Big Almighty Knife! Tojiro FG-3000

[Bert2368]

Probably should have added this to the "which machette?" thread, but here it is. 345mm blade...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001TPDYGM

Finally broke down and ordered a watermelon knife. For under $30 all in and delivered the next day from Amazon?! Roll those dice!

I have been using a 270mm Henckels to open watermelons for decades... And had a memorable accident some while back using the chef knife two handed on a melon. Hand applying pressure near tip slipped, top of tip was QUITE sharp enough for a good cut across my palm.

Looked at the FG-3000A variant which comes with a slip on grooved wooden "auxilary handle" for applying pressure at the end of blade away from primary handle. $15 more and waiting an extra month for the shipping from Japan? I will make my own handle.

 

[Jville]

I use a cck stainless small cleaver for watermelon. It destroys it. So much so, that i was able to let a 270 kono swed western go that i like a whole lot for watermelons.

 

[M1k3]

Hmm. This is cool! For that price I might just buy it because reasons!

 

[daveb]

At the end of the day it's still a Tojiro.....

 

[KenHash]

Well....I think it's actually quite a bit less than even the average Tojiro.

 

[Paraffin]

At the end of the day it's still a Tojiro.....

Well, yeah.... but you don't see a blade profile like that every day!

I admit I was tempted, just to have it as a conversation piece in the kitchen. Hang it on the wall somewhere to scare guests in our kitchen. Call it a zombie survival knife (although a good machete is better).

However, good sense prevailed and I kept my finger off the "buy now" button. I don't think this could do anything my old Wusthof slicer or cheap Chinese cleaver couldn't do, if I need to murder a melon.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Well....I think it's actually quite a bit less than even the average Tojiro.

I would agree since a 240mm Tojiro DP gyuto costs three times as much.

If using it just for watermelons looks like it would work. Hollow ground probably both sides should be easy to get a burr. Like that it is squared off at the tip.

Been eating a lot of watermelon first was using a 240 Tanaka ginsan. Switched to my Sugimoto CM4030 cleaver. This Tojiro is long and not as tall as a cleaver bet it would work well peeling and chopping watermelon.

 

[Michi]

It's an interesting knife, if only as a curiosity. Pragmatically, my 240 mm KS goes through watermelons like butter, so I don't think think there is any real need for this knife. Still, it's a great conversation piece

 

[TurboScooter]

The wood handled version was something like $15, maybe even under that, at one point fairly recently. I picked up the synthetic handled version of this for $10 on Amazon. I think I used it once; it's frikken gigantic.

If you have to push near the tip with some decent force you can use a towel so it's not as slick.

 

[GorillaGrunt]

Anyone see the 400mm nakiri on Knifewear? I’m really trying to find a reason to justify that one

 

[Qapla']

How good a choice would this be vis-a-vis, say, a 12" cimeter or "bull-nose" butcher's-knife for this task? (Though extra-large"bull-nose" knives do exist, q.v. K-Sabatier's carbon-monosteel 350mm "Boucher Americain".)

 

[Bert2368]

View attachment 53678

How good a choice would this be vis-a-vis, say, a 12" cimeter or "bull-nose" butcher's-knife for this task? (Though extra-large"bull-nose" knives do exist, q.v. K-Sabatier's carbon-monosteel 350mm "Boucher Americain".)

Probably depends on how thick the blade of the "butcher knife" is relative to the purpose made melon knife?

My parents used an "Old Hickory" brand approx. 8" blade butcher knife on melons when I was young. I mainly recall it not being nearly long enough for the bigger ones.

The twin of that long gone knife my parents had was one of the 4 old, dirty carbon knives I picked up from a member here last week. My folks Old Hickory was always the most sharpenable/sharpest knife in their kitchen (they also had some CUTCO- Ugh!).

 

[JustinP]

Anyone see the 400mm nakiri on Knifewear? I’m really trying to find a reason to justify that one

 

[rick alen]

Yeah I think the nakiri might be swell here. But my 10" Vic with thinned tip and edge will glide through a mellon about as well as a 270 KS.

 

[Bert2368]

The knife just arrived.

So did this melon...

 

[Keith Sinclair]

The knife just arrived.

So did this melon...

Bert did you try out the Tojiro on a watermelon yet? Is the size cumbersome to use one handed. Does it flex going through the hard skin? Guess need two hands on a large watermelon.

 

[Bert2368]

Bert did you try out the Tojiro on a watermelon yet? Is the size cumbersome to use one handed. Does it flex going through the hard skin? Guess need two hands on a large watermelon.

I foolishly used it TWO handed, one hand on handle, other blade forward. No problems, but just boringly effective.

Then "she who must be obeyed" saw it and showed me how it's REALLY supposed to be used... HASSAN, CHOP!!!!!!!!

 

[CoteRotie]

HASSAN, CHOP!!!!!!!!

You're showing our age, LOL. I wonder how many here will get that reference Doc? (Without Googling!)

 

[GorillaGrunt]

HASSAN, CHOP!!!!!!!!

Probably my favorite one.

You're showing our age, LOL. I wonder how many here will get that reference Doc? (Without Googling!)

On Cinco de Mayo I asked if everyone had their badge... crickets. Luckily the GM is slightly older so I didn’t get left hanging entirely.

 

[CoteRotie]

On Cinco de Mayo I asked if everyone had their badge....

That's hysterical.. Badges? We don't need no.....

Somebody in my office called our director "Uncle Fester" the other day. After he left everyone looked at me and said "Who is Uncle Fester?"

 

[gogogo545]

That is a lot of blade for the bucks!

 

[Bert2368]

Somebody in my office called our director "Uncle Fester" the other day. After he left everyone looked at me and said "Who is Uncle Fester?"

Even the return of "The Adams Family" as a series of movies didn't manage to get poor Uncle Fester name recognition?

Just as well, considering some who have borrowed the name:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Fester_(author)

 

[Keith Sinclair]

I think a 270mm gyuto is a good watermelon blade. Better hide that thing from your better half.

 

[Bert2368]

Better hide that thing from your better half.

The "better half" owns two samurai swords. Not the cheap chinese knockoffs from ebay, modern, sharp reproductions intended to be used. She soaks rolled up tatami mats in water and slices through them with a single swipe.

She also owns more guns than I do, which is saying a bit.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

No wonder she knows how to swing that cheap Tojiro.

I have a Jesus Hernandez Tameshigiri katana. W2 steel

 

[playero]

Use a cheese knife that has handles on both sides

 

[dgib7994]

30 bucks for a kitchen machete sounds like a good time

 

[daveb]

The "better half" owns two samurai swords. Not the cheap chinese knockoffs from ebay, modern, sharp reproductions intended to be used. She soaks rolled up tatami mats in water and slices through them with a single swipe.

She also owns more guns than I do, which is saying a bit.

So........ Does she have a sister???

 

[Bert2368]

So........ Does she have a sister???

She has a brother.

All I can with good conscience relate about him:

It is said that when one approaches the end of their life, the regrets felt most deeply are for those things one did NOT do, not those which one did, or at least attempted to do.

Her brother will have VERY few of such regrets.

 

[Bert2368]

30 bucks for a kitchen machete sounds like a good time

I am not a paid shill for Fujitora. And I personally feel this thing is a SCREAMING DEAL for those of us who can figure out why we would want a tool of this shape.