First proper knife advice please

[Jonjones13]

LOCATION
UK



KNIFE TYPE
please help! Looking for 3 matching knives. I love the more artisan, traditional, the story of the blacksmith etc and the wife wants something which is pretty and more contemporary. Her favourite so far (of what I’ve showed her) are the Tadafusa HK4: The Chef’s Knife That Will Make You Feel Like a Professional

with the next best as these Sujihiki Knife, Aogami 2 core with stainless steel cladding, nashiji f

I prefer the latter as they have an Aogami 2 core with stainless clad, and I think the balance of blue 2 suits me in its sharpness, hardness and resistance to corrosion etc.

what 3 knives would you get? I’m thinking petty, gyotu or santoku (which would you choose and why) and maybe a Nakiri for veg - decent choices ?

Are you right or left handed?
Right

handle
Ideally a Western but Japanese handle Ok too

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
don’t know, what would you recommend for relative novice home chef?

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
Yes or maybe a blue 2 wrapped in stainless or similar

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
£200-300 per knife


KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
home environment
What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
General home cooking

What knife, if any, are you replacing?
Wusthof classics

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)?
Aesthetics are important as it needs to have high WAF (wife acceptance factor). Will be displayed on kitchen wall on magnetic knife rack. Showed Mrs Jones a few traditional J knives (incl Damascus finish) and she thought they looked ‘old fashioned’, so I guess I’m looking for something more contemporary.

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?
Don’t mind

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)?
easy to use please

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
Sharp for a long time please!


KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
Synthetic chopping board

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes, just a homing rod but will probably buy a stone

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Welcome and enjoy the journey.

Just something to consider up front, steel honing rods are generally less than desirable for harder Japanese knives. If you want your routine maintenance to be a rod, consider investing in a good ceramic rod. A forum search should turn up some good info.

Santoku and gyuto are often going to be considered redundant but they don't have to be. It could be that one of you prefers the gyuto shape and the other the santoku. Heck, you could be a freak like me and like 180mm gyuto's. I also like a nice nakiri.

I'm not sure about UK availability, but what do you think of these Akifusa knives:
https://www.epicedge.com/shopdispla...xact=&atleast=&without=&cprice=&searchfields=
They can be had in both western and wa handle and with either SRS-15 powder metallurgy stainless or stainless clad Aogami Super. Just something to consider.

 

[Dgilks]

With the budget you’ve got, you could consider a custom order from Fredrik Spåre, a decent Swedish knife maker. His stuff would appear to meet your requirements if you ordered stainless (he primarily uses AEBL for stainless). The look should meet the wife acceptance factor too. His lead time is about 2-3 months.

In terms of what knives to get, I’d be inclined to go for a Gyuto and a Petty, and spend the leftover money on a decent stone or two. I don’t find Nakiris to be a shape that I need in the kitchen and the Gyuto can do basically anything I want a nakiri to do. If you’re a standard home user with less experience using and sharpening knives, I’d suggest a 210mm Gyuto and 150mm Petty as good sizes to get most tasks done.

 

[PineWood]

Both lines of knives are made by Tadafusa. Probably members here will try to talk you into getting a more expensive artisan knife, but in my opinion these Tadafusas are often overlooked and perfect initiations to J-knives, thin and light. These are considered semi-factory made, reflected in the price. I have the SLD petty. Keep in mind SLD is semi-stainless, you still have to keep it dry and out of the dishwasher! The handles on these are quite small, for me it is not so comfortable but for my wife it’s perfect. The nashiji line has probably a better steel, a bit bigger handle and a surface probably less prone to scratches. I’d get the 210 and the petty (135 I believe), the third knife is up to your preferences, if you prep a lot of veggies, maybe the nakiri, if you have roasts to slice, maybe the suji. And yes, get a stone or two, I would pick one in the 400-800 grit range and one in the 2000-5000 range and you’re good!

 

[Nemo]

I'm not sure if you guys still pay EU-like import duties after Brexit? This will likely affect where it's economic to buy from.

How Important is a set? Most forum members steer away from buying a "set" in favour of buying a specific knife for each job.

Can you say what you mean by 'looks contemporary'?

If you want your knife to stay sharp for a long time, get a wooden or rubber (not rubberwood) cutting board.

Don't use a steele on a hard Japanese knife. Anything over 58HRC will risk chipping on a steele. Note that a steele doesn't sharpen, it only aligns a rolled over edge apex, which doesn't tend to happen on hard knives. So a steele will do more harm than good on hard knives.

You will need a plan to keep your knives sharp. This will be either:
1) Learn to sharpen on waterstones. You can find lots of advice on the forums about how to start, or
2) Buy a guided jig such as Edgepro. These will give a crisp edge apex but they are not useful for maintaining the geometry behind the edge, so your knife will gradually lose performance as it thickens behind the edge.
3) Find a professional sharpener who IS USED TO SHAPENING JAPANESE KNIVES and SHARPENS THEM ON WATERSTONES.

I recommend option 1 by a large margin.

If it's gonna be option 1, I'd lean towards a carbon steel or semistainless knife (stainless clad if you like) because you will get better sharpening results more easily. Maybe start with a cheaper option while you learn.

If it's gonna be option 3, you want as much edge retention as you can find, so you are looking for a PM (powder metallurgy) steel such as SG2 (aka R2), SRS15, Hap40 or even ZDP189. You will be sacrificing a bit of ultimate sharpness for this edge retention but it will still be in a completely differnt league to your Wusties.