Cheap new knives test and recommend thread

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I've looked at few websites and their prices are now around 150$ :confused:
Zakuri and alot of Tosa knives in general are really good. Can you still find Shigeki Tanaka at that price? Even at his current price they are still really good deals.
Where can you find Tosa knives?
 
For some reason, Rakuten japan doesn't deliver to France. I can find every neighbouring countries but not france
There’s some mail forward service like Jauce, usually they are cheaper than direct. Tho like I said before, KnifeJapan would save a lot of headaches, they ship with DHL and all shipping fee are included in the price
 
Zakuri and alot of Tosa knives in general are really good. Can you still find Shigeki Tanaka at that price? Even at his current price they are still really good deals.
I do not know. I remember having mist all the gensin Tanaka knives. They were relay cheap then not available. The R2 was quit expensive.
 
Those two Kyoheis look like they've got the distal taper and really thin grind (nakiri here):

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Might need a little bit of time with a straightening stick to get the edge in line, but pretty hard to argue with the value on these, IMO.

Those Ikenami bannous are also really great, even if very different from what Kyohei is doing. Probably won't need the straightening stick for those, I think they're a great candidate to convert from their wheel ground concave bevels into a full convex, but there's plenty of fun to be had with them as they come.
 
Dongsun Kyokuto just arrived with bunch of stuffs from China. I bought it directly on Taobao where it is slightly cheaper. All of Dongsun’s knife are called Kyokuto series, not just the Damascus ones, but I bought the top of the line ones to see how it works.
To my surprise, they are pretty good, one of the only contestant so far to past the Vic test, they are actually thin behind the edge with good geometry, the handle is not the most comfortable but it works, for the price it can’t be beat, Masutani is better but they don’t have knife this length. This is pretty close or even better than some of Seki factory knives.


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After more testing I think this is a great knife, can’t say anything about steel yet so I will do more test. Tho one thing holds me from using it is the balance, due to the handle design the blade is really handle heavy for a 240, especially compare to one of my favorite western handle balance. That said for $70 or $50 for the kasumi version it is pretty hard to beat, maybe the cheaper Shun Sora or OEM VG10s can be compared and they usually have better balance, but other Chinese Yangjiang knives and German stuff are a step below. I will keep this knife as a stand point for cheap knife testing for now. Tho it can’t beat actual artisan knives it is pretty good.

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I have to say I’m not a fan of VG10 and actually prefer Aus-8/8Cr13MoV to it, but that’s mostly for higher end stuff, for the price can’t complain.
 
If you can get them, while you can get them, the Takeo Murata Buho line performs, sharpens, and holds edge way past the very modest price. Tosa, Aogami 1, decidedly not hefty (with wa handle), and mostly 170mm and below. Consistently excellent cutters, although with some food stick. I have three.
 
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Another day and another el cheapo, here's something most people would be more familiar here, Shun Sora 8inch, rather than laminate all the way it attached a laminated VG10 to a soft back, kind like chopper king or Shibazi but with more precision and a beautiful wavy pattern. (Which they call a hamon in marketing, huh) This thing is a pleasant surprise, it looks much nicer than the classic shun in person, and the profile is much better, the grind is actually really good, nail flexing thin behind edge without being too factory flat, it cuts slightly better than the Dongsun in carrots, tho the lack of weight might not be the best for larger produce. The balance is equally not as pleasant as Dongsun, both around bolster, Shun is even more slightly back due to the shorter and narrower blade, if they have a 240mm version I imagine it would be better. VG10 is VG10, and Shun's ht is pretty controversial, but I would need more testing for that.
All in all, this is a very good blade for the current price of $79, the fit and finish is better than Dongsun with a mirror surface, the grind is also good. I still don't like thin stocked blades, but same as Dongsun, for the price I can't complain, if you don't have the money for a Takamura this would be a good choice. The limited amount of VG10 might be a problem in the long run for professionals, but for home cooks shouldn't be a problem. I will keep this one and test it out further. Tho honestly if Shun currently have the same quality in all their lines and better steel it should make some Takefu makers very nervous.
Discussion on the Shun composite stuff.
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/shun-composite-blade-technology.59786/
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Test cut, pardon my sausage hand and hung over cutting skill, it's pretty smooth, tho you can see some sticking due to the thin blade and mirror surface. It will require some strength as it is a very small knife and the balance is not helping.
 
A Hezhen, which suppose to be the higher end label of Xinzuo. Honestly it doesnt look bad, the packaging proudly says Made in China, not pretending to be something else. The handle is ok, fit&finish is on par with its $60 price point. The blade itself is somewhat wide bevel, much better than the Xinzuo yesterday, still didn’t out cut Vnox, but with some thining it should be workable. The steel 10Cr15CoMoV is just Chinese VG10, with proper HT it should be a good hard steel. The only problem I see is with little more you are going to the Tojiro DP and Fujiwara Kanefusa range which performs out of the box. It does has the wa handle and hammer thing going tho. No distal taper what so ever, but it’s normal in the price range. Would I buy it myself? No, but if someone want a wa handle knife to look at probably not bad, or just want a project knife to play with. (It’s not gonna be worse than Dao Vua)
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I looked into these knives but they were not up to par with Japanese knives and they were more expensive due to payments to the Chinese company having to be in USD. The NZD - USD exchange is not in my favour.
 
