Seeking Advice for My Next Nakiri

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http://www.kitchen-knife.jp/pro/nakkiri.htm
A Watanabe with shipping will be right at your price point. Wat is very well regarded around here and are easily resold.
👍👍👍Wat is the king of Nakiri and Toyama is the Queen

i will be posting several nakiris on BST tomorrow - take a look size, all have been barely used2 not at all, other than initial cut test
 
My first Wat (the one with the Honduran rosewood handle) was a dream cutter. I wonder who has that now. Haven't seen it pop up on BST at all
 
I have one with the Honduran rosewood handle - dream cutter for sure. So much so, I got rid of my heiji nakiri

here is the pic of the wat for viewing pleasure - its big, but still nimble
410CC0C7-6F57-4F7C-8A6A-409ADA09B83F.jpeg
CE98F344-71E5-4368-9BE1-D9546C7C5E50.jpeg
835AC303-4DF5-4CE6-B295-396C8375D10D.jpeg
 
👍👍👍Wat is the king of Nakiri and Toyama is the Queen

i will be posting several nakiris on BST tomorrow - take a look size, all have been barely used2 not at all, other than initial cut test
I liked the Toyama 180 more than Watanabe 165, maybe the size difference made it for me but there where no competition really 😊
 
Thanks for the list of suggestions, everyone. I like the way Watanabe Pro nakiri looks. I like the kuroichi finish and its blade height. But at this point, being the minimalist that I am, I think I want to go with fully stainless steel because I don't want the headache of dealing with reactive metals. So I'm leaning strongly towards cutting cores made of SRS13 or SRS15. This dramatically reduces my list of choices:

Masamoto Sohonten Wa-Nakiri (Approx. $210 USD):
SRS13 cutting core clad in something soft - probably something stainless.
165 mm blade length, long enough for my needs.
Masamoto Sohonten Wa-Nakiri.jpg




Akifusa Chef's Wa-Nakiri (Approx. $200 USD):
SRS15 cutting core clad in AUS205 stainless steel.
165 mm blade length.
Akifusa Nakiri.png


There might be couple others that I haven't looked at, yet. But I'll get to those sooner or later. I'll have my choice finalized before the end of this week.

Neither of the nakiri shown above have the finish I want (kuroichi-tsuchime finish) nor the blade height I am looking for (60-65mm), but I am willing to accept that I can't have everything my way.
 
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Thanks for the list of suggestions, everyone. I like the way Watanabe Pro nakiri looks. I like the kuroichi finish and its blade height. But at this point, being the minimalist that I am, I think I want to go with fully stainless steel because I don't want the headache of dealing with reactive metals. So I'm leaning strongly towards cutting cores made of SRS13 or SRS15. This dramatically reduces my list of choices:

Why just SRS13 and SRS15, not also AUS8, SG2, Ginsan (semistainless), or ZDP189?
 
I think Masakage nakiris are generally pretty tall and have some stainless VG-10 options. I have the koishi (stainless clad AS) and it's ~59mm tall.
 
What about Masakage Yuki? (Yoshimi Kato).
797B81CA-205F-4CE6-99FB-F38A6A2E03CB.jpeg

White steel core, but stainless clad and mine has proved totally non-reactive. Bang on 60mm height and mid weight around 160 grams.

Not kurouchi, it's Nashiji, but as Lemmy from Motörhead said "You can't have it all - where would you put it?"

Actually all this thread has done is made me want to try a Watanabe Pro.. umming and ahhing about it now.
 
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I've heard good words on Akifusa, but, following what people have suggested here is safer to get a knife you'll not regret later.
This is great advice. When you don't know what you like and don't like yet, while testing out the waters, you really should buy popular knives that you can resell quickly without losing much money on if you decide it's not your cuppa. Many monitor BST for a couple weeks to see how quickly different brands/ smiths sell and learn the trend. A Wat/ Toyama nakiri that you don't like will sell in a blink, a less popular nakiri that you're lukewarm about? Yeah good luck bumping that.
 
Why just SRS13 and SRS15, not also AUS8, SG2, Ginsan (semistainless), or ZDP189?
ZDP-189 is not fully stainless.

OP, less people would have looked at stainless nakiris below $300 on this forum and many people have not explored nakiris as much as gyutos.

You'll have to look at the shape, thickness, height and weight and make a choice. It's hard to go very wrong with what an established brand sells at that price point, and you can try them out if patronizing a retailer with a physical store.

Since people are posting random nakiri pics, here's a R2 stainless nakiri I really like but completely irrelevant to this discussion.

Knife - 2020 10 03 - Tanaka Ironwood 02.jpg
 
Why just SRS13 and SRS15, not also AUS8, SG2, Ginsan (semistainless), or ZDP189?

Good question. Already considered SG2 and ZDP189. In the case of ZDP189, it's a semi-stainless steel. I *love* ZDP189, but I am skeptical about whether it's appropriate for application in cutlery due to its critical weakness against anything remotely acidic. I also read that ZDP189 doesn't have much edge stability at acute angles. For these reasons, I chose to opt out.

If my memory serves me correctly, I think Miyabi cutlery uses SG2. And as number of you advised me to stay away from brand due to their relatively poor performance-to-cost ratio. For that reason, SG2 is out of the picture.

Don't know much about Ginsan, but since it's semi-stainless as you pointed out, I won't consider it unless it has extraordinary properties to compensate for being semi-stainless.

AUS8? Might make for a semi-decent cladding material, but not for the cutting core itself. Not interested in blades made of soft stainless steel.
 
The ss steel choice basically handcuffs OP pretty much in terms of maker, heat treatment, profile, measurements, fit and finish, possible resell value. My biased opinion is that you can manage with stainless clad knife in home kitchen very well, not much hassle there really.
 
This is great advice. When you don't know what you like and don't like yet, while testing out the waters, you really should buy popular knives that you can resell quickly without losing much money on if you decide it's not your cuppa. Many monitor BST for a couple weeks to see how quickly different brands/ smiths sell and learn the trend. A Wat/ Toyama nakiri that you don't like will sell in a blink, a less popular nakiri that you're lukewarm about? Yeah good luck bumping that.
Once I buy something, I don't ever sell it. I buy to keep. If I really don't like what I bought, then I'll give it away to friends/families. But I don't ever sell something I already bought, period.
 
Once I buy something, I don't ever sell it. I buy to keep. If I really don't like what I bought, then I'll give it away to friends/families. But I don't ever sell something I already bought, period.
I haven't sold any knives either, but that's not something I'm proud of. And this makes it more important to buy winning knives.
 
I wonder how @jacko9 has been doing. Strange to see the phrase "Wat nakiri" come up in a threat and him not chiming in.

LOL - I don't have a third yet! Actually I have been eyeballing his 120mm Nakiri for my wife but it's out of stock. Me and granddaughter love our 180mm Watanabe Pro Nakiri's.
 

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If my memory serves me correctly, I think Miyabi cutlery uses SG2. And as number of you advised me to stay away from brand due to their relatively poor performance-to-cost ratio. For that reason, SG2 is out of the picture.

I think you misunderstood me when I said don't buy the miyabi.

Just because I said the knife was poor value for money doesn't mean I think the steel that the knife is made out of and by extension all SG2 knives are bad.
 
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