New knife

Hey guys i'm looking for a new knife. I've always had a fascination with knives but never had the money to really go out and get a good a proper one. I'm sick of using bad knives. I will fill out the questionnaire and hopefully you guys can direct me in the right direction.

What type of knife(s) do you think you want?

-240 or 270mm Gyuto

Why is it being purchased? What, if anything, are you replacing?

-Want a good knife to use in the kitchen, just want to replace the current knife (not sure what it is)

What do you like and dislike about these qualities of your knives already?
Aesthetics-
Edge Quality/Retention- Not good
Ease of Use- dislike not easy to use
Comfort- Not very good balance

What grip do you use?

-Don't know if it has a particular name? i'm holding the top of the blade, if that makes sense?

What kind of cutting motion do you use?

-forward and downward pushing motion, really smooth not slamming the knife down.

Where do you store them?

-in draw in a padded box

Have you ever oiled a handle?

-never had a need too

What kind of cutting board(s) do you use?

-kiri wood cutting boards

For edge maintenance, do you use a strop, honing rod, pull through/other, or nothing?

-honing rod, Willing to send knifes of to be sharpened.

Have they ever been sharpened?

-no

What is your budget?

350-500$$

What do you cook and how often?

-I cook alot of chicken breast, salmon and fish. Plus a large amount of veggie. I cook every night and i cook for the next day. Each night i'm making 4 meals (dinner and 3 for the next day)

Special requests(Country of origin/type of wood/etc)?

-I like the Japanese style of knife and i prefer the darker colored woods

I want a knife that performs well and holds a great edge. If it isn't the prettiest thing out there i wont mind for now (need the money)
Willing to send the knifes to get sharpened and if anyone knows of someone good in Melbourne Victoria let me know!

Thanks

Also wouldn't mind a petty

Hi Blummy,chefs Armoury just opened a store in Melbourne.They do sharpening by hand and they offer classes on sharpening.Dont know what they are like from personal experience.You could also checkout some knife options in the shop. http://www.chefsarmoury.com/.

Welcome! I would suggest also having a look around at Japanese Chefs Knives as they have the best deal for international shipping ($7 flat rate). With your budget you can find a great knife, but you may have to provide a little more info before you can get the best advice.

Stainless or carbon, wa or western handle, some idea of profile?

Cheers!

Blummy, you also mentioned something about your current knife not being easy to use. What is it about it that makes it so?

welcome!

echerub

Blummy, you also mentioned something about your current knife not being easy to use. What is it about it that makes it so?

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It's just not a good quality knife. Main think is it's to small for my liking. Not being the sharpest probably doesn't help. Balance isn't great lots of things

chinacats

Welcome! I would suggest also having a look around at Japanese Chefs Knives as they have the best deal for international shipping ($7 flat rate). With your budget you can find a great knife, but you may have to provide a little more info before you can get the best advice.

Stainless or carbon, wa or western handle, some idea of profile?

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Um at the moment i'm pretty easy with both, I can't say i have a preference as of yet. What would be recommend for a 'beginner'
I like the look of the Wa handle
Profile by this Do you mean like 50/50 bevel? Or is there more to the word profile that you would like to know?

scotchef38

Hi Blummy,chefs Armoury just opened a store in Melbourne.They do sharpening by hand and they offer classes on sharpening.Dont know what they are like from personal experience.You could also checkout some knife options in the shop. http://www.chefsarmoury.com/.

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Thanks for the info i will check it out!

chinacats said:

Welcome! I would suggest also having a look around at Japanese Chefs Knives as they have the best deal for international shipping ($7 flat rate). With your budget you can find a great knife, but you may have to provide a little more info before you can get the best advice.

Stainless or carbon, wa or western handle, some idea of profile?

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Hi Blummy,I also agree with Chinacat,longest it has taken me to get a knife from JCK is 3 days and his prices are good.

blummy said:

Um at the moment i'm pretty easy with both, I can't say i have a preference as of yet. What would be recommend for a 'beginner'
I like the look of the Wa handle
Profile by this Do you mean like 50/50 bevel? Or is there more to the word profile that you would like to know?

Click to expand...

