What were your first high performance knife choices?

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Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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That is a pretty sick obsession in just 10 years time for Salty, can't wait to see what the next 10 brings.

The first for me was a Fujiwara FKH gyuto.
 
I started out with a Sabatier and then used a (Henckel, Wusthof) and / or chinese cleaver for the better part of a decade. Along the way, I tried some locally available Japanese knives (Mac, Kyocera, Shun and Global), but they weren’t right for me. About a year or so ago, I got a Takayuki GC-WA and it opened my eyes to real Japanese cutlery. I’ve since added a few more, and been clearing out my older stuff to make room for more.
 
deanb said:
Now that you've had it for 10+ years, do you think it was worth the price? Oh yeah, do you remember what you paid for it?
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I have recently sold it. It was the knife that was with me when I laid it on the line. It was worth every seven hundred and forty two dollars. I shouldn't have sold it. It has a lot of mojo. So you can see where I have a soft spot for santokus. Because in the end, It's not the knife but what you do with it.
 
I started with Hiromoto, then got Aritsugu A, then Masamoto VG10.
After those I got Mizuno Tanrenjio Stainless laser type guyto, my secondand last laser type purchase was Konosuke White 2.
Right now I use custom spec Shigefusa, it pretty much tops any of the knives I have had before,
 
I started a little late in the game (about 3 days ago) with a kagayaki carbonext 240 gyuto. I've used Japanese knives before but never owned any. I spent a lot of time pouring over my options before picking up this knife and from all the Japanese knives I've used in this price range this one suits me the best by leaps and bounds. I am already planning a rehandle on it, but i want to give it some time with the stock handle to see if i want to change the balance point. I've got my eye on a fujiwara petty next.
 
whustof grand prix II chef knife
shun classic-10" chef, 7" santoku, bread knife, 4.5" paring, 11.5" yanagi (pro)
hiromoto AS 240mm gyuto, misono sweedish 270mm suij
takayuki grand cheff-150mm petty, 240mm gyuto, 270mm suji
konosuke-210mm blue 2 mioroshi deba, 270mm HD gyuto, 300mm white 2 yanagi

each line is a set i bought together. i still own the shun bread knife (great for use at home with the rest of my home knives which are henkel 5 star) and my wife uses the hiromoto at work. she loves it and i would recommend that knife to almost anyone. i have the grand cheff petty for some tasks at work like strip loin fabrication and onion bag cutting. other than that i only want the three konosuke knives from here on out. i love them and dont see any reason to pick up any other knives (for now)
 
Salsa was the first thing I made, that people enjoyed. Homemade salsa was unusual 15 years ago or so. It still is for some reason. Making salsa with low quality knifes, was slow and tedious. This kicked off my search for better knifes.

I made the typical mistake and bought a set of knives, Wustoff. There was a marked improvement in my cuts. But, the chef knife, wedged in the onion.

Even back then, I was looking to add, knives to the collection. I saw a funny looking knife on the wall one day at a knife shop The clerk called it a vegetable knife. It was a Wustoff santuko. The first time I tried it on an onion I was hooked. When Alton Brown recommended Shun, I picked up a santuko and was amazed.

The Shun santuko met my needs, until I started being asked to bring large bowls of salsa to parties. I needed a knife that was better at making large batches of salsa. I tried a variety of knives, but nothing increased my speed in prepping salsa. Not knowing what to expect I picked up a Shun cleaver. Finally a knife that made a difference!

I wanted more. That led me to forum that shall not be named, then to Andy and his cleaver thread. Initially I was put off by his review of the Shun cleaver. Reading more of his posts, I decided to pick up a full size cleaver, and fell into the hole that is Japanese knifes.

After purchasing many cleavers, I can confidently say that Sugimoto #7 is the ultimate salsa knife. The search is ended.

Jay
 
My first J-knives were a 4 pc. set...the Mac Originals with a poly board that had the little ceramic block imbedded in the corner. Prety sure it came from Zabars in NY, and I had it in college, so '77 - '78? (Also got Blue Mtn Coffee there, before they sold the plantation)

In the modern era, I think it was a 7"/195mm Masahiro hi carbon form JB Prince
 
Shuns. then a 210mm Tojiro gyuto, followed some time later by a 240mm Hattori FH. there have been a bunch since. the Shun 8inch chefs makes a great bread knife.
 
