howdy. help!

Gidday all. In the grand scheme of people in this forum i am an absolute amatuer, albeit a n enthusiastic one. Im a kiwi living in melbourne australia. Only been cooking for about 5 years but loving it more and more, starting to become a bonafide hobby. And with that i am starting to aquire some better tools. Just got a big boos block. Never realised you could get this much enjoyment from inanimate objects!
Now, Knives. Just got the one decent one, global 8 inch. Was very close to buying a set of shun premiers but upon reading am thinking of individuals. now i know you all get this alot, but someone please just tell me straight up what i should get. i need a chefs knife, paring, medium/utility, a bread knife, and a honing steel. (ill get onto whetstones after). I can get all that in the shun premier for around 600, so thats my budget. i prefer japanese, (takedas especially). ive been looking for ages, they all have good reviews, and all are probably good enough for me, i just want the best for the money i have. I suppose the chefs knife is most important so could skimp on quality in the others... Thanks!

If it was me I'd start with a high quality gyuto and some stones to sharpen it with. Japanese knives really don't respond to a traditional homing steel and while others have found success with borosilicate rods I don't see the need especially for a home cook. You don't need to go crazy on a bread knife so you should be able to save some money there. I think Del Ealy still has some small paring knives available at the moment, I'd check out his thread if you want to pick one up. Utility I'd leave till later because you gyuto should be able to do anything a utility can with minimal extra effort.

Get a middle of the road gyuto, and get used to sharpening. And above all: welcome!

welcome!

Welcome! There are a lot of choices out there... that's part of the challenge and the allure

Welcome to KKF!

I think you'll find that the shipping charges on knives bought in the US will be exorbitant, to say the least, so I suggest that you take a look at what Japanese Chefs Knife http://www.japanesechefsknife.com offers, as the shipping will be considerably less. Some knives you may want to consider are

Stainless:
- Fujiwara FKM (Entry level) http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/FKMSeries.html
- Hiromoto G3 (Entry level) http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/Page4.html
- Hattori FH http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HattoriForumHighEndChefsKnives.html
- Masamoto VG http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/VGSeries.html

Semi-stainless:
- Kagayaki CarboNext http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/KAGAYAKICarboNextSeries.html

Carbon:
- Fujiwara FKH (Entry level) http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/FKHSeries.html
- Masamoto HC http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/HCSeries.html

Carbon clad in stainless:
- Hiromoto AS http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/TenmiJyurakuSeries.html

I agree with the recommendation to forego the honing rod and get a medium (1000/1200 grit) and fine (5000/6000 grit) waterstone.

Rick

Welcome Jimbob

welcome!

thanks all. i have officially opened a can of worms now!
definately going to go with a good gyuto. and should have enough for waterstones and a parer. Do people reccomend classes for sharpening or is say a youtube lesson enough? Is there a chance i could riun the blade being a learner? Also, sre shun premiers ok at least, not much shun love in here...

There are better knives for less money them a shun. Some find that the steel is a little brittle and the profile not well suited to Japanese knives. That said I have a few that I bought before I got into "actual" Japanese knives. They aren't bad just not as good as you could buy for the same kind of money.

Expect that you may accidentally scuff the blade on the stones while you are learning to freehand sharpen. That's why a less expensive knife is often recommended for a beginning sharpener.

There is nothing at all "wrong" with the Shun Premier line, just that the profile of the chef's knife is more suited for rocking, a technique that most here don't use. Thus, the lack of "love" for Shuns. Rocking incorrectly can also put sideways stress on the edge and cause chipping, but this is "operator error", not a problem with the steel. It is no more brittle than any other steel.

Bottom line? If you really want a set of Shun Premiers, get them, use them and enjoy them. On the other hand, if you want to explore the world of Japanese cutlery, choose a midrange gyuto and learn to sharpen.

Rick

ok, have settled on a 240mm gyuto... With the full intention of caring for it like my baby with stones and care of use, this is the shortlist.
Awesome site www.japanesechefsknife.com by tre way, thanks. $7 capped postage! For this reason i will most likely get a parer and petty from here aswell in the one post.

Takeda $330
Hattori Forums Special Stainless $255
Misono Swedish Steel Carbon $204
Ryusen Damascus $218
Shiki Damascus $169
Masamoto HC $236

I figured i could practice sharpening with my global first?

