No Serious Desire for Gyutos/Most Knifes Now

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latetotheparty

latetotheparty

KKF Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2023
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Location
Texas
After I purchased some of the knives I wanted to get in the last year/year and half, I have lost my desire to try other Gyutos. The majority of the knives I have bought are tanaka steel with some myojin grind and I am happy with them. Sure the custom western makers like raquin, milan, etc. sound cool, but is it honestly that big of a performance difference? I am not sure if there is any more that I would need from bigger knives at this point (maybe different grinds?). The only thing I want to buy is a honesuki and maybe a smaller end petty/pairing knife. Is it worth going down this rabbit hole of finding the "perfect knife" for me?

I am probably more interested in sharpening and the whetstones as I could get better at it. However for those that really slowed down their collecting, was this for the case for you as well? After what point did you think it was enough for you?
 
Abandon all hope (of finding the perfect knife) ye who enter here.

Also, hey, welcome!

Also also, there are a LOT of western makers who I'm sure would make you a BANGIN' honesuki. I might suggest Blank Blades, off the top of my head. I seem to recall him making some stellar ones maybe last year. Maybe he can be persuaded to make another? Might be worth reaching out.
 
labor of love said:
I feel the same way. I’ve been at the point for the past year or so where I simply want to recollect the greatest hits of everything I’ve already tried and liked.
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Same. I wanna refill my working knife roll with the greatest hits, then play with new stuff when something really slick pops up. Unfortunately, most of my greatest hits had a lot of custom work done by Jon or Dave and were then sold off into the wilds of B/S/T, never to be seen again xD
 
latetotheparty said:
After I purchased some of the knives I wanted to get in the last year/year and half, I have lost my desire to try other Gyutos. The majority of the knives I have bought are tanaka steel with some myojin grind and I am happy with them. Sure the custom western makers like raquin, milan, etc. sound cool, but is it honestly that big of a performance difference? I am not sure if there is any more that I would need from bigger knives at this point (maybe different grinds?). The only thing I want to buy is a honesuki and maybe a smaller end petty/pairing knife. Is it worth going down this rabbit hole of finding the "perfect knife" for me?

I am probably more interested in sharpening and the whetstones as I could get better at it. However for those that really slowed down their collecting, was this for the case for you as well? After what point did you think it was enough for you?
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Less of finding something perfect and more of something different. Different steels (simple carbon vs stainless vs exotic steels), different clad styles (sanmai, warikomi, dama, monosteel, honyaki), different handle constructions (yo vs wa), different profiles, etc.

It's the new things keep the hobby fresh.
 
Have you considered Prozac? No, seriously, I'm not exactly where you are, but I am in a place in which it takes a whole lot of alignment with my goals to get me to spring for a knife above a certain price.

A few weeks ago, I happened to be up early, and caught the exact moment when I could have been the one to buy a knife I'd have jumped on with both feet 6 months ago. It was a maker whose work I do not have, and is perhaps No. 1 on my curiosity list. It was the perfect size for me.

I didn't buy. Even more weirdly, I slept perfectly fine that night, and subsequent nights. The idea has crept in that I do not need an example from every maker whose work I think I would really like.

Or maybe I was just broke.
 
Whether it's worth it is completely subjective IMO. For me personally, I've been back in some other old hobbies that were on "hiatus" and so I feel less inclined to hunt for the "perfect" knife since I'd rather spend the funds elsewhere. (E.g. I recently picked up a restaurant grade wok burner and another Nikon FM3A since I missed the feeling of film.) There are some knives that I have on my bucket list (e.g. crazy wrought custom, custom yo-chuka) but I don't feel in a rush to chase them since my other knives still hit the spot for the most part (i.e. no gyuto can match the heft and gravity of a chuka but said gyuto do 99% of everything I need to do).

I suppose what I said is sort of similar to what you mentioned re. sharpening and whetstones except mine is for different hobbies. (I've tried finishing and whatnot but it's not exactly my cup of tea.) At what point did I think it was enough? Hmm... I would say part of it was the economic outlook (i.e. niche hobbies like this one have slowed down market-wise => knives that I try take longer and longer to sell == less trying and buying unless it is super tempting) + simply finding what worked for me. I never really cared about the art/museum level pieces (e.g. Hinoura RIver Jump, Ashi Honyaki) but my collection is one that suits my preferences and what I look for in a knife. There's plenty of interesting knives that I'd like to try (e.g. some westerns) but nowadays it's really more of "is it tempting enough that the space + funds is warranted for this new knife"?
 