Stainless will require slightly less upkeep...carbon needs to be wiped and dried to avoid rusting; that being said, you shouldn't put any good knives in a dishwasher. Wa handle knives are very comfortable to me, but that is a personal thing and some prefer western handles. As to the profile, I am referring more to the shape of the blade--some knives (think German like Henckels or Wusthoff) can have more of a belly while others (in the style of the French--Sabatier) tend to be slightly flatter. If you like to 'rock' the knife you will want more of a curve, but this is really about your cutting style.

Thanks for all the welcomes!

Stainless will require slightly less upkeep...carbon needs to be wiped and dried to avoid rusting; that being said, you shouldn't put any good knives in a dishwasher. Wa handle knives are very comfortable to me, but that is a personal thing and some prefer western handles. As to the profile, I am referring more to the shape of the blade--some knives (think German like Henckels or Wusthoff) can have more of a belly while others (in the style of the French--Sabatier) tend to be slightly flatter. If you like to 'rock' the knife you will want more of a curve, but this is really about your cutting style.

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Yea i knew that about the stainless, the upkeep is not a problem and i would never put a knife in the dishwasher. I guess my cutting style is to let the knife do the work and the tip usually remains on the board just a fluent motion. I guess you could say a rocking motion.

Thanks for all the replies

Hello blummy. I also live in Australia and bought a knife through this supplier: http://stores.ebay.com.au/BluewayJapan?_trksid=p4340.l2563

Plenty of choice for a beginner and he's very well regarded. Plus postage to Australia is ridiculously cheap and it'll arrive within a fortnight. If you're going from your average standard kitchen knife to any one of the knives he's got for sale the difference is mind blowing. I bought one of the cheapest gyutos he's got and it's not only in a different league, but in a different league from a different planet in another galaxy. By the way if you're really serious about knives you should start getting in to sharpening yourself. There are systems on the market that are pretty fool proof. Good luck with it all.

If aesthetics aren't too important, I'd probably recommend the CarboNext series from JCK. Cheap, takes a great edge, holds it well, good fit and finish; I kinda miss mine. It's little boring to look at, but atleast if you're learning to sharpen, it won't be the end of the world if you scratch it up. Which brings me to my next suggestion....

I'd put a little of the budget aside for a stone or two and just get stuck into it. It's pretty easy to pick up the basics and it'll pay off in the long run

JKerr said:

If aesthetics aren't too important, I'd probably recommend the CarboNext series from JCK. Cheap, takes a great edge, holds it well, good fit and finish; I kinda miss mine. It's little boring to look at, but atleast if you're learning to sharpen, it won't be the end of the world if you scratch it up. Which brings me to my next suggestion....

I'd put a little of the budget aside for a stone or two and just get stuck into it. It's pretty easy to pick up the basics and it'll pay off in the long run

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+1 on the Caarbonext.

So you guys would suggest these knives as a good knife to learn to sharpen on. Before i go out and spend some extra money?

You can learn to sharpen with the knives that you already have. Cheep stainless feels different on the stones that good carbon, but the motions are all the same.

When I think of a gyuto that is the best possible compromise between a variety of tasks interns of steel, ht, profile, grind shape, handle, and ergonomics, I have yet to use a knife better than my Martell gyuto.
http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/2188-Gallery-Martell-Knives

It's a knife that you will never out-grow and the more you learn, the more you will appreciate just how good it is.

blummy said:

So you guys would suggest these knives as a good knife to learn to sharpen on. Before i go out and spend some extra money?

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Sharpen what you've got! Even your average stainless knife will become far more useful if it's sharp!

Learn on your old knives, for sure. To this, I'd like to add that I'm floored by my "new" KS. I got it from an awesome member here, who didn't use it anymore, and I'm wondering how long until I pick up the petty.

One more thing, then I'm out of commission for a few hours.

Buy from JCK. AND, I was asked about the Masamoto KS, and I mentioned that it must be short (heel to tip). I then measured, at the prompting of the member, and was shocked to discover that my 240 is actually 245! This proves how under-appreciated proper balance is. It's a term that is thrown around by companies and salesmen to the point of nauseam, and as a result we, the crazy knife loving minority, have deemed it overrated. How wrong we are. I'd also like to take this opportunity to say Jack (Vertigo) is right.

Thanks for all the suggestions and helps guys

Thanks, blummy