Does a workhorse-esque non-KU/non-Nashiji (ie polished) stainless clad gyuto exist?

So I filled in the questionnaire asking for help choosing a stainless clad 240mm carbon core Japanese made gyuto.

The kind forum members rose to the challenge and suggested Itinomonn or Ikazuchi - Great suggestions.

Separately my own searches had come up with Wakui and Syousin Chiku.

These knives are all light weight lazer-esque knives and the more I think about it, I am drawn towards heavier weight workhorse type beasts of knives.

So the question for you oracles is does this combination exist or am I chasing shadows here?

Stainless clad Tanaka from Knives and Stones should be precisely that.. I believe it's supposed to be similar to the blue 2 Damascus in grind, I'd definitely call my Damascus a workhorse though still reasonably thin behind the edge. Unfortunately out of stock currently

The stainless cladding has me stumped. I have the Syousin Chiku 240 and I would not call it a heavy knife. It is, however, a very good performing middleweight knife. I have been enjoying mine very much. If you can manage an iron clad knife, I think the Toyama from JNS would do nicely. It is my go to prep knife right now. I don't know it watanabe would do a stainless cladding, but it never hurts to ask.

ryanjams said:

Stainless clad Tanaka from Knives and Stones should be precisely that.. I believe it's supposed to be similar to the blue 2 Damascus in grind, I'd definitely call my Damascus a workhorse though still reasonably thin behind the edge. Unfortunately out of stock currently

Click to expand...

Is there a chance that this will come back in stock? I'm hoping this isn't one of the perpetually out of stock knives...

dwalker said:

The stainless cladding has me stumped. I have the Syousin Chiku 240 and I would not call it a heavy knife. It is, however, a very good performing middleweight knife. I have been enjoying mine very much. If you can manage an iron clad knife, I think the Toyama from JNS would do nicely. It is my go to prep knife right now. I don't know it watanabe would do a stainless cladding, but it never hurts to ask.

Click to expand...

From everything I read, the Syousin Chiku gets high praise, but I think I would prefer a knife on the heavier side.

To be honest I'm not after an iron clad knife right now, I kind of know what I would want in iron clad.

Right now, this is really what has motivated me, hence asking for SS cladding:

Watanabe will do a stainless clad. That would be my choice

pleue said:

Watanabe will do a stainless clad. That would be my choice

Click to expand...

Does this add much $$$ to the price? Has anyone actually ordered something like this from Watanabe?

No Damascus? I thought the sukenari as was stainless clad. But it's a dammy so, maybe not your thing.

I might have you covered with something fun in January

spoiledbroth said:

No Damascus? I thought the sukenari as was stainless clad. But it's a dammy so, maybe not your thing.

Click to expand...

I'm not too much into damascus tbh, would much prefer kasumi

JBroida said:

I might have you covered with something fun in January

Click to expand...

Oooooohhhhh, how we are being teased......

Heiji? I'm not sure if the carbon core one is stainless clad, but the semi-stainless one definitely is.

James said:

Heiji? I'm not sure if the carbon core one is stainless clad, but the semi-stainless one definitely is.

Click to expand...

+1. Heiji semi is carbon enough. It sharpens quick and takes plenty of patina, I swear it seems to be more reactive than some AS knives ive used.

heiji isnt what i would call a workhorse depsite the grind... they are hard and brittle

JBroida said:

heiji isnt what i would call a workhorse depsite the grind... they are hard and brittle

Click to expand...

That is the problem with the term workhorse IMO... It's mainly used to describe thicker and/or heavier knives, but can also mean a knife that can be worked hard and handle almost anything tossed at it. I would say even the Kato workhorse is hard and brittle and it helped coin the term.

i totally agree

khashy said:

Does this add much $$$ to the price? Has anyone actually ordered something like this from Watanabe?

Click to expand...

Watanabe puts out stainless clad knives periodically - right now he has a kintaro ame stainless sujihiki listed in the special knives section.

Regarding price, he responds pretty quickly to emails.

khashy said:

Is there a chance that this will come back in stock? I'm hoping this isn't one of the perpetually out of stock knives...

Click to expand...

I believe there are more in the pipeline but who knows the timeframe? You could pm James (pkjames) to find out if he has an eta. I adore my Tanaka and the price is certainly right

Don't think Watanabe does stainless clad on knives longer than 180mm. The Kintaro Ame is what he calls V2 Gold Stainless. Reads like a monosteel. (The possibiity of being wrong is high with this one.)