If you're happy with the knives you already own, then you're in a good spot - imo. I personally think the buying part is the smallest one in this hobby.
Sharpening and properly maintaining the knives is a way bigger investment and - at least to me - brings me more joy, since I can see my progress and can get better at it, as you said.
Buying is a couple clicks and hopping through BST or various shops.
I guess we all take this journey differently and the collecting part slowed down significantly for me after I received my Shihan, simply because it made me ignore the rest of my drawer for a couple weeks lol.

That being said, I still cross my fingers for every Bidinger or Kamon newsletter that shows up.... ;)
 
latetotheparty said:
After I purchased some of the knives I wanted to get in the last year/year and half, I have lost my desire to try other Gyutos. The majority of the knives I have bought are tanaka steel with some myojin grind and I am happy with them. Sure the custom western makers like raquin, milan, etc. sound cool, but is it honestly that big of a performance difference? I am not sure if there is any more that I would need from bigger knives at this point (maybe different grinds?). The only thing I want to buy is a honesuki and maybe a smaller end petty/pairing knife. Is it worth going down this rabbit hole of finding the "perfect knife" for me?

I am probably more interested in sharpening and the whetstones as I could get better at it. However for those that really slowed down their collecting, was this for the case for you as well? After what point did you think it was enough for you?
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Your thoughts are as old as this and previous forums. I think I felt the same way in 2012. Here I still am. You are not alone.
 
Definitely not alone! I started doing my thing when it comes to hobbies which is tons of research in 2019/2020. In 2020-2022 I started buying an insane amount of knives (I now need to sell some to make space which is a pain). It let me find what I liked, and some real gems. In 2023 I’ve moved into the world of exclusively ordering customs. It’s a different, more frustrating, more interesting process. I’m finding it’s the only thing that gets my interest in buying knives flowing again. Otherwise what I have is… fine. It’s not perfect, but I’ve accepted it doesn’t have to be and probably never will. The only knives I would add if I could would be a honesuki and a mega horse gyuto both in a high carbon Wootz. My mega horse is my go to knife, and I love the wootz in my cleaver, and honesukis are probably my second most used knife. Beyond that I look at BST posting with knives I would have drooled at a few years ago and go ‘eh’. I should say my collection is unchanged since then, just my interest. Most of my knife interest has redirected itself to espresso and grinders. Knowing my history I expect it to do that for 1-2 years, acquire my end game for it get bored and repivot to a new hobby.

If your prior interest in knives has gone SOMEWHERE whether it’s elsewhere into the hobby or into a different hobby I think there’s nothing wrong with that. Hobbies are different things to different people. Some people dive into one for decades at a time. Others dabble in multiple at a time. I deep dive one for a year, acquire what I want out of it then cycle to a new one. All they are is a way to keep your brain engaged and stimulated. To give you puzzles to work over, problems to solve generally with some form of physical reward whether that’s admiring the tool for the hobby or a mental jolt from using the tool.

If your interest has completely disappeared and not gone anywhere, or disappeared from other things as well then as others said it may be time to talk to someone.
 
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Naftoor said:
If your interest has completely disappeared and not gone anywhere, or disappeared from other things as well then as others said it may be time to talk to someone.
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“I used to be super into psychotherapy, as many as six paid sessions a week. I’ve spent thousands. But lately my interest has been waning, down to one or even none.”

“Oh dear, that sounds serious. Let’s see if we can cure that.”
 
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I've heard similar things from many people who first gained serious interest back in 2019-2021. It may be as simple as things cooling down economically and the market catching up. In that sense, it seems a golden era has passed and so people lose interest and move on elsewhere.

That's a fairly common trend - I'm certain folks look back to similar eras before like 2008-2013 or the Tokugawa Shogunate.
 
I was getting to the same point but all of the sudden this year I've tried a couple of knives that kick started my interest again. Lucid knives large workhorse gyuto was the first workhorse that I have liked and now its changed my thoughts on smaller knives. OEL Kitchen knives cutting ability along with food release is making me want to try other geometry. Bidinger, not really much else to say here but holy sh!t does he make an incredible knife.
 
With my incoming custom, I've hit saturation with number of knives. I'll still buy them, but it's one in, one out from this point. This happened with my Japanese knives a little more than a year ago. After Japanese I started building a western maker collection, but put guard rails around it limiting to one knife per country with 9 countries represented. Sure I'd still like to try a Milan, and if I like it more than my Yanick, the Yanick get's sold, so on and so forth.
 
