Are You a Freak?

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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Freak?

  • Yes

    Votes: 35 76.1%

  • No

    Votes: 11 23.9%
  • Total voters
    46
HumbleHomeCook

HumbleHomeCook

Embrace your knifesculinity!
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What's a freak in this context?

One who, for home use, routinely uses and prefers knives that aren't gyuto and/or aren't 210mm or 240mm.

Maybe you like 180 or 270 gyuto. Maybe you prefer santoku, nakiri, or cleavers. Maybe you're a super freak and regularly use a suji or little 120 funayuki.

For me, I keep coming back to my preferences for 180ish knives. Still deciding on if I have a gyuto, santoku, or nakiri preference.

So, are you a freak?

🤪
 
Yeah 225 is a great size. So are 180s!

My 180 fam:

Tanaka blue dammy
Tanaka G3 1/2tang western
Yoshihiro G3 Santoku
Shihan A3 180


IMG_0604.jpeg


Yoshihiro G3 Santoku
Shihan A3 180
Tanaka blue dammy
IMG_0937.jpeg
 
Last edited:
The 180 Tanaka Blue turned out to be one of my wife’s favorite knives. We keep it on the mag strip and she just keeps grabbing it almost every day. Was her first foray into carbon knives

The Shihan I bought as a wedding present to myself (my wife got a matching custom 165 tall petty) and is THE 180 for me.
 
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MowgFace said:
The 180 Tanaka Blue turned out to be one of my wife’s favorite knives. We keep it on the mag strip and she just keeps grabbing it almost every day. Was her first foray into carbon knives

The Shihan I bought as a wedding present to myself (my wife got a matching custom 165 tall petty) and is THE 180 for me.
Click to expand...

Shihan is the middle one in the 2nd pic yeah?
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
For me, I keep coming back to my preferences for 180ish knives. Still deciding on if I have a gyuto, santoku, or nakiri preference.
Click to expand...

180mm is my go-to sweet spot. But I don't eat meat so that might be part of the influence. Because my kitchen routine involves a multitude of vegetables I prefer taller knives in the 180mm range.

A 180mm Stantoku that's over 55mm would be my go-to perfect knife. As it satnds, I have a180mm Bunk and Nikiri that are fabulous.
 
I do have a few 210 and 240 gyutos, but most of my collection right now is made of freaky knives - aka 160-190mm santoku, nakiri, gyuto and pettysuji.

just used my 165x57 Mikami nakiri to destroy 10 lbs of veggies for soup. felt better suited than any larger gyuto.

I have a sweet spot for 180 gyutos. right now it’s an Ashi stainless yo-handle. but I had Tsourkan, Kato, Mazaki and miss them all.

@MowgFace how tall is that Shihan BTW?

@bradmacmt yeah a 180x55+ santoku sound perfect. absolute veggie slayer. Toyama does one like that, but only in damascus ($$$$)
 
I find myself going to bunka’s and nakiris a lot but I do enjoy gyutos.
I’ve always used western chefs of ~8inch so the 180-210 range was super comfortable for gyutos but as I’ve used larger I prefer 230ish.

My only gripe with the larger knives is I don’t feel I have enough prep space in my kitchen for them, they just feel too big for my counters
 
Gshep91 said:
I find myself going to bunka’s and nakiris a lot but I do enjoy gyutos.
I’ve always used western chefs of ~8inch so the 180-210 range was super comfortable for gyutos but as I’ve used larger I prefer 230ish.

My only gripe with the larger knives is I don’t feel I have enough prep space in my kitchen for them, they just feel too big for my counters
Click to expand...
The only logical thing to do, is get a bigger counter.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
For me, I keep coming back to my preferences for 180ish knives. Still deciding on if I have a gyuto, santoku, or nakiri preference.
Click to expand...
Same for me - I mostly use 180-ish gyutos and nakiris, occasionally my 210 gyutos. I almost never reach for my single 246 mm gyuto, I haven't found anything it does better than the shorter ones.
 
Pictured here are what I currently use most. The 210 gyuto does probably see the most use as it's very practical but doesn't spark joy like the others. The 300 gyutos are completely ott for home use but so much fun. Also love a nakiri and will add more soon enough.

IMG_20230609_002451469_HDR~2.jpg
 
I haven't owned a 210 gyuto in many years. A 240 is passable if you are really cramped for space or you have to share your knives with non-freaks. My work knives are 240 for this reason. Anything less than 240 I consider basically a santoku/bunka/petty. And those are fine if you just need to slice a single cherry tomato or peel one grape or something. Cleavers and nakiri are fun to mess around with sometimes. But the correct length for my freaking gyutos is somewhere between 254 and 279 mm. And it doesn't hurt to have at least one 300+ mm gyuto around just in case freaky ain't enough.
 
Choppin said:
yeah a 180x55+ santoku sound perfect. absolute veggie slayer. Toyama does one like that, but only in damascus ($$$$)
Click to expand...
Yes, I've had my eye on that one, but it's about $250 more than I'd like to spend. Damascus is simply window dressing that adds nothing to the performance. OTOH, it is a Toyama - I have a 180 Nakiri and 240 Gyuto of his. Great stuff!
 
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