For the love of cutting: a cut-vid thread for all

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Owning a Stradivarius will only make you a better fiddle player if you already know how to play on any old violin.

My violin teacher in college had an Amati that she let me play once. Can confirm that the timbre was exquisite, but that I still sucked.
 
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My violin teacher in college had an Amati that she let me play once. Can confirm that the timbre was exquisite, but that I still sucked.
I had a friend that won a major violin competition. Part of the prize was that he could use a primo violin for three years. The foundation didn't have a violin to give him at the time so they told him to go pick one out. Budget was 3 million. He came back to my apartment with two Strads and a del Gesu. Needless to say having nearly 10 million dollars worth of violins in my living room was an unnerving experience. That was like 20 years ago. They'd probably go for double that now.

Just like knives though, there are diminishing returns once you get into the super high end stuff. The difference between a $50K violin and a $250K violin is a lot greater than the difference between a $250K violin and a $5M violin.
 
Discovering draw cuts made me completely lose all interest in the concept of 'food release'.
While I like draw cuts there’s simply a lot of ingredients it sucks at, especially the denser or more springy ones. There’s also a lot of cuts require more precision. Tho food release was never a huge issue for me, stiction is.
 
Watanabe Pro 180 prep'ing that most vegetable of snacks... cheese. Multiple different kinds that range from soft to hard and different densities.

Yes, you will see my hands shake a bit at times. That's mostly because I'm focusing on pushing fairly hard but also trying to be very controlled so I don't slam the blade into the board. That and my hands aren't what they used to be.

 
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Dicing up tomato for guacamole for the game yesterday. Sorry for the red on red color scheme.

I see you are like me like Chinese cleaver
when you do the horizontal cuts how do you keep your fingers safe ?
 
I see you are like me like Chinese cleaver
when you do the horizontal cuts how do you keep your fingers safe ?
For the horizontal cuts, palm is securing the tomato with light pressure, fingers are just extended to keep out of the way. For vertical cuts, just the basic “claw”
 
Masahiro VC 210 gyuto. Been looking for a good monosteel yo handle carbon beater. Got this 210 for cheap. Good 90/10 right handed geometry out of the box. Thinned the chisel grind to just shy of nail flexing thin. Always heard good things about the VC steel, supposedly it’s solid Takefu V2. Good stuff, gets very keen, holds up well to being beat on and touches up easily. Will pick up a bigger one to play with.

Masahiro VC 300 mm gyuto. I went up a couple sizes. Complete overkill, but everything about the 210 applies to the 300 mm. Plus the 300 mm had one of the sharpest edges OOTB I’ve tried on any knife, impressive considering the initial thickness BTE and that they probably sharpen it on a wheel or belt. Just wish the handle was a bit smaller to push up the balance point a bit. Edge seems to last longer though because you can just use a different section of the knife when one gets dull.


Still needs a bit more work, but choil shot for reference. As close to a single bevel as you can get and still be a double bevel.
1676741214361.jpeg
 
Masahiro VC 300 mm gyuto. I went up a couple sizes. Complete overkill, but everything about the 210 applies to the 300 mm. Plus the 300 mm had one of the sharpest edges OOTB I’ve tried on any knife, impressive considering the initial thickness BTE and that they probably sharpen it on a wheel or belt. Just wish the handle was a bit smaller to push up the balance point a bit. Edge seems to last longer though because you can just use a different section of the knife when one gets dull.


Still needs a bit more work, but choil shot for reference. As close to a single bevel as you can get and still be a double bevel.
View attachment 226444



WIFE: That's a large human.

ME: Yep.

WIFE: That's a large human with a large knife!

ME: Indeed.

:)


Had the video playing on the TV.
 
Did a very KKF thing. Had to cut up about 100 serrano peppers so I pulled out a bunch of different knives. The skins on these are a little waxier than jalapeños or green peppers so it’s a good edge test. Make sure to wash hands throughly afterwards.
Ended up using the Munetoshi and Suien VC for most of the peppers off camera but knives by order of appearance are: Sukenari ZDP-189, Munetoshi, Suien, Hinoura, Shihan, Tojiro, Masashi, Sugimoto CM4030, Sugimoto #6
 
Did a very KKF thing. Had to cut up about 100 serrano peppers so I pulled out a bunch of different knives. The skins on these are a little waxier than jalapeños or green peppers so it’s a good edge test. Make sure to wash hands throughly afterwards.
Ended up using the Munetoshi and Suien VC for most of the peppers off camera but knives by order of appearance are: Sukenari ZDP-189, Munetoshi, Suien, Hinoura, Shihan, Tojiro, Masashi, Sugimoto CM4030, Sugimoto #6

Any feelings about which ones you’d choose for the task in the future? I find zdp is pretty killer for this stuff
 
Any feelings about which ones you’d choose for the task in the future? I find zdp is pretty killer for this stuff
Have you sharpened your ZDP? I had to do some work on mine to get it really thin and I’m still experimenting to get the best edge on it.

I’ve sharpened it like half a dozen times and can get it slicing curves in paper towel like all my other knives, but I feel it can still be a bit sharper. I don’t want to make any final judgements just yet. Might pick up a higher grit diamond stone or something meant for cutting PMs.

