clsm1955
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- Mar 10, 2015
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I have a Tanaka 7" (165) Santoku, blue steel #2, that I've owned for about 5 months. I keep it very sharp, and touched it up just the other day on a Naniwa 8000 stone. It slices easily through telephone book paper. In spite of this it has difficulty cutting through tomato skin. I've been growing tomatoes this summer and they have much thicker skins than a typical store-bought tomato, but still, they're tomatoes. For comparison I've tried my Togiharu 240 gyuto and my Shun 210 gyuto, and they both work fine. I was thinking that maybe because the gyutos have a more curved edge that they put more pressure on the tomato during a forward slice, and thus cut more easily, but I also tried my very straight Zakuri sujihiki, which floated through the tomato with no difficulty. All of these knives have been sharpened by me and last touched up on the aforementioned 8000.
I am a novice, having only been sharpening for about 5 months, so it would not surprise me if I'm missing something. My question is, does the santoku just suck? Is it the wrong knife for the job? Could it possibly be too sharp, i.e. not enough friction on the edge to saw through the skin? I don't think it's too dull, but maybe? Is it too light? Is there something wrong with my cutting technique? All of the above?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Chris
I am a novice, having only been sharpening for about 5 months, so it would not surprise me if I'm missing something. My question is, does the santoku just suck? Is it the wrong knife for the job? Could it possibly be too sharp, i.e. not enough friction on the edge to saw through the skin? I don't think it's too dull, but maybe? Is it too light? Is there something wrong with my cutting technique? All of the above?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Chris