Which one would YOU buy, and why?

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DaveInMesa

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Hi everyone! Happy Black Friday!

I'm looking for a bit of advice, but in a sort of sideways fashion. I'm looking to acquire a cheap-ish (none of them are cheap, by my standards) boning knife of the Honesuki style. I've found some on CKTG, but apparently I'm not allowed to use that name, here. There must be a story behind that, that I've missed.

I'm also considering a Bunka that I found on that site, because it has roughly the same blade shape and size as a Honesuki. It is, however, considerably thinner than the other candidates. It's actually extremely thin (1.6mm), which might be a drawback for breaking down chickens, but I really don't know because I've never owned a blade that thin.

I know you customarily ask people to tell you their preferences in order to help guide them, but I'd like to keep mine to myself, for now, so that your answer reflects YOUR preferences and experience. If you were in the market for a honesuki, and had around $100 to spend, what would you buy?

Thanks!
 
A Bunka is meant to be used like a Santoku/Nakiri. Sometimes, it seems short K-tip Gyutos get mislabelled/mistaken as Bunkas (the infamous Kiwis are an example I think ;). All of these will likely be damaged if you use them like a boning knife.

I don't bone but I'd be making the wrong choice if I was in that market - I'm too tempted by wa handles and high HRC, and both are probably NOT what you want in a honesuki (hygiene, toughness)- looking at a catalog of common honesuki, I guess the *reasonable* choice would be the Misono Moly :)
 
I use an old Forschner boning knife but if I were to purchase one it would come with utility in mind and would be this one. It's affordable in case you don't find yourself using it and this series seems to be the best of the economy versions in my mind. That said, I've not tried this knife myself.

Almost forgot to say Welcome!
 
Just get the tojiro dp 150mm honesuki. It's a solid workhorse.
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
A Bunka is meant to be used like a Santoku/Nakiri. Sometimes, it seems short K-tip Gyutos get mislabelled/mistaken as Bunkas (the infamous Kiwis are an example I think ;). All of these will likely be damaged if you use them like a boning knife.

I don't bone but I'd be making the wrong choice if I was in that market - I'm too tempted by wa handles and high HRC, and both are probably NOT what you want in a honesuki (hygiene, toughness)- looking at a catalog of common honesuki, I guess the *reasonable* choice would be the Misono Moly :)
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Thanks! I was thinking the same things about the bunka, wa handles and blade steel. I'll take a look at the Misono.
 
chinacats said:
I use an old Forschner boning knife but if I were to purchase one it would come with utility in mind and would be this one. It's affordable in case you don't find yourself using it and this series seems to be the best of the economy versions in my mind. That said, I've not tried this knife myself.

Almost forgot to say Welcome!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll take a look. I appreciate the welcome, too :)
 
lumo said:
Agreed, solid, stainless and cheap!
Had I not developed a preference for carbon and all of a sudden owned 5 honesuki, I would have kept it versus giving it to my nephew as he started cooking professionally.
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Ok, but now I want to know about the 5 you kept! Which and why and how do you like them?
 
Take a look at the Rinkaku honesuki on Japanese Knife Imports. I just ordered one and used it to break down my Thanksgiving bird and love it.

If you need a stainless knife, there's a stainless honesuki for five bucks less than the Rinkaku.
 
I have a question on honesukis, does it really help to have the single bevel, or does a symetrically ground honesuki work essentially as good or, exactly really, why the single bevel?
 
rick alen said:
I have a question on honesukis, does it really help to have the single bevel, or does a symetrically ground honesuki work essentially as good or, exactly really, why the single bevel?
Click to expand...

While single bevel honesuki exist, the majority are actually asymmetrically ground knives with extreme right or left-hand biases.

Jon just had a conversation with me about why so many J-knives that aren't single bevels are asymmetrically ground and I'd definitely leave it to him to elaborate on that point.

But as for your question does it really help to have a single bevel: In regards to butchering/boning out meat, the single bevel and asymmetrical knives allow you to ride closer to the bone without actually scraping it. That's not the only thing (like lower inclusive angle), but that's an advantage in my mind.
 
mise_en_place said:
Take a look at the Rinkaku honesuki on Japanese Knife Imports. I just ordered one and used it to break down my Thanksgiving bird and love it.

If you need a stainless knife, there's a stainless honesuki for five bucks less than the Rinkaku.
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Thanks! Sounds like you're happy with it.
 
rick alen said:
I have a question on honesukis, does it really help to have the single bevel, or does a symetrically ground honesuki work essentially as good or, exactly really, why the single bevel?
Click to expand...

