Knives that make you go WHOA from the first cut!!

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Aside from my initial experience with Jknives, it was actually when I bought a kitayama 8k stone that I started to feel whoa again. Turned all my knives up to 11 after that, even the 15$ henkles.

Now the whoas tend to be more of a long term whoa from knives being able to keep that edge for a long time or by being able to handle some really dense produce more easily than others. The knives that do that are pretty familiar around here.
 
I have copied all of the WHOA items and put them in a table to count

In descending order:

13 - Yosikane - if you include Kashima
8 - TF - both Denka and Mab
6 - Wat
6 - Wakui
5 - Toyama
5 - Shibata
4 - Kono Fujiyama
3 - Kono YS-M (Yosikane)
3 - Kochi
3 - Kippington
3 - Gengetsu
3 - Kato

having one of each would make a great knife block!!
 
You make stuff thin behind the edge, you make people go whoa. It's the same reason almost everyone who tries a Robert Herder paring knife is a convert from the first cut. If it wasn't for RH providing me the same experience at an earlier point in time the Yoshi would have been on my list too. That 'light cut' without any cracking or wedging on root veg is simply instant gratification the first time you experience it.
 
1. All depends on what you're used to.
2. A lot of factory edges aren't meant to be used as such. Just helpful for the end-user so he can put his own edge on it, with only a few strokes. A factory edge shouldn't be the object of any special veneration. Traditionally, Japanese blades used to come without an edge. The end-user was supposed to sharpen himself — or let the retailer do it for him, at his cost. With today's export this is no longer acceptable. So, there has to be an edge on it. Put on it with a few strokes by the youngest apprentice. A bit of buffering for deburring, and done!
Only some expensive knives and (semi)customs come with a decent edge. Even then it isn't necessarily the kind of edge you're looking for.
3. Don't use an edge with an inclusive angle of 12° with board contact and complain about the steel being chippy.
 
After cutting my teeth on a couple of K-Sabs with the hardness of plasticene, anything was going to give me a WOAH moment. The lucky knife was a TF.
 
Corradobrit1 said:
After cutting my teeth on a couple of K-Sabs with the hardness of plasticene, anything was going to give me a WOAH moment. The lucky knife was a TF.
Click to expand...
Stainless ones, I guess?
Because even soft carbon steel can reach a terrific sharpness due to its fine structure.
 
Here's one you dont really hear very often on this thread - Jiro.

I know the profile is a little wonky, a 240 mm gyuto weighs close to 300 grams and most people seem to buy them and not use them but my Jiro (307?) was a fantastic performer.

I was shocked at how it slid thru that onion almost no resistance for a knife that big. I actually regret selling it. I would love to get another with a wa handle some day
 
My smedja aspen honyaki made me go whoa from like the 10th cut. It's just such a nice performer, but I didn't like it that much initially.
 
Bico Doce said:
Here's one you dont really hear very often on this thread - Jiro.

I know the profile is a little wonky, a 240 mm gyuto weighs close to 300 grams and most people seem to buy them and not use them but my Jiro (307?) was a fantastic performer.

I was shocked at how it slid thru that onion almost no resistance for a knife that big. I actually regret selling it. I would love to get another with a wa handle some day
Click to expand...

You’ve got me firmly nodding in agreement at least - my first experience of a Jiro provoked much the same reaction, that big sharp intake of breath occurring as it slid through the first product far more easily than I expected. This is a big beast - a 180mm wa nakiri weighing close to 300g - but there’s some spectacular taper towards the front ‘tip’/point and thin, thin, thinness behind the edge. Add in a lovely balance and sublime feel in hand and it‘s a pleasure in use, with far more delicacy and versatility than expected.

It‘s not perfect I’ll admit. There could be a little more convexing - this thing can suffer from a little sticktion and certainly sucks fast to the magrack - and it can occasionally wedge in denser product. I’ll forgive it that given the heft, for no 280g+ plus blade should feel like a laser, and both marginal shortcomings are avoided easily enough with a slight change in technique. I’ll make the effort, for this thing is authoritatIve fun when motoring through piles of veg.

This nakiri’s going nowhere and I’m increasingly tempted by Jiro‘s gyutos. Think the compromises may be more obvious there (and competition fiercer), but I can utterly understand your ’whoa’ moment.
 
One of my first decent knifes was a Shigefusa and it WOW-ed me for quite a while, and still does at times.
The other a Hinoura Nakiri that still WOWs me, I'm surprised that name does not pop up here either.

I'll add the Andrei Markin S380 petty I recently bought for my GF, I find myself grabbing for shallots and onions and that sort of thing and go WOW-WOW every time!
 
WHOA moments...

My first Wustof 10 in chef's 31 years ago, when I was 19.

My first decent non factory Japanese knife, a Moritaka AS nakiri.

Sukenari ZDP 189 Gyuto.

Kato 240.
 
WiriWiri said:
You’ve got me firmly nodding in agreement at least - my first experience of a Jiro provoked much the same reaction, that big sharp intake of breath occurring as it slid through the first product far more easily than I expected. This is a big beast - a 180mm wa nakiri weighing close to 300g - but there’s some spectacular taper towards the front ‘tip’/point and thin, thin, thinness behind the edge. Add in a lovely balance and sublime feel in hand and it‘s a pleasure in use, with far more delicacy and versatility than expected.

It‘s not perfect I’ll admit. There could be a little more convexing - this thing can suffer from a little sticktion and certainly sucks fast to the magrack - and it can occasionally wedge in denser product. I’ll forgive it that given the heft, for no 280g+ plus blade should feel like a laser, and both marginal shortcomings are avoided easily enough with a slight change in technique. I’ll make the effort, for this thing is authoritatIve fun when motoring through piles of veg.

This nakiri’s going nowhere and I’m increasingly tempted by Jiro‘s gyutos. Think the compromises may be more obvious there (and competition fiercer), but I can utterly understand your ’whoa’ moment.
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280g for a 180mm wa nakiri...
i disliked the Jiro 240 yo gyuto but now I'm curious to try a Jiro again


I suppose to be on topic mine would be:

Moritaka 165mm nakiri, first carbon knife and i still miss it
wat pro 180, the best nakiri geometry, and the steel is serviceable
TF denka, best blue steel
Hinoura Tsukasa, best white steel and ground stupidly thin. also best F&F on a handle i have ever seen out of jp

stones that made you go whoa from the first cut:
gesshin diamond 800, it is so fast on carbon ("if i were a rich man" song plays in background)
shapton glass 4k, good speed, and the edge grit/feel sits right with me. splash and go convenience was nice too
 
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