No Serious Desire for Gyutos/Most Knifes Now

Shop Knives and stones on ebay
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
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.
Click to expand...
I too, am willing to take one for the team, if someone has a killer knife they no longer feel the need to own:). It must be a NoVA thing.
 
The crappy Paudin knives I have are getting a new lease on life. With the Shapton whetstones I am laying down edges on them they never had out of the box. Still don't like them at least they are sharp. I have a nephew who cooks I might give them too him.
 
I am off and on with the hobby. Won't look at knives for a while and then something hits the gram or BST here that gets me and I will try it out.

I think I have 15 at this point and will probably never have more than 20 as that is the space I am allotted by my better half but that is also way more than anyone needs anyway in home use. Hard to keep a good rotation going with the ones I have now anyway.
 
panda said:
my mizuno has better grind but morihei better overall
Click to expand...
I should hope so for the price difference. TF Morihei's offer some of the best bang for buck performance out there. I'm actually enjoying blade road polishing now too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pie
OkayMode said:
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.
Click to expand...
I somehow attract engineers and lawyers as friends. Several of my engineer buddies are professional hobbyists and that sounded familiar. One in particular fit that mold perfectly.
 
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.
Click to expand...

Same here, I seem to get deep into a hobby for about 10 years before losing interest and shifting to a new one. I think for me it’s about the learning and picking up new skills.

I’m slowing down with the knife buying, but I think the knife hobby for me is more of an adjunct/outgrowth of my cooking hobby. The knife hobby is mostly collecting pretty things vs learning new things at this point.
 
panda said:
listening to 8d recordings make me nauseous lol
Click to expand...
Question Mark What GIF by MOODMAN
 
Delat said:
I think for me it’s about the learning and picking up new skills.
Click to expand...
For me at least, this is the key to longevity for a hobby. I enjoy things where there are no shortcuts to mastery.

panda said:
look up 8d recordings. it's said to be calming for neurodivergents, helps them focus or something. where as drives me insane.
Click to expand...
If I ever got locked up in Guantanamo Bay and they blasted Brown Noise into my jail cell, I’d be chilling 😎
 
After going through the discussion, I think I will want to try some western makers and not be in a rush to get one (gyutos specifically). If I get one and I don't like it, I can sell it off. If I do like it, then I sell off one of the other knives to keep my collection consolidated. Thanks for the comments y'all, I was able to get a better perspective and where people are at on this hobby. I will probably need to make a new post as well to find the more ideal western makers for my preference.
 
Mariner said:
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.
Click to expand...
If there was a golden era I think it was before 2019... when stuff was a lot cheaper. Especially for Europeans when we still had a far more favorable euro to dollar exchange rate. But I think most of what you see is just the 'natural progression'. People discover the hobby...explore the spectrum, and eventually settle on things they like and eventually call it a day. Even 10 years ago you saw people go through that cycle.

Although I do think that the last couple of years things have become less fun; prices have skyrocketed, half the knives have become rarities that have to be hunted down because they aren't in stock... and then on top of that we have this giant axe trend where more and more makers are doing 60mm tall 300 gram monstrosities with re-upcycled wrought trashbin cladding.
 
Jovidah said:
If there was a golden era I think it was before 2019... when stuff was a lot cheaper. Especially for Europeans when we still had a far more favorable euro to dollar exchange rate. But I think most of what you see is just the 'natural progression'. People discover the hobby...explore the spectrum, and eventually settle on things they like and eventually call it a day. Even 10 years ago you saw people go through that cycle.

Although I do think that the last couple of years things have become less fun; prices have skyrocketed, half the knives have become rarities that have to be hunted down because they aren't in stock... and then on top of that we have this giant axe trend where more and more makers are doing 60mm tall 300 gram monstrosities with re-upcycled wrought trashbin cladding.
Click to expand...
This post makes me want a half angry half happy reaction because you had me until the end of the post when your post quality violently self destructed with the blasphemy of properly heighted n weighted knives
 
Naftoor said:
This post makes me want a half angry half happy reaction because you had me until the end of the post when your post quality violently self destructed with the blasphemy of properly heighted n weighted knives
Click to expand...
It makes me want a wrought iron trash bin. Well, two. One for trash, and one to take to a knifemaker with very specific instructions.
 