Munetoshi 270 with a near zero edge just moves through the pepper skins so well, no hesitation or noise and the weight does all the work. Obviously not as much overall edge retention as the Sukenari, but so much easier to get back to 100%.

As a side note, sharpening ZDP isn’t too bad as long as the geometry is good, thinning it feels like a war crime.
 
Have you sharpened your ZDP? I had to do some work on mine to get it really thin and I’m still experimenting to get the best edge on it.

I’ve sharpened it like half a dozen times and can get it slicing curves in paper towel like all my other knives, but I feel it can still be a bit sharper. I don’t want to make any final judgements just yet. Might pick up a higher grit diamond stone or something meant for cutting PMs.

Munetoshi 270 with a near zero edge just moves through the pepper skins so well, no hesitation or noise and the weight does all the work. Obviously not as much overall edge retention as the Sukenari, but so much easier to get back to 100%.

As a side note, sharpening ZDP isn’t too bad as long as the geometry is good, thinning it feels like a war crime.
I’ve been having a personal grudge match with magnacut, and high volume carbides of any kind are a pain in the ass. Portland knife house once told me “no one sharpens zdp right, so we have to do it,” which makes me think there’s an approach that most of us don’t do just because we stick to our normal habits.

Asking both users of steels with lots of carbides and a couple other shop owners, ~1k edge then really light, high grit deburr, high as you can feasibly do, is a good recipe. A little back and forth between the two to get the edge really clean, since deburring is a chore.

Honestly I haven’t needed to sharpen my own zdp yet. But I bought a coarse diamond stone cuz I’m scared of it. I find R2 challenging, but I feel like I can really nail that edge. It also involves back and forth between the bevel setting stone and the deburring stone. Final passes are edge leading, really delicate like I’m trying to peel a tissue paper label off the finishing stone surface. Super slow and patient, and not too much. If I do that, my edge will last 4-6 months cleanly cutting paper towel on the only petty I own (and it gets used nearly daily).

The same approach with magnacut hasn’t left me satisfied yet, so I’m going coarser and finer for the two stones, see if that works. The edge feels “rubbery” rather than “bitey”. It grips, but not in the mean way I like. Can’t really get it fine enough to just fall through either. I blame myself. By any normal cooks metrics it’s sharp, but it’s only 85% for me. I’m trying to finish on 3k diamond, but I think I’ms switching to a 400/800/1k then 6k routine, and trying out which bevel set fares best. The 400 makes a shaving edge on a razor, so may be a good option. Super consistent.

E474C5C4-7020-4263-98D0-163C928AB858.png


Curious to hear the direction you take it. Sorry for writing a book…
 
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I’ve been having a personal grudge match with magnacut, and high volume carbides of any kind are a pain in the ass. Portland knife house once told me “no one sharpens zdp right, so we have to do it,” which makes me think there’s an approach that most of us don’t do just because we stick to our normal habits.

Asking both users of steels with lots of carbides and a couple other shop owners, ~1k edge then really light, high grit deburr, high as you can feasibly do, is a good recipe. A little back and forth between the two to get the edge really clean, since deburring is a chore.

Honestly I haven’t needed to sharpen my own zdp yet. But I bought a coarse diamond stone cuz I’m scared of it. I find R2 challenging, but I feel like I can really nail that edge. It also involves back and forth between the bevel setting stone and the deburring stone. Final passes are edge leading, really delicate like I’m trying to peel a tissue paper label off the finishing stone surface. Super slow and patient, and not too much. If I do that, my edge will last 4-6 months cleanly cutting paper towel on the only petty I own (and it gets used nearly daily).

The same approach with magnacut hasn’t left me satisfied yet, so I’m going coarser and finer for the two stones, see if that works. The edge feels “rubbery” rather than “bitey”. It grips, but not in the mean way I like. Can’t really get it fine enough to just fall through either. I blame myself. By any normal cooks metrics it’s sharp, but it’s only 85% for me. I’m trying to finish on 3k diamond, but I think I’ms switching to a 400/800/1k then 6k routine, and trying out which bevel set fares best. The 400 makes a shaving edge on a razor, so may be a good option. Super consistent.

View attachment 227475

Curious to hear the direction you take it. Sorry for writing a book…
Lol, I like the Portland Knife House quote.
Yeah, I find setting the bevel on a 1k on ZDP not bad, but at higher grits, it’s harder to get feedback and tell if I’m actually abrading anything, I’ll try just light deburring.


Also your thinning and sharpening is something I really like watching. You’re killing it.
Just an excuse to play with knives more 😅
 
Only on KKF can @kpham12 say he had to cut up 100 serrano peppers and that gets zero attention but the various knives used do.

😁
For pickled peppers. Really popular condiment in SE Asia. A biggish batch for friends and family, about half get cut thin like in the video and the other half chunkier.
 
Saw some decent size carrots at the grocery and decided to do a little cut test while making treats for our dog. All knives used could cleanly cut newsprint, but some had recently refreshed edges including the Myojin, Markin, and Wakui so they had a small unfair advantage. Also the Myojin and Yoshikane got used on the thinner ends of the carrots so that’s practically cheating but those two are lasers anyway.