Greetings! As to your list, may want to narrow down to whether you prefer carbon or stainless first. All of those are very nice knives either way, but would likely want to lay off the damascus until you decide to 'upgrade' and then you can get some really nice stuff around here...but it will cost a bit more.
Cheers!

Man this is hard. Soooo Many Choices! Shame i cant hold them (as many suggest. been to a few local shops with very crap selection. ). So far have purchased:
Tojiro bread knife
1000/6000 whetstone.
That is all.. I still have $500ish to spend. minimum two knives to go, just have to whittle down my full a4 page of options! its a hard life. Funny, im hooked and haven't even used one or had the pleasure to home sharpen it!
Also carbon or stainless for a beginner?

Ok update. one click away, (gonna sleep on it).
Hattori FH 240mm gyuto
Shiki premium 150mm petty
JCK Gekko 80mm parer

Say no to the Shun. Check out Pensacola Tiger's recommendations. You can get much better knives than Shun for less money.
If I were you, I'd go ahead and look around on youtube, but could also recommend a video by Dave too.

O yeah and Welcome to KKF!

The shiki premium petty, is a beautiful looking knife with great fit and finish, but one of the thicker petties I've used, I frankly didn't find it to be a great cutter.

You mentioned earlier that you were considering sharpening lessons, Chef's Armoury have just opened up in R1chmond, and will be offering sharpening classes shortly. I did one, probably four years ago (the owner of the store came down from Sydney to do a couple of classes), and I found it very helpful for the beginning sharpener. That said, if you spend some time over your stones, watching a bunch of videos online (japaneseknifeimports youtube channel is highly recommended by pretty much everyone int his forum), you're not going to damage your knives too much and you'll nut it out eventually.

thanks everyone! Ill check out chefs armoury too Dusty. Have tinkered with my selections, your tip pushed me just the other way...
Still hattori gyuto but misono ux10 petty and to sate my bling needs the shiki 'twinkle' quincewood parer.

you have created a monster! i need to sleep now.

The ux10 petty has my favourite petty profile and if you dont mind the small handle is a pure performer. Nice choice.

Well, this is how it went. Considering my motherinlaw is paying (late wedding present), she had a bit of influence, especially on my wife. They cant get the 'set' thing out of their heads. Comprimise, ended up getting parer, petty and 240 gyuto all in the hattori fh line. Im actually not bothered as i will hardly be using anything but the gyuto, and im sure the parer and petty are very good anyway. I suppose the three with ebony wood handles will look nice together. Am eagerly awaiting their arrival.
P.S. Little does she know that these wont be the last....

jimbob said:

Well, this is how it went. Considering my motherinlaw is paying (late wedding present), she had a bit of influence, especially on my wife. They cant get the 'set' thing out of their heads. Comprimise, ended up getting parer, petty and 240 gyuto all in the hattori fh line. Im actually not bothered as i will hardly be using anything but the gyuto, and im sure the parer and petty are very good anyway. I suppose the three with ebony wood handles will look nice together. Am eagerly awaiting their arrival.
P.S. Little does she know that these wont be the last....

Click to expand...

Congratulations! I think you may find yourself using the petty and parer more than you think.

Rick

So I gave away my side grain boos block and am now eagerley anticipating my maple magnum from Dave. Completely worth the shipping to Australia knowing I will get the best if the million glowing reviews are anything to go by. Will post obligatory pics when I have all the peices of my puzzle.

jimbob said:

I figured i could practice sharpening with my global first?

Click to expand...

Definitely. I did and I would guess that many of us started learning how to sharpen on Globals.

Awesome!

Congratulations, Jim Bob!

My Hattoris have arrived. Oh my god. One happy camper. Anyone need some diced onions, garlic slivers, or maybe a tomato rose?

Thought id finish this thread with a report on my knives. Christmas came and went and with it all the chopping required for 15 guests. I remember rick saying i would use the petty and parer more than i thought and boy i did. Between the gyuto, petty parer and mac bread knife i made joyous short work of everything from fruit salad, ham carving, chocolate chopping, veges galore and everything in between. Had a minor heart attack when a two year old got hold of the gyuto somehow and went a small run down the hall....... Anyway, extremely happy with my first j-knives.:knife: