Hot Take: Does anyone actually use a Nakiri?

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Borealhiker said:
Yes. I love my Nakiri‘s. 160-65 Takeda, 160-65 Senko and 180 Wat. They’re so useful and just complement a gyuto really well. But what do I know? I love Santkou’s too.🙀🤷‍♂️
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Hey a santoku is an incredibly useful knife… though for whatever reason they aren’t as embraced as a gyuto, they are insanely useful. Especially when you have very limited space. They are , in my opinion, the best line knife. (Unless slicing protein is your main job on the line then I would say a longer petty would be legit)

For home cooks too! Such a great all around shape.
 
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tylerleach said:
Hey a santoku is an incredibly useful knife… though for whatever reason they aren’t as embraced as a gyuto, they are insanely useful. Especially when you have very limited space. They are , in my opinion, the best line knife. (Unless slicing protein is your main job on the line then I would say a longer petty would be legit)

For home cooks too! Such a great all around shape.
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Santoku is an underrated kitchen tool here, sure every TV celebrities nowadays have their Santoku brands (or Santuko if you are Christopher Kimball) but the real deal are a pleasure to have in a drawer.
 
Bought and used a Tsunehisa Blue Super Nakiri not quite fond of the length, these days my go to are my 240 gyuto for everything.
 
tylerleach said:
Hey a santoku is an incredibly useful knife… though for whatever reason they aren’t as embraced as a gyuto, they are insanely useful. Especially when you have very limited space. They are , in my opinion, the best line knife. (Unless slicing protein is your main job on the line then I would say a longer petty would be legit)

For home cooks too! Such a great all around shape.
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I like them quite a bit
 
Ccris said:
i use a nakiri for vegetables,
Watanabe PRO nakiri 165mm
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I just got the 180mm version of this knife! Really like the blade, but I do have to say the F&F of the handle was only okay and required some sanding and reshaping to get the ferrule to not be stepped up from the rest of the handle.
tylerleach said:
I forgot to mention literally one of the best Nakiris I’ve ever owned is the Shiro Kamo extra tall AO Super Nakiri.

Punches WAYYYY above its price range and is an insane performer. Super crispy steel, crazy thin behind the edge and a perfect height imo.
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Such a great knife! I passed mine along to someone else who really wanted one, but it really was stellar. Though the handle was a bit off for my preferences.

Dan- said:
Yoshikanes are just long santokus anyway.
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Accurate. Any attempt to rock chop is met with a dead stop.
 
Recently got and just finished regrinding and sharpening a YT nakiri (iron-clad White#2). It is on the larger side, 185x55 mm (was originally 57mm tall but the regrind/flattening of the bevels ate into it a fair bit). Hmmm... thoughts:
  • It is currently the sharpest knife I own, and also the thinnest behind the edge.
  • The sharpness is crazy, it zips through sticky produce (potatoes and carrots) like they weren't even there.
  • Food release? Nothing seems to stick, and even the ones mentioned above fall off with a gentle shake. First one for me, for sure.
  • Compared to the other Japanese knives I have, handmade (Wakui) and factory ones (MAC, etc.), I do not see myself using any other knife for produce, it is just so damn good.
So yeah, I see myself using that nakiri quite a bit indeed. And on that note, I also see myself cooking a lot more at home as a result :D Previously cutting the said produce was more of a chore, now it is like the knife is almost doing all of the work on my behalf.

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...slight amendment to the above, I will break out a 270 mm Wakui gyuto for very large produce and stuff with hard bits, the edge on that nakiri is too keen for anything rougher. But where it is intended to perform, it really damn shines.
 
cwk.v said:
I just got the 180mm version of this knife! Really like the blade, but I do have to say the F&F of the handle was only okay and required some sanding and reshaping to get the ferrule to not be stepped up from the rest of the handle.

Such a great knife! I passed mine along to someone else who really wanted one, but it really was stellar. Though the handle was a bit off for my preferences.


Accurate. Any attempt to rock chop is met with a dead stop.
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You'll notice those small-ferrule handles on a lot of Japanese knives, usually the more budget oriented. They typically have a plastic ferrule.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
You'll notice those small-ferrule handles on a lot of Japanese knives, usually the more budget oriented. They typically have a plastic ferrule.
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Unsure which handle you were referring to!

