How would you assemble a grail knife roll?

[josemartinlopez]

How would you assemble a grail knife roll? If you were to consciously assemble a set of knives you would use weekly, not mainly driven by a collector's mindset but somewhat conscious of collectability and aesthetics, how would you do it? What mental slots would you assign to this ideal knife roll, and how would you fill each one?

I'm asking because there many amazing conversations on this forum, but most revolve around individual knives or choosing between 2 or 3 specific knives. However, if people try to educate themselves and draw up a long term wish list, they realize they end up with a list of 240 mm gyutos that may have a lot of similarities and not much else. I was hoping instead to start a conversation about how you would visualize this with all the knives you might own in mind instead of visualizing individual knives.

For example, is it a good start to think about what gyuto you want, and mentally assign one slot to a 270 mm "workhorse" gyuto, a 270 mm gyuto with more weight and heft, and a 240 mm "laser" gyuto? Then think about a nakiri, a petty and a bread knife?

 

[Elliot]

The grail thing is always a strange one because you have to thread the needle between looks (River Jump) and performance. While some do both (River Jump again), what’s the main driver.

I, as a case study of one, spent a lot of time chasing the names: Kato, Shig, etc. I have some. But... what do I grab to cut with? Knives made by Evan, Bryan, Yanick, Rob, Joe...

 

[Cliff]

How big is the roll? I'd want at least a couple gyuto's, a suji, a honesuki, a pairing knife and a petty or two. If I can have a few gyuto's, I'd have Sanjo and KS 270's, maybe a Takeda 240, and a stainless 180.

 

[josemartinlopez]

Interesting, why these slots and why these knives? Let's say you wanted to start with 10 slots before you rationalize that it should really be 20 then 40...

For example, do most people use a sujihiki weekly here? I'd love to get one but honestly don't think I'd use it with any frequency.

 

[Cliff]

For thin draw cuts and delicate work (herbs) I prefer something thin -- doesn't have to be laser, but thin. Most of the time, I like a Sanjo workhorse. I use a laser suji every week to portion proteins.

 

[Qapla']

How would you assemble a grail knife roll? If you were to consciously assemble a set of knives you would use weekly, not mainly driven by a collector's mindset but somewhat conscious of collectability and aesthetics, how would you do it? What mental slots would you assign to this ideal knife roll, and how would you fill each one?

What kinds of foods do you cook?

 

[Ericfg]

My grails would be mostly old Westerns with a few, newer profiles added.
There is not much new, under the sun, that we haven't seen as far as functionality goes.
Currently the handle and edge maintenance have become very important.

 

[toddnmd]

Jose, you keep asking almost the same question, with a slightly different focus.

You have to find what works for you. Other people's recommendations are driven by their own preferences, criteria, cutting style, most frequently used ingredients, budget, unconscious biases, etc. There is no objective "best" for any type of knife or set. You have to try enough knives to become confident in your own decisions and develop your own preferences.

The Which Knife Should I Buy? Questionnaire was designed to help members here help you get started or continue in their knife search. Try it. At some point, you’re gonna have to take a leap of faith and make a solid choice so that you can get some experience with a blade to determine what you want and need, what you like or not, etc. Then possibly add to your collection or move on to something else depending on what you learned from that experience, etc.

Get a first good knife first. There are some very nice knives out there for $200 or less. You have lots of time to later figure out how to try to find a better knife for you, and eventually a nice collection and perhaps someday your personal grail knife.

 

[captaincaed]

How many threads are you going to start before either reading or acting?