Best Onion Knife vs Best Sweet Potato/Butternut Knife

[SwampDonkey]

Post em!

My two favorite testing products on a knife are onions and dense sweet potatoes or butternut squash. Mostly because I eat/cut a lot of each and they're opposite ends of the spectrum. I know russet potatoes are a common tester but often give false positives to me.

Some knives can glide through an onion on the vertical dice cut but get suctioned on the horizontal, some excel on the opposite.

Dense sweets/butternuts can stop an onion laser dead in its tracks on the big bisection cut, or have a bunch of stiction where you're cleaning cubes off the blade after every cut.

Curious to see what everyone likes best, or if you've got a perfect double duty knife.

 

[Cliff]

I like dicing apples to test a knife, though it does bias results towards lasers. I like convexed knives that are thin enough for that job as all arounders.

For your test, nothing will beat a softish laser for the dense, heavy stuff. I just got one of the Kikumori SK knives, and that is about perfect. For onions, I'd rather have a convexed Chuka or my old school Wat Kurouchi, something with a fair bit of convex, or a Takeda with an S grind. Nothing touches Takeda for potatoes.

 

[SwampDonkey]

For your test, nothing will beat a softish laser for the dense, heavy stuff

I know that's the prevailing sentiment but ime I don't care for lasers on dense stuff, actually like them better on softer items.

Oddly enough in my Squash Bustin series I found that concave ground midweights were my favorite a la Shigeki Tanaka ginsan, and Shindos do a great job a smaller dense things. Gives you the lasery cutting feel but breaks the suction/stiction. My heavy convex workhorses give you that mental confidence to get after something, but don't do as well on the bisect, though they start to shine again when cubing due to food release on smaller items.

 

[azn_knives_4l]

Stiction on the food side of the knife

 

[Cliff]

I know that's the prevailing sentiment but ime I don't care for lasers on dense stuff, actually like them better on softer items.

Oddly enough in my Squash Bustin series I found that concave ground midweights were my favorite a la Shigeki Tanaka ginsan, and Shindos do a great job a smaller dense things. Gives you the lasery cutting feel but breaks the suction/stiction. My heavy convex workhorses give you that mental confidence to get after something, but don't do as well on the bisect, though they start to shine again when cubing due to food release on smaller items.

Fair enough. I haven't tried Shindo on something like sweet potato, but something like that or Kurosaki could be a good option.

 

[Homechef]

I thought doing both well was a pre-req for making it onto the varsity squad?!

Kip Hook grind might be the best at both that I've gotten to use. Slightly less food release, but still smooth through both onion and sweet potato have been Halcyon Forge, Yanick, Isamitsu, Billipp, Eddworks, and Tanka/Kyuzo.

I think some Raquin grinds can be eased and unlock a really great blend cutting ability + food release. Straight from the shop the tip can hesitate in horizontal swipes, but after some love it's game on.

 

[Cliff]

Now that you mention it, I think a Ginga is good at everything. So are more recent Watoyama's, while the earlier ones, which I love, had better release.

 

[SwampDonkey]

This is the new Shindo 240 with serviceable but not great factory edge on a sweet potato.

 

[Cliff]

Looks great. I just got a tall Nakiri but haven't tried yet

 

[SwampDonkey]

Only other saved potater video is my Eddworks and Okubo 250s. The Okubo has better food release once cuts get smaller while the Eddworks has a bit more stiction, but hot damn it will cut through an entire butternut lenghwise like it's....well, butter. It's the best dense  cutter I own. Not bad for 5 mm stock!




Also on topic:

Okubo vs Wat Pro 180 nakiris

 

[Rideon66]

You’re killing me on the Shindo. My preferred squash and sweet potato slayer is the 250mm Okubo cleaver.

For onions between the Christian Dam 260 gyuto and the 203 Jonas Cleaver.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Looks great. I just got a tall Nakiri but haven't tried yet

The Tall Shindo is great onion knife, this was my very first one so 2nd half is better as I'm learning it on video

You’re killing me on the Shindo. My preferred squash and sweet potato slayer is the 250mm Okubo cleaver.

