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schmidt217

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Apr 6, 2023
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Hello All!

I'm pretty new here and trying to find a good knife. I have a couple Shun knives and I was wanting to buy a Shun Dual Core Kiritsuke knife but after a little research I'm finding that may not be my best option. I'm assuming this is the right place for the 'which knife' questionnaire? If not please guide me in the right direction and I'll post it there.

LOCATION
What country are you in?
United States



KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chefs knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
Chef's Knife

Are you right or left handed?
Right

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
Japanese handle

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
Around 8 inches

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
No, but probably prefer that.

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
$400 USD, but I'd prefer closer to $300



KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
At Home.

What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
Slicing and chopping vegetables, slicing meats

What knife, if any, are you replacing?
Not replacing, just adding.

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.)
Pinch grip

What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)
Push-Cut, chop, slice

What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.)

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)?
I like the layered Damascus look, but I'm open to other looks as well.

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)?

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?



KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
Yes

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
No, but I want to start

If not, are you interested in learning how to sharpen your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? (Yes or no.)
Yes


Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Welcome.

Since you seem interested in a K-tip, I'll toss this out for ya...

First this:
https://www.chuboknives.com/collect...ucts/kazan-ginsan-nashiji-kiritsuke-210mm-8-2
I don't have firsthand experience with that knife but I would definitely try it. Ginsan is a stainless that sharpens readily. A real nice steel.

Tsunehisa and Shiro Kamo (carbon with stainless cladding) are others to consider.


Next up:

https://www.bestsharpeningstones.co...name=Diamond Sharpening Stones&product_id=151
https://www.bestsharpeningstones.co..._name=Shapton Sharpening Stones&product_id=95
https://www.bestsharpeningstones.co..._name=Shapton Sharpening Stones&product_id=97
https://www.bestsharpeningstones.co...me=Pride Abrasive Water Stones&product_id=305

So you'd be in ~$325 and have a very good starting sharpening setup. Learning to sharpen opens up a sea of opportunities for you and is far more valuable than any single knife.

The knife I show above looks to have nice thin geometry too and if so, it should cut nicely. Damascus often means thick, especially with Shun. So, if it is thin, it should be a great new cutting experience for you and also will be easier to sharpen. And as I said, that steel is sharpener friendly.

You absolutely can learn to sharpen! The folks here are a great resource and always willing to help. In going to YouTube, I personally recommend avoiding Burrfection. His channel will no doubt pop up but I think there are much better resources our there such as Japanese Knife Imports, Peter Nowlan, Sharp Knife Shop, and Korin just to name a few common ones.

Once you start getting confident in sharpening you'll find yourself prowling through all the online retailers wanting to try new styles.

:)
 
For stainless damascus, there is a lot of VG10 out there, which I'm not a huge fan of, but they come at a reasonable price. The only other stainless dammy options are probably R2 (also sometimes called SG2). Makers that come to mind for those are Shiro Kamo and Shigeki Tanaka (I actually have one of these available on BST). Another option if you are OK without the dammy cladding is the Hatsukokoro Hayabusa line in ginsan steel. I recently picked up one of these to play with and really like it for the low cost.
 
What about something like this knife:

of this one:

Are these worth the price or am I better off looking elsewhere?

Mod Edit:. Pls rad the "Pls Read" thread in new member into. Spam software will kick any links until it gets to know you (5 posts).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Shuns are not bad, they can be really good for factory knives, that said there are some better opitons out there. The Kazan recommended above is probably made by Hokiyama, they also have some nice srs PM knives under several brand names. Here's some.
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/tsunehisa3.html (replaced censor part with che fknive sto go)
https://tokushuknife.com/products/i...tsuke-no-handle-8?_pos=6&_sid=385201c27&_ss=rhttps://www.epicedge.com/shopexd.asp?id=100782There's some Shibata in stock at Tokusho, they are nice
https://tokushuknife.com/collections/shibata-koutetsuPersonally I really like Yoshikane
https://knivesandstones.us/collecti...-210mm-stainless-cladding-with-nashiji-finish
 
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I have purchased two Shun dual core knives: santoku and kiritsuke. Another variant is the honeycomb Hikari line. I'm trying to do some performance evaluations and learn more about how they are constructed. I think the secret involved their collaboration with Takefu special steel:

https://www.e-tokko.com/?lang=en
If you're in the USA, you might be able to find one for $250 on EBAY if you are patient. Dual core are the only true damascus. Sometimes one is afraid to take too much risk with them because they are so beautiful, but performance is excellent.
 
