Stiffest thin knives you ever used

[shobudonnie]

For me, Denka was the only thin knife I ever used that had zero to super little flex.

Anyone used anything similar? Honyakis included.

 

[blokey]

Mono steel knives like Ginga, they are thin but quite stiff. On the opposite side Takeda flops around when you breath too hard

 

[Nemo]

Im no engineer but my understanding is that pretty much all steel has a similar Young's modulus of circa 200 GPa.

This means that the stiffness is dependent on the geometry, not the steel(s). Thickness at the spine plays a big role. This gels with my experience- Akebono, Kurosaki Shizuku and Kippington laser are all very thin bte knives with thicker spines and they are not at all flimsy.

 

[jedy617]

Makes sense. My yanick or the.nine with 6+mm spine are probably my stiffest. Well I guess those aren't that thin. They are very thin behind the edge though.

I guess I will say then my Togashi white 1 honyaki, or my FM togo reigo for thin knives.

 

[Corradobrit1]

In my experience any mizu quenched san mai eg TF, Kato etc and honyaki (mizu or abura) are my stiffest blades even when ground thin. Probably one of the main reasons I like those makers and honyaki in particular.

 

[Barmoley]

Geometry controls how stiff a steel knife is, nothing else.

 

[YumYumSauce]

For me, Denka was the only thin knife I ever used that had zero to super little flex.

Anyone used anything similar? Honyakis included.

I have a 195 mm denka gyuto thats stiff but it's nowhere near thin

 

[instantramen]

Kobayashi has almost no flex but is the thinnest knife I own

 

[Choppin]

Hatsukokoro Hayabusa Ginsan. Pretty thin (I guess it fits into the laser category) and 100% stiff.

 

[Cliff]

For me, Shiro Kamo and Takamura in R2, the latter mostly because I don't have anything bigger than 210, the former, for me, perfectly combines thin and sturdy.

 

[jacobwilder5]

Tetsujin comes to mind. Not the thinnest top line but still what I’d consider a thinner blade and stiff. Ashi Ginga is another. The Sakai knives with less distal taper seem to fit this category relatively well.

Tetsujin:

 

[Homechef]

Bazes and to some extent Alex horn (now acre forge)

 

[esoo]

I prefer thicker spines but these are all performers:
Takamura Chromax
Shibata R2 bunka
Kono HD2

 

[Cliff]

Forgot to mention Fujiyama

 

[Bico Doce]

Im no engineer but my understanding is that pretty much all steel has a similar Young's modulus of circa 200 GPa.

This means that the stiffness is dependent on the geometry, not the steel(s). Thickness at the spine plays a big role. This gels with my experience- Akebono, Kurosaki Shizuku and Kippington laser are all very thin bte knives with thicker spines and they are not at all flimsy.

This makes sense to me for monosteel knives but would this apply to san mai? Ive had some san mai knives feel like they had more flex than others with comparable spine thickness

 

[Nemo]

The Young's Modulus of iron is also 200 GPa, so even if the cladding is pure iron (rather than just a really low carbon steel), being san mai shouldn't change the stiffness much.

 

[ashy2classy]

Thin spine with a super stiff blade is HSC ///. I was surprised how firm it was with a 2-2.5mm spine.

 

[Bico Doce]

The Young's Modulus of iron is also 200 GPa, so even if the cladding is pure iron (rather than just a really low carbon steel), being san mai shouldn't change the stiffness much.

Thanks for clarifying. Hardening of the steel has no effect?

 

[SwampDonkey]

I have a Shiro Kamo "Tora" gyuto that's a laser but quite stiff. Not as thin, but taller and stiffer than a Kobayashi 210. I also had a Kobayashi santoku that was significantly taller than the gyuto and felt pretty good stiff-wise.

 

[Nemo]

Thanks for clarifying. Hardening of the steel has no effect?

Seemingly not an appreciable impact on the elasticity. Hardness is a seperate property (how easily it will penetrate another substance without deformation).

As I mentioned, I'm no engineer, so it may be that there are details that I am missing. Any materials engineers who happen to be reading- please chime in!

 

[Bico Doce]

Seemingly not an appreciable impact on the elasticity. Hardness is a seperate property (how easily it will penetrate another substance without deformation).

As I mentioned, I'm no engineer, so it may be that there are details that I am missing. Any materials engineers who happen to be reading- please chime in!

Thanks again! I also asked Chapgpt and it agreed with your conclusion as well

 

[M1k3]

Tosa 165mm nakiri. Super thin. Pretty stiff. But that's because of leverage..

 

[Nemo]

Thanks again! I also asked Chapgpt and it agreed with your conclusion as well

Not sure if that's supporting evidence or not

 

[mengwong]

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Will_the_Youngs_Modulus_E_value_change_with_heat_treatment

 

[Barmoley]

Thanks for clarifying. Hardening of the steel has no effect?

Hardening has no effect on stiffness, it will affect what happens after you bend it.

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/03/13/why-doesnt-heat-treating-affect-steel-flex/

 

[jacobwilder5]

 

[Barmoley]

Yes, screw that science stuff, let's continue saying that how hard, how it was hardened, san mai or differential hardening makes blades stiffer and such. We do discuss this every few months with the same results after all.

 

[jedy617]

People always say honyaki are so stiff on the board. Guessing cuz so many honyaki are really thick.

 

[M1k3]

People always say honyaki are so stiff on the board. Guessing cuz so many honyaki are really thick.

Honyaki are able to reach a higher HRC

 

[jedy617]

oh yeah sorry