Novice Knife guy looking in to Japanese Steel Thoughts on Shinichi Watanabe.

I'm looking at my first Japanese knife purchase and felt like there is good value in the 4 pc. set from Watanabe JPY 25,000 or $213.00 US. Does anyone have any experience with these knives and can offer any advice. Thank you so much

hes one of the good guys.

Seems like a pretty good deal for that price... Three out of the four knives look like single bevel knives though, so may be a bit more trouble sharpening. Definitely don't have any run of the mill kitchen store sharpener work on these.

Also, the picture shows that the single bevels are all right hand oriented. Are you right handed?

Just send him an email if you have any questions.. he is great to deal with answers emails quickly

Tough to go really wrong with Watanabe. Just remember that the maintenance of those knives isn't a suggestion, and you should talk him into selling you some stones to sharpen.

That set (and moreso the 8 piece set) ... real motley collection of steels and styles at first glance, but it comes together when looking at the actual needs of an enthusiast home cook:

-SK5 (an inexpensive carbon that still takes on some hardness, monosteel it seems) for a yanagi that will need to be very sharpenable and sharp but won't need endurance or durability since it will probably be treated with respect exactly because of missing routine. Reactiveness likely can be disregarded since that will be fish-only - and an all-hardened monosteel won't be as susceptible to deleterious rust as soft cladding.

-Shirogami (can be very sharp and thin, and is tough, and will have good edge retention in home use) for both the frequent-use santoku and the knife people will be using for the more infrequent but rougher jobs - the Ai-deba shape looks like a good multi-special-purpose deba/mincer/single bevel chef knife...

-Now SUS420J2 for the mukimono is an odd choice, you'd expect it to be too soft for something that usuba-like ... but hey, it is very nonreactive (fruit!) and might actually get darn sharp if the HT takes advantage of that steel just not having much in it that could get in the way of a fine edge...


The 8 piece set probably recognizes that the petty gets a lot of use with home cooks, so good choice for adding something finer looking without driving the price all too high...

Hi!
Watanabe is the coolest smith in Japan in my opinion and he will answer your mails with good english fast.
The standard knifes are not worse than the pro ones.. just the pros have more handwork, better finish and handles..

Ah he will recommend 2 stones his synthetic Ai1000 and the Kitayama.. he is also using them himself. nothing more is needed.

Has anyone tried that inexpensive SK5 yanagi, is it as good a choice as an "occasional light use, expecting full performance though" set completion as I'd assume?

Should be a nice set. Would you use the more specialized knives? You might consider getting a kurouchi nakiri if you cut vegetables a lot or spend a little bit more for a pro line kurouchi gyuto- if you would use those more, you would get more value in the long run.

I bought the left-hand set a number of years ago. Like most "sets" there is only one knife that I use on a frequent bases.

The sashimi would be used very rarely. The Ai-Deba and the Santoku would be used the most and most times interchangeable and the pairing knife would be used often for fruit. Maybe I need to consider just one 210-240 mm gyoto and a pairing knife. I am a value shopper first.

I am right handed. And I sharpen with a whet stone. Admittedly I need more practice with the stone.

@caseyclev hey, same conclusions about the intended use and frequency Just can't decide if the presence of 420 steel in that set is ... like the canned,processed addins in a budae jjigae or like off brand ketchup on an expensive steak...

caseyclev said:

The sashimi would be used very rarely. The Ai-Deba and the Santoku would be used the most and most times interchangeable and the pairing knife would be used often for fruit. Maybe I need to consider just one 210-240 mm gyoto and a pairing knife. I am a value shopper first.

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Definitely get the gyuto. You can get a way with cheap £5 paring knives but a cheap Gyuto is awful. The reason is a good Gyuto needs a good grind. A paring knife is less affected by a bad grind. Also, a razor sharp paring knife is not great for in-hand work, your thumb will hate you!

cheflivengood said:

hes one of the good guys.

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+1

I would recommend the approach of buying 2 knives only for the same price: one good gyuto and then, if you need it, a parer or petty. Personally I don't use petty knives and rarely use a parer. A gyuto however is smth I use every single day!

Go to the pro line. He has an 180 gyuto and a 150 petty that you can get all in for under $300. I have the petty and it is an awesome knife - and its razor sharp. I asked him if he would sharpen it for me and he did. I do 90% of my cooking with just those two knives. Honestly, when I use other knives- its because I can, not because I need to.....

Thanks for the advise

Yeah go for 2 pros from shinichi!
i will also get a 180mm gyuto and his knifes beat most other smiths from japan in steel hardening and cutting performance (even the super hyped ones).