I’d advise to buy your first knife either through a dealer or from a reputable member here. If you don’t already know how to sharpen having a baseline to judge is worth the slight cost.

@HumbleHomeCook recommendation above of a less expensive knife and good stones deserves consideration. You’re just going to scratch up the Damascus on your first knife learning to sharpen it. You can always upgrade your knives, the stones tend to last a lot longer
 
I'm a huge yoshi fan but it would not be my first rec to someone new to the game.

So thin behind edge that they will not be forgiving of mishandling and so wonderfully flat that it could be challenging to get the most out of.

No better intro knife than Gesshin Stainless or Suisin Western Inox - inexpensive, robust, forgiving, a little belly and still relatively easy to sharpen.
 
Plenty of solid suggestions above. If OP really does like stainless damascus, for <$400 there’s Yu Kurosaki (typically his vg10 offerings), and Shiro Kamo R2. I think Nigara Hamono have some damascus in that price range as well?

Kurosaki will be thinner and more of a laser (and correspondingly delicate) vs the Shiro Kamo which more of a convex midweight and requires more cutting effort but is much tougher.

I’d also definitely budget for a stone, but probably just one to start as multiple can get a beginner into trouble. Maybe just a Shapton Pro 2000 to start along with a flattening stone (Atoma 140 or the Pride linked above) and go from there.
 
Wow thanks for all the advice everyone! I definitely have a lot to consider. I'll probably go the route of getting my own stones first and a less expensive knife, then upgrading to a better knife once I have more practice sharpening.
 
schmidt217 said:
Wow thanks for all the advice everyone! I definitely have a lot to consider. I'll probably go the route of getting my own stones first and a less expensive knife, then upgrading to a better knife once I have more practice sharpening.
Click to expand...

Oh man, I just noticed you're in Denver. You share a city with one of the most popular cutlery stores on the forum:

https://carbonknifeco.com/
I would absolutely go in there and tell them all of what you've told us, including sharpening. They'll take care of you.
 
They're not great knives for people new at sharpening, but if you're looking at stainless damascus, Sukenari's line of SG2, Ginsan, and VG10 knives are a great value. They're considerably cheaper than the more highly alloyed steels like ZDP-189 and HAP40. The mirror finish on them is simply gorgeous.

You can also get an 8" Kramer Meiji Damascus chef's knife for like $250 right now. It's a hell of a knife.
 
In general I think Sukenari are pretty good for idiot-proof beginner knives. Not too thin, not too delicate. Gave one to my girlfriend and she didn't manage to break it. Sadly nowhere near as cheap as they used to be.
 
HumbleHomeCook said:
Oh man, I just noticed you're in Denver. You share a city with one of the most popular cutlery stores on the forum:


I would absolutely go in there and tell them all of what you've told us, including sharpening. They'll take care of you.
Click to expand...
Oh that's awesome! I didn't realize Denver had a store that sold these kind of knives. I'll definitely go in there and talk to them. Thanks for the advice!
 
btbyrd said:
They're not great knives for people new at sharpening, but if you're looking at stainless damascus, Sukenari's line of SG2, Ginsan, and VG10 knives are a great value. They're considerably cheaper than the more highly alloyed steels like ZDP-189 and HAP40. The mirror finish on them is simply gorgeous.

You can also get an 8" Kramer Meiji Damascus chef's knife for like $250 right now. It's a hell of a knife.
Click to expand...
How’s the grind on Meiji? I heard it’s really different from the carbon line.
 
btbyrd said:
They're not great knives for people new at sharpening, but if you're looking at stainless damascus, Sukenari's line of SG2, Ginsan, and VG10 knives are a great value. They're considerably cheaper than the more highly alloyed steels like ZDP-189 and HAP40. The mirror finish on them is simply gorgeous.

You can also get an 8" Kramer Meiji Damascus chef's knife for like $250 right now. It's a hell of a knife.
Click to expand...
The Kramer Meiji damascus was the one I was considering vs. the Miyabi birchwood, both done by Zwilling in Japan. The Meiji has a more American feel--with the wider base, and an interesting Japanese'/American fusion handle, and a great high carbon core blade.

The Miyabi birchwood, seemed much more Japanese--narrower base, and harder sg2 core--but with a similar handle. Quite a bit lighter, but not quite an artisan.

The deciding for me was price. I was able to get my birchwood for just over $200--with the Kramer at least $100 more. If it were $250 then, I might have chosen the Meiji.
 
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