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easy13

easy13

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I have recently found way more style and beauty in knives that are well worn with a story than in shiny ones that get barely used. I'm not talking about some rust bucket beater that the dishwasher uses to cut mangoes on plate, but quality ones that have put in hours of work on prep, the line or at home. Knives that through time have changed shape, size & maybe lost a tip only to have a new one shaped. I had a chef once back in the day that had an old tsukiji masamoto gyuto he picked up while in Japan years back and after hundreds of shifts of use was still in decent shape but the blade had taken the shape of a long garasuki/suji hybrid and a thick steady patina. He would work the **** out of that knife and it always looked regal as fu#k. I'm pretty sure Turbochef has a Dragon gyuto that has morphed into a suji after years of work and I have seen a few other fine examples through the years. Stacking a collection of knives is fun, but being 4 deep at each size gyuto, etc.... has gotten a little tired to me and I would rather have a tight kit of knives with some backups that have some meaning or a story that I put some quality miles on. Maybe this is a phase like when I got into re handling everything I bought or only getting custom,but I doubt it. So, save the pics of Shiny Kitaejis that have cut an apple for another thread, post the knives that have years under their belt and character in there look.
 
great thread, I look forward to seeing other peoples knives.
240 dragon suji, Probably broken down nearly a million dollars in meat, ha.
 
I've got a couple for this when I get my kit home.
 
This isn't the thread KKF wanted... It's the thread we need.

Seriously though, I'm glad to see this thread. I love the old warhorses a helluva lot more than the shiny drawer queens.
 
ImageUploadedByKitchen Knife Forum1465615437.286386.jpg
Was at my olds and had to take a pic. You can see where it started now resembles a butchery knife! My dad would ceremoniously steel the **** out of it every time. I'm slowly working on them, they love their cck1303, tojiro bread and now mum has given the all clear for a good parer.
 
Butchery indeed.... but that isn't from a steel alone isn't it? Wouldn't even know how to get that result without power tools... And... is that a photo artifact or is it really about 2mm thick behind the bevel?
 
Bet you found their steel when you thought something about the skewer you were trying to use was odd...
 
This thread is killing me right now...

I had a moment of "maturity" right before the start of this month. I was moving out of my old place and officially into the lady's and thought, "y'know, you already have more than a dozen knives and close that in stones... you don't own a car these days and your knife kits -- plural -- are full and you haven't even looked at these knives in months. It's time to stop being sentimental and downsize."

So I threw away 3 knives that were very dear to my heart:

A MAC Mighty 8in gyuto that was my first "real" knife as a cook and my ride-or-die for 3 years. It traveled across country with me twice and was the first knife I ever learned how to sharpen. Needless to say the profile was atrocious and it more resembled a petty in its later life. It was so fat that I started to use it for butchering purposes (it was actually quite good at taking the fat off Strips and Ribeyes.. I even broke down a few country hams with it).

A Hiromoto AS 240mm Gyuto which was my upgrade from the MAC. I used and sharpened it daily for over two years and the profile got extremely jacked and it was fatter than... you get the idea. I destroyed two diamond flattening plates attempting to thin it before I realized a) don't use a cheap stone flattening plate to thin, b) especially with heavy pressure (it'll be quicker!!), and c) it's too far gone

And finally a Tojiro DP 150mm petty that I got at the same time as the Hiromoto. This I also used and sharpened daily and it was my main butchering knife during that time period. It saw a lot of work and I destroyed the profile so it was useless for any on-board cutting. It was also extremely fat (notice the trend here?).

Sadly all I have left is this picture of the Hiromoto and Tojiro that I was sending to an old co-worker warning about the importance of thinning and being mindful of profiles.

XI9MTWz.jpg


This was after I spent a good deal of time attempting to thin and reprofile the Hiromoto. It still cut terribly and I hated the balance. But it hurts that I don't even have a picture of my old baby the MAC :sad0:
 
panda said:
ramen, what's up with the heel on that?

my knives get beat the hell up, but my oldest one in the kit is only two years so not 'rough' looking quite yet..
Click to expand...

well, My middle finger kept getting trashed when I was breaking down dry age ribeye (hand sliding forward and catching the tip of the heel) , so I moved the heel up a couple mm and rounded the choil. Problem solved, super comfy. The pic has a weird shadow, it actually looks a lot cleaner in person.
 
why would you throw out a knife! unless you got hammered and made half inch chips in the edge.... :rofl2:
 
JDA_NC said:
This thread is killing me right now...

I had a moment of "maturity" right before the start of this month. I was moving out of my old place and officially into the lady's and thought, "y'know, you already have more than a dozen knives and close that in stones... you don't own a car these days and your knife kits -- plural -- are full and you haven't even looked at these knives in months. It's time to stop being sentimental and downsize."

So I threw away 3 knives that were very dear to my heart:

A MAC Mighty 8in gyuto that was my first "real" knife as a cook and my ride-or-die for 3 years. It traveled across country with me twice and was the first knife I ever learned how to sharpen. Needless to say the profile was atrocious and it more resembled a petty in its later life. It was so fat that I started to use it for butchering purposes (it was actually quite good at taking the fat off Strips and Ribeyes.. I even broke down a few country hams with it).

A Hiromoto AS 240mm Gyuto which was my upgrade from the MAC. I used and sharpened it daily for over two years and the profile got extremely jacked and it was fatter than... you get the idea. I destroyed two diamond flattening plates attempting to thin it before I realized a) don't use a cheap stone flattening plate to thin, b) especially with heavy pressure (it'll be quicker!!), and c) it's too far gone

And finally a Tojiro DP 150mm petty that I got at the same time as the Hiromoto. This I also used and sharpened daily and it was my main butchering knife during that time period. It saw a lot of work and I destroyed the profile so it was useless for any on-board cutting. It was also extremely fat (notice the trend here?).

Sadly all I have left is this picture of the Hiromoto and Tojiro that I was sending to an old co-worker warning about the importance of thinning and being mindful of profiles.

XI9MTWz.jpg


This was after I spent a good deal of time attempting to thin and reprofile the Hiromoto. It still cut terribly and I hated the balance. But it hurts that I don't even have a picture of my old baby the MAC :sad0:
Click to expand...

I couldnt do it, my knives are basically m'y children. Especially a work knife that knows the struggle.
 
spoiledbroth said:
why would you throw out a knife! unless you got hammered and made half inch chips in the edge.... :rofl2:
Click to expand...

So that's what happened :shocked3:

Only thing I can offer to this thread is my little deba. Misono 165 lefty yo-deba, almost black with patina and hacked through tons of chicken bones, but as a home cook and the rate I use it not worth posting compared to the pros :(
 
QmXGQQk.jpg


My head chef's main knife. Apologies for the picture quality, it was taken at work with my phone.
 
Doesn't look so bad in a picture.. must have lost 5mm in height.



 
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