what other knife (yanagi most likely) do you recommend?

I'd like your input for the first knife in 2012 as I got refund from drnaka for a Shigefusa.
As I lost target at this point...I am unclear for what to do next.
Maybe the wisest thing to do is to buy wife a nice handbag but.....

I never had Suisin before but have knives from other well known makers (aritsugu, masamoto, mizuno, shigefusa, tadatsuna, nenohi, watanabe, konosuke). Basically, I'd like something sturdy enough to take all the beating (like to be able to whack it on the board without any damage to it. Thus, honyaki is out of the question here?) and something I can bring with me everywhere I go and enjoy using it.

What I prefer is a yanagi; two knives that came up in mind are a hayate (I never had a doi) or a densho.
So, what would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

K

Mr. Orange,
I own quite a few suisin and suisin doi's including a 'birthday' 30 cm kiritsuke yanagi, a 270 willow leaf yanagi, both Doi's and a 240 inox along with 3 kiritsukes and usuba. I have nothing bad to say about these knives; they are beautiful with great f and f. The real Doi's are usually blue steel, while densho (iirc) and saika are white. If you don't want to drop a grand on the perfect Doi's, Korin is selling the 'light' series which have some imperfections. I have two of these, a deba and kiri, and the imperfection is usually a hairline where hard and soft steels meet on the back side of the knife. This does not affect performance and will get you a real Doi for the $500 price range. The 300 comes out on special occasions - just too big most of the time. When I hold the 270 with ebony handle, the clouds part and warm sunshine breaks through and creates an aura of peace and calm around me and the knife. Balance is perfect in my hand.

I have my share of nenohi, masamoto, misono, and kono so I can say that the suisin are outstanding. They do tend to run a bit heavier which I like on a single bevel knife. If whacking is important I might suggest a change in technique. Yani's don't whack off well and I am not sure whether blue or white would do you better if you can't stop whacking...
Seth

Thanks Seth. Whacking part is just my expression for heavy duty use - I did not mean it literally.

Thanks again.

Seth, you gotta post those in the gallery forum! They sound awesome.

Yes it's about time now that the collection is worthy. I expect to get to it over the weekend...
~s

orange said:

Basically, I'd like something sturdy enough to take all the beating (like to be able to whack it on the board without any damage to it.

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Good yanagi is never sturdy. There's a very high chance I'll microchip it if I run into a fishbone. That being said a shigefusa is pretty F'n awsome. It seems like you're aiming for something pretty high-end, and in that case a suisin sounds pretty nice as well.

Orange,
I am not sure you can use any yanagi in the fashion you describe and expect it to be sturdy, those knives are used to slice not to chop and bang on the board.
You can ask Maksim if he can get you shigefusa (if you still want one) may be he can help you. Other than that I think you can go for any high end yanagi and be happy with it.

Suisin Is a great way to go, excellent value as well

I think marko got 1 Shigefusa 300 yanagiba left...
Im probably the customer of it, but as he is doing a lot of knives for me, I can see that one go
Shigefusa is history and makes a hell of a yanagiba

oivind_dahle said:

I think marko got 1 Shigefusa 300 yanagiba left...
Im probably the customer of it, but as he is doing a lot of knives for me, I can see that one go
Shigefusa is history and makes a hell of a yanagiba

Click to expand...

Thank you all for your input; I will keep those in mind when I fail to resist this temptation.
I know many of you were in the same shoes before....this incessant impulse of keep searching for another knife even after getting more than 15 last year clearly indicates that I need a psychoanalysis. :sad0:

By the way, I do have a 330mm Shigefusa yanagi but have not used it at all. Not because that I want to resell it later on but because I have been using two different yanagis and a suji for slicing/dicing/whatever at home.
A side story; I also have a Shige gyuto. I did not use it for long time since I got it but started using it yesterday. What a difference! It surely cuts well. As my other gyuto (Aritsugu A-type) has a much thicker, I don't know if only the thin profile of the Shige or something else about the knife contributes to the superb cutting ability though.