For onions between the Christian Dam 260 gyuto and the 203 Jonas Cleaver.

Enablement is the name of the game! If it makes you feel any better you and @tostadas made me pull the trigger on a 210x90 Okubo nakleaver

 

[Rideon66]

Found it
Okubo

 

[Cliff]

Thinking about one of those, too. But I already have a 220 Moritaka that is very similar. Not that that kind of issue has stopped me before.

 

[blokey]

Shi.Han kind does it all for me

 

[chiffonodd]

Found it
Okubo
View attachment 322753

Looks like a @tostadas special

 

[Rideon66]

Looks like a @tostadas special

Yes he made a beautiful custom Koa handle for my Okubo. It’s one more reason I really enjoy grabbing this Nakiri cleaver.

 

[chiffonodd]

Yes he made a beautiful custom Koa handle for my Okubo. It’s one more reason I really enjoy grabbing this Nakiri cleaver.

Knocked it out of the park like usual. Is the blade the monster 250x115 takenoko nakiri?

 

[aporigine]

I like dicing apples to test a knife, though it does bias results towards lasers. I like convexed knives that are thin enough for that job as all arounders.

For your test, nothing will beat a softish laser for the dense, heavy stuff. I just got one of the Kikumori SK knives, and that is about perfect. For onions, I'd rather have a convexed Chuka or my old school Wat Kurouchi, something with a fair bit of convex, or a Takeda with an S grind. Nothing touches Takeda for potatoes.

On large russets, my Shibata glides, but my Takeda hitches a little.

 

[Jville]

For onions, my favorite is definitely my small Takeda classic cleaver. If i remember correctly it was also quite good at sweet potatoes too. I remember doing a test once and being pleasantly surprised. may have to check it again.

 

[Rideon66]

Knocked it out of the park like usual. Is the blade the monster 250x115 takenoko nakiri?

Yeah he does great work. It ended up around 254x118 takenoko nakiri.

 

[btbyrd]

I really like a CCK for both sweet potatoes and onions. I’m sure nicer chukas are even nicer, but a thin CCK is great for both.

Really want to try a Takeda cleaver sometime. *REALLY* want to. My 300mm gyuto would sort of just plop its way through potatoes and sweets, but needed some thinning to be okay on onions.

 

[pitted_soul]

Sweet potatoes are one of my definitive tests, if it struggles or wedges, I sell it. Some go through better than others. Now, if it gets wedged in an onion? I cuss and yell at the smith/sharpener in my kitchen and then sell it. I don't know why, but it drives me crazy if a knife wedges in sweet potatoes, I feel like mine should unquestionably be able to tackle that well, so that's my test on every knife and luckily they're cheap.

My best butternut/sweet potato knife is my Francisco Vaz "Ballerina Raptor". It just edges my other "varsity squad" (i like that) gyutos: Eddworks, K. Karys, Munetoshi, Konosuke YW, Shinkiro, Yoshida Hamono, Kagekiyo x 2, RD Knives, Shi.han, Lucid, Shindo x 2, and Sky Eiler. Smaller varsity squad knives: Yamamoto Hakata, Okubo Santoku, Otsuko Bannou, Masashi Petty, Eddworks Kiri-cleaver/chunka and Shindo Bunka.

The rest all competently cut butternuts and sweet potatoes: SK Togashi, Nordquist, JNS Tanaka Bl 1 dammy, Hado Ginsanko, Yoshimitsu, N. Yamamoto, Tim Johnson, Nakagawa Ginsan, Metalworks by Meola, Isamitsu Wh 1 K-tip, Hyde Handmade, and Halcyon Forge gyutos.

Onions? My Yamamoto Hakata, Shindo Bunka, Munetoshi, Nordquist, Eilers, and Eddworks (either one) all excel.

I have one laser with a mirror finish. It's a handmade honyaki in W2 and it has the most limited usage as it wedges. It should be sold but it's too pretty to get rid of. I put it up for sale, but then back off. It's the one knife making me compromise my stable standards.

