Durability testing Watanabe Pro Gyuto

[daveb]

Don't bother, shig and kato are all hype, there are much better knives.

Damn, next you'll be saying the Emperor is nekid.

 

[M1k3]

I'm working my way up the food chain. Wait until I get to the Shigefusa. A bunch of flippers will shart their drawers.

I love this guys gumption!

 

[DitmasPork]

Don't bother, shig and kato are all hype, there are much better knives.

I like my Kato, wonderful knife. But at current prices, many Katos BST seem more aimed at serious collectors, or deep-pocketed cooks. Low scoring knife on the "bang-for-buck chart." Good to have if one can afford it.

My Marko workhorse, based on the Kato profile and grind is a better performer than my Kato WH, for about a third of the price in 52100, with a much better handle. Yes Katos have hype, mystique, etc.

 

[Nemo]

Don't bother, shig and kato are all hype, there are much better knives.

Yeah, I'm glad I never got on the uber collectable knife train. I'm still busy exploring the wonderful world of performance variation in (relitavely) affordable knives.

I reckon if I spent over a thousand on a knife I might baby it, so probably wouldn't appreciate its full potential. I would probably also be too scared to maintain it properly.

Not what a knife is for IMO.

 

[Customfan]

My 2 Bobs' (2 cents') worth:

Watanabe's blue2 is a pretty hard HT. Hard means it will hold a pretty acute edge without rolling over but will be prone to (micro)chips if the edge is too acute for the type of work you are doing. Another way of saying this is that the mode of failure of the edge will be chipping rather than rolling, even if this failure occurs at a higher threshold.

I think that Watanabe usually ships his knives with a zero grind, which makes them very sharp (I'm guessing this is under 10 degrees inclusive) but probably not durable enough for rough use (as I assume one would encounter in a busy pro kitchen). I think that he expects that you will put a microbevel on it if appropriate for your type of use.

In my more gentle home use, the zero grind actually lasted a while. Now that I have microbevelled it, this hard steel has very good edge retention, even for blue 2.

It's also pretty nice to sharpen, even if it feels a little different (maybe harder?) to softer HTs of blue 2.

I would say that it's a good HT but one that requires care and attention because it is pushing hardness toward the limit.

+1 retention is up there...

Just makes me appreciate Watanabe's even more....

Great job bringing that blade back to life!

Thanks for sharing...

 

[Thorndahl88]

Great read. Thanks stringer !
I might try the zero grind on my toyama 240 its too fat.