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Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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Guess: Creates leverage to assist in getting through hard cheeses by moving the cutting edge further in front of your hand (also knuckle clearance) but minimises drag by not having wasted surface area at the back where the spine would normally be.
 
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Ya know what? I bought it. I have been casually looking for something better suited to cutting hard and semi hard cheeses lately. I've seen too many horror stories of people chipping their TBE knives while cutting cheese so I always reach for my beater for that task, a 230mm mercer chef's knife, instead of my cherished ultra thin carbons and whatnot. But sometimes its an overkill length and sometimes I just don't feel very fancy pulling out the Mercer. Don't get me wrong its a completely underrated knife for its price point. Much thinner behind the edge than I ever would have guessed before using it. But it's so much more satisfying to pull a knife off the rack based on "what's the best tool for the job." vs "what do I have that's not going to potentially break." And also perhaps the drag of a tall chef knife is not the greatest for cutting sticky cheese!

Also, its been a truly terrible day. Maybe the most stressed out I've been in a few years and some retail therapy aint hurting :p

I'll report back after it arrives and I've used it to portioned out some reasonably sized pieces off Costco sized blocks.
 
Last edited:
Delat said:
Knuckle clearance + thin blade to reduce drag
Click to expand...
This. It's actually not as ridiculous as it looks. If you have soft sticky cheeses cheese tends to stick to it...a lot. The simplest solution to this is to simply have a lot less blade (I often use my Mora filleting knife to cut soft cheese actually). However this creates issues with knuckle clearance... Hence... offset. The alternative is one of those wire models.
 
Zilberwong said:
Ya know what? I bought it. I have been casually looking for something better suited to cutting hard and semi hard cheeses lately. I've seen too many horror stories of people chipping their TBE knives while cutting cheese so I always reach for my beater for that task, a 230mm mercer chef's knife, instead of my cherished ultra thin carbons and whatnot. But sometimes its an overkill length and sometimes I just don't feel very fancy pulling out the Mercer. Don't get me wrong its a completely underrated knife for its price point. Much thinner behind the edge than I ever would have guessed before using it. But it's so much more satisfying to pull a knife off the rack based on "what's the best tool for the job." vs "what do I have that's not going to potentially break." And also perhaps the drag of a tall chef knife is not the greatest for cutting sticky cheese!

Also, its been a truly terrible day. Maybe the most stressed out I've been in a few years and some retail therapy aint hurting :p

I'll report back after it arrives and I've used it to portioned out some reasonably sized pieces off Costco sized blocks.
Click to expand...
This is awesome. Taking one for the team. Thank you, you saved my wallet $35.

I do want a full report.😁

Also, I agree the Mercer is underrated. I hope today is going better for you. Happy Friday!
 
Jovidah said:
This. It's actually not as ridiculous as it looks. If you have soft sticky cheeses cheese tends to stick to it...a lot. The simplest solution to this is to simply have a lot less blade (I often use my Mora filleting knife to cut soft cheese actually). However this creates issues with knuckle clearance... Hence... offset. The alternative is one of those wire models.
Click to expand...
I am a fan of the 'ol Boska slicer. It's simple and works surprisingly well. The issue, and hence why I was casually looking for an alternative, is it doesn't work for large chunks of cheese. I will try a filet knife.
 
hd_snow said:
I am a fan of the 'ol Boska slicer. It's simple and works surprisingly well. The issue, and hence why I was casually looking for an alternative, is it doesn't work for large chunks of cheese. I will try a filet knife.
Click to expand...
If you want to break up larger hard cheeses that's usually done with a cheese wire here, or one of those giant curved knives. For harder cheeses a lot of different things can work, the problems mostly arise with the softer cheeses.
That's probably also why you don't see the softer cheeses in giant wheels.
 
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@hd_snow et al. ok, as promised, here it is.



TLDR: File under: Meh.

Arrived dull enough to lick the edge without harm. Not surprising given its an ebay purchase. No biggie. Thankfully it sharpened up real easy. I raised a burr on a Shapton pro 220 in just a couple passes, finished with a couple passes on a Shapton pro 1000 and stropped on balsa with 1 micron diamond paste which left it sharp enough to carve an S-curve in a paper towel.

