Max budget $100 - stainless

[Ruso]

I want to buy a decent knife to my in-laws, since sharpening theirs is a PITA and they are nice people. I am looking something in stainless in range of 180-210 gyuto or santoku.

The usual suspects are:
Fujiwara FKM
Tojiro DP
Tanaka VG10 or Ginsanko

However, I have no first hand experience with any of them. Which one would you recommend? Any other option missing?

 

[chinacats]

I've not tried one of these, but believe it would be what I would purchase at the price listed.

 

[Ruso]

Thanks chinacats, I thought about it but with USD to CAD conversion + $35US shipping to Canada + border taxes i will be more than $200CA out. Little bit more than I wanted to. (Shipping + taxes is what killing it.)

 

[Ruso]

Also I found Massahiro MV Honyaki 14811 on BlueWay. Seems to fit my criteria. Any opinions?

 

[panda]

Tojiro dp, try amazon canada

 

[preizzo]

Inazuma from jck, 7 usd flat rate shipment, good knives!!

 

[menzaremba]

Also I found Massahiro MV Honyaki 14811 on BlueWay. Seems to fit my criteria. Any opinions?

I bought one of these for a friend as a 'first real knife'. OOTB edge was excellent. FF and grind were good. Handle is molded plastic, and a little lighter than I was expecting. Overall recommended.

 

[icanhaschzbrgr]

President of Masahiro once visited our city and made a short presentation of their knives along with sharpening session. Considering their price point they were really well made. Double bevel knives were highly asymmetric with great OOTB edge.

Fujiwara FKM from Koki is also a great choice.

Tanaka knives are potentially better knives than both Fujiwara and Masahiro, but you'll need to rehandle them, ease choil and spine and thin if you are buying ginsanko. So if you are interested in making all those adjustments, then Tanaka is a good choice.

Have no experience with Tojiro.

 

[lancep]

You could also consider a Minamoto/Kumadori Swedish steel knife -- they make both a 180 santoku and a 180 (or 185) gyuto. Price is in the range you're looking at. They are sold as Kumadori on the Japan Woodworker site, but as Minamoto Kotetsu elsewhere (e.g. japan-blades.com). I have the small 'fruit knife'/petty, and it gets extensive use for small tasks. I've found it to be a decent knife, certainly nice to have stainless for fruits and veggies. The blade is pretty hard, and can micro-chip, but it is a thin blade that holds an edge well.

 

[uc357]

I recently got a Tojiro DP 210 Gyuto for a wedding present from Amazon.ca. The cost was $80.00cdn express shipping included. The knife arrived in 5 days.

 

[James]

For the Tanaka VG10/Ginsanko, I'd email the metalmaster and see if he can swap it out. I've heard of him upgrading handles in the past for a nominal fee.

 

[Benuser]

You may consider the Hiromoto NS-10, made of Aus-10. Light, thin, easy sharpening. With JCK, US$110 + $7 shipping for the 240mm, $130 with the 270mm.

 

[chinacats]

For the Tanaka VG10/Ginsanko, I'd email the metalmaster and see if he can swap it out. I've heard of him upgrading handles in the past for a nominal fee.

Some of the current offerings on MM include horn instead of plastic...

 

[Keith Sinclair]

The Tanaka Gensan is a D with horn. Not a bad handle. Rough edges easy fix., much harder to find one in stock at Metalmaster who has the best prices.

 

[MadDurrr]

Purchased my FKM set from JCK. They are solid blades for the price. Excellent quality to their F&F with a pleasant edge profile on the 240mm gyuto. Love em.

 

[Ruso]

Thanks all for the input.
I think I will go with Tojiro DP 210mm after all.
Tanaka looks very appealing but since it needs so much work as Anton points out, I just might grab one for my personal collection.

Uc357, do you remember which amazon vendor was it? Was it this one? http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000UAPQGS/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Coz, I know some items are shipped from china and it takes months to arrive and I dont have so much time.

 

[uc357]

Yes it came from "World Order" from Japan.