Got the itch....again.

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Citizen Snips

Founding Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2011
Messages
452
Reaction score
0
I am looking to make a Carter my next purchase. I would appreciate any info everyone could give me on what they currently have and the pros and cons to them

im thinking either kuro-uchi or fukugo-zai in white. funayuki at about 8.1 sun is ideal for me.

im looking forward to everyones thoughts
 
What Ive heard:

No point in going High Grade over Stainless Fukugozai Funayuki series, Ive heard that food release is better on his cheap series.
Carter got great profile and geometry, white takes a sharp edge but the edge retention on his knives are poor.
His handles is bad, really bad

Sum up

Pro: Sharp edge, profile, geometry, cutting abilities, food release, you will abuse this little tramp, easy to sharpen
Con: Handle, edge retention
 
Edge retention on his white is no different than on any other white I've used. His handles are, as Oyvind pointed out, pretty gnarly. I've seen worse. His SFGZ series appears to have slightly better release, but his HG series has a wee bit less wedge; it's literally a matter of splitting hairs though, especially when comparing them to the scads of worse performing knives on the market. The list of currently available knives on his website is pretty limited at the moment, so I'm betting in the next couple weeks he'll have a new batch of white knives ready.
 
Are you totally committed to Carter? If not, give a thought to an A.M. Tsourkan. Great grind, good food release, steel that holds an edge better than white, way better looking.

What kind of blade are do you want?

BTW and sorry to go OT, but how are the single bevel Konosukes you got awhile ago holding up? Your initial report and Theory's videos have got me thinking seriously about spending money I don't have on a mioroshi.
 
thanks for the info so far

ive wanted a carter for quite some time and now that i got a real job out of the kitchen and i can afford some knives ive always wanted and never bought because i didn't 'need' them. there are a few others i will get eventually (shig and marko are on the list for sure).

as far as the konosuke 300mm yanagi and 210mm mioroshi, i couldn't be happier with them. i really love the deba in blue 2 and find that mioroshi style debas work the best for me. the yanagi is great but ive only ever used a masamoto and a shun pro series. i would imagine it holds up but for something like a yanagi i would really think about looking into some other makers just because you may get more for you buck.

if you do butchering of fish (and chicken) i would seriously recommend a mioroshi at about 210mm.

you may want to look into the suisin IH mioroshi, those look pretty awesome imo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVPvqb-f12Y
 
Well the number one thing you should do is sign up for Carter's newsletter or what ever it's called. He includes a 25% off discount in one or two of the issues.
 
ya i am signed up for that and have been for a while. like i said though i really have only had this new job for like a month so i wanted to get some info before i pull the trigger
 
I don't like Carters white steel, I think it performs less admirably than other whites I have tried (kono, JCK fun ri) His blue is pretty good. The HG series is not really high grade. They claim to be hand finished, but all I have seen are clearly about 120 machine finished, whether its a wheel or belt I don't know, far cry from the mirror finish it claims on the website.

I have had bad luck with overgrinds on everyone I have owned, however in talking to other owners I seem to be the exception. I know you are a proficient sharpener so that may not be a concern for you.

If it was me and I was buying again, I would go KU, or GZ and have someone re-handle it with the money I saved.

Congrats on the new job!
 
From emails I have exchanged with Jason (his assistant) in the past 2 weeks, Murray is not accepting any more custom orders at the moment.
 
About a month or two ago I had the same itch. I ended up with a 7.5 sun (228mm) HG gyuto. When I first received the knife I was a little disappointed. It was all the usual things I knew about Murray's knives, the handle sucked, the spine and choil weren't rounded, the finish wasn't awesome. Then I started using the knife and I was blown away by its performance, it is a cutting machine. It lasers though even the hardest of vegetables i.e. acorn squash, with no wedging. There is almost no resistance when the tip enters an onion for horizontal cuts. Since the F&F aren't perfect, I think psychologically I am more comfortable with giving the knife harder use. I haven't experienced any chipping and the blade seems to have little flex, considering it's the thinnest knife I own, I think it's 1.4mm at the stamp. I've sharpened it once since I've had it and to quote Justin, it's like sharpening with all the cheat codes turned on. It gets scary sharp in no time at all. If you want a knife you can maintain at near 100% with almost no effort, Murray's white no.1 is for you. As far as edge retention goes, I can't tell the difference between my Carter in white no.1 and my Konosuke Fujiyama in white no.1. If you've got the itch, you need to scratch it.
 
ya im not in any hurry to get it. if he is backordered i have no problem waiting. this is going to be more of a home use collection piece anyway.

kalaeb-thanks for the honesty. i do remember hearing about an overgrind at one point but it may have been you posting it. i have also heard his white is very very good. i think i will go with GZ and rehandle it because i dont have anything with a custom handle on it yet. it is wierd being on the food selling side of the business but it is going to be a good career for me.
 
+1 on Carter's cutting performance trumping its F+F issues...
 
Stefan is helping me work on a new handle for my Carter. :)
 
Stefan is helping me work on a new handle for my Carter. :)

Me as well...I saw you have the 7.5 Sun, I purchased a 7.1 about a month ago. Can't say I wasn't a little envious when I saw that one pop up later...:thumbsup:
 
just noticed a new white steel gyuto that has gone up on carter's site...it is 10.9 sun which i believe is in the range of 13 inches? I guess there will be more filling in shortly....
 
Back
Top