Favorite sujihiki length?

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josemartinlopez

josemartinlopez

我會買所有的獨角獸
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Quick question... what are people's favorite sujihiki lengths? Is 270mm a good bet, and less people use 300mm sujihikis than one thinks?

People seem to favor 240mm gyutos (and a less vocal but substantial population favor 210) and 180mm nakiris but I couldn't find discussions on sujihiki lengths. And does this correlate with a user's favored gyuto length (ex. if you like 240mm gyutos, do you tend to like a certain sujihiki length)?
 
TLDR for the forthcoming thread: 270 is standard, 300 is usually overkill except for large briskets and the like, although some like it otherwise, 240 is good for something more nimble and favored over 270 by some, 210 is good for portioning small proteins and such. 180 is a petty.

Update, to keep the TLDR current: some people like in between sizes. @stringer wants to call your 90mm paring knife a suji and @Carl Kotte might buy such a knife if it were made of lead or gold. and we’re still waiting on the token too-cool-for-school suji-as-a-main-knife person to show up.
 
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So where do 285mm and 255mm fit in that scheme?
 
I have a 300mm and I wouldn't want it any shorter when cutting beef roast for jerky, or huge briskets.
 
180-210 is great for doing boneless boning work. Like trimming silverskin off of beef tenderloin or cleaning the membranes off of monkfish. Works good as a line knife in cramped space for slicing proteins for plate-ups.

215-265 For me, much like with gyutos, this is largely a dead zone due to being too big to do the small trimming jobs and too small to do the big slicing jobs.

270 This is the ideal size for smaller roasts. Mine gets the most use on pork loin. Okay for beef sirloin or terrines or slicing smoked salmon or leg of lamb, etc.

275+ This size usually doesn't fit in a knife roll or knife block. But you need the extra length if you are going to be dealing with large roasts like prime rib or brisket. 300mm+ is also ideal for cutting steaks like ribeye, new york strip etc without having to do a bunch of sawing. I wish that I had a nice sujihiki this size back when I was doing steakhouses. For other tasks anything over 270 is overkill.
 
I have a 300mm that is mostly used for slicing large roasts and portioning primals into steaks. I also have a 210 Ginga petty that gets used for slicing raw fish, but it's mostly used to trim silverskin and other petty-ish tasks The main difference between a long petty and a suji is semantic. I don't consider anything 210 or under as a slicing knife, even if it looks like one. Other people have no problem calling a 180 or 210 a suji. It doesn't really matter, but in my mind a proper suji is 240 or longer, with the "generally good for most slicing task" length being around 270. The best length for you depends on your usage and space. I cook more large cuts of beef than I do smaller roasts (like pork loin) so I opted for a 300mm on the theory that longer is better for my purposes, especially since I'm not working in a cramped environment.
 
Which which? I've had suji from most of the usual makers and some of the less known. (And still have 5 or 6) I found what I like a lot and what I like not a lot. My likes are probably not your likes.
 
Which makers make a 285?

I’ve found that listening to you talk about your likes is worthwhile even if I have to understand my likes are not the same.
 
josemartinlopez said:
Which?

Also, what's the difference between a 180-210 long petty and a suji?
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I call anything that is shaped like a sujihiki a sujihiki. Whether it's 130mm or 330mm.

The word petty is sort of useless because it only tells you that the knife "isn't long".

It doesn't tell you anything about the shape and it doesn't really have any correlation to the japanese words like gyuto, sujihiki, etc.

For me I want to know the shape of the blade and the length.

At 180mm-210mm you could have a lot of different shapes. Kiritsuke, gyuto, sujihiki, nakiri, santoku, etc. The word petty adds zero value to this discussion.
 
I really like 270mm Sakai gyutos so my choice for Suji is 300mm Sanjo )
 
Who makes a 185mm? A few will - if you ask nicely.

285s, One is a custom kintaro-ame Wat. The other is an HSC in Zwear. They are both a pleasure to use, both about 200g. Best inexpensive suji is Heiji carbon. 220g. Wat Pro and Toyama, couldn't tell them apart. 180ish g. Kono it too light for me for most things. 140ishg Ditto SIH but SIH was nicest looking. Shig was only Shig I really liked - but someone wanted it more than I did. Want to try Heiji Gesshin.

Weight matters. 165g is for me a minimum, sweet spot is 180-190. 200+ is good but hard to find.
 
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Twigg said:
Don't forget girth!

(Sorry, I'm childish sometimes)
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Childish and mildly perverted doesn't mean it's not true. Girth and height will affect how the blade performs. One of the most personal things about sujis, probably even more than length is the amount of flex. And that will be determined by the profile and geometry. Taller girthier blades will generally be stiffer. If I'm cutting brisket then I want a blade without a lot of flex. But in a different application like slicing grav-lox a lot of flex is a positive.
 
stringer said:
I call anything that is shaped like a sujihiki a sujihiki. Whether it's 130mm or 330mm.

The word petty is sort of useless because it only tells you that the knife "isn't long".

It doesn't tell you anything about the shape and it doesn't really have any correlation to the japanese words like gyuto, sujihiki, etc.

For me I want to know the shape of the blade and the length.

At 180mm-210mm you could have a lot of different shapes. Kiritsuke, gyuto, sujihiki, nakiri, santoku, etc. The word petty adds zero value to this discussion.
Click to expand...

Idk, I think petty means a ~150-210 mm edge length, and shorter height than a gyuto. It has just as much content imo as gyuto or sujihiki.
 
josemartinlopez said:
Which makers make a 285?

I’ve found that listening to you talk about your likes is worthwhile even if I have to understand my likes are not the same.
Click to expand...
Sakai measuring measures to machi, so a sakai-made 300mm would have an edge length ~285mm.
 
It's not a general purpose knife, so better to find a reason to buy one first.
For cutting sashimi I would choose a 300mm, but for cleaning up meat, my choice would be 240mm or 270mm (but some prefer shorter ones as others already posted).
 
josemartinlopez said:
Quick question... what are people's favorite sujihiki lengths? Is 270mm a good bet, and less people use 300mm sujihikis than one thinks?

People seem to favor 240mm gyutos (and a less vocal but substantial population favor 210) and 180mm nakiris but I couldn't find discussions on sujihiki lengths. And does this correlate with a user's favored gyuto length (ex. if you like 240mm gyutos, do you tend to like a certain sujihiki length)?
Click to expand...

Depends on what I'm using it for. I have 230, 240, 270 sujis, used all of them—no size correlation to whichever gyuto I have out. Borrowed a 360 suji, which I liked a lot.
 
Is there a compelling reason to get a 270 suji if you have a 270 laser for a non-professional?
 
bingo said:
Is there a compelling reason to get a 270 suji if you have a 270 laser for a non-professional?
Click to expand...

Define compelling ;) -- in all seriousness, I'm not a pro, have a 270KS Gyuto and still find a decided difference between that and a 300 Ashi Ginga suji. Did I have a compelling need? Not to anyone else...
 
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