Looking for input

[Betsy L]

LOCATION
USA

KNIFE TYPE
Gyuto

left handed

Japanese handle

210-240mm

Carbon steel

$350

KNIFE USE
Home cook

slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables

What knife, if any, are you replacing? Adding to 210mm Masakage Yuki, Watanabe Kurouchi Nakkiri 165mm, Anyru AS petty.

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? Pinch grip

What cutting motions do you primarily use? Chop, push pull, slice

What improvements do you want from your current knife? I like the knives I have. I am looking for additional experiences–different experiences in food release, balance, tip function, chopping feel, sharpening feel, ease of slicing.

Aesthetics? Just the aesthetics of an object in which beauty is a factor in its function. Not too much interested layered/Damascus or fancy handles.

Comfort–balance, ease of cutting.

Ease of Use–I’d rather not be faced with issues beyond basic sharpening out of the box. I need a flat area for chopping. I don’t like wedging. I am open to reactivity.

Edge Retention–I can sharpen it as needed.

KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Wood cutting board-not end grain.

Do you sharpen your own knives? Yes.

Are you interested in purchasing sharpening products for your knives? I have a basic King 1000/6000 stone and diamond 600 and 1000 stones. I look at possible additions/upgrades but these are working for me now.

SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS

I vacillate between work horse/laser types. I don’t know if a heavy knife will make me happy, and on the other hand lasers seem like they might be too fragile. I think the Yuki is a mid weight knife–would a similar weight knife with different blade/grind geometry be interesting?

 

[blokey]

Probably THE medium weight knife, with KnS Black friday code you got 10% off.
https://knivesandstones.us/collecti...ashiji-finish-teak-handle-with-free-teak-sayahttps://knivesandstones.us/collecti...i-semi-stainless-clad-gyuto-210mm-240mm-270mm

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

@labor of love may be able to help with lefty recommendations that fit either WH or laser.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

You could also touch base with @MSicardCutlery here on the forum. Matt has done quite a few left handed knives and is great to work with. He is quite good at making straight-forward, performance oriented knives.

 

[Jovidah]

Probably THE medium weight knife, with KnS Black friday code you got 10% off.
https://knivesandstones.us/collecti...ashiji-finish-teak-handle-with-free-teak-sayahttps://knivesandstones.us/collecti...i-semi-stainless-clad-gyuto-210mm-240mm-270mm

I honestly don't think this knife particularly excels in food release or tip performance.
It is however good when it comes to being non-wedgy.

The 'lefty' part of the OP cannot be emphasized enough... but being a righty I don't have any useful insights here.

 

[blokey]

I honestly don't think this knife particularly excels in food release or tip performance.
It is however good when it comes to being non-wedgy.

The 'lefty' part of the OP cannot be emphasized enough... but being a righty I don't have any useful insights here.

The food is surprisingly fine as long as the food hit the shinogi. Yoshi should all asymmetrical wide bevel so that’s one less concern.

 

[esoo]

Probably THE medium weight knife, with KnS Black friday code you got 10% off.
https://knivesandstones.us/collecti...ashiji-finish-teak-handle-with-free-teak-sayahttps://knivesandstones.us/collecti...i-semi-stainless-clad-gyuto-210mm-240mm-270mm

The Hatsukokoru/Amekiri gyuto is a very nice knife. The one I had was ground balanced, so worked well for me as a lefty. As well, the edge was nail flexing this so had excellent performance.

In the same vein, but pushing your budget a bit is the Kono YS-M. Reputedly made by Yoshikane, a very fun knife. Little bit lighter than the Amekiri which gives it fun feel. 210s are available at CKtG.

I have a lefty nakiri by @MSicardCutlery and the grind works well, so I'd suspect his gyutos are the same. His 52100 seems very nice so far, and he's got an excellent price on one in the sponsors subforum (although it it quite tall): WTS - 225mm x 57mm 52100 Gyuto (Left Hand) (10% Off Listed Price, Sale-Ends Dec 4th 2022 @ 12:00AM)

 

[Jovidah]

The food is surprisingly fine as long as the food hit the shinogi. Yoshi should all asymmetrical wide bevel so that’s one less concern.

