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Fun thread.
When I started my jknife journey I was for the most part a 270mm absolutist. Can’t really qualify now exactly why I felt that way but I’ll try anyway. More edge=more edge contact against the board during the cut , more cutting motion, longer cuts to be made, perhaps less approximation necessary, plowing all day is a lot of fun.
Overtime the real world caught up with me. Tiny kitchen after tiny kitchen had me reconsidering how to make the most of my space that was allotted. Much of the time I am cutting generic product that is maybe 2 inches long (lemons, Brussels) or perhaps 5 inches (bell peppers onions tomatoes) and I did start to feel a certain benefit for sizing down to suit the size of the product. Maybe it’s just me but I found more accuracy not using 270mm of edge to cut something 2-5inches long on the board.
Spent a decade in the 240mm space. Then Sakai knives (225-230mm) started to make me rethink even the efficiency of the 240mm size. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. Kato standard began to feel like an extension of my hand. Anything more felt unnecessary and almost baggage much of the time.
Now my last 2 purchases have been 210mm gyutos (Denka and Catcheside). Throw out all other attributes of those 2 knives…the smaller size helps me quite a bit do things with a more surgical approximation that I found more difficult to do with larger knives. Particularly anything that involves much more tip work.
Still bring 270mm, couple 240mm, couple 210mm to work daily as part of a rotation. Task at hand decides the size I want to use. 270mm definitely serves a roll still but I reach for it a lot less.
Not sure there is a good one size fits all knife size. But I do think the way one decides a gyuto size probably should have a lot to do with the size of the majority of stuff you’re cutting. Same way proper Deba and Yanagiba size is determined if I’m not mistaken.
When I started my jknife journey I was for the most part a 270mm absolutist. Can’t really qualify now exactly why I felt that way but I’ll try anyway. More edge=more edge contact against the board during the cut , more cutting motion, longer cuts to be made, perhaps less approximation necessary, plowing all day is a lot of fun.
Overtime the real world caught up with me. Tiny kitchen after tiny kitchen had me reconsidering how to make the most of my space that was allotted. Much of the time I am cutting generic product that is maybe 2 inches long (lemons, Brussels) or perhaps 5 inches (bell peppers onions tomatoes) and I did start to feel a certain benefit for sizing down to suit the size of the product. Maybe it’s just me but I found more accuracy not using 270mm of edge to cut something 2-5inches long on the board.
Spent a decade in the 240mm space. Then Sakai knives (225-230mm) started to make me rethink even the efficiency of the 240mm size. Not all the time, but a lot of the time. Kato standard began to feel like an extension of my hand. Anything more felt unnecessary and almost baggage much of the time.
Now my last 2 purchases have been 210mm gyutos (Denka and Catcheside). Throw out all other attributes of those 2 knives…the smaller size helps me quite a bit do things with a more surgical approximation that I found more difficult to do with larger knives. Particularly anything that involves much more tip work.
Still bring 270mm, couple 240mm, couple 210mm to work daily as part of a rotation. Task at hand decides the size I want to use. 270mm definitely serves a roll still but I reach for it a lot less.
Not sure there is a good one size fits all knife size. But I do think the way one decides a gyuto size probably should have a lot to do with the size of the majority of stuff you’re cutting. Same way proper Deba and Yanagiba size is determined if I’m not mistaken.