You know, if Benjamin Franklin were a knife nerd, he might propose the idea of a KKF Internet Lending Library: half online museum, half passaround depot, open to members willing to stake a deposit on loans, but mostly an archive akin to the Library of Congress, with a twist: as with a whiskey club, you keep a bottle or ten with your name on it, on a shelf, out of the house, away from the eyes of you-know-who.
 
So I was an EDC knife guy/collector and had some requisite Shuns to say I was interested in kitchen knives too (this was 15ish years ago). I had actually gotten a 6 kitchen knife rotation, but I didn't know what I didn't know. I went with something safe because it was honestly pretty overwhelming. I was an active member on forums, yada yada, fully in. I was even deeper into EDC knives, than kitchen. Caused the same marital problems too. My collecting ebbed and flowed, sometimes it took something to pique my interest again.

I casually joined the chefknife subreddit and accidentally set push notification to 'on'. I kept getting notifications of NKD this and NKD that. I was largely annoyed, but then one day, someone posted a knife, I don't even remember what it was, but it awoke that hole in my soul that could only be filled by sharp things. From that point on, I was a goner. I got a Y. Kurosaki Senko and was blown away. Granted, I had an Akifusa laser, but this was a whole new level of grind. This got me even more on-board. I soon found myself looking for my next purchase. Soon, my collections was always' N + 1.' I got a few more from online shops and then I found out about these forums and the 2ndary market. I wasted no time and got a Nordquist and an Adonis forge and I was lost after that. I actually started collecting westerns before I started collecting Japanese knives.

Since then, I have been consuming knives and selling some. It's been a little much. I was on a quest to find the what I liked the best. It may not necessarily be what everyone else likes. Well, turns out (again!) that I am not unique and definitely not special. I am materialistic to a degree and like buying stuff. I have several closets overflowing with shoes, belts, and clothes. I found I follow a similar pattern in getting stuff that I am invested (pun intended) in. I rarely get a few really exceptional pieces, but I get a lot of really great pieces. I like quality & quantity, so I rarely get the nicest of things, but I get a ton of pretty damn nice things. It isn't any cheaper.

I was also really into endurance sports during this whole time. It took up a lot of time and helped me with my mental health. I was doing anywhere from 5-20 hours per week, depending on the season. I've lost that love but I needed to do something with my time otherwise I was going to be in a lot of trouble. That's when I got the idea that I could make a knife. These are just people doing it and I am a people too. So I started taking a blacksmithing course and signed up for a knife making class. Well, I went and broke my rt. hand and had to take a break, and I was just getting started. I was really itching to do something. Part of knifemaking is handle making and I have bought a knife based on a handle before, I love an awesome handle. So I decided I would at least start learning that. (**Sidenote: I am deliberately avoiding Jnats because, well because of the paragraphs above, I'd get sucked in). A forum member here was getting out of the handle game and I bought all of his materials and I have made 3 handles so far.

TLDR; everybody ebbs and flows. We are here for the same and different reasons. Myself included, I think there are many here that wish they could say they are satisfied with their lot and be done with it.
 
Naftoor said:
Definitely not alone! I started doing my thing when it comes to hobbies which is tons of research in 2019/2020. In 2020-2022 I started buying an insane amount of knives (I now need to sell some to make space which is a pain). It let me find what I liked, and some real gems. In 2023 I’ve moved into the world of exclusively ordering customs. It’s a different, more frustrating, more interesting process. I’m finding it’s the only thing that gets my interest in buying knives flowing again. Otherwise what I have is… fine. It’s not perfect, but I’ve accepted it doesn’t have to be and probably never will. The only knives I would add if I could would be a honesuki and a mega horse gyuto both in a high carbon Wootz. My mega horse is my go to knife, and I love the wootz in my cleaver, and honesukis are probably my second most used knife. Beyond that I look at BST posting with knives I would have drooled at a few years ago and go ‘eh’. I should say my collection is unchanged since then, just my interest. Most of my knife interest has redirected itself to espresso and grinders. Knowing my history I expect it to do that for 1-2 years, acquire my end game for it get bored and repivot to a new hobby.

