How stiffy your suji?

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chiffonodd

chiffonodd

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Guess I've always been more of a dicer than a slicer. I don't tend to portion large proteins. Nevertheless, there is a potential housing purchase on the horizon and I wanna make that new kitchen shine with a fully stocked knife bar. So I'm currently in the hunt for a suji.

What are yalls' thoughts on what makes an ideal sujihiki? I'm looking at a 270. Probably western to fit with the current collection but not necessary. Stainless would probably work better in my coastal environment but not strictly necessary either.

But this isnt exactly a "what knife do i buy" question yet, though recommendations are always welcome. I'm more interested in the general principles at this point, the variables that you take into account. For example, what type of grind do yall prefer? Thin and slicey seems obvious, but maybe a nod in the widebevel or more convex direction is better for allowing thin slices to more easily separate from the blade. What about stiffness? A flexible blade could more easily navigate the contours of product, but might struggle to pass evenly through denser product.

School me pls 🙏
 
A 270 will do anything you're likely to encounter - though I use my 240 as much or more than the longer ones.

It's gotta have some ass to it. Minimum 160g, my favorites are 200g and up. No flexi.


Not too tall. 40ish. Don't want a long gyuto, but being able to do some quick board work without switching knives is a good thing.

I've 6 or 8 sujis around and my favorite for pro use is Zwear by HSC. Stainless for all practical purposes and it doesnt get dull even in a forever shift.

My Marko (aebl) and Wat (dammy) are up there as well but don't have the edge retention the HSC has. Great knives.

Have had carbon Wat, Toyama and Heiji and liked them a lot and would recommend any of them.

Good luck in your search.
 
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I use the hell out of this one:

https://bernalcutlery.com/collectio...kikumori-nihonkou-240mm-sujihiki-carbon-steel
It's stiff and although it's not that thick, it is pretty robust. My suji use-case goes beyond meat slicer. For me, this is a general purpose slicer so pizza, cheese blocks, thinly slicing chicken breasts and of course the more traditional roasts (raw and cooked). So for me the mono SK steel is really nice here. It sharpens up nicely but is still pretty tough and rust resilient. It's distinctly right hand bas with a noticeable convex grind.

At some point I may add a slicier suji, but I don't see me replacing this one.
 
I'm not a sujislut like Dave so I'm not an expert on this at all.. but just my two cents from using a bunch over the years:
-What's preferable depends on what you want to use it for. The thin light and flexy does better at trimming and filleting. For slicing I've found stiffer and heavier to work better, especially on cooked or cured meat.

-270 is useful for really big stuff (cutting your own steaks, turning a whole ham into cubes) but if you're just turning a steak into slices it's kind of overkill... although admittedly if you're just turning a steak into slices I never particularly felt like I really needed a sujihiki instead of a gyuto.

-Even though my long ones are carbon, and this is 0 issue when using during prep... if I were to buy another I'd go stainless. When you're slicing meat for a dinner it's nice to be able to leave the knife sitting around dirty. It's also nice if you want to use it on something like pineapple without it turning brown.
 
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No experience with sujis, but from my recent experience with a yanagi, stiffness and weight really help the blade to go through meat/fish effortlessly. And yes, 270 is about the perfect length.
 
Thanks everyone for some great replies. In general, I'm hearing that I want a 270 with a bit of heft at the spine and no real flex, 200g+, not tall, and with a nice taper.

Which means that I'm gonna spend the next year trying to find a discontinued blazen western suji 😆🤣😭😭

Or maybe takamura pro will come back in stock by then.

Let the games begin!
 
Yeah, thin and slicey is not so obvious. I had two sujis and traded one. The one I traded was a Raquin; the one I kept was nothing so exalted, but I liked it a lot better because of its weight. 300mm length, 260g weight, spine tapering from 4.7mm at the heel to 2.5mm near the tip.

It works wonderfully. I too once thought a proper suji was a thin, slicey knife. Instead, it's like someone ground the top 30mm of a heavy Chinese cleaver into a wide-bevel knife. At least, mine is, and I'm all for it.
 
Purely based on different gyuto (and nakiri!) experiences: convex grinds work much better for meat than my super thin BTE slicey knives that are veggie monsters. Munetoshi, Okahide, and Wat Pro grinds outperform Kochi/Shindo/Yoshikane on raw or cooked meat for me.
 
I think a small suji/long petty in the 210-240mm range has a lot of value. I have a 220 Sicard that I use almost daily at work for all manner of random things. I think I'd use a knife like that far more often in a home kitchen than a 270mm meat slicer
 
Keep in mind that using weight as a selection criterium has some problems due to different handle weights; the same blade can have drastically different weights when paired with a ho-wood, ebony or western pakkawood handle.
 
I don't believe in the concept of an 'ideal' sujihiki—which is why I have several that vary in length and heft, ...same with gyutos. Really comes down to what I'm cutting. All of these are good, and quite stiff—L to R: Tanaka, Heiji, Yanick, Yanick, Takada no Hamono, Mazaki.
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