you wonder why you ever spent more then that on a knife.

Or Takamura R2 petty 150. Almost twice the price but good enough to remind you this is why!
You can find it at MTC Kitchen.

Either one could possibly work for you guys. They are not that tall, but there's still some knuckle room. Both are ss, so they're maintenance free. There's been a few threads lately of which knives to buy fot the ladies and Takumura has been killing that niche. My wife loves her 210

JaVa said:

How about a Tanaka VG10 150 damascus petty from K&S. Very affordable and good enough to make you wonder why you ever spent more then that on a knife.

Or Takamura R2 petty 150. Almost twice the price but good enough to remind you this is why!
You can find it at MTC Kitchen.

Either one could possibly work for you guys. They are not that tall, but there's still some knuckle room. Both are ss, so they're maintenance free. There's been a few threads lately of which knives to buy fot the ladies and Takumura has been killing that niche. My wife loves her 210

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Thanks for the recommendations. I'll go google them and see what might work, thanks!

I have been looking at older "for my wife" threads and there are quite a few recommendations too. What I'm missing is, does such a thing as a 150 gyuto exist? The problem she had with a petty was that there was very little knuckle clearance and she almost sliced herself, which didn't help in her bonding with the petty we got for her, thus the reason why I'm thinking of maybe a ko bunka

The only thing I've found is a Kansui Dojo Small Slicing Knife (6 inch), but I'm really unfamiliar with the brand.

EDIT: found a Fujiwara Maboroshi no Meito 150mm Gyuto which would be perfect, but the price is simply way above...

You could try the Watanabe kurouchi 180mm stainless clad http://www.kitchen-knife.jp/pro/gyuto.htm
Small and not reactive. There are some reviews and comparisons of it (one from a KKF member, mark76):

http://www.edgeobserver.com/180mm-kuro-uchi-gyuto-by-shinichi-watanabe/

https://japaneseknifereviews.wordpr...e-workhorse-knives-heiji-kochi-and-watanabee/

Fujiwara Nashiji is a cheaper line same maker, more likely to be in budget
Does your wife pinch grip? It helps a little with knuckle clearance vs gripping only the handle
Other considerations - anti fatigue mat, my prepping with slippers on possibly, every little bit of height helps. I get the same issue with elbow angle using my Suien VC chuka but much less so while wearing steel toed boots (extra 2 inches height)
I might suggest looking at 180mm gyuto, some makers have those. If you are cutting medium to large onions I could see ko-bunka being too short
Do you have a strict $ cutoff?

What about the Muteki knives by Carter? Stainless clad white steel, western handle, thin, great cutters.

Marcelo Amaral said:

You could try the Watanabe kurouchi 180mm stainless clad http://www.kitchen-knife.jp/pro/gyuto.htm
Small and not reactive. There are some reviews and comparisons of it (one from a KKF member, mark76):

http://www.edgeobserver.com/180mm-kuro-uchi-gyuto-by-shinichi-watanabe/

https://japaneseknifereviews.wordpr...e-workhorse-knives-heiji-kochi-and-watanabee/

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Thanks Marcelo, I'm checking them out, but she has tried 180's in the past and she can use them, but it's not a pleasant thing for her..

foody518 said:

Fujiwara Nashiji is a cheaper line same maker, more likely to be in budget
Does your wife pinch grip? It helps a little with knuckle clearance vs gripping only the handle
Other considerations - anti fatigue mat, my prepping with slippers on possibly, every little bit of height helps. I get the same issue with elbow angle using my Suien VC chuka but much less so while wearing steel toed boots (extra 2 inches height)
I might suggest looking at 180mm gyuto, some makers have those. If you are cutting medium to large onions I could see ko-bunka being too short
Do you have a strict $ cutoff?

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Thanks Foody

I've tried to get her to pinch grip but she finds it award, so she just handles it like a hammer. I'll look at the Nashiji.

