Trending Larger or Smaller?

[kiefer]

Home cook here. I'm definitely trending towards smaller knives.

My 240 knives tend to stay in the rack. My most used knife is a 180 Watanabe gyuto. Really great knife.

 

[rick alen]

Smaller knives just suit the way I do most of my cutting.

In the not so distant future I'll probably do a kind of review/comparison of various smaller all-purpose knives, since they don't really get as much attention. Perhaps a little teaser?

OT but how do you rate the edge properties of the Takamura to the Carter?


Rick

 

[Mingooch]

Home cook here, but will take a 270 any day of the week. Rarely reach for anything else

 

[easy13]

180 - Yoshikane SKD Hammered Gyuto

 

[panda]

don't like dinky knives, but at home use a little one cause it doesnt take up much space.

 

[XooMG]

OT but how do you rate the edge properties of the Takamura to the Carter?

This is something I'm going to describe in more detail when I do my reviews, but I think there are few surprises, unless one is suckered by hyperbole. Powdered stainless requires a little more work to get a great edge on, but holds a good edge for a fairly long time.

Admittedly I don't really notice night-day differences in my knives' edge longevity or in maximum attainable sharpness, and therefore don't give them so much emphasis.

 

[Richard78]

I am a home cook and I always use a 240, even though my kitchen isn't that big.

 

[TurdMuffin]

I vastly prefer 240 over 210 for most stuff, but I like having my 210 be more of a tougher/workhorse knife. I wouldn't want to go any smaller unless I was really pressed for space

 

[Jordanp]

Personally I prefer using my 210 gyuto or 180 santoku at work for most tasks espically when on the line, unless I need to prep tons of stuff then its time for the 240's.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

don't like dinky knives, but at home use a little one cause it doesnt take up much space.

Even at work would see some guys using small knives, 240mm my favorite, however also kept a 270 in my kit for some jobs. Have a large endgrain at home mostly still use the 240mm

 

[matt79]

Back in the day I had 210mm as my main prep knife ,when I switched to 240s it was areal eureka moment have never looked back.But I have recently switched from 300mm yanagi to a 240 during service and that really works for me.At home I have tons of space,so I dont have to limit myself there.

 

[mhpr262]

I have two 210mm gyutos and they are nice to work with for some stuff (well, one at least, the other is kept in pristine unused condition) but in general I do find them a bit too dainty (6'3'' guy here). They would be great for most women though.

I mostly favour the 240-260mm blades, large enough for most anything and you don't need to pump much when rock-chopping (I mostly use German steel)

 

[Pig-pen]

I work in a detail-oriented tasting menu place, and I use a 210mm "laser" gyuto every day. I never need more length, and the low height and close tip allow for very fine work. I've tried longer and thicker knives, but it feels like using a hunting knife when you need a scalpel.

 

[Matus]

I am a home cook and while I did replace 210 gyuto with 240 because I found the 210 a bit too short for slicing, my most used knife is Carter Funayuki 167 mm (which I love dearly). Had it been 180 it would be optimal, but 167 works perfectly well. I only reach for different/smaller knife for specific tasks.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

In my older age deff. trended to lighter motorcycles.

 

[menzaremba]

Started off with 210mm and moved to 240mm. I have some lovely 270mm knives, buy I'm too short to use them effectively.

 

[XooMG]

Just received two of my small knives back from rehandling.

135mm Zakuri funayuki:

This knife is just wicked awesome. Light and well balanced to feel like a kitchen scalpel, it is the kind of knife that makes you look for stuff to cut. With the bevels tweaked a bit, it's one of my best (and I think I have some good stuff). 135mm of course is on the shorter end, but it's such a brilliant little knife, I choose it over larger knives even for tasks out of its normal domain.

Carter 150ish funayuki:

I don't have a huge amount of experience with this knife, but look at how sleek that handle is...it's practically a tang condom. The knife balances very nicely and feels alive in the hand. The size is excellent for the majority of kitchen tasks, and I think the profile is pretty good for general use. As a home user, these knives sit easily on my cramped kitchen counter or around the board without me worrying about bumping it or smacking the ege into something.

I actually think my ideal "all-purpose" range is 170-180mm, but smaller knives like these are awesome for some tasks, and sometimes stretching a bit longer is a good idea.

 

[29palms]

Mostly 225 - 240 or 10" carbon as I have the board space. I used to use 270's, but they really are big. I have a 165mm Carter Funayuki that I use the most it's the perfect small knife. Next busiest knife is my Del paring knife I love that thing.

 

[Benuser]

If space is limited I prefer a 190mm santoku over a 210mm gyuto, but otherwise I like a somewhat blade-heavy 270mm gyuto on a low working table. My grip has moved a bit forward. No chopping, no walking please.

 

[slowtyper]

In my experience, in professional environments I've been in, 270 is considered huge.

 

[Chevalivier]

My oldest knife back from my catering days was a 10in Victorinox chef knife. Since I've learned to sharpen I re-discovered it and still is the first one i'm carrying around without fear of it being damaged. I find 250 is the optimal lenght for a chef knife, large enough for practically any task and still quite nimble.

First Japanese blade was a 200 gyuto and since than i'm trending more to the bigger ones. Gyutos/chef knives wise I now have my 200, a 240, a 247 and two 250. I often cook for a lot of people and I find a 270 would be just perfect for let's stay shredding a whole cabbage. i do have a decent size end grain board, but my next purchase will probably be a even larger one (again shredding that cabbage demands space).

Because I feel I would use it a lot (my sujis see a lot of action), I will be looking for a nice 270 gyuto next. And to complete the circle and for smaller jobs, maybe the 180 takamura R2 discussed here as it looks like a hell of a small laser.

 

[aaamax]

270 Watanabe Gyuto when there is room. An old CCk 1102 when it's tight.
Doing a crate of onions with anything smaller or lighter is just too much bloody work!

 

[Benuser]

Holding a heavy 270mm.

 

[jai]

Geeze thats a long pinch grip. Or a big hand maybe its just the camera angle

 

[Benuser]

Hardly a big hand with a span of 8 5/8"...

 

[XooMG]

holding a light 135:

OK I don't really hold it like that.

 

[pullox]

For prep, at least 10" blade, makes the work a lot faster. For service, 6" slicing victorinox and the same 10" tramontina if any salicing needed. And I would really love to have an 270mm blade, I would use it for everything.

JJ