Crothcipt
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Ditto
You asked, you whined, now here it is: Kato passaround
- Thread starter pitonboy
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Ditto
Chifunda
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Goes out to Rick tomorrow according to plan; my impressions to follow soon thereafter.
This past week has been a difficult one at Casa Chifunda...we almost lost both our dog and my daughter's puppy but all seems to be well now.
It's only a dog, until it's your own.
This past week has been a difficult one at Casa Chifunda...we almost lost both our dog and my daughter's puppy but all seems to be well now.
It's only a dog, until it's your own.
Goes out to Rick tomorrow according to plan; my impressions to follow soon thereafter.
This past week has been a difficult one at Casa Chifunda...we almost lost both our dog and my daughter's puppy but all seems to be well now.
It's only a dog, until it's your own.
Understood. It's never ONLY a dog. Hope everything goes better now
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The knife was delivered today, well packed, in fine shape. I'm looking forward to putting it to work. Thanks, Ben!
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The knife is on its way to daveb.
It gives a new meaning to the phrase "mighty gyuto".
Many thanks to you, Ben, for making the passaround possible.
Rick
It gives a new meaning to the phrase "mighty gyuto".
Many thanks to you, Ben, for making the passaround possible.
Rick
Knife has arrived in Tampa, opened in kitchen, bad day to be a carrot.
Look forward to spending some time with it.
Look forward to spending some time with it.
bathonuk
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Guys I am not in passaround but I will give you some funny info. I bought a micrometer today and I have checked few things. This are the measurement in ''mm'' taken from heel, center and 2cm from tip.
Kato 24cm gyuto 0.45 0.38 0.39
Konosuke HD 24cm 0.57 0.41 0.41
Kato (spine):
5.7mm behind the handle
5.05 at the heel
2.80 at the center
2.21 2cm from the tip.
Kato 24cm gyuto 0.45 0.38 0.39
Konosuke HD 24cm 0.57 0.41 0.41
Kato (spine):
5.7mm behind the handle
5.05 at the heel
2.80 at the center
2.21 2cm from the tip.
This knife arrived today. The box is toast but the knife is in good shape. I'm gonna clean it up and touch it up. +1 to the sword comments. This is a beastly knife.
I'm a little unclear with regard to how far from the edge you are taking your measurements.
When it rains it pours...
I received the Kato as my first passaround. It seems to be inevitably compared to the Shig and since I recently traded my bank account to Maksim for one I was ready to do just that.
I used the Kato and my Shig interchangeably for a few days and they were much more alike than different. Both very good cutters, sliding through product with little to no effort. And then Zwiefel's Ingoglia Gyuto-Hiki joined the party.
A quick trip to the produce market. Bell peppers, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos, celery, carrots, onions, scallions, garlic and sweet potatoes. (I realize some of you guys do more than this while drinking first cup of coffee but its a lot for this home cook.)
Most cutting was very similar.
Differences in cutting were pronounced with summer squash and sweet potatoes - the Kato simply cut through better. Where the Shig needed just a little oomf, the Kato was on the board. Notes on squash had Shig at good - very good, some wedging. Kato very good, very clean. On sweet potato Shig at very good, Kato at excellent.
Differences in fine control were less pronounced but while seeding tomatoes, deveining jalapenos, mincing garlic and slicing thin as I can scallion greens, the Shig got the nod. I attribute the better control to the lighter weight and the very comfortable (to me) "D" handle. Shig scaled at 251 grams, Kato scaled at 302g. Notes on on control while mincing garlic had Shig at very good, Kato at good. Not bad for either 270.
I'll add some thoughts on the Mario under that thread but used as a Gyuto it was much better than I expected. FWIW I've had the OXO peeler for a couple years and prefer it but the rolie is growing on me. I now have enough vegs for a lot of stock and the compost pile is going to eat well.
Regards,
Dave
I received the Kato as my first passaround. It seems to be inevitably compared to the Shig and since I recently traded my bank account to Maksim for one I was ready to do just that.
I used the Kato and my Shig interchangeably for a few days and they were much more alike than different. Both very good cutters, sliding through product with little to no effort. And then Zwiefel's Ingoglia Gyuto-Hiki joined the party.
A quick trip to the produce market. Bell peppers, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, jalapenos, celery, carrots, onions, scallions, garlic and sweet potatoes. (I realize some of you guys do more than this while drinking first cup of coffee but its a lot for this home cook.)
Most cutting was very similar.
Differences in cutting were pronounced with summer squash and sweet potatoes - the Kato simply cut through better. Where the Shig needed just a little oomf, the Kato was on the board. Notes on squash had Shig at good - very good, some wedging. Kato very good, very clean. On sweet potato Shig at very good, Kato at excellent.
Differences in fine control were less pronounced but while seeding tomatoes, deveining jalapenos, mincing garlic and slicing thin as I can scallion greens, the Shig got the nod. I attribute the better control to the lighter weight and the very comfortable (to me) "D" handle. Shig scaled at 251 grams, Kato scaled at 302g. Notes on on control while mincing garlic had Shig at very good, Kato at good. Not bad for either 270.
I'll add some thoughts on the Mario under that thread but used as a Gyuto it was much better than I expected. FWIW I've had the OXO peeler for a couple years and prefer it but the rolie is growing on me. I now have enough vegs for a lot of stock and the compost pile is going to eat well.
