Inexpensive special purpose knives

[GorillaGrunt]

So I’ve noticed that for more general purpose knives, gyutos and sujis and so on, in a broad sense a lot of the higher end ones are better performers and more pleasurable to use. But there’s a few knives under $100 that are pretty much indispensable in my kit for particular tasks. For example, I’ve got a “butakiri” butcher knife and an ikasaki/tall petty from JWW, Tosa made, unknown smiths, unremarkable materials, that are just the best for things like jointing chickens and separating lamb racks on the line, and a Sakai Genkichi funayuki/gyuto whose tall thin shape is great for stable slicing. None of these outperform my other blades across the board, mostly on a question of grind and/or thinness above the edge bevel, but they all take a super sharp edge and retain it under heavy use better than I’d expect a cheap knife would. Anyone else discover anything like this?

 

[Carl Kotte]

Cool! I see what you’re saying. I had a super thin rather tall Funayuki from Tosa-ichi a while which had many of the good properties you mention here: nice profile, took a brutal edge and it was very cheap. It was a one trick pony, but hey what a pony!

 

[M1k3]

Victorinox 8" chef, 3.25" parer and meat cleaver. Cheap and durable. If they break, no tears, they were very inexpensive.

 

[fewlio]

I just picked up a Zwilling JA Henckels 2.75" trimming/paring knife. Very crafty design, as the best way to pair in hand is to push the food item (in my case tomatoes) towards the blade with the thumb. With a cheapie dull knife, it's no problem, no risks. With a nice german or japanese, will cut your thumb for sure. So they put in a thumb stop/unsharpened flat area which protrudes from the cutting edge which prevents the thumb from easily making contact with the edge. This paring knife is short, nimble, the blade is not tall, nice round belly at the tip, so it's easy to make curving cuts when trimming off waste from ripe/overripe tomatoes. Like a surgeon's scalpel! I can say after using, it saves so much time and cut thumbs! I wouldn't be without it...it was a $50 paring knife and is getting more use than any other of my knives at the moment

 

[Alder26]

victoronox curved boning knife is essential. The profile is unique and perfect for certain butchery tasks, but absolutely unremarkable to look at.

 

[captaincaed]

Kiwi nakiri for Thai papaya salad (som Tam). The super thin blade and little vertical grooves near the edge means it comes loose from the dense papaya when cutting in hand very nicely. Every other knife I've ever used gets stuck.

 

[M1k3]

Kiwi nakiri for Thai papaya salad (som Tam). The super thin blade and little vertical grooves near the edge means it comes loose from the dense papaya when cutting in hand very nicely. Every other knife I've ever used gets stuck.

Interesting, I have access to a Kiwi cleaver. I should do a comparison of it to a Takamura and Ikazuchi. Although I've never made this before so failure seems likely.

 

[Michi]

This ones are getting a fair bit of use for fine work in my kitchen:

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/patriotic-paring-times-three.41339/

 

[Alder26]

Kiwi nakiri for Thai papaya salad (som Tam). The super thin blade and little vertical grooves near the edge means it comes loose from the dense papaya when cutting in hand very nicely. Every other knife I've ever used gets stuck.

Kiwis are some of the best value knives on the planet, I wish I could get a version of their bunka/cleaver shape knife with good steel cause its a vegetable monster!