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A beautiful thing, that is.
How do you like the ku finish vs the full polish one? (anecdotally, my ku finish one feels thicker than earlier full polish one)
Also, how many Dalmans is too many?

Personally I am not a big fan of ku-knives to be honest. The only two ku-knives I own are the two Dalmans. So I like the blade of the non-ku gyuto more, but I really love the handle of the ku-gyuto, cause there is no ferrule. The ku-gyuto is an easier cutter, whereas the plain one has a better food release. Long story short: I need both!

Mack.
 
Metal Monkey 180mm K-Tip. fun little beast.
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Personally I am not a big fan of ku-knives to be honest. The only two ku-knives I own are the two Dalmans. So I like the blade of the non-ku gyuto more, but I really love the handle of the ku-gyuto, cause there is no ferrule. The ku-gyuto is an easier cutter, whereas the plain one has a better food release. Long story short: I need both!

Mack.
Send both to Robin, make him exchange the handles and sell the KU to me then. I can come by and pick it up anytime!
 
Kamadi!!! 225 x 53 gyuto, bulat core clad in wrought iron made from 1885 Russian rail tracks. Blade forged by a talented Russian maker, sharpened by Kasumi Kevin. Handle is Russian black hornbeam with reindeer ferrule by Graydon Decollibus.

Sooo thrilled to finally get my hands on this, KeMaDi a collaborative effort by Dirch, @preizzo, Kasumi Kev and Graydon.

I've only used the knife for a few meals so far, and it's pretty badass. The knife hands down the sharpest out of box I've had, Kev made it 'murder sharp.'

Bulat steel super tough, visually distinctive.

For this I chose their Sanjo-inspired profile. Very handsome, f&f superb, well performing knife. Love it so much I'm saving to get a suji from them!

Knife photographed on some Soviet propaganda I had on the bookshelf.

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Hello Ditmas,

Do you have Instagram account or email?
 
A true protege. Whats the steel and weight? He's even got the taper in the tang. Are you watching Jiro? Superb attention to detail.
 
@Corradobrit1
its a bit above 300g, steel is 14c28n @61hrc i believe
i wanted at least one no nonsense stainless workhorse for work, since all my other (good) knives are reactive. Too bad i can only use it at home for the next weeks/months. :/
 
If I knew about that 240 - I would have jumped on it as well. I decided that I really don't need a 270 since I have a 270 Suji and a 300 Chefs 1095 carbon knife (kit knife from 50 years ago). That Ikeda honyaki is awesome!
 
Victorinox - Rosewood Santoku 7" / 170 mm (as per Victorinox - 17 cm)
170 / 170 / 45 / 1.5 / <1 / +15 / 100g
https://www.cookstore.ca/ 65$ CAD

Blade length / Edge length / Height / Thickness (heel) / Thickness (tip) / Balance (Chin = 0) / Weight
In mm; all measures are first hand; balance (also in mm) is either forward the blade (+) or backward to the handle (-) where 0 was arbitrarily positioned to the chin as I find it to be a point anyone can easily relate to from the knives they have experience with - for example when comparing traditional Western handles vs. traditional Japanese handles if one never experienced the former or the latter.


My first (relatively) good kitchen knife. An older buy but still recent acquisition: it is about 5 months old and, in absence of other good knifes for a while and faithful use even since, must have easily seen 150 full hours of prep - to keep a conservative number. As such my final note will consider performance not out of the box, but where it stands now: ootb with this one is so long ago, and I improved in so many ways since then, that I couldn't trust my initial impressions much.

I'm sorry to say almost all the pictures share the same problem with lighting... good news is that the food does look normal. Choil shot is terrible but shows what it has to. Spine came out nicely though, considering it was taken at night in my man cave with an ill-placed bare naked high power light bulb.


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I use it a lot these times because my more expensive knives are stored away to avoid problems (a couple of uncaring adults and a couple of kids always around, you know), and to do this review I put it through a complete prep once again, despite my temptation to use one of my better knives, forcing myself to lend a critical eye on the experience and performance instead of just going on automatically adjusting to it as I'm used to do.