We'd say our top is 200US, but I know there are some great knives out there for a bit less. She is a very aesthetic person so she would also enjoy the looks as much as performance.

Matus said:

What about the Muteki knives by Carter? Stainless clad white steel, western handle, thin, great cutters.

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Those are amazing and lovely work. Hadn't seen that page, so thanks for pointing it out. Bit expensive for what we are aiming though.

Thanks all for the kind replies!

Ps: Not sure how loved the tojiros's are? I just found a 160 gyuto flash 160 which fits the bill, looks great, and might do the job.

This Fujiwara FKM was identified in one of the recent wife knife threads. 150mm gyuto for $65.

http:www.japanesechefsknife.com/FKMSeries.html

If you are OK with a santoku shape (the OP of the other thread was not), then a whole range of choices become available. There are many santokus in the 165mm range and priced below $200USD. Are you interested in carbon? Stainless? Damascus? Kurouchi? Lots of choices.

http://knifewear.com/collections/gyuto/products/takamura-akagouhan-gyuto-180mm Powdered Steel, pretty red handle, just under your budget (toggle USD) and free shipping because it's over $200 CAD
Tojiro's are good bang for buck knives. I think you can get better performing ones given your $ cutoff though.

Oops, just re-read and noticed that you are also not interested in santokus. Here's a bunka that might interest you.

http://www.knivesandstones.com/syousin-chiku-ku-bunka-165mm-aogami-super-stainless-cladding-by-kurosaki/

foody518 said:

http://knifewear.com/collections/gyuto/products/takamura-akagouhan-gyuto-180mm Powdered Steel, pretty red handle, just under your budget (toggle USD) and free shipping because it's over $200 CAD
Tojiro's are good bang for buck knives. I think you can get better performing ones given your $ cutoff though.

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+1

It's very light, very thin, has a small handle.

laxdad said:

This Fujiwara FKM was identified in one of the recent wife knife threads. 150mm gyuto for $65.

http:www.japanesechefsknife.com/FKMSeries.html


If you are OK with a santoku shape (the OP of the other thread was not), then a whole range of choices become available. There are many santokus in the 165mm range and priced below $200USD. Are you interested in carbon? Stainless? Damascus? Kurouchi? Lots of choices.

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Thanks, I had somehow missed that, great price!

I think we might be passing on the Santokus as we have one from Shun I received from my dad before moving and it rarely gets used by any of us. Thanks Lax

foody518 said:

http://knifewear.com/collections/gyuto/products/takamura-akagouhan-gyuto-180mm Powdered Steel, pretty red handle, just under your budget (toggle USD) and free shipping because it's over $200 CAD
Tojiro's are good bang for buck knives. I think you can get better performing ones given your $ cutoff though.

Click to expand...

I'm in love with the Takamura. I'll go see if there are any video reviews, maybe it might have enough clearance for her. Looks beautiful.

You can find that Takamura R2 180 gyuto also at Chubo.

Sensational cutting performance. :thumbsup:

From what I can see at least looking at the western handled knives, the 180mm gyutos for these lines tend to be just a few mm shorter (less tall) than the santoku/bunka/nakiri of the 165mm ish length.
Just realized that the link I put is not the most competitive pricing on that Takamura R2...feel free to browse around google for better pricing (Knifewear is usually where I go for nicer Masakage pricing)

Most amazing info, thanks to all who have helped here..

I think I like the red takamura so much, and the reviews are so good, that I might just get her the 180 gyuto. Not sure yet but really looks the deal! It would just be 3cm more than what she's used to with better clearance.

If she pinch grips, the 3cm goes right away :3

And another issue solved, if only by having the wallet gone a bit lighter!

Red Takamura 180 on the preps!

That means I'm going to let go of the petty mizuno tanrenjo, but I got to wait until 40 posts to list it here :biggrin:

JaVa said:

You can find that Takamura R2 180 gyuto also at Chubo.

Sensational cutting performance. :thumbsup:

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+1