What's Your Knife of Choice for Hard Winter Squash?

The title says it all. What's your knife of choice for hard winter squash? It doesn't matter if your answer is a Japanese or a Western knife. I'm interested at 2 levels: first, what shape (gyuto, chef's, suji, etc), and second, what exact knife (eg: 240mm Masamoto KS).

I feel like I can cut just about anything well and safely with what I have, but large winter squash present a challenge for me (especially with wedging and sticking). FWIW, I'm a home cook, not a pro.

So, what do you use?

I personally use a thick and heavy German knife with my wrist torque. If not, I just use a thin japanese blade, but with only vertical movement.

My old tungsten Mac Ultimate 265mm gyuto.

10 inch walmart henckles.

We don't have anything called winter squash in Aus AFAIK. Is it similar to pumpkin? I use my Wustie on pumpkin skin.

Cheap henkels, 10 inch

I'm not to proud to use lectric when it's called for.

I use a cck 1303 on spaghetti squash because it's really thin and cheap so I don't care if I ruin it. Everything else gets whatever I might have on hand.

DamageInc said:

My old tungsten Mac Ultimate 265mm gyuto.

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Same, my go-to for this kind of job is also a Mac Ultimate chef (but mine is the 230 mm). I recently picked up a Masahiro MV 240 mm gyuto workhorse (the full tang Western handle version), and it's got a bit of a beef grind (with a distal taper), and I might probably use it for squash sometime in the future.

any gyuto/cleaver...

The trusty WMF Spitzenklasse 8" Chef's Knife, similar to typical Wüsthof knives. The steel is soft enough to be nearly indestructible, but its still possible to get it sharp for real cooking. I have started to use the Tadafusa 240mm Gyuto (Blue 2) for such things though, I am more careful with it though... just straight down, no funny stuff

I have a small Stihl chain saw. A little noisy, the fumes take some getting used to. Either that or a Forgecraft.

I have a cheap Chinese cleaver that I picked up up in Chinatown. That and a rubber mallot does the trick.

I like optimized thin knives most. Heavier knives are less ideal, though some like my Kato and Shoshin Sakura are acceptable.
Currently I am most enjoying the first two knives in this video:
[video=youtube;DeWLgye9970]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWLgye9970[/video]

26 cm F.Dick Premier...pretty much indestructible...pretty much the only use I still have for it ....

I find that medium-hard ones (Hokaido) can be peeled on a board quite well with a Gyuto (not something to use the Takamura for, but the Goko/Yamakawa? yes...) if paying attention... bread knives to deal with true "plywood squashes"

XooMG said:

I like optimized thin knives most. Heavier knives are less ideal, though some like my Kato and Shoshin Sakura are acceptable.
Currently I am most enjoying the first two knives in this video:
[video=youtube;DeWLgye9970]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWLgye9970[/video]

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Dalman just slipping through. Thanks for the video Xoo

XooMG said:

I like optimized thin knives most. Heavier knives are less ideal, though some like my Kato and Shoshin Sakura are acceptable.
Currently I am most enjoying the first two knives in this video:
[video=youtube;DeWLgye9970]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWLgye9970[/video]

Click to expand...

Thanks for that video. Would you mind naming the knives for me? Everything I use feels like knife #4 in your video when driving it through squash. It doesn't help that some of the squash I'm getting these days are the size of a volleyball. (And I'm always nervous because the one time I curt myself badly in the kitchen what when I was trying to remove a wedged chef's knife from a large squash!)

my rockstar level Wustof Classic 10" chef-knife.

i plunge the tip in, and lever it down. probably not the safest way, but i keep all my bleedy bits way out of the way. the knife doesnt even dull.

Nemo said:

We don't have anything called winter squash in Aus AFAIK. Is it similar to pumpkin? I use my Wustie on pumpkin skin.

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It is sometimes called a Japanese pumpkin or kabocha

Carbon Sab or a vintage Sheffield

spoiledbroth said:

It is sometimes called a Japanese pumpkin or kabocha

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i dont find this squash all that daunting. as far as squash go, this is a easy one on the softer side of things.

i big burly ButterNut squash. now that is harder.

spoiledbroth said:

It is sometimes called a Japanese pumpkin or kabocha

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We have a variety of pumkin we call "***". I wonder if its the same thing?

As an aside I also use my Mac Ultimate for opening young coconuts

Nemo said:

We have a variety of pumkin we call "***". I wonder if its the same thing?

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Appears to be so. You know the term has racist connotations I assume

I use Yoshikazu Ikeda 240 gyuto. Just needs to be little careful.

spoiledbroth said:

Appears to be so. You know the term has racist connotations I assume

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I did not realise that this is offensive. I sincerely apologise if unintended offence was caused.

Nemo said:

I did not realise that this is offensive. I sincerely apologise if unintended offence was caused.

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Japanese pumpkin

Serrated veg peeler and Victorinox pastry knife

EDIT: typo

Masamoto vg gyuto