What are Your Game Changing Knives?

[TDj]

i jumped in with suisin honyaki in 240, but then when i wanted 270, i went konosuke HD. haven't looked at another chef's knife since ...

 

[Andrew H]

my suisin inox honyaki... i still love that knife. My favorite knife before that was my blazen.

First game changer for me was my masamoto gyuto.

"Spine width at the heel is just 1.54mm"
Is that a typo?

And the biggest game changer for me was department store stuff to victorinox.

 

[jmforge]

A 7 1/2 inch Joe Flournoy fighter??:lol2: My first custom knife.:wink:

 

[Gator]

#1 Ikeda(Akifusa) Gyuto - First kitchen knife I've ever had with high hardness, learned a lot from it. Thanks to Thom Brogan for talking me into that one.


#2 Was Aritsugu Yanagiba, drove me nuts while I was trying to sharpen it, came with no edge... Gave me new perspective on steel and sharpening.


#3 Watanabe honyaki gyuto, first gyuto for me that sustained ~5 per side edge.

 

[fowlero]

Masamoto KS wa petty (165mm) in white #2. Once I learned how to make it really sharp it changed the way I look at food.

 

[tk59]

A 7 1/2 inch Joe Flournoy fighter??:lol2: My first custom knife.:wink:

If you're going to post some graffiti on yet another kitchen knife thread, the least you could do is make it interesting.

 

[oivind_dahle]

My first Japanese Guyto was an eyeopener. It was a Hiromoto 240 AS.

In my search for the perfect knife I still continue to have several eyeopeners. The DT was a far better knife than the Hiro, and I was also impressed by Shigefusa. Carter also impressed me. But Im still unexperienced... will get more knives to try

 

[Mike Davis]

My first japanese style knife is a damascus Delbert Ealy 240mm gyuto, aside form the petty i made, it is my only good kitchen knife i own. It really got me thinking about profiles and edge geometries. This was only less than 2 months ago, and now i am going to jump in and continue my quest for collecting and making a rather wide array of quality kitchen knives...Trying to get a Carter, just for comparison purposes....

 

[stevenStefano]

My Masamoto KS. It was really the first knife with great geometry I bought and it made me look at knives differently

 

[mr drinky]

My Masamoto KS. It was really the first knife with great geometry I bought and it made me look at knives differently

I have to get a Masamoto KS.

k.

 

[SpikeC]

Takeda 210 gyuto. Coming from a Vic rosewood handled non-bolster.

 

[Eamon Burke]

My first Japanese Guyto was an eyeopener. It was a Hiromoto 240 AS.

In my search for the perfect knife I still continue to have several eyeopeners. The DT was a far better knife than the Hiro, and I was also impressed by Shigefusa. Carter also impressed me. But Im still unexperienced... will get more knives to try

Oivind, you are the first person to tell me that I needed to add "OOTB" to the Glossary. You'll have tried plenty soon enough.

 

[oivind_dahle]

I wish

Too bad I have to buy them all to try them...
I cant even tell what my favorite steel is. I really like the AEB-L from Devin, but I also like the cladded knife from Carter. I have still to try the 52100 from Bill, and I have no clue about Damasteel and Elmax....


I have to try different HT as well, and handles and handlematerials...

 

[jmforge]

Sorry. :O That is another way of saying that I haven't really had a kitchen knife that was game changing..........yet. But I have gotten some good suggestions.:wink:

If you're going to post some graffiti on yet another kitchen knife thread, the least you could do is make it interesting.

 

[Dubsy]

my first was actually a Mundial 5100 10" chefs. up till then i was using an 8", and it really opened me up to what length could do. it was still a bit too long for me, though, but it came sharp. like, REALLY sharp. it could shave my arm no problem, couldnt even feel it. it ALSO opened me up to the issues of a Forged knife. i hate those bolsters, and the spine was just too thick.

my first jump into the J-knife market was a Tojiro DP, which i LOVED because of how thing it was, and pretty sharp too. but the handle felt cheap, and didnt really like it.

lastly, my first exposure to high end j-knives was my boss's Misono UX10. it wasnt as thin as the tojiro, but it was sharper, WAY more comfortable, and the length felt perfect (turns out it was a 240, after i bought my own and it turned out to be identical). it always felt a little tall, though, so after finding out about this forum i got the 270 suji, same series, and its the BEST knife ive ever used. feels absolutely perfect. i honestly couldnt be happier with it.

 

[Delbert Ealy]

My first japanese style knife is a damascus Delbert Ealy 240mm gyuto, aside form the petty i made, it is my only good kitchen knife i own. It really got me thinking about profiles and edge geometries. This was only less than 2 months ago, and now i am going to jump in and continue my quest for collecting and making a rather wide array of quality kitchen knives...Trying to get a Carter, just for comparison purposes....