My watanabe has an all wood handle that had the misalignment of the ferrule to the knife. But thankfully it really was an easy fix with some sandpaper.

For the shiro kamo, it's was the shape of the handle that didn't quite work for me. Too tall but not very wide so it felt a bit off in hand.
 
cwk.v said:
Unsure which handle you were referring to!

My watanabe has an all-wood handle that had the misalignment of the ferrule to the knife. But thankfully it really was an easy fix with some sandpaper.

For the shiro kamo, it's was the shape of the handle that didn't quite work for me. Too tall but not very wide so it felt a bit off in hand.
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Gotchya. I believe the baseline handle that Watanabe sells are the small plastic ferrule kind and I thought that was what you were referring too. :)
 
I bought a cheap nakiri a while back on a lark just to try one out. Well, cheap at the time - it’s a Wakui white #2. Turned out I ❤️ the thing - very thin BTE and cuts like a champ.

I haven’t been using it much lately as I’ve been playing with new knives and also dialing in a couple others with thinning. But when I don’t have new stuff to play with, the nakiri is definitely in the rotation as a solid everyday “get it done” performer. Cheapest knife on my rack but just as much fun to use (and as good a cutter) as anything else 4x the price.
 
According to my observations, nakiri leaves almost no one indifferent. Either a person immediately likes this knife and he uses this knife with pleasure, or he doesn’t like it right away.
Myself, I mostly use the claver, with an almost straight cutting edge. It could be a nakiri, but I like the wide blade more, I especially like to transfer chopped food from the board directly to the pan or into the pan, with the help of a wide blade without a tip it is convenient to do this 🙂
 
I really enjoy my nakiris; each one a slightly different cutting feel and finish. The best? Probably the Mikami. Yes, I know the Takeda is a bunka, but hey, that's just a nakiri with a pointy end ;)
 

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I've been using a 150 nakiri for everything and a 170 chisel ground before that for decades. I'm just a homecook but I cook daily, no holiday.

I only reach for a specialty knife when I really need to, so almost never in everyday cooking. As a consequence, I barely use my 210/225 gyutos or 200 chinese cleaver. The honesuki is out only for two chooks or more. Sometimes suji for breaking large pork, trimming, etc. On very rare occasions the yanagi.

The only things that come close in usage frequency are a 90 petty and a 270 bread knife (I make bread every two days), but for everything else there's the knife above.
 
simona said:
I really enjoy my nakiris; each one a slightly different cutting feel and finish. The best? Probably the Mikami. Yes, I know the Takeda is a bunka, but hey, that's just a nakiri with a pointy end ;)
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Someone just liked one of my posts and it brought me back to this conversation…

I had a Takeda Bunka that I honestly wish I had back! You’re right… that one in particular is especially a Nakiri with a pointy tip. But dammit that Takeda Bunka still haunts me… something about it was just perfect to me. Maybe not as “fancy” as a lot of what’s in my current collection but damn if it wasn’t just a comfortable, crazy sharp, extension of your hand type knife…. Might have to try and buy it back………..
 
Pisau said:


I've been using a 150 nakiri for everything and a 170 chisel ground before that for decades. I'm just a homecook but I cook daily, no holiday.

I only reach for a specialty knife when I really need to, so almost never in everyday cooking. As a consequence, I barely use my 210/225 gyutos or 200 chinese cleaver. The honesuki is out only for two chooks or more. Sometimes suji for breaking large pork, trimming, etc. On very rare occasions the yanagi.

The only things that come close in usage frequency are a 90 petty and a 270 bread knife (I make bread every two days), but for everything else there's the knife above.
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I totally get it! I used a Global nakiri for everything for years; trim a raw rump steak and slice it cooked, fillet salmon and mackerel, chop veggies, smash garlic, cut noodles, joint chickens. Now my misses does the same ting with the same knife. Bread, that needs its' own knife.
 
When I was in Cambodia a few years back I watched people in the market stalls use Thai Kiwi nakiri style knives for all manner of cutting including pork and chicken.
 
For many years, my prep work at home was almost entirely with a lowly--but wonderful--KAI seki magoroku nakiri I was given when I was in Japan. Still in use from time to time. . .
 
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