Cantidates for new workhorse

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May I suggest the Watanabe 210? The steel and the grind are amazing. Also, I think the Shiro Kamos are a bit thin and light to be "real" workhorses, but they are nice knives. I have the laser from that cleancut series and, while a lot thinner than these, it has great HT and profile. The only problem is that the cladding on mine rusts if you so much as think of a tomato. I'm not sure if he used the same on these.
 
May I suggest the Watanabe 210? The steel and the grind are amazing. Also, I think the Shiro Kamos are a bit thin and light to be "real" workhorses, but they are nice knives. I have the laser from that cleancut series and, while a lot thinner than these, it has great HT and profile. The only problem is that the cladding on mine rusts if you so much as think of a tomato. I'm not sure if he used the same on these.
Am i able to buy a watanabe on that price range?
 
The Kaeru has been getting a lot of love here from what I've seen. I bought my mum a 210 one a few days ago. Arrived yesterday, very happy with it but I don't have experience of enough knives to say much more.
 
The Kaeru has been getting a lot of love here from what I've seen. I bought my mum a 210 one a few days ago. Arrived yesterday, very happy with it but I don't have experience of enough knives to say much more.
Thanks ill consider
 
"Workhorse" can be an ambiguous term and it would be good to know what you by it.

It is often used to mean 'a knife that you can use for anything', including heavy duty tasks such as splitting pumpkin/ squash. Often this means a middlewight knife.

Alternatively, it can refer to a "workhorse grind", which is a thicker knife, often with a lot of convexity in the grind and great food release.
 
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what size knife do you really use the most? start from there. most folks find a 5" to 6" basic chef knife(or a ko-deba) is the knife used the most. most folks i know find an 8" or longer knife to big for most kitchen jobs.
 
Ya'll do know there really are actual things called "work-horses"
and they are not the "petite" (petty, small) version of a horse?
 
horse-breed-sizes-graphic_1600.jpg
 
Ya'll do know there really are actual things called "work-horses"
and they are not the "petite" (petty, small) version of a horse?
but we aint hauling coal or beer. the kitchen work horse is the knife reached for most often, the one that can do the most jobs. do most cooks reach for a 2 oz knife with 5" blade that can cut, slice, peel, dice, debone. or do they reach for 3 or 4 different knives to do these jobs. a 240mm rimbyo by master sake looks great on the forum and to show off, then spends most of it's time on the storage rack.
 
the kitchen work horse is the knife reached for most often,
Going by your description, I would call that an EDC, an everyday-user, or my "main" knife.
I consider workhorses to have thicker grinds, like Nemo said above. But it's just my opinion, maybe I'm wrong.

Either way, I guess this is a conversation for another thread, as we don't have a horse in this race. :D
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Yeah, the ”workhorse” title did use to mean the do it all kinda knife. Ever since Maxim went and wrote it permanently on his versions of the Katos fatso knives it’s become more known as the title for heavy knives with fat spines and ”workhorse” grinds like Katos, Wats, Heijis and Toyomas.

Though it is kinda fitting, like HRC_64 demonstrated. Big, browny, heavy and powerful type of horse that’s not best known for agility and more for pure power.

But going by the options given by the Alexec we’re probably looking more at the warhorse kinda workhorse. The ones that without complaints just goes to war against all things that stand in between you and your meal. So sturdy middleweights with versatile profiles and grinds should aply best?

I’ve never used any of the Aframes offerings and the Hinoura is pretty unkown for me too.

Both of the Shiro Kamo knives are great examples of this type of workhorses, very well made all purpose gyutos. but both are quite reactive.

The Yoshikanes are perfect for this too, though fully reactive also, but less so then the Kamos. The SKD version from EE has a SS cladding and SKD steel will have better edge retention compared to the carbon siblings.
 
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Yeah, the ”workhorse” title did use to mean the do it all kinda knife. Ever since Maxim went and wrote it permanently on his versions of the Katos fatso knives it’s become more known as the title for heavy knives with fat spines and ”workhorse” grinds like Katos, Wats, Heijis and Toyomas.

Though it is kinda fitting, like HRC_64 demonstrated. Big, browny, heavy and powerful type of horse that’s not best known for agility and more for pure power.

But going by the options given by the Alexec we’re probably looking more at the warhorse kinda workhorse. The ones that without complaints just goes to war against all things that stand in between you and your meal. So sturdy middleweights with versatile profiles and grinds should aply best?

I’ve never used any of the Aframes offerings and the Hinoura is pretty unkown for me too.

Both of the Shiro Kamo knives are great examples of this type of workhorses, very well made all purpose gyutos. but both are quite reactive.

The Yoshikanes are perfect for this too, though fully reactive also, but less so then the Kamos. The SKD version from EE has a SS cladding and SKD steel will have better edge retention compared to the carbon siblings.
How come the skd has better edge retention than carbons?
 
Other things matter too like wear resistance that is usually better the closer you get to steel being stainless.

In my experience big factor is what is being cut. I sound like a broken record, but acidic stuff just wrecks the the edge retention with carbon steels. If you use carbon mostly on your proteins it’s a different story.

When I’m using carbon knife At work I have to always cut other stuff first and save for last all the tomatoes, pineapples, limes, lemons etc. That way I can survive a work day without touching up the edge. If I do it the other way round I need to touch up half way thru the day.

That’s why I love some semi SS. It can hang with all that stuff all day in any order and I can touch up my edge at the end of the day. It’s even better with good SS knives like R2.
 
get a kippington
Oh baby! :rolleyes:

@JaVa
While I totally agree with you, I'd be careful saying that. It was mentioned in a recent thread that some other experienced members totally think it's a bogus myth, and there's no proof yet to say otherwise.
 
So let me see if i get it. You say in a pro enviroment Ss works better faster harder than carbon?
 
what size knife do you really use the most? start from there. most folks find a 5" to 6" basic chef knife(or a ko-deba) is the knife used the most. most folks i know find an 8" or longer knife to big for most kitchen jobs.
do most cooks reach for a 2 oz knife with 5" blade that can cut, slice, peel, dice, debone. or do they reach for 3 or 4 different knives to do these jobs. a 240mm rimbyo by master sake looks great on the forum and to show off, then spends most of it's time on the storage rack.
Do most people (who have learned how to use a knife properly) really use 5" to 6" the most? I use a larger chef's knife far more than my 6" petty, and had the impression (perhaps incorrectly) that most on here are similar.

Sorry OP for being OT.
 
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