Ginga or KS?

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
R

Ruso

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2013
Messages
2,049
Reaction score
674
How does Ginga carbon and Masamoto KS gyutos compare? I am interested in monosteel white blade but not sure if KS worth extra $$.

KS looks interesting to me because it's Masamoto and I don't have any of em. And apparently is has the best profile for many people.
 
KS is thicker, flatter profiled, a 240mm is like 250mm long and 48-49mm ish tall. Ginga has thinner spine, thinner blade, much more curvature in profile. A ginga 240mm gyuto would only be like 232-235mm ish long but with about the same height. Honestly IMO for anyone that's been around the block in jknife land they're both sorta a bore.
 
I have both, and i wouldnt recommend one over the other, it depends what youre preferences are.

Do you want a true laser like the ginga, or a knife with a little heft in the spine but still thin behind the edge, like the masamoto

What kind of profile do you like?

Is working with the tip something you do alot with a knife? the ks has an insanely thin pointy tip

Height wise the ks is taller than the ginga , its alot more "knife".

Do you want D handle or octagon?

The ks is very reactive and is going to patina heavily , which is a turn off for some people.
 
I am already familiar with Ginga since I have 240 in stainless. Thanks guys for the input on Masamoto. So far looks interesting since it's a very different knife and latelly I am gravitating towards middle weight not the laser laser type.

Labor, if you subjectively consider both a bore, what are your other options for monosteel carbon (white or blue)? Honuyakis are way to much $$ for me.
 
I know I know the market is scarce for quality mono in the $250-450 range. Again just my opinion but I sold my KS after using Sakai jikko from james(blue steel version). Yeah it's San mai, but a taller blade and shorter in length with nicer grind and custom profile that seems inspired by the ks(they're not much more than KS either) Maybe you would like the KS more than me, I've tried to get into them(I've owned 3) they just feel like tall sujis.
 
Blashphmer, but I respect you always give your honest opinion... Even if it goes against the majority

It's why I always enjoy your reviews and thoughts on knives

But your still wrong on this one :biggrin:
 
Chef_ said:
I have both, and i wouldnt recommend one over the other, it depends what youre preferences are.

Do you want a true laser like the ginga, or a knife with a little heft in the spine but still thin behind the edge, like the masamoto

What kind of profile do you like?

Is working with the tip something you do alot with a knife? the ks has an insanely thin pointy tip

Height wise the ks is taller than the ginga , its alot more "knife".

Do you want D handle or octagon?

The ks is very reactive and is going to patina heavily , which is a turn off for some people.
Click to expand...

The KS is taller than the Ginga? I'd say they are exactly the same height [emoji6]
 
bkultra said:
Blashphmer, but I respect you always give your honest opinion... Even if it goes against the majority

It's why I always enjoy your reviews and thoughts on knives

But your still wrong on this one :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Honestly my main gripe is the measurements, 47-49mm ish tall x 250mm long. The grind is nothing special either. But that can be tweaked. I bought a KS off dardeau and he did a masterful job of tweaking the grind.
 
I agree there is nothing magical about the grind. I got lucky my Honyaki is 50mm @ the heel
 
I'll admit, not having tried a KS, the distinction between 48mm and 50mm is hard for me to grasp from a functionality standpoint. Would you mind commenting on how the feel changes in your perspective?

I was speaking with a Japanese smith, and when I inquired about a gyuto being 50mm, he said he thought that was "much too tall", and strongly recommended 47-48 instead. Of course I understand it's a preference thing, but i was surprised that a couple mm difference was enough for him to warn me he thought it was sub-optimal.

Thoughts?
 
47 feels too short to me for a gyuto that is actually 240mm in length, the KS is 250mm ish so the ratio of length vs height makes the knife feel very narrow. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing. I definitely don't mind 50mm tall, when the actual edge length is 240mm

Omega said:
I'll admit, not having tried a KS, the distinction between 48mm and 50mm is hard for me to grasp from a functionality standpoint. Would you mind commenting on how the feel changes in your perspective?

I was speaking with a Japanese smith, and when I inquired about a gyuto being 50mm, he said he thought that was "much too tall", and strongly recommended 47-48 instead. Of course I understand it's a preference thing, but i was surprised that a couple mm difference was enough for him to warn me he thought it was sub-optimal.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
I agree height is dependent on the length (and style of knife of course). I would prefer my Honyaki to be 52mm, but 50 is on the taller side for a KS. I find anything in the 48-53mm usable for a 240-255mm
 
Personally im not a fussy cutter, put something sharp in my hand and im a happy guy. I think the ks is a pretty fun knife to use, and my ginga outperforms most of my knives.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top