Jovidah said:
re-upcycled wrought trashbin cladding.
Click to expand...
I’m sure this trend will die before too long as the price of quality natural stones for polishing climbs further and further out of reach and no one can afford to get into that part of the hobby anymore 🥲
 
Jovidah said:
Although I do think that the last couple of years things have become less fun; prices have skyrocketed, half the knives have become rarities that have to be hunted down because they aren't in stock... and then on top of that we have this giant axe trend where more and more makers are doing 60mm tall 300 gram monstrosities with re-upcycled wrought trashbin cladding.
Click to expand...
Excuse me fam, they're called "Workhorses" and the RSI you get halfway through a box of red potatoes is a feature, not a bug.
 
OkayMode said:
I’m sure this trend will die before too long as the price of quality natural stones for polishing climbs further and further out of reach and no one can afford to get into that part of the hobby anymore 🥲
Click to expand...
I think we're already at the point where artificial stones are more expensive than diamond stones?
And there I was 10 years ago thinking coticules were expensive because a proper 250x80 one was in the ballpark of a hundred euros...
 
I've recently sold off quite a lot of knives and reduced my stable of gyutos to just 2: A 230mm Takeda sasanoha and a Birch & Bevel 230mm carbon gyuto. The Takeda has superior food release and the B&B is awesome for denser stuff, and the 230mm length is really the sweet spot for me after trying so many things over the past few years.

I honestly don't want or need any more gyutos than these two now. They complete each other perfectly.
 
Jovidah said:
And there I was 10 years ago thinking coticules were expensive because a proper 250x80 one was in the ballpark of a hundred euros...
Click to expand...
Bleak!

To be fair though, that’s way bigger than you actually need for a stone imo, 150x60 feels like plenty of room still.
 
Mytola said:
I've recently sold off quite a lot of knives and reduced my stable of gyutos to just 2: A 230mm Takeda sasanoha and a Birch & Bevel 230mm carbon gyuto. The Takeda has superior food release and the B&B is awesome for denser stuff, and the 230mm length is really the sweet spot for me after trying so many things over the past few years.

I honestly don't want or need any more gyutos than these two now. They complete each other perfectly.
Click to expand...
Quitter! Anyone can find 2 gyutos that compliment each other making everything else not needed. Only the most dedicated of us took upon ourselves the herculean task of having 30+ and trying to figure out when to use which. I hope you are at least a little bit ashamed of yourself.
 
I got tired of gyutos and all the Japanese buzzwords. It all started when I realized tamahagane is really just poor quality pig iron that the Japanese made seem like precious metal. I realized that Hitachi steels are about as good as anything out of other countries and that I should not fall for fancy names like Aogami Super. It’s not better than ball bearing steel (52100). ApexUltra would wipe the floor with any Japanese steel. Traditional was just another name for unable or unwilling to change.

I’ve always liked knives but I only ramped up my collecting when I got bored of fancy watches. Not quite Rolex but Tudor and Nomos and GShock watches.

My latest knife is a zKramer Carbon 2.0 8” chef. Yes, I know it is a somewhat controversial series of knives. I bought it as a souvenir from a trip to Seattle. I drove up to Kramer knives in Bellingham. Chatted with Jess the store manager. I got to shake the hands of the Master Bladesmith himself. Chat for a few mins, handle the Queen Bee and a Wizard Key variant he was working on. Talked about what direction he was going with his work. Bob is a lovely human being and he’s just enjoying his time as an artist. He was a circus clown, and then a chef, a knife sharpener before finding his groove as a Bladesmith.

The custom Kramers have the same profile and feel as the licensed versions. Yes the Zwilling blades are thicker because the owners aren’t as careful and gentle on their knives. The Wizard Key Variant felt surreal. Either that or I was cognizent that I had a $20,000 knife in my hands. The Queen Bee felt like I was holding the Holy Grail in my hands. I was not allowed to touch the blade area as it has been finished. The balance felt ethereal …either that or I was high from meeting Bob.

I have lost my desire for most knives. I took a knife sharpening course last year. I plan to take another workshop this Summer.

I said most knives. There’s a good chance I’ll pick up a Steelport chefs knife if I do a Portland trip this year. Something from the factory if I find one that sings to me.

As stated earlier, I am finished with Gyuto and disingenuous Japanese marketing nonsense. My Denka no Hoto is indeed the sharpest knife I’ve ever owned but Teruyasu’s lackadaisical attitude towards finishing and customer service put me off. The internet abounds with stories of how poorly finished this line of blades is. But yet there is a certain draw with how they just handle.

I have put my name in for a custom Edward Mayhew knife which I will order next year for my 50th birthday. Apex Ultra, 9” chef’s knife with an S grind, ebony or ironwood handle, brass ferrule.

I also have my eye on some Peter Burt knives. I’m not a fan of pattern welded Damascus blades per se but he has some amazing crucible steel Wootz steel chef knives.
https://peterburtknives.com/available-work
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top