On the market for a specific “petty”, I realized I perhaps shouldn’t have sold my Miyabi Shotoh so dismissively. I mean, I didn’t care about it much, but it was tough, got sharp and stayed sharp a while being abused on cheap thin plastic mats I use for prepping raw meat. I have a Victo Fibrox 6” and modified it enough that it can do this kind of work easily – but the edge rolls quickly in that kind of use scenario where the cutting surface is basically the hard countertop.
I also liked the Shotoh “honesuki-like” profile, that it was 34mm tall for its length, and I liked stainless for this application. Sold it because it was too short at barely 140mm while the handle was smallish and slippery – hence ideally longer than 150mm, or at least with a decently sized handle (mostly no Yo) and generous height there, became a requirement additionally to some corrosion resistance.
I was more or less acutely aware such length/height is somewhat rarer to come by with petties. It became much more obvious when I truly started hunting for one. Here’s a short list of my bouncing around:
- Sakai trend of long 165-210 petties that are still like 30mm tall – yuk!
- Honesuki: nice but too thick and dedicated, must chop various veggies to go with meat cooking.
- Some nice petties (Shi.Han, Munetoshi, Hinoura, S. Tanaka, Yoshikane, Mazaki) too expensive/iron-clad.
- Most Santoku/Bunka (165-180mm) too wide, stocky or curvy.
- 180mm Gyutos easier to come by but somewhat redundant with my barely 200mm HD2.
- 150mm short Gyutos that were interesting also too expensive.
So… from here on now I will dub the here reviewed Bunka a Shotoh – just because I can. What, if the maker doesn’t care the product being sold under another name, no one surely must care that I will dub it another type?
It was amazingly cheap, steel a mildly deceiving but overall proven good enough compromise; profile, length and height pretty spot on what I was looking for, if not slanted and fine tip enough. Basically, the knife is trading the more dedicated ideal for also welcomed general use. I thought that would work well with me, but I knew the drawbacks in various uses I would lend it too could very well be overwhelming.
On a “curioso” note, the finish is very similar to my former Matsubara Ginsan gyuto – and I’d be really surprise if it was from that Hamono. I’m thinking more along the lines of Nashiji prelaminated; both however having a pretty natural clad line, but then again at Futana prices it can’t not be prelaminated, and I know nothing of lamination but pretty sure waviness is no sure telltale.
Futana has the Nashiji more highly polished where the Matsubara had more darkened “scaly-ness” and dull roughness left to it, kanji a bit more rustic too:
Enough that they could be different, enough that they are highly similar.
Can’t draw any brilliant conclusion from all of that myself, but ironically enough the only other Bunka I ever tried was a Matsubara Blue #2 I sent back to vendor pretexting a very bad handle install – which it had but I just didn’t like it in use. Grind was nowhere near similar – and thicker behind the edge. Height was 10mm over for the same length or so and it had some amount of spinal taper. Edge profile and general shape could fit pretty well, however there was no real slanting, barely a few mm drop in height until the tip, with the Matsubara bunka.
Despite the absence of any proof, I liked the idea that it probably was the exact same HT I had experience with: the Futana is quite thin at the edge, which could prove problematic on the plastic mat with a steel not so tough, but from my Matsubara gyuto post-thinning I knew it was tough enough still, would get sharp rather easily, and would have decent wear resistance:
Despite the worry it wouldn’t do so well in specific tasks, it was really one of my best candidates especially under 200$ CAD.
I also liked the Shotoh “honesuki-like” profile, that it was 34mm tall for its length, and I liked stainless for this application. Sold it because it was too short at barely 140mm while the handle was smallish and slippery – hence ideally longer than 150mm, or at least with a decently sized handle (mostly no Yo) and generous height there, became a requirement additionally to some corrosion resistance.
I was more or less acutely aware such length/height is somewhat rarer to come by with petties. It became much more obvious when I truly started hunting for one. Here’s a short list of my bouncing around:
- Sakai trend of long 165-210 petties that are still like 30mm tall – yuk!
- Honesuki: nice but too thick and dedicated, must chop various veggies to go with meat cooking.
- Some nice petties (Shi.Han, Munetoshi, Hinoura, S. Tanaka, Yoshikane, Mazaki) too expensive/iron-clad.
- Most Santoku/Bunka (165-180mm) too wide, stocky or curvy.
- 180mm Gyutos easier to come by but somewhat redundant with my barely 200mm HD2.
- 150mm short Gyutos that were interesting also too expensive.
So… from here on now I will dub the here reviewed Bunka a Shotoh – just because I can. What, if the maker doesn’t care the product being sold under another name, no one surely must care that I will dub it another type?
It was amazingly cheap, steel a mildly deceiving but overall proven good enough compromise; profile, length and height pretty spot on what I was looking for, if not slanted and fine tip enough. Basically, the knife is trading the more dedicated ideal for also welcomed general use. I thought that would work well with me, but I knew the drawbacks in various uses I would lend it too could very well be overwhelming.
On a “curioso” note, the finish is very similar to my former Matsubara Ginsan gyuto – and I’d be really surprise if it was from that Hamono. I’m thinking more along the lines of Nashiji prelaminated; both however having a pretty natural clad line, but then again at Futana prices it can’t not be prelaminated, and I know nothing of lamination but pretty sure waviness is no sure telltale.
Futana has the Nashiji more highly polished where the Matsubara had more darkened “scaly-ness” and dull roughness left to it, kanji a bit more rustic too:
Enough that they could be different, enough that they are highly similar.
Can’t draw any brilliant conclusion from all of that myself, but ironically enough the only other Bunka I ever tried was a Matsubara Blue #2 I sent back to vendor pretexting a very bad handle install – which it had but I just didn’t like it in use. Grind was nowhere near similar – and thicker behind the edge. Height was 10mm over for the same length or so and it had some amount of spinal taper. Edge profile and general shape could fit pretty well, however there was no real slanting, barely a few mm drop in height until the tip, with the Matsubara bunka.
Despite the absence of any proof, I liked the idea that it probably was the exact same HT I had experience with: the Futana is quite thin at the edge, which could prove problematic on the plastic mat with a steel not so tough, but from my Matsubara gyuto post-thinning I knew it was tough enough still, would get sharp rather easily, and would have decent wear resistance:
Despite the worry it wouldn’t do so well in specific tasks, it was really one of my best candidates especially under 200$ CAD.