I wondered the same thing. I see both varieties available. I haven't actually counted, but my impression is that they're equally common. And, I thought the single bevel was primarily for high precision cuts.
 
mise_en_place said:
While single bevel honesuki exist, the majority are actually asymmetrically ground knives with extreme right or left-hand biases.

Jon just had a conversation with me about why so many J-knives that aren't single bevels are asymmetrically ground and I'd definitely leave it to him to elaborate on that point.

But as for your question does it really help to have a single bevel: In regards to butchering/boning out meat, the single bevel and asymmetrical knives allow you to ride closer to the bone without actually scraping it. That's not the only thing (like lower inclusive angle), but that's an advantage in my mind.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I'm guessing the single and asymmetrical grinds are more common among the higher priced knives. In the "bargain basement", at least on the sites I've searched, double-beveled honesukis are pretty common.

That's a good point about riding closer to the bone. That makes me think that an asymmetrical grind would be optimum for boning. A completely flat back would be more likely to catch and dig into the bone.
 
A classic deba (the fish knife also extremely useful for citrus zesting ;) has a "completely flat" (actually, concave) back (edge is flush with or only a microbevel away from the left side)... the problem seems to be that that design is too delicate to be near hard bones, not that it catches into them...
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
A classic deba (the fish knife also extremely useful for citrus zesting ;) has a "completely flat" (actually, concave) back (edge is flush with or only a microbevel away from the left side)... the problem seems to be that that design is too delicate to be near hard bones, not that it catches into them...
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That's kind of scary, considering debas are used to cut the heads off of fish before filleting them. Fish bones may not be as hard as cattle bones, but the spine is certainly not soft.
 
"or only a microbevel away" ... which you seem to put on the heel area for just that purpose if I understand right...
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
"or only a microbevel away" ... which you seem to put on the heel area for just that purpose if I understand right...
Click to expand...
I'm not educated enough on the fine points of sharpening to really understand that. I'd have to see a microbevel. I get the general idea, though :)
 
Actually someone reviewed that the Japanese Butcher from JNS replaced 3 knives: honesuki, gara and one more specialist butchery knife!
 
Okay so, in case anyone is interested, I thought I'd list what I ended up buying. Yes, more than one. And more than I should have bought, probably.

The main one is this lovely beast; http://www.hocho-knife.com/shikisai-miyako-33-layer-damascus-aus8-santoku-knife-180mm/. I chose it because it's intended as a replacement for my beloved Shun Santoku (don't judge). I chose this one primarily for the handle and front bolster. The handle is what made me fall in love with my Shun, which is currently in the hands of their warranty department, having dropped a large chunk of the VG-10 core into the chicken my wife was cutting with it. Not a chip; a chunk! I started out thinking that the warranty would cover it, but after reading the forums, I lost faith in that idea. So, I'm hoping the Miyako's handle will be as good as the Shun's, and the integral bolster just makes me feel better about hygiene.

While I was there I noticed this little guy; http://www.hocho-knife.com/narihira-no-9000-stainless-japanese-style-santoku-knife-165mm/ I bought one of these because... why not? For $20, if it's only useful as a sacrifice while I'm learning to sharpen properly, it's worth it. Those two haven't arrived, yet.

But, since I'd visited dozens of websites in my research, I'd seen lots of gorgeous knives and a few bargains. And I was looking for a honesuki, but I ended up buying a Misuzu SKS93 Bunka from CKTG. (Can't get a link to it to work, here.) This arrived very quickly, and I like it, so far. Not wild about the d-shape of the handle, but the wood is nice and the blade looks like it will be just right for breaking down chickens and turkeys. I don't do anything smaller than chickens, so I don't need a finer tip. I did a bit of push-pull slicing last night, and was very pleased with its cutting ability. The grinds on each side of the blade don't match, not because it's a single-bevel (it's not), but because someone was in a hurry, I suspect. But, I'm not sure how much impact that will have.

And, because it was simply irresistible, I also bought one of these; https://www.pacificknives.com/products/zakuri-funiuki-165mm-150mm-140mm?variant=14687604359. I bought the middle-sized 150mm. I think I might have been happier with the 165mm, now that I've handled it, but the 150 will still be handy. For the sale price of $45 for a Blue #2 steel blade, I couldn't pass it up. It arrived very quickly, considering it came from Alaska, and it was shaving sharp (at least on my arm) OOTB. I haven't yet put it to use because my wife feels guilty about the Shun, even though I've told her it's not her fault. But, I don't want to make her more uncomfortable than necessary.

So.... will power? Yeah, I've heard of that :rofl2:
 
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