Stainless 210mm work horse gyuto +- $250 ?

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ayumi_ishida

ayumi_ishida

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Love my Anryu 210 Blue 2 wa gyuto and been exploring with the help of this forum options for other types of gyuto .
I think the Anryu is all the gyuto I'll ever need but I'd like to try other types for fun .
For a laser I'm leaning toward Gesshin Ginga 210 stainless yo or wa . And when available this is what I'll probably get .
I'm aware the 210 wa is shorter / not as tall , and that's ok .

What are some go-to stainless 210 work horse gyuto yo/wa ? +-$250 .

Right handed home cook , living in Hawaii , seeking for general use , slicing & chopping vegetables , slicing meat , on a Hasegawa soft cutting board and learning to sharpen my own .
 
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ayumi_ishida said:
Not a laser ?
As a home cook by work horse I mean durable and easy to maintain .
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I think then by your definition it’s possible you’re moreso looking more for a beater? I feel my understanding of a workhorse is a robust, heavier, more substantial blade usually has more convexity/food release properties and has a more aggressive forward balance and does more of the work in powering through less intricate prep tasks.
 
ayumi_ishida said:
Not a laser ?
As a home cook by work horse I mean durable and easy to maintain .
Click to expand...
If you’re looking for a durable and easy to maintain knife, the gesshin ginga stainless will be fantastic so you don’t need another knife. If you’re looking for a thicker and heavier knife, the recommendations above are good!
 
Blumbo said:
I think then by your definition it’s possible you’re moreso looking more for a beater? I feel my understanding of a workhorse is a robust, heavier, more substantial blade usually has more convexity/food release properties and has a more aggressive forward balance and does more of the work in powering through less intricate prep tasks.
Click to expand...
I'll take one of those too .
 
Blumbo said:
I think then by your definition it’s possible you’re moreso looking more for a beater? I feel my understanding of a workhorse is a robust, heavier, more substantial blade usually has more convexity/food release properties and has a more aggressive forward balance and does more of the work in powering through less intricate prep tasks.
Click to expand...
ayumi_ishida said:
I'll take one of those too .
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The problem is that you're not going to really find this type of geometry in a fully stainless knife at your price point. Kaeru SS is probably the most robust you will find in a decent steel at under $250. Maybe Heiji SS if you order direct, depending on his current pricing.

If you are interested in fully reactive carbon, you open up more choices. But for low cost stainless "workhorse", it's gonna be limited.
 
So workhorse as described by Blumbo is tricky as you'll struggle to find that within the budget... There's some more affordable options like Mazaki and Munetoshi but they're pretty much the opposite of stainless.

But if you're looking for a beater - something you can really abuse for the heavy duty jobs, like working your way through frozen meat, chocolate and other nasty stuff you might not want to expose your better knife to... I'd actually spend less.

Just wait for a sale to grab a German on the cheap (like a Zwilling), or get one of the more affordable brands like Arcos or Victorinox. I'm sure there's some US alternative/equivalent to those kind of brands.
I'd also go longer. IMO in the kitchen axe category it makes sense to go a bit bigger.

If you insist on Japanese for a beater I'd probably just go for something like a Fujiwara FKM.
 
Shigeki Tanaka ginsan is a great all-rounder. It's a workhorse in the "do it all with no fuss and holds up well" workhorse category rather than what the community might call a Workhorse as in beefy convex ground thick spined kitchen tractor. But the Tanaka fits your bill well, sharpens like a dream, solid midweight that's stiff and can break down a butternut with the best of them. Very reasonably priced.
 
The nice thing about the Shigeki Tanakas is that price doesn't go up much when you go up in size. So if you want to try a 270 it's actually one of the cheapest ones.
 
Although i think the Kaeru is one of your best options i will throw in some more.
Had a MAC pro that served me well for heavy tasks. Softer steel but plenty sharp and super easy to maintain. Blade had good thickness but the grind never had a problem going through dense stuff.
Misono 440 should be good too but never had one.

If you want a knife with some meat, Hitohira has the TD SLD series and new? Imojiya TH silver series. Have not seen a review of these so i would maybe only recommend if you are fine working on them yourself should they be too thick or perform poorly out of the box.
 
NAKAMURA Red 210

It is my first game and the best first one in my mind.

Almost all my friends that took this advice are satisfied.
 
blokey said:
Takamura… Nakamura are other smiths, Takamura red handle is in no way workhorse by any definition
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Thanks for correction!
For the workhorse part, I took it as sole game when I did part-time working in bistros.

No complaint on general opinion, it has been my work horse.
 
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