Maybe there's variety here amongst different series but mine never particularly blew my away when it comes to food release. It's possible you could reduce it by changing the sand-blasted finish right above the edge, but at that point you're not talking out of the box performance anymore.

 

[esoo]

So far, in my experience, food release and thin tip are opposing criteria.

A Takeda with it's low wide bevel grind will have great food release. But that low bevel grind tends to make for a thicker tip than a convex grind can get you. S-grinds tend to have to same issue in what I've handled.

You can overcome that with a complex grind where you have a s-grind for the back 2/3 of the blade, which then flattens out to a thin flat/convex grind near the tip. Kamon and Xerxes both have had this kind of grind. Myojin does a convex to flat grind to improve tip performance as well.

And I find any discussion of food release falls apart when you get to a dice or smaller (i.e. bruinoise) as the product always wants to hang around on the blade no matter what.

 

[M1k3]

@labor of love may be able to help with lefty recommendations that fit either WH or laser.

And @Southpaw

 

[Betsy L]

Thank you for the advice and information. The Hatsukokoro SKD Gyuto and the Kono YS-M are on the short list.

 

[blokey]

If you don't mind buy used, Kagekiyo ginsan here is awesome-https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/komorebi-blue-2-250-kagekiyo-hamaguri-ginsan-230-ag-klint-185-gyutos.60952/#post-940130
And one option alittle over budget-https://miuraknives.com/japanese-knife/3071-3602-japanese-chef-gyuto-knife-hado-junpaku-series-shirogami-1-size21-24cm-id3071-japanese-knife-hado-oul.html#/34-size-21cm
With 10% off and shipping fee the 24cm Junpaku should just be slightly above $350, this is as good as a it gets.

 

[Betsy L]

I honestly don't think this knife particularly excels in food release or tip performance.
It is however good when it comes to being non-wedgy.

The 'lefty' part of the OP cannot be emphasized enough... but being a righty I don't have any useful insights here.

Thank you for the lefty comment. I needed that information.

 

[Jovidah]

Yeah maybe I should have elaborated more, but a lot of Japanese knives are ground asymmetrically for a righthander, even when it's not specifically mentioned.
Some can be used by left-handers without problems, others cannot, but since I'm right-handed myself I'm extremely reluctant to make specific recommendations. Some knives makers makers like Misono make left-handed versions of their knives for a premium.

 

[Benuser]

Yeah maybe I should have elaborated more, but a lot of Japanese knives are ground asymmetrically for a righthander, even when it's not specifically mentioned.
Some can be used by left-handers without problems, others cannot, but since I'm right-handed myself I'm extremely reluctant to make specific recommendations. Some knives makers makers like Misono make left-handed versions of their knives for a premium.

As does Masahiro, and both the Misono and Masahiro left-handed versions are easily available. No special order or other fuss.
I should add that there are good reasons to be very sceptical about Japanese knives sold as ambidextrous, 50/50 or whatever to make you believe you will be fine with them as a left-hander. One may change edges, but not the blade's fundamentals. If food release is important to you, better take care. Have seen quite a lot of knives with a well-centered, symmetric edge on a blade with a perfectly flat left face, still with the right-hander in mind.

 

[esoo]

As does Masahiro, and both the Misono and Masahiro left-handed versions are easily available. No special order or other fuss.
I should add that there are good reasons to be very sceptical about Japanese knives sold as ambidextrous, 50/50 or whatever to make you believe you will be fine with them as a left-hander. One may change edges, but not the blade's fundamentals. If food release is important to you, better take care. Have seen quite a lot of knives with a well-centered, symmetric edge on a blade with a perfectly flat left face, still with the right-hander in mind.

100% this. And you need to ask the retailer to show you pics of the actual knife they send you (as the listing pic is likely not the knife they send you). Ideally you want to hold a straight edge up to side of the blade to see how it is ground, as sometimes you get weird ones and the choil may not show the whole deal.

A previous post on the matter, with choil shots for examples: Watanabe Kurouchi Nakkiri (Nakiri) knife 180mm any good for left handed?