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The Victorinox Santoku gets crazy thin where the spine drops down to the tip, but thanks to the soft metal and compact profile doesn't feel brittle when used as a guillotine or in rock chopping. It does fine tip work for a somewhat squarish Santoku, can tap chop mushrooms very thin without tearing them, over all usable length of the blade thanks to its thinness, and with little practice provides a lot of control in such a task as well as many others thanks to its light weight and kindly forward balance. Once a fine push cutter too, although it has long been without sufficient sharpness to truly enjoy that anymore. Rock chopping isn't so comprehensive but fairly usable. A great and safe all-rounder in cluttered family kitchens and on smaller work surface, although it can be adversely argued that it is on the shorter side of usability. One thing it ain't so good at is pure slicing, especially of fatty proteins (like uncooked bacon), but it will get the job done in the end with proper care and a bit of patience. Food release is on the good side with this knife. It has seen the smooth rod a number of times, and while it is easy to bring back a Victorinox to proper cutting abilities this way, a slight resistance in many cuts is now unmistakable. Not truly hindering, not quite displeasing yet, but infinitely less pleasurable to use and more frustration involved in producing finer cuts.

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The Santoku is the only Victorinox Rosewood I received in a proper albeit basic retail box (others in a branded grey plastic sleeve), and it tends to run "expensive" amidst the Rosewood line, considering the amount of metal used and somewhat small-medium size handle: you'll easily find the 8" Chef, perhaps even the 10" Chef, for the same price or less - and to give perspective the 10" is twice the weight of material (and to many extents, twice the amount of fun). Same goes within the Fibrox line.

Pro: thin compact profile, lightweight, easy versatility and forward balance makes it a friendly and nimble knife

Meh: 180 mm long and a bit taller would be better, not a big fan of the granton edge and no version without it available

Con: on the expensive side of the Rosewood series for little material and no good reasons - possibly because of the dimples

Bottom line: serves best as an easy to use and somewhat safer entry-level knife for the beginner, or people wary of bigger and pointier blades - and it does spectacularly well in this regard. One could rightfully argue that the beginner would do better to buy a Chef knife and learn to use it safely. There was a time when I almost preferred a Santoku, but somehow my initial fondness over them has gone away.

Performance (150 hours): 2.5/5 (on the very edge between sufficiently satisfying and a bit displeasing, can be kept there with honing indefinitely it seems and fare better than cheap hardware store knives - performance with these would start at 2.5 and get much worse under the same conditions)
Experience: 3.5/5 (a great beginner knife that might lose its appeal over time; on the upside it provides more feeling than most Victorinox I've used)
F&F: 3.5/5 (as always, the Rosewood handles vary in quality of both fit - often leaving a gap into the wood behind the heel - and finish - some beg for a bit of fine sanding)
Value: 3.5/5 (takes a drop compared to the less expensive Chef knives of the series, but still blows a lot of the competition away for a Santoku)

Overall: 6.5/10
 
That looks awesome, Rob.

Where did you pick it up?
Cheers man, the Kurosaki came from knives and stones some time a go. He has long sold out but some other dealers may still have stock?
I’ll have a look around and get back to you.
 
Zwilling - Diplôme Santoku 7" / 180 mm
190 / 180 / 49 / 2 / <1 / -20 / 204g
https://www.cookstore.ca/ 135$ CAD
(pricematched during BF, usually 170-210$ CAD)

Blade length / Edge length / Height / Thickness (heel) / Thickness (tip) / Balance (Chin = 0) / Weight
In mm; all measures are first hand; balance (also in mm) is either forward the blade (+) or backward to the handle (-) where 0 was arbitrarily positioned to the chin as I find it to be a point anyone can easily relate to from the knives they have experience with - for example when comparing traditional Western handles vs. traditional Japanese handles if one never experienced the former or the latter.

Let's start this with the obvious from specs to anyone, and obvious for me from my own experience: this knife is really on the heavy side, and backward heavy to make it somewhat worse still.

Acquired at the same time as the Diplôme Chef - it was the only way to get the full price match because the Chef wasn't stock with the vendor with the better price, but the Santoku was. I wasn't against getting the Santoku too, I was quite fond of these back then and this one seemed excellent. Bargained for both and got the Chef at the same price. And I cannot say I regret the purchase of the two neither. But...

