Looking at the site they are probably too small for him
All Rectangle March?
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Using once again the Moritaka AS nakiri 180mm for lunch prep:
Hualicopter
Well-Known Member
All these Nakiris in the classified are tempting me... Any thoughts on the Mazaki and Watanabe vs saving a bit more and going with a new Shindo? Poor food release is one of the things that bothers me the most on my Zwilling so the Mazaki is looking attractive, but I'm sure the Watanabe can't be that far behind.
For the money, it's really hard to go wrong with a Shindo, especially as a first "real" nakiri. The first cut you take will cause that Zwilling to throw itself in the trash.
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tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
The kkf way is to buy all of them to cut up one carrot to compare. Keep the winner and sell the rest.
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The KKF way is to buy all of them to cut up one carrot to compare. And then you either keep them all, or sell the rest saying they’re probably the best cutters you’ve ever had…
Haha….had to go out to buy some carrots to do just that! My knife to carrot ratio is out of balanceThe KKF way is to buy all of them to cut up one carrot to compare. And then you either keep them all, or sell the rest saying they’re probably the best cutters you’ve ever had…
: 
Hualicopter
Well-Known Member
Does it make me a bad boyfriend if I hand me down the Zwilling to my girlfriend? Maybe I need to buy two Nakiris to figure out which one I want and give her the second hahah.For the money, it's really hard to go wrong with a Shindo, especially as a first "real" nakiri. The first cut you take will cause that Zwilling to throw itself in the trash.
A new Shindo is 100% your best bang for buck and will outcut the Mazaki (I'm a Mazaki fan boy too). The Wat is a closer competition at 180 mm but if it's the 165 one I think I'd still take a Shindo. Shindo's have good food release as they have a subtle forged S-grind, though Wat and Maz both have great food release too. The Maz will have the worst edge retention of the 3.
If you care about stainless cladding, Watanabe has that and will be the lowest maintenance. Very good steel. His aogami is a bit harder than Shindo's but in edge retention I'm not sure I notice a difference. Shindo will be better on hard dense stuff like sweet potatoes than either. The Watanabe nakiris are the "gold standard" because they're just exceptional all-rounders and do everything well, but aren't perfect specialists. Mine isn't great for butternut or sweet potatoes whereas the Shindo zips through those.
Hualicopter
Well-Known Member
I get information overload from that
I've spent a lot of time browsing there. I think the only name I recognize from there is the Okubo that @SwampDonkey had shown. Thanks! I think the Shindo is the way to go then since the Wat in BST is a 165. I think I am fairly good about maintaining my knives so not too worried about it. Hearing that the Shindo is better with hard dense stuff is exactly what I want since chopping up sweet potatoes is probably one of the most aggravating things for me to do. Is there a recommended site to get the Shindo from? I see CKTG has a Shindo in SRK8 and Miura has it in Aogami #2.
You definitely want his aogami.I get information overload from that
Thanks! I think the Shindo is the way to go then since the Wat in BST is a 165. I think I am fairly good about maintaining my knives so not too worried about it. Hearing that the Shindo is better with hard dense stuff is exactly what I want since chopping up sweet potatoes is probably one of the most aggravating things for me to do. Is there a recommended site to get the Shindo from? I see CKTG has a Shindo in SRK8 and Miura has it in Aogami #2.
Tokushu gives us 15% off with KKF15 because they're awesome. I recommend getting the blade only and also grabbing a rosewood handle from them, Zack will install for free. The stock handle is garbage, gets slippery when wet.
https://tokushuknife.com/search?q=shindo&options[prefix]=last
I get information overload from that
Thanks! I think the Shindo is the way to go then since the Wat in BST is a 165. I think I am fairly good about maintaining my knives so not too worried about it. Hearing that the Shindo is better with hard dense stuff is exactly what I want since chopping up sweet potatoes is probably one of the most aggravating things for me to do. Is there a recommended site to get the Shindo from? I see CKTG has a Shindo in SRK8 and Miura has it in Aogami #2.
You won't recognize many knives/names on Knife Japan. For the most part, these aren't the "it" smiths that are the darlings of the forum. These are small craftsmen making mostly rustic but good performing kitchen tools. I really like both my Homi and Sasaoka from KJ.
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The KKF way is to buy all of them to cut up one carrot to compare. And then you either keep them all, or sell the rest as BNIB, never sharpened, saying they’re probably the best cutters you’ve ever had…
First, give her the Zwilling to use. Then let her try your new one. Then, fingers crossed
, buy yourself 3 more knives. 1 to replace it, 2 as a reward for getting someone into knives.Hualicopter
Well-Known Member
That's sweet! OOS right now, but I love the idea of just swapping the handle immediately so I'll hold out for that.
How do you know which ones to choose with the wide variety of prices? Or is it basically just a gamble? I guess I struggle to see why one is worth significantly more than another when they have the same metal. Or just go off of aesthetics?
So again, I don't get hung up on price. I typically do not use that as a top indicator of the product. There's a LOT of nuance going on there. For example, Okubo is on the higher end of Michael's offerings. Those are substantial knives so they use more metal and take more effort and are done by a very small shop as compared to say Yashima which are smaller knives and made by a conglomerate.
Steel type only tells us so much as well as heat treats can and do vary quite a bit and bring more or less of different attributes. For example, Unshu Yukimitsu is lauded for producing some of the best shirogami to be found any where. But you don't see that name bantered about the forum very often. But you do see Fujiwara being praised for great shirogami that is often buried under shoddy F&F and worse ginds. But those knives command two to three times the price of a Yukimitsu.
There's just a lot that goes into pricing.
Now, for sure, the majority of the knives on KJ are rustic which means the spines and choils will have sharp edges, the handles often have plastic ferrules, etc. But those things are easily remedied.
What I generally do is first find a knife I like the specs on, then I see if there's a competing one in a steel I like better, then I start whittling it down until I decide on one. Heck, when I took my first shot on a Homi 165, it was just Michael's description of him that won me over. At these prices, risks are a lot easier to take.
I've purchased numerous knives from Michael and only the Yashima nakiri disappointed me. I still think it was an anomaly as the specs were wildly different than anything listed on the site.
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Glad it arrived safely! And gets to be used
tostadas
Hobbyist / Craftsman
For good stainless option you can get one of the Harukaze g3 from cktg. The 165mm is $99, and is probably identical to tsunehisa Ginsan nashiji, with a nicer handle.
Hualicopter
Well-Known Member
Very helpful to see how you narrow it down!!! Thanks!
We all know bacon is awesome but did you know it's also a vegetable?!
Rejoice vegans.
Rejoice vegans.
I hope it's....ripe....er....We all know bacon is awesome but did you know it's also a vegetable?!
View attachment 310266
Rejoice vegans.
I sliced some vegetables with my nakiri for st patties day:
(Previously posted)
(Previously posted)
Finishing up on the Loaded Jo-Jo's (wedges) with garlic aioli.
I mean, if done correctly, beef should be made out of 100% vegetable matter. You are what you eat. Ipso facto, Beef is vegan.
Now you're on the right track!