Watanabe, kato and Toyama have pretty hard core steels like heiji, do they not? I completely understand that heiji steel is brittle however I can't seem to remember many issues with chipping in my personal experience. For the OP to request a "workhorse" I interpret that as simply a heavier knife in which case I would recommend a heiji. I can't pretend to know whether his technique would suit a brittle knife-but if it does, and if in this instance "workhorse" means heavy knife I think heiji is worth consideration.

daveb said:

Don't think Watanabe does stainless clad on knives longer than 180mm. The Kintaro Ame is what he calls V2 Gold Stainless. Reads like a monosteel. (The possibiity of being wrong is high with this one.)

Click to expand...

V2 Gold is a distant cousin of AEBL: http://www.e-tokko.com/v_gold_2_5.htm

dwalker said:

The stainless cladding has me stumped. I have the Syousin Chiku 240 and I would not call it a heavy knife. It is, however, a very good performing middleweight knife. I have been enjoying mine very much. If you can manage an iron clad knife, I think the Toyama from JNS would do nicely. It is my go to prep knife right now. I don't know it watanabe would do a stainless cladding, but it never hurts to ask.

Click to expand...

I have asked, he only does stainless upto 180mm knives.

Did you check out the Ginrei from JKI? Jon currently does not have a 240, but it should weight ca 200g when it will come (as I am pretty sure it will at some point).

Watanabe does stainless clad only up to 180 - that is what I learned about a year ago. Drop him an email. If that changed than a knife from him could be just what you are looking for.

bkultra said:

That is the problem with the term workhorse IMO... It's mainly used to describe thicker and/or heavier knives, but can also mean a knife that can be worked hard and handle almost anything tossed at it. I would say even the Kato workhorse is hard and brittle and it helped coin the term.

Click to expand...

In my mind I was thinking of the heavier knives as 'workhorse' rather than throw anything at it type, Given that I am not a pro cook. I guess the brittleness should be less of an issue in a home environment, or am I missing something that I should be aware of?


Looks like Watanabe is not a possibility as I am keen on a 240mm and 180mm is just waaay too short. Btw I though Kintaro Ame is the damascus finish, right?

I did check out the Ginrei range btw, but again for no reason what so ever, I am only drawn to the white/blue/AS steels...

Why is this such a difficult find? Is it just a just a bad idea to have a heavy stailess clad gyuto?

khashy said:

Btw I though Kintaro Ame is the damascus finish, right?

Click to expand...

Correct, and one of the better looking damascus finishes IMO.

Matus said:

Did you check out the Ginrei from JKI? Jon currently does not have a 240, but it should weight ca 200g when it will come (as I am pretty sure it will at some point).

Watanabe does stainless clad only up to 180 - that is what I learned about a year ago. Drop him an email. If that changed than a knife from him could be just what you are looking for.

Click to expand...

Still true last month.

I still can't square up why there are so few choices.

The only reason I can come up with would be that the makers will buy the stainless sandwiched carbon as premade rather than forge weld it themselves and that the premade stuff isn't thick enough/suitable for a heavy beast of a knife

Or maybe it's a supply demand thing - I'm the freak asking for something no one else wants....

khashy said:

I still can't square up why there are so few choices.

The only reason I can come up with would be that the makers will buy the stainless sandwiched carbon as premade rather than forge weld it themselves and that the premade stuff isn't thick enough/suitable for a heavy beast of a knife

Or maybe it's a supply demand thing - I'm the freak asking for something no one else wants....

Click to expand...

I don't know, my stainless clad Kochi is pretty thick at the spine. The kurouchi isn't what you're after, and it's thinner behind the edge, but I'd allllmost put it in that category. Certainly enough to dispell the idea that the pre-laminate doesn't come thick enough.

pleue said:

Watanabe will do a stainless clad. That would be my choice

Click to expand...

I thought Watanabe only does stainless clad for 180mm or less . . .

James mentioned somewhere that he's expecting a new batch of Tanaka knives in January if I remember correctly. But not even he knows exactly when or what's coming.

You'll better be on your stalking A game if you want to get one. Last time the Ginsans were OOS in a few hours and there were quite a few to go around. The SS clad B2 knives lasted about two days.

Although I think it might be closer to a robust middleweight than a workhorse. I have no experience with it, but James mentioned it being close to the originals. Maybe anyone who has one would chime in if the SS B2 Tanaka is a workhorse or a middleweight? Either way I want one too!