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Ok let's get to it. The Diplôme Santoku has been one of my favorite knives yet - despite my growing carelessness about any Santoku profile, and despite the weight. Also, one of my worst experience buying a knife - it came in with a series of dark spots on the blade that never disappeared despite washing with vinegar, washing with sodium bicarbonate, and a good rub (on one side only) with a rust eraser. This one took a toll on finish, and adding an accident in a drawer (don't ask) it is now badly scarred against the grain too. There's nothing really aggravating there, just irksome. The dark stains, mostly on the Zwilling engraved side, never truly disappeared. The stains are nowhere big enough or dark enough to show in normal pictures, but they're there. The Chef had a mild case of these, which faded mostly upon cutting food, but subjecting the Santoku to the same foods didn't help much with the more ingrained stains. I'm still with Zwilling upon exchanging this, I sent pictures of the problem before the rust eraser and drawer accident episodes. The COVID and other events made me store the claim away for awhile, as well as a more or less defined project to grind the handle of this one unit. The truth is I would try the Miyabi version of this Santoku to see about weight and balance, but exchanging against the very same Diplôme wouldn't take away my desire to grind the handle. We'll see...

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Why it's one of my favorite knives? Well, it's a powerful rock chopper on the shorter side, a wonderful tap chopper too, and a fine push cutter. It keeps an edge just like its Chef counterpart, and the drop down tip is highly usable, even more so in some cases than any pointier Chef's tip. I once loved Santokus; then I envisioned them as a utility/veggies knife; now I don't care about them much. But this one is a real helper alongside a Chef I want to treat more respectfully (these just seem to grow in number...); it does all the dirty jobs, can do mighty fine jobs too, is stainless steel (yeah, well...) and already stained with a messed up finish on one side so I really just don't care now to let it sit indefinitely in less desirable circumstances. It has become the #1 answer to all things I don't want to do with most of my other knives, and outstrips the Victorinox Santoku as such a tool in so many ways for twice the price that it makes it worth its price - well, bargained price. It's also the knife that taught me not to care so much about how it looks, making me at peace in advance with buying carbon steel like the Misono and looking at it stain and patina almost on the spot with delight. Only the weight... only the weight.

It's weird that a very similar weight and balance don't bother me so much with the Diplôme Chef, but does with the Santoku. Perhaps that's the one thing the Victorinox gave me that I found the most rewarding: lightness and forward balance. And there's no way in the world the Zwilling will lose half its weight and shift forward 1.5 inches in balance - short of turning it into a letter opener I guess. That just won't happen... However, I did say I like this one Santoku more. The heft isn't all against it. I'm thinking rounding the butt of the handle would remove what... surely, 10-15 grams on the whole, perhaps more if I shorten it a bit more on my way... make the balance shift forwards like what, 5-10 mm more or less. That could just about put it right in the awesome category of how I use it, and how I feel about it.

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Here's some food: a fine mince of garlic (still sticking to the blade), a tap chop of garlic (the other pile) and a rock chop of shallot. Could also have smashed, squashed and cross chop that garlic to a pulp - the Santoku excels at that. Did that and many other things a great number of times on cheap bamboo boards just like its Chef counterpart did. This steel has excellent resistance and edge retention. The Santoku has what, 40-50 hours of use at most, but the Chef has done at least twice this amount of prep without dulling - albeit I've been a bit more gentle towards it most of the time. Both will still slice any kind of newspaper and print paper like there's nothing there. What's more, this Santoku can slice fatty proteins (uncooked bacon for example) mighty fine, if perhaps not the best profile I've used to do so. It is also on the taller side of Santokus which is an advantage. Food sticks to it the same way it does with the Chef, but the taller blade allows it not to be overwhelmed with sticking mince so quickly, and to some extent some of it will dislodge by itself in further cuts before it gets annoying.

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The box - nothing high quality, but the only knives I've got that were protected with foam, making for a nice package.

Pro: excellent edge resistance and edge retention, short powerhouse with high versatility

Meh: can it be even more heavy than the Chef... yes it can

Con: a lot of good knives - not Santokus - can be bought for its bargain price, and even more so at its normal discount price.

Bottom line: as I said for the Chef, I'm one of those that isn't put off by weight and backward balance all that much: they are not desirable characteristics I would search for now that I've tried lighter/better balanced knives, but not bothering me so much neither. The Santoku, however, should be a good deal lighter than the corresponding Chef in my definition of what makes a Santoku great. Add the price to that, and value gets on the worse side - which is sad considering the great qualities this knife (and the Chef) has.

Performance (OOTB): 4.5/5 (and keeps it right there)
Experience: 3.5/5 (yep, add the excessive weight for a Santoku to the stain problem and it takes a drop compared to the Chef)
F&F: 4.5/5
Value: 1.5/5
(yep... I may love it, but wouldn't advise it to anyone compared to like a hundred better options at least - buying a more versatile chef, or a more dedicated Nakiri, etc...)

