My grand nephew's fiancé (mid-20's) has been wanting to come over and talk kitchen knives forever and we finally made it happen today. She has a very nice Mercer 8" chef's knife that was given to her as a gift sometime ago. Seems she was getting interested in cooking and loved the knife so her folks bought it for her. Sadly, they also bought her a pull-through sharpener to go along with it. Now, it's a nice knife but it is a full-bolstered beast and well... 
She had been sending me pictures of myriad damascus knives she liked and was especially fond of the Shun Miyabi. I would send her some links to other knives and she wouldn't say much. Now, I'm in no way down on damascus or the Shun, but it was obvious to me that she was just getting googley-eyed at the looks and not considering price or performance. Understandable as she had no experience.
I don't have a large collection of kitchen knives but I do have some diversity, and they're all pretty budget friendly.
These are the knives she played with today:
- Suncraft Senzo Black VG10 damscus bunka
- Ittetsu X-Hammer SLD bunka
- Tsunehisa G3 nakiri
- Hinokuni White 1 180mm gyuto
- Tadafusa Blue 2 180mm gyuto
- Tsunehisa G3 210mm gyuto
Different shapes, steels, finishes, etc.
She actually has pretty good knife skills. Pinch grip and claw support. A little rough but just needs some time. She also has a couple nice cutting boards so she's well on her way!
We talked knife nomenclature, differences between German and Japanese knives (build and usage), etc. I had a passel of carrots, celery, and radishes that we worked on together. I showed her fine cuts and let her try, I showed her how a thick carrot snaps at the bottom of the cut with a thicker knife and she really practiced push and glide type cutting. When she started making transparent radish slices she was pretty jacked.
Then, out of nowhere she said, "This really makes me want to cook."
BINGO!!!
I jumped all over that and talked about how the cut types can change food and the cleaner cuts and just generally feeling inspired cuz you have knives you enjoy.
It was a ton of fun. We ended up needing to eat dinner and stop playing but she surprised herself by having a real fondness for the nakiri and the Tadafusa. She said she hated the looks of the nakiri's I'd sent her but after using one she didn't care about that anymore. And she commented several times about how surprised she was that she liked the shorter lighter knives. She also commented several times about differently the Japanese knives cut and how effortless and enjoyable it was. It really did blow here mind and after a couple hours she was all about function (mostly) over form.
I sent her off with my old Wusthof utility and pairing knives (they pretty much just had the monster chef knife) and my well used but still functional strop.
They're just kids starting out so they don't have any money so we're focusing on bang for your buck stuff. I sent her a link to a Harakuze G3 nakiri and she loved it.
Anyway, it isn't very often someone comes to see me specifically to talk knives and I had a great time! I have no doubt she'll be back. She said she wants to learn how to sharpen.
She had been sending me pictures of myriad damascus knives she liked and was especially fond of the Shun Miyabi. I would send her some links to other knives and she wouldn't say much. Now, I'm in no way down on damascus or the Shun, but it was obvious to me that she was just getting googley-eyed at the looks and not considering price or performance. Understandable as she had no experience.
I don't have a large collection of kitchen knives but I do have some diversity, and they're all pretty budget friendly.
These are the knives she played with today:
- Suncraft Senzo Black VG10 damscus bunka
- Ittetsu X-Hammer SLD bunka
- Tsunehisa G3 nakiri
- Hinokuni White 1 180mm gyuto
- Tadafusa Blue 2 180mm gyuto
- Tsunehisa G3 210mm gyuto
Different shapes, steels, finishes, etc.
She actually has pretty good knife skills. Pinch grip and claw support. A little rough but just needs some time. She also has a couple nice cutting boards so she's well on her way!
We talked knife nomenclature, differences between German and Japanese knives (build and usage), etc. I had a passel of carrots, celery, and radishes that we worked on together. I showed her fine cuts and let her try, I showed her how a thick carrot snaps at the bottom of the cut with a thicker knife and she really practiced push and glide type cutting. When she started making transparent radish slices she was pretty jacked.
Then, out of nowhere she said, "This really makes me want to cook."
BINGO!!!
I jumped all over that and talked about how the cut types can change food and the cleaner cuts and just generally feeling inspired cuz you have knives you enjoy.
It was a ton of fun. We ended up needing to eat dinner and stop playing but she surprised herself by having a real fondness for the nakiri and the Tadafusa. She said she hated the looks of the nakiri's I'd sent her but after using one she didn't care about that anymore. And she commented several times about how surprised she was that she liked the shorter lighter knives. She also commented several times about differently the Japanese knives cut and how effortless and enjoyable it was. It really did blow here mind and after a couple hours she was all about function (mostly) over form.
I sent her off with my old Wusthof utility and pairing knives (they pretty much just had the monster chef knife) and my well used but still functional strop.
They're just kids starting out so they don't have any money so we're focusing on bang for your buck stuff. I sent her a link to a Harakuze G3 nakiri and she loved it.
Anyway, it isn't very often someone comes to see me specifically to talk knives and I had a great time! I have no doubt she'll be back. She said she wants to learn how to sharpen.
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