Some comments:
Absolutely love all these knives but damn the Wakui really knocks it out of the park in terms of price/performance ratio. The edge feels a bit delicate and you can hear it still sticks in the board even though I’ve had it over a year now which is getting kinda annoying but I don’t want to decrease the sharpening angle any further (15dps).

The Kamon’s geometry is crazy - you can hear the tip is dead silent, and I purposely switched to using the mid-blade to test his renowned distal taper and there’s some cracking as expected but it’s still smooth AF. A perfect knife for powering through a variety of produce.

The Markin - wow, super smooth budget workhorse. By my standards anyway, some might consider it a midweight. Just lovely thin BTE but with some weight behind the super stiff blade.

Birgersson - dunno why but I just reach for this guy by default. It just feels nice in hand, cuts like a mofo, and for some reason the rustic texture lets me mentally focus on the cooking without worrying about the edge (which I do with the Yoshi, Myojin, and Wakui).

Steele - just totally surprises me with its awesomeness every time I use it. I can’t believe he’s not a cult favorite on this forum.

Ayling - it’s an s-grind (which I’ve thinned slightly), for those wondering why it takes a little more force.


 
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Saw some decent size carrots at the grocery and decided to do a little cut test while making treats for our dog. All knives used could cleanly cut newsprint, but some had recently refreshed edges including the Myojin, Markin, and Wakui so they had a small unfair advantage. Also the Myojin and Yoshikane got used on the thinner ends of the carrots so that’s practically cheating but those two are lasers anyway.

Some comments:
Absolutely love all these knives but damn the Wakui really knocks it out of the park in terms of price/performance ratio. The edge feels a bit delicate and you can hear it still sticks in the board even though I’ve had it over a year now which is getting kinda annoying but I don’t want to decrease the sharpening angle any further (15dps).

The Kamon’s geometry is crazy - you can hear the tip is dead silent, and I purposely switched to using the mid-blade to test his renowned distal taper and there’s some cracking as expected but it’s still smooth AF. A perfect knife for powering through a variety of produce.

The Markin - wow, super smooth budget workhorse. By my standards anyway, some might consider it a midweight. Just lovely thin BTE but with some weight behind the super stiff blade.

Birgersson - dunno why but I just reach for this guy by default. It just feels nice in hand, cuts like a mofo, and for some reason the rustic texture lets me mentally focus on the cooking without worrying about the edge (which I do with the Yoshi, Myojin, and Wakui).

Steele - just totally surprises me with its awesomeness every time I use it. I can’t believe he’s not a cult favorite on this forum.

Ayling - it’s an s-grind (which I’ve thinned slightly), for those wondering why it takes a little more force.


View attachment 227879
Love your collection! What would be the reason the wakui sticks inside the board? And from the fact you said that you've had it for over a year, I suppose that using it should correct that but why?
 
Love your collection! What would be the reason the wakui sticks inside the board? And from the fact you said that you've had it for over a year, I suppose that using it should correct that but why?

I believe sharpening at a very low angle combined with very thin immediately BTE (like 1mm) would probably cause sticking. In the case of the Wakui I’m not sure - all my knives are sharpened at 30 degrees inclusive, which is pretty conservative.

The Wakui and Myojin are my only knives that tend to stick a bit. They’ve both been sharpened a couple times so I thought by now they would’ve gotten fractionally thicker BTE to stop the sticking, but apparently not. I haven’t used the wakui for ages so I forgot it takes a more gentle touch hence the sticking on the first cut but not the rest.
 
I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life that I’ve dove into head first without a care. However, few things have given me as much apprehension as posting a cutting video to a forum full of chefs and culinary enthusiasts. And watching the video back, I can see how not call and relaxed I am with every cut.

So let me start by saying, feel free to tell me how you think I can improve these videos. I am going to make these to show off the incredible work of makers, to people who may be considering purchasing their work. So if there is anyway I can improve the quality of the content to showcase the work better or make these videos more useful, please let me know.

For my first video I’ve already realized I need to tweak the camera angle a bit.

Anyways, without further adieu, my first cutting video featuring my Milan Gravier Full Kasumi Wide Bevel Damascus Twist Gyuto.

Hopefully this video attaches right 😬

 
I’ve done a lot of crazy things in my life that I’ve dove into head first without a care. However, few things have given me as much apprehension as posting a cutting video to a forum full of chefs and culinary enthusiasts. And watching the video back, I can see how not call and relaxed I am with every cut.

So let me start by saying, feel free to tell me how you think I can improve these videos. I am going to make these to show off the incredible work of makers, to people who may be considering purchasing their work. So if there is anyway I can improve the quality of the content to showcase the work better or make these videos more useful, please let me know.

For my first video I’ve already realized I need to tweak the camera angle a bit.

Anyways, without further adieu, my first cutting video featuring my Milan Gravier Full Kasumi Wide Bevel Damascus Twist Gyuto.

Hopefully this video attaches right 😬


Only comments I have is a slightly higher and wider video angle, besides what you had already mentioned.
 
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