Sometimes when I’m doing vertical slices down an onion short of the root, I start at the right side, get halfway, then rotate the onion around 180° and keep going on the new right with the heel
Best Nakiri dimensions and maker
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Absolute Buffoon
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Never thought of that. Sounds much more comfortable for your holding hand though!
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There are a bunch, like Moritaka, with sharp, square tip. I love my Kanehide, but I still find it a little less than ideal for draw cuts through, say, potatoes or apples.
Yoshi
Shindo Maniac
What about the spine side? I hate nakiri with a sharp end on the spine, it scratches my board when used to push good. It's especially worse when the spine is not exactly parallel with the handle
You mean the end corner when pushing stuff with the face or along the spine's length?
Yoshi
Shindo Maniac
Yeah that, and the end corner just scratches the crash outta the board
Just smooth it a little on one of your stones or with a bit of sandpaper. Shouldn't take much to stop it.
tdh2106
Well-Known Member
Do you have dimensions of the 165 Wat and 180 Toyama? For Wat/Toyama, I see the 180 size recommended the most, followed by 210. Not a lot of commentary about the 165 Wat/Toyama, so am wondering if it defeats the point of a Sanjo nakiri, which I understand to be that it is a larger/heavier workhorse. Thanks in advance for sharing your impressions!
Mikami nakiri choil
Another Mikami nakiri
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Toyama period 
I can't be bothered to look up thread to see what I said before but I've broken nakiri use down to light and heavy nakiris.
Takada, Tetsujin and Takeda for lighter ones
Kono FM and Eddworks (my current love) for heavy.
Takada, Tetsujin and Takeda for lighter ones
Kono FM and Eddworks (my current love) for heavy.
I went through a phase when I had to try everything I could get my hands on. The nakiri the gets the most use for me is a takeda in the 165 range. I find it a nice sweet spot. I do have others but they don't get used nearly as much as the shorter one. I also have one from Jamison Chopp that is slightly longer with a san mai construction W1 and it is also a banger.
The best nakiri I've ever tried is this one right here:
185x65, 214 grams. Birgie's grinds are very conducive to a great nakiri.
185x65, 214 grams. Birgie's grinds are very conducive to a great nakiri.
I'm pretty new here, but I've now seen Okubo nakiris mentioned a few places and I'd be curious to know more about what makes them special. Is it mostly the size? Or the the grind or something else? I noted on Knife Japan that they ask you to specify dominant hand. Are they single bevel?
I need all the details.
I need all the details.
Hand bias, specifically right hand bias, is very, very common in Japanese knives. The weak hand side will be ground flatter and the strong hand side will be more convex. This can be more or less pronounced depending on the maker. They're still double bevels though some may have asymmetric bevels such as 70/30, 90/10, etc.. Single bevels have very distinct features.
This is why hand bias of users is important and why you'll see left hand versions specifically called out.
He makes both but they're double bevel. Okubo-san's aogami #2 is superb. Really nice edge retention for a simple carbon and more pleasant to sharpen than Watoyama's which is a bit more glassy feeling on the stones. Keeps its tooth longer than other aogami 2 I've tried.
His knives are hefty, with a voodoo convex grind that feels really confident on board and has great food release. My nakiri is 180x63, 234 g. About a perfect package for me. Plus one of the best KU finishes out there
If you step up to the "takenoko-nakiri" which I call a cleaver, you get more of the same but in a monster format that has any root vegetables shaking in their boots.
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Thanks. This is really helpful. There's almost certainly a tall nakiri or cleaver coming at some point.
I've thought about Takeda and Mortaka AS quite a bit for cleavers and also Shindo, Shiro Kamo, Tanaka for 60mm+ tall nakiris...not to mention the possibility of Western makers for either... the list never ends!
But the talk of Okubo in this thread and elsewhere really grabbed my attention. My main trouble with grinds with a hand bias is just that I'm left-handed and my wife is right-handed and we basically share all our knives.
If you want to dip your toe into cleavers, get a CCK.
I like ko nakiris but there is obviously limitation with 125mm…I like 155mm a bit more myself. When it gets below 135mm, I prefer mini gyuto like petty better than mini nakiri
Yeah, my sister has one and really likes it. I might have to borrow it and see how it goes.
For small jobs like herbs, making tacos, guacamole and such. A short Nakiri is very nice. I do have big hands so prefer tall. Yoshimitsu Kajiya Made a nice 155x70 I really enjoy. Ide-San seems to have gone larger since I purchased the last one though and his tall are more in the range of 180x75-80. He still has the 155x46 range available though for those with smaller hands. They do seem more kaku style though. Have a regular 180x60 Okubo on order though.
Yea, something like that. My 135mm Carter petty is one of my favorite knives to use.Funayuki.
You’re not the only one. Don Andrade just did a tribute to this knife.
https://californiacustomknives.com/blog/2024/12/3/introducing-the-carter-french