If your prior interest in knives has gone SOMEWHERE whether it’s elsewhere into the hobby or into a different hobby I think there’s nothing wrong with that. Hobbies are different things to different people. Some people dive into one for decades at a time. Others dabble in multiple at a time. I deep dive one for a year, acquire what I want out of it then cycle to a new one. All they are is a way to keep your brain engaged and stimulated. To give you puzzles to work over, problems to solve generally with some form of physical reward whether that’s admiring the tool for the hobby or a mental jolt from using the tool.

If your interest has completely disappeared and not gone anywhere, or disappeared from other things as well then as others said it may be time to talk to someone.
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Very well stated @Naftoor. I once had a friend tell me that pursuing hobbies is my actual hobby. I guess I'm not alone.
 
Koop said:
I once had a friend tell me that pursuing hobbies is my actual hobby. I guess I'm not alone.
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I have been referred to as a ‘serial hobbyist’ in the past but I quite like the label.

Every time I pick something new up, I keep at it until I attain a decent degree of skill and/or competence, then I get to keep that and broaden out into something else new.

Not a bad way to spend your free time to be honest, although it’s far too easy to get sucked into acquiring the cool, shiny stuff that comes with it.
 
OkayMode said:
I have been referred to as a ‘serial hobbyist’ in the past but I quite like the label.

Every time I pick something new up, I keep at it until I attain a decent degree of skill and/or competence, then I get to keep that and broaden out into something else new.

Not a bad way to spend your free time to be honest, although it’s far too easy to get sucked into acquiring the cool, shiny stuff that comes with it.
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Are you an engineer by chance?
 
pitted_soul said:
Are you an engineer by chance?
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Far from it!

I am neurodivergent though, so perhaps there’s some crossover with the kind of traits you might see in your typical engineer.
 
I definitely can relate to the OP. How many gyutos does one need? For me, the answer is 'a few'. Thanks to group buys, and other special opportunities I got to the point this past year where 4-6 (10-12?) knives have to live on the counter, as the blocks and overflow drawer are all full. Isn't that, well, crazy?

I know I am not unique. There are plenty of other KKFers who also realize some degree of sanity must be reestablished. And it's tough to do alone! I think it can help a lot if we all support each other in keeping a proper perspective. We need to be more sane! And we need to be more fiscally responsible!

It is this sense of duty and obligation to other KKFers that led me to make the ultimate sacrifice. A few days ago when DT posted an apex ultra gyuto FS on IG, I immediately threw myself 'on the grenade' to save the rest of you. It was painful. It was bloody. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to benefit my KKF brethren.

I only hope that other KKFers will be inspired by this, and will also step up in the future and take one for the team in order to keep us all sane and grounded.
 
WildBoar said:
I definitely can relate to the OP. How many gyutos does one need? For me, the answer is 'a few'. Thanks to group buys, and other special opportunities I got to the point this past year where 4-6 (10-12?) knives have to live on the counter, as the blocks and overflow drawer are all full. Isn't that, well, crazy?

I know I am not unique. There are plenty of other KKFers who also realize some degree of sanity must be reestablished. And it's tough to do alone! I think it can help a lot if we all support each other in keeping a proper perspective. We need to be more sane! And we need to be more fiscally responsible!

It is this sense of duty and obligation to other KKFers that led me to make the ultimate sacrifice. A few days ago when DT posted an apex ultra gyuto FS on IG, I immediately threw myself 'on the grenade' to save the rest of you. It was painful. It was bloody. But it was a sacrifice I was willing to make to benefit my KKF brethren.

I only hope that other KKFers will be inspired by this, and will also step up in the future and take one for the team in order to keep us all sane and grounded.
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You are our hero and the shinning light in this dark and cold world of sharp steel. Thank you for your sacrifice and for being a beacon worthy of following🙏.
 
As someone who’s never actually sold any of my collection, plus a low budget.. yeah there’s a point where you slow down. I don’t think I’ll ever really be desperate for better performance, but it’s fun to try new weird knives out. Gyuto I think I’d only buy if something irresistible became available. Maybe a Miyazaki wrought hakata, something like that.

Most of my recent purchases (last few years) have been random one off single bevels I’m more collecting than using properly. Cool stuff, if you will.

I’ve found jnats to be a constant pull for me though. They’re like the little mystery boxes that I like to buy my kids - a bit of a gamble each time. 100-1000x the cost yes, but also lots to play with and learn with each stone. I also like the idea of each one being unique, and to find a slabmate wouldn’t even guarantee the same results.
 
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