Kato comparison

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captaincaed

captaincaed

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I figure this won't interest most of the older guard, but may interest newer folks who haven't tried a Kato yet (this was my first time). Lots of foods to compare. (cross post from the passaround thread)

For comparison:
Murata santoku as a basic J-knife comparison - thinner behind the edge with harder shoulders mid-blade
Rader gyuto for a midweight full convex comparison
Yoshikano for a super thin comparison with a high polish
Fujiwara for a high-performance comparison
Hunter Valley Blades by Mert Tansu for a workhorse comparison with a different grind style-very thin behind the edge, subtle convex, shoulder very high up the blade (sorry I forgot this one until the apple videos)

I gave it an OK edge. My goal was to minimize steel removed (b/c of the passaround) but get in in shape to compare.

edit: for the record, the Kato is a clean, well made knife. The handle has crisp edges, the kanji are clean, if squared off. The grind and profile are neat, and the steel is awesome. It's not the best knife for my use cases, but it's executed with care and love. A lot of talent went into making this knife. All the knives I used today had this same care.
 
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Edit: all this comes with the "these are my personal preferences as a home cook" caveats. I assume the popularity stems from some professional cooks who have lots of prep? The Kato is not a delicate instrument, I can't imagine using it for presentation cuts.

Not really an absolute order, they sort of did differently at different tasks.

Kato sharpened up pretty nicely, nice steel whatever it was. It does not have magical food-repelling powers, but the geometry and finish combine to do a pretty good job on the known problem foods. However it gave me the least confidence doing precise cutting due to thickness right behind the edge.

Rader had great geometry, but the surface finish had more drag than I expected. Still love it.
Fujiwara is still my "break glass in case of heavy prep" knife.
Yoshikane is an assassin, but I'm aware that it's delicate.
Murata is wonky and fun, and I honestly really like it.
HVB I'm still getting used to, but I may go for another. Geometry and polish work well.
 
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Nice! I’ve been thinking of pulling the trigger on a kato. I Have almost always used westerners, only a Takeda when I started cooking. Not sure if want go back Japanese lol
 
I'm a huge fan of Japanese knives now. Kinda came full circle.

I felt like I was fighting the Kato to get work done. Honestly curious to know about what people like most. I'm totally open to the idea that it starts to shine during a long shift.

Any pro cooks care to chime in?
 
Can you take a closeup photo of the Kato edge?
A macro photo would get the closup done.
 
This is why I sold all my Kato knives, it is unreasonably expensive if you are not a collector. yoshikane skd/sld is an excellent cutter (it doesn't matter Damascus or ordinary stainless steel). Of all the top knives I owned (including honiyaki), my hand reaches for the relatively inexpensive kochi/Heiji/hinoura .
 
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I felt like I was fighting the Kato to get work done. Honestly curious to know about what people like most. I'm totally open to the idea that it starts to shine during a long shift.
Click to expand...

I found it to get worse over a long shift. The fighting with the knife is due to wonky weight distribution. It always wanted to naturally land right where it made the least board contact. That awkwardness was compounded by the weight of the knife. Also mine was super chippy.
 
captaincaed said:
It's weird. The passaround made me wonder what the fuss is about. Is this a representative copy?
Click to expand...

I did not to the passaround but every kato I have used left this same impression on me. Different strokes I guess
 
I like Katos. For me, the workhorse was a more unique knife than the standard. That being said, I preferred my Takayuki ginsan over the kato standard I had. At the price Katos are at, especially secondary market, not really interested. If they would come back down to earth, maybe.
 
Pricing issues aside, I will say that like most knives, Katos improve as you fine tune them to your specific usage/needs. The hype does them no favors, but I tend to think that about most hyped knives. I happen to like Katos, but there are other knives I'd keep over them if I was forced to choose.
 
I used to have only two Katos: one workhorse gyuto from JNS and a nakiri bought here at KKF years ago.
From what i remember (sold the workhorse gyuto) my gyuto felt a bit unbalanced for chopping although the steel is good; the nakiri's balance feels good.
I might try one in the future to make sure my feeling is still the same towards it, although i would be surprised if it came close to my favorites at the same price bracket.
 
I have two 210 Kato WH's, a STD and Ku, both very different knives. The Ku feels more substantial in the hand with a forward weight bias. The distal taper is a LOT more pronounced on the STD, which also feels more nimble with its neutral weight balance. Both weigh about the same @203g
 
Either the knife is rounded at the edge or there is something fishy there. Not even my axe doesn't wedge on potatoes ( i just tried slicing with the axe and it did better than you in your recording). I tried with a wusthof dull and it did not wedge.
I ask all knife owners here to go grab a potato and your worst knife. Now push and see if you get any resistance.
 
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To my surprise, The 210 Kato WH I had could hang with Toyama on potato without wedging, but the full convex grind Looks really hard to maintain, especially with flat stones.

I can imagine repeatedly sharpened Kato using stones will ruin the effective convexing real quick, resulting in deteriorating performance.
 
Codered said:
Either the knife is rounded at the edge or there is something fishy there. Not even my axe doesn't wedge on potatoes ( i just tried slicing with the axe and it did better than you in your recording). I tried with a wusthof dull and it did not wedge.
I ask all knife owners here to go grab a potato and your worst knife. Now push and see if you get any resistance.
Click to expand...
You can check the before and after edge videos if you're curious about it.
 
My favorite, hands down is the 240 standard. Had and tried them all over the years. Wish I had a couple of them back.
 
captaincaed said:
You can check the before and after edge videos if you're curious about it.
Click to expand...
That's why I don't believe the video. A knife that sharp should have no resistance on a potato regardless of the geometry. If that was hard celery root or sweet potato I might have said ok. But on a potato with a sharp knife i don't think so. I mean no one has to believe either of us, they can just go into the kitchen get the worst and dullest knife or an axe head and see how hard it is to slice the potato.
 
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