Regards,
Dave
Don Nguyen
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Holy bananas that is one monstrous knife. Thanks for doing this passaround; this is really interesting.
bathonuk
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This knife arrived today. The box is toast but the knife is in good shape. I'm gonna clean it up and touch it up. +1 to the sword comments. This is a beastly knife.
I'm a little unclear with regard to how far from the edge you are taking your measurements.
I tried to do my best to measure it as close to behind the edge as I could. Just behind the shoulder??
This is the beastliest gyuto I've ever used. I have a 240 Zakuri gyuto that weighs the same but it has a much heavier ebony handle. I've also used a Mizuno honyaki that was beastly but at 230+ mm, it didn't really handle like this one which is a very blade heavy 270. To cut to the chase, I really liked it. It does a lot of work for you. It isn't very reactive (at least not by the time I got it). Edge taking is a piece of cake and edge holding was above average compared to other carbon steels. It touches up with minimal effort (strop w/ diamond or 5+k stone) but that's to be expected of most knives. I don't know how many times it's been sharpened but it remained quite thin behind the edge although the choil shot is misleading due to a slight overgrind at the heel. I agree with daveb in that it is very Shig-like in performance although most Shigs I've used have tended to wedge more than this one and are noticeably lighter. I also give Shigs the nod with regard to food release. Regardless, I think I'd pick this knife over a typical Shig although I still prefer a couple of other knives in my stable.
markenki
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Patatas Bravas
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Me too!
JohnnyChance
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It is a pretty sizable stable. I am going to say some of TK's top cutters include but are not limited to: Devin's, Gengetsu, & Carter SFGZ.
Pretty much... Of the "stock" gyutos, I like my Gengetsu the best. I also continue to reach for (and buy) Devin and Tilman's knives. Then there are the one's I've modified myself. Those include Glestain, A-type, and Heiji. I like my Carters a lot but the edge retention just isn't there. I happen to be baby-sitting an Ashi honyaki that's pretty awesome, too. Okay... I'm rambling. I'm going with Gengetsu for a stock knife.
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Semi-stainless or white #2 core?
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Semi stainless. Tk wrote a great review of it. And it's pretty much been sold out ever since.
I've spent quality time with both versions. The white version gets that exciting carbon steel edge more so than the semi (obviously) but the edge retention on the semi is much better in my kitchen. I loved both of them. OOTB, they are such sweet cutters. I wanted to get it in a steel that would allow me to keep that original geometry as long as possible before I'd have to modify/thin it.
markenki
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The Kato is on its way back to its owner. Here are my quick thoughts on the knife, which I'll be comparing with a Shigefusa 240 kasumi gyuto.
The first thing I noticed about the Kato was that the heel had a small chip at the very corner. The only other Kato I've seen in front of me (a brand new one) had a similar chip. Not sure what to make of that observation.
The finish was not bad, but not up to Shigefusa quality. The spine was smooth and polished. The choil was not as polished, and had more-visible tooling/scratch marks, but was perfectly fine and comfortable; no sharp edges. I wouldn't take any points away from the Kato for that; just a different way of doing things, I guess.
The knife came with an octagonal burnt chestnut handle. Never having seen one up close, I was not a fan of burnt chestnut, but I've now changed my mind. That handle was very nice!
The Kato is thick and heavy, and my initial thought was "there's no way this knife will cut well". I could see it wedging already. Well, I was wrong. This knife is cutter, folks.
I started out with big white mushrooms, and on those the Shigefusa did marginally better, requiring slightly less effort to go through. Next up was onions. On those the Kato was better. While the Shigefusa required some pushing to go through some parts, the Kato seemed to just fall through. Maybe the weight of the Kato had something to do with it, but I don't believe that is the whole story. There must be something about its geometry that just works. Amazing.
Potatoes were the final test, and here, too, the Kato won. While neither knife just fell through, the Kato required noticeably less effort.
For feel in my hand, I prefer the Shigefusa, probably because it is lighter, but dammit, that Kato can cut!
In summary, the Kato is a very, very, nice knife that performs extremely well.
Many thanks again to Ben for allowing us to try the knife out. I think I need one.
Best regards,
Mark
The first thing I noticed about the Kato was that the heel had a small chip at the very corner. The only other Kato I've seen in front of me (a brand new one) had a similar chip. Not sure what to make of that observation.
The finish was not bad, but not up to Shigefusa quality. The spine was smooth and polished. The choil was not as polished, and had more-visible tooling/scratch marks, but was perfectly fine and comfortable; no sharp edges. I wouldn't take any points away from the Kato for that; just a different way of doing things, I guess.
The knife came with an octagonal burnt chestnut handle. Never having seen one up close, I was not a fan of burnt chestnut, but I've now changed my mind. That handle was very nice!
The Kato is thick and heavy, and my initial thought was "there's no way this knife will cut well". I could see it wedging already. Well, I was wrong. This knife is cutter, folks.
I started out with big white mushrooms, and on those the Shigefusa did marginally better, requiring slightly less effort to go through. Next up was onions. On those the Kato was better. While the Shigefusa required some pushing to go through some parts, the Kato seemed to just fall through. Maybe the weight of the Kato had something to do with it, but I don't believe that is the whole story. There must be something about its geometry that just works. Amazing.
Potatoes were the final test, and here, too, the Kato won. While neither knife just fell through, the Kato required noticeably less effort.
For feel in my hand, I prefer the Shigefusa, probably because it is lighter, but dammit, that Kato can cut!
In summary, the Kato is a very, very, nice knife that performs extremely well.
Many thanks again to Ben for allowing us to try the knife out. I think I need one.
Best regards,
Mark