Knives from China? No, thank you! The usual CCK (or maybe 1 or 2 other cleavers) is an exception to that rule.
TBH I think it is worthwhile investigation, I have very positive experience with custom makers in China (though it cost over $500 so not cheap...), if people are willing to spend $70 on knives by couple Vietnamese dudes sitting around the forge why not see other possibilities? Tho I'm certainly against buying random 67 layer Damascus **** online.
Good thread!
TBH, I’ve been very interested in exploring J-style knives produced in China—as a low cost alternative to knives produced in Japan. Production quality in China is improving. A friend of mine got a 300mm yanagiba off Aliexpress, he’s quite happy with it for the price, think he paid about a hundred bucks.
There’s certainly a niche for inexpensive, good enough, cool looking knives for non-knife nerd, home cooks. MISEN an example of a Chinese made knife that’s doing well.
FWIW, much of the stuff in my house and kitchen is Chinese made, why not the occasional J-knife?
 
Good thread!
TBH, I’ve been very interested in exploring J-style knives produced in China—as a low cost alternative to knives produced in Japan. Production quality in China is improving. A friend of mine got a 300mm yanagiba off Aliexpress, he’s quite happy with it for the price, think he paid about a hundred bucks.
There’s certainly a niche for inexpensive, good enough, cool looking knives for non-knife nerd, home cooks. MISEN an example of a Chinese made knife that’s doing well.
FWIW, much of the stuff in my house and kitchen is Chinese made, why not the occasional J-knife?
I find it fun to try knives around the world, be it China, Japan, Switzerland or US. Tho I have to say a lot of stuff like the Xinzuo and Tuo test here is kind waste of money, I’m happy if anyone else want to contribute. Personally I still find these factory knives kind boring, be it made in Seki, Yangjiang or Solingen, but people buy them by the thousands so there got to be some interesting stuff out there.
 
I looked into these knives but they were not up to par with Japanese knives and they were more expensive due to payments to the Chinese company having to be in USD. The NZD - USD exchange is not in my favour.
I have to agree the Hezhen in particular is not that good.
 
Good thread!
TBH, I’ve been very interested in exploring J-style knives produced in China—as a low cost alternative to knives produced in Japan. Production quality in China is improving. A friend of mine got a 300mm yanagiba off Aliexpress, he’s quite happy with it for the price, think he paid about a hundred bucks.
There’s certainly a niche for inexpensive, good enough, cool looking knives for non-knife nerd, home cooks. MISEN an example of a Chinese made knife that’s doing well.
FWIW, much of the stuff in my house and kitchen is Chinese made, why not the occasional J-knife?
Starting about 4 years ago, together with a Japanese collaborator, I've reviewed 5 Chinese knives from 3 different brands: Shan Zu, Shibazi, and Xinzuo. I soon will be receiving a Hezhen 110 layer dual core nakiri for my birthday--making the total 6. All were evaluated for the home cook, with comparisons to Japanese or Western knives. All of them performed surprisingly well, and several of them have become part of my home batterie knives that I use regularly.
 
One of the knives I always wanted to test, the JCK original Kagayaki basic, probably too basic for most people so there’s not a lot of reviews out there. This is the 270mm version, cost around $150, while not cheap, it is certainly a bargain with this length since many budget options simply don’t do it. I choose the ES option for free. The steel is VG1, basically Takefu version of Abe-h/19c27, very close to AUS10.
This knife is a pleasant surprise, on first look it is like your average mass produce Japanese gyuto with highly asymmetrical bevels, but it is really well down, the edge is properly thing and flex under a nail tho not too much. While it looks flat, the right bevel is actually convex, adding to the geometry. It have no distal taper but the tip comes out very thin. All in all, great knife. I run out of ingredients to test today so I will update later.
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The balance is also nice, tho I’m sure about the shorter version, tho likely they will have smaller handles so balance might be similar?
 
A fat carrot cutting comparison test with some of the good one in this thread plus one Matsutani, surprisingly despite not look as thin as the others the Kagayaki is the smoothest cutter, almost no resistance as you can hear, the acute edge geometry definitely helps, Matsutani comes second, Dongsun third tho only by a small bit and the Shun due to its short length and narrow blade a last.
 
After more testing I’m seriously impressed, the Kagayaki ES not only out cut all other cheaper options, it actually out cut some of the much more expensive knives. (Limited to carrots) there’s very little stiction, it just want to go through things, the balance is much more natural even if it is only a few mm of difference, unlike the Shun and Dongsun it doesn’t actively pushes it self around while thin slicing stuff, a common problem of thinner but convex knives, it went straight through with no steering. the food release is also exceptional, I actually even like the feel of it a bit more than Ginga. ( Tho the Ginga have better f&f)
If anyone need something cheerful to try out or need a beater I can recommend trying the Kagayaki Basic, dealing with Koki is also very pleasant as usual.
 
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