Rader 10 inch Gyuto

[Mingooch]

Beautiful work, might have to order one of those in the future.

[mpukas]

Wouldn't the tip need to be very low (or the angle of attack extremely high) for this to be a problem?

One of my first J-knives was a moritaka kiri-gyuto, which has a very flat profile for the entire length. There's a slight upward curve at the tip for about the last 1/3 - 1/4 of the blade, but not more than a 1/4" if that. Rock chopping was impossible - puch cutting and slicing only.

When I first used it I was using my old techniques developed from years of using a 12" Wusthoff, and I embedded the tip in the board so many times - my board has gouges in it as a reminder. I broke the tip off the knife (not from embedding the tip, but from trying to find the balance point - the knife rocked forward on it's side and hit the tip sideways and it snapped off a couple mm) and when I ground it to reshape the tip I added a bit more curve to get the tip a little higher. More user friendly now for some tasks.

For me, again it's personal from one to the next, there's a sweet spot for how much curve the tip has and how high it is off of the board. Too high like current German profiles suck. Too flat sucks too. I think the classic Sab and KS profiles are about ideal for my taste.

Although it's a little hard for me to see the profile of Michael's knife in this thread due to the angle of the pics, I think this profile is nearly spot-on! The only thing I'd consider adding is a flat spot from the tip back towards the curve up from the main edge - A completely cureved tip is only good for rock chopping in the current food media fashion. Having a flat spot near the tip allows the tip to be used for fine mincing, chopping, dicing, push cutting, etc what ever you want to call it.

[Michael Rader]

Hmmm. Very good. Thanks.

-M

[EdipisReks]

If you point your tip down as you begin a forward cutting motion, it's nice to have an upswept tip so it doesn't embed in the board. It is also nice if you use the knife as a slicer to maximize the edge length. A flatter profile benefits those that tend to chop more or at least push/pull cut with smaller amount of rocking. More pointed tips are nice to have when doing finer work and you don't want to switch knives to a petty, for example.

x2

[Iceman91]

I am much more used to a flatter, lower tip. My go to knife is a 240 Carter funy. I didn't want my Rader to be a replica of any of my other knives, i wanted something different. So i didn't think that i would like the upswept tip as much, and i didn't really think it would be as useful. I still havent used the Rader a whole lot yet. Work has been so busy that i havent wanted to have it get beat up there quite yet. I have just been using it at home for the past week and i am enjoying the tip on it just as much as the carter. This knife has been really great to use, it is so much bigger than what i am used to, but it still glides through food really well. I think once i get more practice in with it, it will be my go to knife.

Mike

[Michael Rader]

Thanks Mike. Been a pleasure.
-M