MikeF
Member
Bit of background:
Been making sushi for friends & family for over 10 years now (no professional experience, just these weekly sushi get-togethers); getting by with a sekiryu 'sushi' knife (30$ stainless 'single-bevel for right handed use') which was alright until I upgraded the regular kitchen knives to japanese knives (akifusa blue supers) and discovered just how amazing it is to prepare salmon with a 270mm sujihiki (and just any kitchen work with a good gyuto in hand). And yet I keep coming back to the thought of single bevel knives and yanagibas as the 'correct' knife for sashimi & nigiri. I had a bit of back-and-forth with Michael from knife japan, and had a chance to try out a left handed yanagiba in-store on some tofu at tosho knife arts (which was supposedly as close to salmon as they could allow, but it was still quite a bit firmer and stuck less to the knife, so not sure how comparable it actually was). The two options I ended up narrowing down were:
Hitohira Kikuchiyo Manzo 270mm (left handed) from tosho knife arts (toronto store - the one I tried locally)
Ikenami Hamono 270mm from knife japan (that Michael recommended and I would have to order online)
In addition to general recommendations, any thoughts on the two linked above? Also should I worry/care about the specific steel used, at least in the white 3 vs blue 2 pertaining to the two options above. Current plan was to buy another tofu or two and test out the Hitohira knife complete with wiping every 6 slices & seeing if I need to strap it often or not. Its really too bad I cant test with an actual salmon fillet...
Location:
Toronto (Ontario/Canada)
Knife type:
Yanagiba - left handed - preferably in 270mm (I tried 270 and 300 in store and the 270 felt better / more manageable.)
Knife handle:
Japanese style knife handle
Steel:
Stainless clad would be preferable, but I am not sure if such yanagibas even exist. As for stainless - from what I read silver steel would be the option for a stainless yanagiba, and those might just be out of my price range. Think white/blue steel are the only options, right? I heard there isnt much difference between white 1/2 and blue 1/2 (though what about white 3? not much I could find about it), and that its more about the blacksmith... but I am not exactly familiar with Japanese blacksmiths either.
Budget:
Someone in the range of 400$ USD would be the cut-off point. Maybe up to 500$ range if that jump would make a big difference.
Knife use:
Pretty much solely for salmon sashimi & nigiri cutting (going from a 2.5 pound skin-on fillet to blocks and finally to slices) which will occur on a weekly basis. Have been learning the proper cutting technique (pull cut in one smooth motion, varying the angle in order to get consistent size, etc.) which has been made much easier with the sujihiki (as even with a recently sharpened sekiryu knife I had to saw a bit to complete the cut before).
Knife I am replacing:
Currently using an Akifusa blue super migaki 240mm sujihiki which will be relegated to more meat related tasks afterwards.
Knife maintenance:
I have recently started freehand sharpening and have a couple of stones (320,1000,3000 grit). Thus far have been practicing on Dexter-Russell knives we have in the kitchen (which are much sharper now, though that speaks more of 10+ years of home use with no sharpening than anything else; they do cut smoothly through paper without tearing now, so thats something).
Not sure if I want to do anything beyond stropping on the yanagiba myself - mostly due to the fear of wrecking it, plus the few videos I found about the topic had wildly different instructions (flat grind along the edge vs convex grind with mud & natural stones, keeping the angle consistent vs it varying along the entire edge, etc.)
In terms of boards I got a teak wood cutting board that seems to be working well.
Extra:
Anyone have experience with sashimi & nigiri sushi cutting (salmon preferable) with both sujihiki and yanagiba that could share their experience? The only comparisons online I found gravitate towards the "if its for sashimi, yanagiba is the only option" opinion, with those mentioning sujihiki knives state that their knives were thinned extensively / turned into single bevels (not sure how) in order to get the same cutting performance.
Been making sushi for friends & family for over 10 years now (no professional experience, just these weekly sushi get-togethers); getting by with a sekiryu 'sushi' knife (30$ stainless 'single-bevel for right handed use') which was alright until I upgraded the regular kitchen knives to japanese knives (akifusa blue supers) and discovered just how amazing it is to prepare salmon with a 270mm sujihiki (and just any kitchen work with a good gyuto in hand). And yet I keep coming back to the thought of single bevel knives and yanagibas as the 'correct' knife for sashimi & nigiri. I had a bit of back-and-forth with Michael from knife japan, and had a chance to try out a left handed yanagiba in-store on some tofu at tosho knife arts (which was supposedly as close to salmon as they could allow, but it was still quite a bit firmer and stuck less to the knife, so not sure how comparable it actually was). The two options I ended up narrowing down were:
Hitohira Kikuchiyo Manzo 270mm (left handed) from tosho knife arts (toronto store - the one I tried locally)
Ikenami Hamono 270mm from knife japan (that Michael recommended and I would have to order online)
In addition to general recommendations, any thoughts on the two linked above? Also should I worry/care about the specific steel used, at least in the white 3 vs blue 2 pertaining to the two options above. Current plan was to buy another tofu or two and test out the Hitohira knife complete with wiping every 6 slices & seeing if I need to strap it often or not. Its really too bad I cant test with an actual salmon fillet...
Location:
Toronto (Ontario/Canada)
Knife type:
Yanagiba - left handed - preferably in 270mm (I tried 270 and 300 in store and the 270 felt better / more manageable.)
Knife handle:
Japanese style knife handle
Steel:
Stainless clad would be preferable, but I am not sure if such yanagibas even exist. As for stainless - from what I read silver steel would be the option for a stainless yanagiba, and those might just be out of my price range. Think white/blue steel are the only options, right? I heard there isnt much difference between white 1/2 and blue 1/2 (though what about white 3? not much I could find about it), and that its more about the blacksmith... but I am not exactly familiar with Japanese blacksmiths either.
Budget:
Someone in the range of 400$ USD would be the cut-off point. Maybe up to 500$ range if that jump would make a big difference.
Knife use:
Pretty much solely for salmon sashimi & nigiri cutting (going from a 2.5 pound skin-on fillet to blocks and finally to slices) which will occur on a weekly basis. Have been learning the proper cutting technique (pull cut in one smooth motion, varying the angle in order to get consistent size, etc.) which has been made much easier with the sujihiki (as even with a recently sharpened sekiryu knife I had to saw a bit to complete the cut before).
Knife I am replacing:
Currently using an Akifusa blue super migaki 240mm sujihiki which will be relegated to more meat related tasks afterwards.
Knife maintenance:
I have recently started freehand sharpening and have a couple of stones (320,1000,3000 grit). Thus far have been practicing on Dexter-Russell knives we have in the kitchen (which are much sharper now, though that speaks more of 10+ years of home use with no sharpening than anything else; they do cut smoothly through paper without tearing now, so thats something).
Not sure if I want to do anything beyond stropping on the yanagiba myself - mostly due to the fear of wrecking it, plus the few videos I found about the topic had wildly different instructions (flat grind along the edge vs convex grind with mud & natural stones, keeping the angle consistent vs it varying along the entire edge, etc.)
In terms of boards I got a teak wood cutting board that seems to be working well.
Extra:
Anyone have experience with sashimi & nigiri sushi cutting (salmon preferable) with both sujihiki and yanagiba that could share their experience? The only comparisons online I found gravitate towards the "if its for sashimi, yanagiba is the only option" opinion, with those mentioning sujihiki knives state that their knives were thinned extensively / turned into single bevels (not sure how) in order to get the same cutting performance.