As shown in the video, it cuts through carrots well enough without wedging or cracking. A Yoshikane it is not but it gets the job done. Mostly just showing carrot cutting to demonstrate its nice and sharp and thin enough behind the edge to be a decent cutter. However when it comes time for its intended purpose it falls short, however this is partially my fault. I didn't quite realize how small it was going to be and it's undersized for what I want it for and as such struggles with large blocks. The handle is also too freakin small and I don't feel confident holding it knowing I need to go through hard sticky material. Apparently there is a 7" version of this knife, but the handle is the same size so, same problem. Bottom line, this would be fine as a charcuterie knife but not a cheese portioning knife. Probably what it was intended for and I put my own hopes and dreams into it pre-purchase.
 
Zilberwong said:
@hd_snow et al. ok, as promised, here it is.



TLDR: File under: Meh.

Arrived dull enough to lick the edge without harm. Not surprising given its an ebay purchase. No biggie. Thankfully it sharpened up real easy. I raised a burr on a Shapton pro 220 in just a couple passes, finished with a couple passes on a Shapton pro 1000 and stropped on balsa with 1 micron diamond paste which left it sharp enough to carve an S-curve in a paper towel.

As shown in the video, it cuts through carrots well enough without wedging or cracking. A Yoshikane it is not but it gets the job done. Mostly just showing carrot cutting to demonstrate its nice and sharp. However when it comes time for its intended purpose it falls short, however this is partially my fault. I didn't quite realize how small it was going to be and it's undersized for what I want it for and as such struggles with large blocks. The handle is also too freakin small and I don't feel confident holding it knowing I need to go through hard sticky material. Apparently there is a 7" version of this knife, but the handle is the same size so, same problem. Bottom line, this would be fine as a charcuterie knife but not a cheese portioning knife. Probably what it was intended for and I put my own hopes and dreams into it pre-purchase.
Click to expand...

Madlad you actually did it.
 
Zilberwong said:
@hd_snow et al. ok, as promised, here it is.



TLDR: File under: Meh.

Arrived dull enough to lick the edge without harm. Not surprising given its an ebay purchase. No biggie. Thankfully it sharpened up real easy. I raised a burr on a Shapton pro 220 in just a couple passes, finished with a couple passes on a Shapton pro 1000 and stropped on balsa with 1 micron diamond paste which left it sharp enough to carve an S-curve in a paper towel.

As shown in the video, it cuts through carrots well enough without wedging or cracking. A Yoshikane it is not but it gets the job done. Mostly just showing carrot cutting to demonstrate its nice and sharp and thin enough behind the edge to be a decent cutter. However when it comes time for its intended purpose it falls short, however this is partially my fault. I didn't quite realize how small it was going to be and it's undersized for what I want it for and as such struggles with large blocks. The handle is also too freakin small and I don't feel confident holding it knowing I need to go through hard sticky material. Apparently there is a 7" version of this knife, but the handle is the same size so, same problem. Bottom line, this would be fine as a charcuterie knife but not a cheese portioning knife. Probably what it was intended for and I put my own hopes and dreams into it pre-purchase.
Click to expand...

Damn! I had my hopes up as well but that definitely is not the answer.

File under meh. Too funny.

Yesterday, I tried several different options portioning a 5 lb. block of brick cheese. The Tojiro bread knife, while perhaps not the most elegant, worked surprisingly well.

Thank you for your research efforts and posting the video.
 
Zilberwong said:
I've looked at these several times over the last few months. I'm always wary of the chisel grind. Does it steer or is it such a tiny edge it doesnt matter?
View attachment 312558
Click to expand...

It's a pretty small bevel but the primary grind is flatter on the flat and more convex on the right. That said, I haven't encountered any steering issues.
 
Zilberwong said:
I've looked at these several times over the last few months. I'm always wary of the chisel grind. Does it steer or is it such a tiny edge it doesnt matter?
View attachment 312558
Click to expand...
Unless you're using it in denser foods, you more than likely won't notice any steering. If you do encounter steering, you can compensate by sharpening each side at a different angle.

For example:

Steers to the left/clockwise = sharpen at a higher angle on the left side or lower on the right side.

Steers to right/counterclockwise = sharpen at a higher angle on the right side or lower on the left side.
 
M1k3 said:
Unless you're using it in denser foods, you more than likely won't notice any steering. If you do encounter steering, you can compensate by sharpening each side at a different angle.

For example:

Steers to the left/clockwise = sharpen at a higher angle on the left side or lower on the right side.

Steers to right/counterclockwise = sharpen at a higher angle on the right side or lower on the left side.
Click to expand...
In this case I’d be very hesitant to put any bevel opposite the chisel as the would make it quite thick behind the edge without some serious thinning
 
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