For me it was a mishmash. Kind of got first two very close. First was a Damascus nakiri forget who made it but it was sold by JWW and close second was 8in Global. Still have both. Only really use the global for squash or when I need to do things that don't need a super sharp edge. While my nakiri is still a fan favorite, when I need to do a ton of vegetable prep it's always close at hand.
 
I had a set of Global knives. When I wanted to take Dave's beginner course he said I couldn't attend with only a Global. My first "real" J-knife was a Watanabe 210mm gyuto, followed closely by a Takeda nakiri. This was 2 years ago and they are still sentimental favorites, if not my "go to" knife.
 
I had started years ago with what I thought was great knives, the German ones, Whustof, and Henkels. I was very happy with them and they felt great. I knew of J-knives but only as a thought that I'd like to get one some day.

A few years ago I did a search and found a couple forums and started ed-u-ma-ca-ting myself. :) I traded a few PMs and emails with a few members and gained more insight.

My first was the 270 IT Tadatsuna Inox. Holy Cow, wow, this is awesome, needless to say, I was hooked. The performance was heads and tails over anything I had. Still have it and as far as I'm concerned is a true laser.

I picked up the Dojo parer and the CCK1303 and am still very, very happy with them. But I wanted to try something carbon and single bevel given how highly regarded they were by respected people. I got a 180 kasumi Yoshihiro white Deba. Oh my goodness gracious, it took only a single sharpening and instantly I knew what the rave was about. The white took an incredibly scary edge. While I could pop hairs with the Inox Tad, the white just took that edge even higher. I was definitely hooked!

My latest was the Devin Thomas 270 AEB-L about a year ago. Another fine example of knife craftsmanship.
 
Watanabe 8 piece standard knife set to "practice with" purchased a year and a half ago...
 
I stumbled on Japanese knives while doing research on an article/review of MAC knives for an online BBQ mag last year. I couldn't believe there was a whole other way of thinking about kitchen knives that I simply missed. I have also been a duffer at sharpening since college (20 years ago...), but really got into sharpening two years ago when I needed to maintain my competition BBQ knives. All these roads led me to Dave and my first Japanese knife - a yanagi - used to practice sharpening. That cheap knife turned out to be the sharpest thing I had ever used. It took me a while to try my hand at sharpening it because it became such a valuable tool in my kitchen - I didn't want to screw it up. However, once I did (about a year ago) I stopped using my Edge Pro and I freehand sharpen every night as therapy. My Japanese knives are the cheap ones that you can find at CKTG for under $50. I am saving for my first real suji and hope to have enough money saved by Christmas to make it happen. It costs too much to compete in BBQ to think I'll have the money any sooner :)

I still appreciate German knives because the reality is that where I live that's the highwater mark for knives. The same is true for comp BBQ cooks. I respect that, and can see the value in owning something familiar and able to take a beating. 100% of the sharpening I do for others is still on western knives and I suspect that will never change much. I love hanging out in the thin air that you Japanese knife freaks breathe! But I think I'll always live in the trailer park that is Wusthof and Henkels :)
 
I did it a little strangely, I think. Most people probably start with a gyuto or a santoku, but I got that knife last. It's because I started with Wusthof's and stumbled on to Japanese knives when I was looking for info on how to sharpen my own knives, but wasn't really willing to get rid of the knives I already had until I was well addicted.

First was a Watanabe Petty.
Shortly after came a Takeda Nakiri.
About a year later came Ittosai Kotetsu Suji, which I gather is really just a Hattori HD.

Finally, I have an order in right now for Shigefusa Gyuto being rehandled by Marko. When it arrives, I'll finally be done with the German knives except for maybe when camping or the like. Oh, and I guess my bread knife.

I think I've done surprisingly well. Of the lot of them, the only one I don't love and plan on keeping ~forever is the Itosai.
 