Overall: 7/10
 

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As per my original post for quibbles about the engraving. As far as rusting is concerned, I'll try this out of my own experience, but don't think I know better of anything: be much more wary of this knife upon first use, or each and every use if you're intended on keeping it patina free and factory looking like. If you're going the patina way (you might find you're forced to), just be aware the first of it isn't so nice to see and upon first use, depending on the ingredients but even when in contact with mild juices or water, it seems every bit of moisture will be sucked into the metal fast enough that you don't have much of a second chance. Second/third use the patina allowed me to not care so much more than I do a stainless knife - somewhat maniacally by nature, and while I take more care with cleaning it and drying it as soon as possible after a prep, with a patina it can truly endure some carelessness.
Thanks for the feedback ModRQC
 
I was the person who had the quickest trigger on this 220mm Raquin KT on BST about 6 weeks ago. I've had it for about a month... but I didn't get to start using it until a couple weeks ago because it was a gift to myself for achieving a major milestone in graduate school.

Bryan Raquin 220mm KT Gyuto
Let's start this one with some pictures. :)
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No choil shot this time because my phone can't focus well on it. Sorry for the folks who care about that kind of thing. This is the first knive I've owned that I actually have that cost-guilt feeling associated with using it and putting it on stones. However, it hasn't stopped me from using it. Though it has held me back from using it more than I do.

This one is a cut above the other gyutos I own with a lot of really interesting aspects I hadn't considered previously. On cutting performance, I'm really impressed. I'm no expert on the stones but I found it easy to sharpen with a really nice feedback on my Gesshin 6k. I didn't put it on a lower grit -- I felt it only needed a small refresher. After the touchup the edge feels amazingly smooth going through everything.

This knife also opened my eyes to how impactful a handle can be. It is amazing to hold. Dry or wet, it's still got a good grip. The torched grains feel special. The edges are all rounded nicely. It makes me want to buy torched wood handles for everything I own.

All around, I'm overwhelmed by this one. It's the first knife I want to reach for, but unfortunately there are some drawbacks. The profile doesn't work just right for me... I feel it's got a more curved profile than I'd like. Additionally, I wish it were a little longer - though admittedly a flatter profile might also fix that issue. I'll probably try to get another Raquin in the future that fits my tastes better. But I'm really impressed and have enjoyed every use so far.

By the way -- I don't think my picture does a good job representing the profile accurately. Bryan's page does a better job depicting the profile: http://www.bryan-raquin.com/product/gyuto-220-kt
 
I was the person who had the quickest trigger on this 220mm Raquin KT on BST about 6 weeks ago. I've had it for about a month... but I didn't get to start using it until a couple weeks ago because it was a gift to myself for achieving a major milestone in graduate school.

Bryan Raquin 220mm KT Gyuto
Let's start this one with some pictures. :)
bkCZmcFl.jpg

VnvSC9mm.jpg


4C6f3Qrm.jpg


No choil shot this time because my phone can't focus well on it. Sorry for the folks who care about that kind of thing. This is the first knive I've owned that I actually have that cost-guilt feeling associated with using it and putting it on stones. However, it hasn't stopped me from using it. Though it has held me back from using it more than I do.

This one is a cut above the other gyutos I own with a lot of really interesting aspects I hadn't considered previously. On cutting performance, I'm really impressed. I'm no expert on the stones but I found it easy to sharpen with a really nice feedback on my Gesshin 6k. I didn't put it on a lower grit -- I felt it only needed a small refresher. After the touchup the edge feels amazingly smooth going through everything.

This knife also opened my eyes to how impactful a handle can be. It is amazing to hold. Dry or wet, it's still got a good grip. The torched grains feel special. The edges are all rounded nicely. It makes me want to buy torched wood handles for everything I own.

All around, I'm overwhelmed by this one. It's the first knife I want to reach for, but unfortunately there are some drawbacks. The profile doesn't work just right for me... I feel it's got a more curved profile than I'd like. Additionally, I wish it were a little longer - though admittedly a flatter profile might also fix that issue. I'll probably try to get another Raquin in the future that fits my tastes better. But I'm really impressed and have enjoyed every use so far.

By the way -- I don't think my picture does a good job representing the profile accurately. Bryan's page does a better job depicting the profile: http://www.bryan-raquin.com/product/gyuto-220-kt

@Briochy ;)
 
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