Top 5 affordable White Steel #1 gyutos

[mainaman]

I was/am considering breaking the bank and getting a custom Carter but that last part about all of your Carters' knives having the handle come off at one time or another really bothers me.

You can get a custom Shigefusa instead, the steel is superb, the geometry is superb, the knives are really top notch.

 

[Lefty]

They are beautiful knives, as well, but if you want a Carter, there's a good chance you'll always want THAT knife.
It's one of those tough decisions...do you go with the knife you've been lusting after, or do you go a different direction to what is perhaps an even nicer knife, but something quite different?

 

[SpikeC]

Buy American!

 

[Lefty]

...or Canadian

 

[SpikeC]

Carter may have been born in Canada, butt he is an Oregonian now!

 

[Noodle Soup]

About those traditional rat tail tang knife handles. I've had Watanabe, Shigefusa and a number of lesser name knives' handles come off too. On one of the other forums, I was told it was my own fault for "dropping" my knives back into the block. I can see where a handle that isn't secured by anything but friction would eventually be driven backwards to the point it came lose. The question is why don't they add a drop or two of epoxy to all of them? On the up side, I discovered I could reverse one of those stupid right hand D handles on my Shigefusa and thus make a left-handed knife out of it!

 

[Lefty]

I'll give you and ONLY you that, Spike!

 

[UglyJoe]

I like knives with easy to remove Wa handles. Makes it easier to polish them back to a high finish if you are into that.

 

[Noodle Soup]

I've read that the Japanese don't expect the handle to last the entire life of the knife, thus they would like them to be easily replaceable. That might be true in the wet environment of the Tsukiji fish market but I don't really see my handles wearing out before the blade.