Wusthof, Shun 10", Tojiro DP 240mm gyuto, Dojo Nakiri, Hiromoto HC 270 gyuto, Ichimonji 300mm Yanagiba. A few more since then, but these were the first few...


~Tad
 
I didn't have knives for work until I got into Sushi, I just used whatever was around. At home, I was rocking a Calphalon Santoku. Then I got a Tojiro DP gyuto and a Tanaka Yanagi. I don't bother with other knives anymore, unless I am scrapping paint off something.

I really wanna rehandle my DP, I just use it too much!
 
A custom chef knife from- Mastersmith,- - Wally Hayes , and then a slicer like for a turkey or roast,, a long thin one -- from him..Wally had made my camp knives -- very cool knives very cool.....
 
Started out with a Hiromoto AS gyuto.. from there it was Tanaka gyuto/yanagi, cheapy hiromoto lower-grade santoku off ebay (still a favorite), Mizuno gyuto, Tojiro suji, Kanemasa E-series suji, Tadatsuna white gyuto, CCK1303 (twice), Misono carbon hankotsu, couple Hiromoto pettys, Sugimoto #6, and a Takagi honyaki gyuto. Wow, it didn't feel like that much when i was buying them :biggrin:

Most of these have been sold off to fund new ones. But it's been fun trying them out. The journey has taught me different ways to appreciate knives. Some aren't pretty but cut really well. Some are finished beautifully. Some are a bargain. Some are soft(er) steel but still "good enough" - and it's super easy to just bring them back to scary sharp. Some have edges that last forever. Not to mention finding what sort of personal preferences I've learned about myself. How tall/thick I want in a gytuo or a suji. Whether I like cleavers or not.

I've still been itching for a Watanabe for over a year now. Might be time to give in soon >.>
 
Culinary school knives. Basically stamped out german knives. Then I got a global that no matter what I did to it, it wouldn't stay sharp. Then I moved onto a Hattori HD 210 gyuto and it was all downhill from there. Picked up a forum petty, HD nakiri, and a Misono UX10 gyuto ( which I am totally regretting I spent the money on. ) My latest acquisitions are my twin Hiromoto AS 240's with custom handles. Saving up for a DT right now tho. :(
 
If you still have the Misono and wait until people forget how much the price went up you may be able to make a profit from it!
 
I know. I'm holding onto it for a bit and I'm gonna send it out to get reprofiled and sharpened. I went on a 1 month vacation and my sous chef asked if he could borrow it. He told me he would sharpen it every day and keep it as sharp as I gave it to him. When I get back he gives me the knife and it's pretty ripped up. He sharpened it terribly, tried to thin it out, then I think he just gave up. It looks like a suji more than a gyuto now. lol.
 
A global.
Wanted more so ordered from JCK Tojiro DP 120 petty (still love it), Kanetsugu Pro M petty (gave to the mother in-law), Tojiro Powder steel 210 gyuto and Hiromoto HC240 gyuto. Both gyutos are sold.
Continued to purchase second hand knives from KF to see how people sharpened. A Masahiro VC, Kumagoro Hammer finish, Fujiwara FKM

And it's been going on ever since...
 
After a couple of years of Wusthof-ing it, I researched a bit and found out that carbon knives are "better" and ended up rocking vintage Sabatiers for a while. I eventually bought myself a Shun 10" and that just totally set off my obsession.

My first foray into real Japanese knives was started with a Kikuichi Elite carbon 270 suji and shortly afterwards a Nenox 240 gyuto that I still use to this day. I really hit the nail on the head right off top but that didnt stop me from dropping k's over the years.
 
After the Shun's and alot of them, I got a 240mm Moritaka gyoto, all the Shun's are gone now.
 
As with many here, I started off with what seemed pricey at the time, A 210mm Hiromoto AS and what I believe was the very last Hiromoto HC Petty JCK sold. I remember searching for the Hiromoto HC gyuto, but they were gone by then. I still have them today :thumbsup:

Since then they've gotten new dresses of course. I'm sure most of you have probably already seen these a dozen times before but here they are again

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Adam calls me the king of expensive handles on cheap knives ;) It wont be long before every one of my knives (and kitchen utensils!) has a custom handle.
 
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