 

[Barmoley]

I have one laser with a mirror finish. It's a handmade honyaki in W2 and it has the most limited usage as it wedges. It should be sold but it's too pretty to get rid of. I put it up for sale, but then back off. It's the one knife making me compromise my stable standards.

This honyaki, does it actually wedge or gets stuck? Is it still mirror finished. I've had some polished knives get stuck which felt like wedging but it was due to mirror finish and it sticking rather than geometry causing the issue. Patina helped in those cases also rougher finish helped. Might not be your situation, but something to check.

 

[pitted_soul]

This honyaki, does it actually wedge or gets stuck? Is it still mirror finished. I've had some polished knives get stuck which felt like wedging but it was due to mirror finish and it sticking rather than geometry causing the issue. Patina helped in those cases also rougher finish helped. Might not be your situation, but something to check.

Yeah, that's what I am hoping and part of why I haven't aggressively sold it, but it's hard to patina when I don't use it much. I should just put all other knives away and keep that for use. The polish is definitely contributing to it.

So, while we're here, yes polishing looks great but it seems counterproductive to knife performance? This one was mirror polished to the very highest degree. My only two highly polished knives both had crazy stiction too and made them largely unhelpful on the board as they cause as much problems as they solve. They're mainly drawer queens now, good looking but that's about it.

 

[Barmoley]

Yeah, that's what I am hoping and part of why I haven't aggressively sold it, but it's hard to patina when I don't use it much. I should just put all other knives away and keep that for use. The polish is definitely contributing to it.

So, while we're here, yes polishing looks great but it seems counterproductive to knife performance? This one was mirror polished to the very highest degree. My only two highly polished knives both had crazy stiction too and made them largely unhelpful on the board as they cause as much problems as they solve. They're mainly drawer queens now, good looking but that's about it.

Unfortunately, what you have experienced is true, polish contributes to stiction, moreover polished non-stainless knives patina, so it is not clear why you would want or need it on a knife that is a user. Mirror polish can look good if that is what you are into, but it is definitely not ideal for a working knife. Polish can be ok as long as you don't go too fine with it, but I've never seen a true mirror polish that performed well on wet ingredients.

 

[azn_knives_4l]

Unfortunately, what you have experienced is true, polish contributes to stiction, moreover polished non-stainless knives patina, so it is not clear why you would want or need it on a knife that is a user. Mirror polish can look good if that is what you are into, but it is definitely not ideal for a working knife. Polish can be ok as long as you don't go too fine with it, but I've never seen a true mirror polish that performed well on wet ingredients.

Love the Scotch-Brite finish for use. Trying to figure out how to do this at home without belts. Hand pads are available so I'll give it a shot sooner or later.

 

[Barmoley]

Love the Scotch-Brite finish for use. Trying to figure out how to do this at home without belts. Hand pads are available so I'll give it a shot sooner or later.

Attaching the knife/blade to a raised base and going parallel to the edge works reasonably well, some get excellent results with it. Especially on low alloy steels since patina hides mistakes well. For low alloy steels just letting them patina often improves things enough to not have to refinish, depends on how fine the finish was in the first place. Stainless is tougher if you care about looks since any stray scratches are visible. Of course not paying more for mirror finish on knives meant for use is the easiest solution.

 

[SwampDonkey]

I had the drunken idea to improve stiction on a polished knife by getting a BBW as muddy as I could then applying that mud with a BBW fingerstone and wine cork and rubbing it around on the lower part of the blade above the cutting edge. Was pretty low key visually but did make a release difference, to my pleasant surprise.

 

[Jovidah]

I had the drunken idea to improve stiction on a polished knife by getting a BBW as muddy as I could then applying that mud with a BBW fingers fingerstone and wine cork and rubbing it around on the lower part of the blade above the cutting edge. Was pretty low key visually but did make a release difference, to my pleasant surprise.

You can just put mud (or any other sharpening medium) on cotton makeup removal pads. Works really well. Just fold it over the spine and hold the knife (and pad) between your fingers and rub away...
Maybe some actual sharpening product exists for this, but I can borrow the cotton pads from my gf for free so that's what I'm using...