What's your favourite workhorse?

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jbart65 said:
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That said, a friend who has used my Sekiso says his Toyama is like the Sekiso turned up to 11.
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Not a bad shout that. I have both and adjusted the geometry of the Tanaka a little by thinning it so it pips the Toyama on moving through food. It'll also take a finer edge but won't hold it as long. I still reckon a group buy of an Honyaki batch by Shigekisaku via K&S would be awesome.
 
Badgertooth said:
Not a bad shout that. I have both and adjusted the geometry of the Tanaka a little by thinning it so it pips the Toyama on moving through food. It'll also take a finer edge but won't hold it as long. I still reckon a group buy of an Honyaki batch by Shigekisaku via K&S would be awesome.
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I'd be up for it. Definitely.
 
I´d be tempted as we´ll...

I reach for my kikuichi 240mm western stainless quite a bit these days, also a kono HD 240mm gyuto with tactical micarta handle, but I go through waves...
 
Catcheside 270 SC125 Honyaki and Xerxes 1.2419.05 Sanmai Custom...

No chance for my Kato... so I sold it :cool2:
 
I have not used that many workhorses - Kato 240 was a bit 'too much' for me, Watanabe 240 is a very nice knife too. But I am enjoying my Munetoshi 240 immensly now. I do not use it for tall hard vegetables - I have thinner knives for that, but for everything else it is a joy to use. And the flat profile suits me and my kitchen counter (me - small, kitchen counter - tall) very well. I do wish it was a little bit taller, but the height of 50 or 51 mm is still OK.
 
Badgertooth said:
Not a bad shout that. I have both and adjusted the geometry of the Tanaka a little by thinning it so it pips the Toyama on moving through food. It'll also take a finer edge but won't hold it as long. I still reckon a group buy of an Honyaki batch by Shigekisaku via K&S would be awesome.
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@BT, is this something we could actually do or a kind of 'wouldn't it be nice to...' ?
 
Matus said:
But I am enjoying my Munetoshi 240 immensly now. I do not use it for tall hard vegetables - I have thinner knives for that, but for everything else it is a joy to use. And the flat profile suits me and my kitchen counter (me - small, kitchen counter - tall) very well. I do wish it was a little bit taller, but the height of 50 or 51 mm is still OK.
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I recently tried a Munetoshi on a passaround but there were clearly some quality control issues. The knife was reprofiled by a pro sharpener after the problems were noted. There was much about the profile I liked but it was hard to get past the uneven grind. Perhaps it's worth another shot.
 
Mine is an old carbon steel F. Dick 10-inch chef a friend gave me for Christmas a few years ago. It was all hollowed out in front of the bolster like most pro carbon knives end up after years of use so I sent it to Seattle Edge for regrinding and thinning. He did a great job on it. I have a fairly large collection of Japanese blades every one here loves here but that old German blade is good as any of them. Cuts great, holds an edge for reasonable amounts of time and resharpens with ease. Everything Japanese gyuto knives try to be.
 
Well, the uneven grind of the Munetoshi probably starts as uneven forging. The bevels are ground on a wheel under fixed angle (my interpretation) so they are slightly hollow (on the other side of the spectrum of evenness of hollow grind bevels would be Kochi - mine es ground very evenly). When one starts to work them flat on stones it turnes out, that these are not 100% even and some spots will stay visible for longer. Still - these are rather shallow and it is only a matter of optics, not performance. None of them on my knife was deep enough to be a cause for a concern. But I have accepted that given the price category.
 
my blades don't have name brands. for working large items, I use a thin(1/16" at spine) 8" chef's knife or a small, 7" x 2 1/2", cleaver. for everything else, a 4" ajikiri/utility knife.
 
For me a work horse is the knife I want to go at war with, not knowing what to expect or what will be needed. I've an old Sheffield that's a great candidate, has lost some width, though. A Herder 1922 chef's is a fantastic all-rounder but sometimes a bit short. My recent Masahiro 240 probably wins.
 
By that definition my Tojiro DP 240 western deba would be the kitchen tool I'd bring to battle haha.....I know what you actually mean though
 
If I have to lend out a knife and can't refuse I indeed choose a Western deba, a Misono Swedish, so repair is very easy.
 
StonedEdge said:
By that definition my Tojiro DP 240 western deba would be the kitchen tool I'd bring to battle haha.....I know what you actually mean though
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A want a stout knife with a good distal taper and a fine tip, thin behind the edge but with a robust edge. Forward balance and a large flat spot. Tip not too high nor too low.
So a good old Sab with a decent retention.
 
For me it used to be a Tojiro 165mm Shiro Santoku. Now, I realize this will not appeal to most but I cook for only my wife and I most of the time and need nothing larger. I have since upgraded to a Watanabe Santoku and I can not put it down. I am sure that there are things that I would not want to do with this knife but then they are the same things I would not want to do with a knife at all.

I go with previously posted definition here, my go to knife. Of course I am paraphrasing.
 
I love I.O. Shen for work. Really durable, solid san mai construction, good edge retention and not chippy at all. Best thing they look nice but I don't have to worry about them like other J knives.
 
chefs-edge said:
I love I.O. Shen for work. Really durable, solid san mai construction, good edge retention and not chippy at all. Best thing they look nice but I don't have to worry about them like other J knives.
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I have a 300mm giant gyuto by I.O.Shen. I cannot figure out what the core steel is for the life of me
 
I can't find that information either. I think they keep it secret. I know whatever it is it does a great job been using mine for 6 years in fast paced kitchens.
 
hiromoto honyaki 270mm and TF denka 175mm cleaver :D
 
Nemo said:
If we limit the discussion to this category of workhorse (fat knife that's thin behind the edge with good food release), which are the blades to consider? Kato? Watanabe? Heiji? What else?
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Perhaps add: munetoshi, Toyama, mizuno, yoshimune.
 
fatboylim said:
Very interesting and not as heavy as my favourites. How does it compare to your newly reacquainted Toyama?
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for what its worth, he got a thicker than average one... thats what he was looking for at the time and I had a couple on the thicker side around
 
JBroida said:
for what its worth, he got a thicker than average one... thats what he was looking for at the time and I had a couple on the thicker side around
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A great match up once again Jon, no wonder that he is a happy man!
 
Interesting!...... I'm very curious on the Toyama, I should open a thread...
 
fatboylim said:
A great match up once again Jon, no wonder that he is a happy man!
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Definitely. The particular one I own is close in specs and measurements to Toyama but it's a diff knife altogether. And the prior ittetsu gyuto I owned was probably the thinnest gyuto I've ever used. So yeah, ittetsu isn't synonymous with thick knives necessarily I just happen to track down an individual gyuto that I favor.
 
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