:viking:

 

[Dave Martell]

I remember the first Japanese knives sent to me by ChefJeff to check out (Watanabe & Tosagata) and how it turned my world upside down. I had been professionally sharpening for a couple of years at that point and had never seen anything like this. They floored me with how hard and thin they were and how sharp they got, nothing before existed after that.

 

[goodchef1]

I believe it was a very cheap and on-sale knife from complete kitchen, the name was kotetsu, and till this day, I still cannot find any info on the company or steel used.

 

[Crothcipt]

When I worked at a butcher plant I used what looked like a Henckel, and it never could hold a edge. They even recommended to hit the steel just before you went to the next cut. It wasn't until a few years later that a coworker in a kitchen brought in his starter Global set that I went "holey s....", he just laughed. It was also the first knife that I could get sharp enough to cut through salmon skin instead of just sliding on top of it. Fast forward a few years I finally bought my first Global knife last year. Now I am looking for the next best thing and I keep being impressed every were I look.

 

[geezr]

Recent change is to single bevel - Gesshin Hide Kamagata Usuba and Mioroshi Deba for prep rather than double bevel gyuto. Two knives instead of than one, but have the time.

 

[JKerr]

I reckon my first "game changer" was my Sab. Before that I had used the likes of Shun and Tojiro, but the Sab really made me appreciate how key the profile is for a knife and not just the steel. I've since moved on to cleavers and now I'm tinkering with single bevels, but I'll always love my Sabs.

 

[half_hack]

First game changer for me was the same as everyone else it seems - my first japanese knife. In my case, a Blazen gyuto. then it was down the rabbit hole, and my wallet hasn't been the same since. the balance, cutting ability, edge holding of the blazen amazed and still amazes.

I got a takeda knife along the way and that was game changer number two. That one showed me just how bad ass a knife can be.

 

[jmfreeman35]

Mine was my kono white #2...I had a TKC for about a year before that, but it wasn't till I first held the kono that I truly feel in love with Japanese steel. Thats when the addiction began...

 

[Chifunda]

My eye opening intro to Japanese kitchen cutlery wasn't Japanese; my DT 240 gyuto in 52100. I'd owned hunting knives that performed similarly, but had no idea that level of performance was available in a chef's knife.

Bob Loveless once gave my wife a petty sized kitchen knife made by Ted Dowell back in the late sixties. It was great little cutter but was made from D2 and harder than the gates of hell. Once it got dull it took a belt grinder to restore the edge.

 

[heirkb]

For me the game changer was a 240 Heiji gyuto. I still kind of regret selling that knife even though I'm not a huge 240 fan. My Shig, which was the first knife I tried didn't blow me away.

Nothing I've tried recently has blown me away except for a Gesshin Hide gyuto I got to use just for a little bit at JKI. What a seriously badass knife. Jon has all the awesome stuff, no fair lol.

Edit: Just read the post after mine. I know it wasn't directed at me, but let me add for any future readers that I am by no means experienced lol. I still like what I like, though.

 

[Johnny.B.Good]

Fact: this thread caused me to order a number of knives over the past six months.

Hard not to want to try something that experienced members call "game changing."

 

[tk59]

...Hard not to want to try something that experienced members call "game changing."

Keep in mind that the term "game-changing" is a compartive term. If you used a KitchenAid and then went to a Forschner, that would also be game-changing, no doubt. The biggest jump in performance I ever experienced was the Henckels to Glestain transition. I love my Rottman and Devin knives and they are excellent performers but I don't know that they were game changers at the point that I acquired them. After that, I'd say there were a few paradigm-shifting revelations for various reasons: Heiji, Carter, Zakuri, Kochi, and the latest is the Gengetsu.

 

[Johnny.B.Good]

I know it's not a "favorite knife" thread, but when you hear the names of certain makers over and over again it's difficult not to want to experience them for yourself.

I almost bought a Glestain long ago...still sort of want one.

 

[tk59]

I know it's not a "favorite knife" thread, but when you hear the names of certain makers over and over again it's difficult not to want to experience them for yourself.

I'm there with ya. I try out every knife I can get my hands on and there are still plenty I'd like to experience.

 

[phan1]

Aritsugu A gyuto. This baby GETS THINGS DONE. It's the only knife I have that will go through crates of vegetables and still keep going easily. I know even a lot of professionals don't go through crates of vegetables at one time, but I do, and this is the only knife that can do it. And I'm talking about going through crates of having to finely cut green onions type of work here, not rough chop work. Sure I own sexier knives that get super sharp like the DT or the Konosuke HD, but in a practical working environment, my Aritsugu A is "the one".