The End Game Knife

Miura knives
Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
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No such thing. I used to think that I’d have 8 total knives all of varying size and shape, and that’d be my kit.
Now I aim to find 3 shapes of any maker whose work I love (Gyuto, Sujihiki, long petty) and I use that set for a month before rotating to another maker the following month. This allows me to justify a grand total of 12 makers (give or take) and 36 knives! Obviously there’s some one-off pieces I HAVE to buy. So I could probably justify 45-50 knives. That’s my endgame 😂

Yes- I have a problem.
 
I kinda want to upgrade my Sujihiki. I have an old Misono Moly in that infernal AUS8 steel that I was gifted 20 years ago. I really only use a Suji a few times a year. Cake cutting (Sacre bleu!), thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas.

I don’t really need one. But hey. This isn’t about need.
 
fortheloveofmoar said:
I get that. It is a luxury good. As mentioned by others a Casio or timex will do the job. Or your pocket watch (cellphone)
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While I never bobsledded down this particular lagomorph lacuna, I adore fine mechanism. I have a Kieninger wall clock that needs repair, but am having trouble finding the Chilton’s that covers it.

After the geomagnetic kerfuffle this last week*, I am an even bigger believer in nonelectrified mechanical backup (shy of a sundial. Those suck just a little at night and in weather.)

n. b. Californians reserve the term “weather” for the anomalies.

*Seeing aurora in the Mojave was a thing!
 
SharpestToolintheShed said:
I kinda want to upgrade my Sujihiki. I have an old Misono Moly in that infernal AUS8 steel that I was gifted 20 years ago. I really only use a Suji a few times a year. Cake cutting (Sacre bleu!), thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas.

I don’t really need one. But hey. This isn’t about need.
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I find myself using my suji quite often now that I have one and made a conscious decision to reach for it more. In fact, I use it enough that I am now having Michael of @Knot Handcrafted make me one.

You can find some sexy suji examples of his here on the forum and I think there's still couple showing (sold) on his site:

https://www.knothandcrafted.com/products
 
SharpestToolintheShed said:
I kinda want to upgrade my Sujihiki. I have an old Misono Moly in that infernal AUS8 steel that I was gifted 20 years ago. I really only use a Suji a few times a year. Cake cutting (Sacre bleu!), thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas.

I don’t really need one. But hey. This isn’t about need.
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I have one of these: Okada “bbq sword”. Unlike Masanobu’s more usual chonk, this is a thin and nimble blade. Near zero grind. Good heat treat on the white 2.
It’s a knife I’m unlikely to place on the altar of BST.

Do recommend if they ever get restocked.

1715718301796.png


(edit) My search skills are not so good, but sometime in the last two weeks MSicard put up a suji for sale. It looked the stuff. Especially if you’re looking for a straight slicer.
 
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My most recent purchase, a Hardent werkgericht gyuto seriously made me consider stopping the game altogether. Simple, functional, yet elegant, with extreme geometry. The desire for acquisition took a major hit for sure.

1715722888986.png


On another note, maybe it's more helpful to talk about end game budget, i.e. how much money you are willing to float on knives over your lifetime. Knives come and go but there usually is a total monetary number you would feel uncomfortable going over....

or not, then more power to you!
 
aporigine said:
I have one of these: Okada “bbq sword”. Unlike Masanobu’s more usual chonk, this is a thin and nimble blade. Near zero grind. Good heat treat on the white 2.
It’s a knife I’m unlikely to place on the altar of BST.

Do recommend if they ever get restocked.

View attachment 321490

(edit) My search skills are not so good, but sometime in the last two weeks MSicard put up a suji for sale. It looked the stuff. Especially if you’re looking for a straight slicer.
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Stop. No.
Desist. Do not tempt me.
I use my Suji barely once every few months.
 
😂 Definitely doesn’t exist. I wish it did but I think it’s part of human nature and a necessity to our evolution to constantly set our sights on new things. For the last 5 years Ive been stuck in this never ending cycle of “ if I could just make a knife like this I’d be happy and that would be it “ but it never ceases. I make the knife, I’m happy for a week, and then it repeats.
 
Enso Forge said:
😂 Definitely doesn’t exist. I wish it did but I think it’s part of human nature and a necessity to our evolution to constantly set our sights on new things. For the last 5 years Ive been stuck in this never ending cycle of “ if I could just make a knife like this I’d be happy and that would be it “ but it never ceases. I make the knife, I’m happy for a week, and then it repeats.
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If you stop improving you stop growing. Keep on chasing perfection.
 
End game end game collection? Probably no unless you just want out at some point and even then you might come back. Many people have. Too poor to continue would probably not be the reason as you might just sell one or two of your existing collection to try something new. That said, I do think most of people will slow down if they had a period when they tried a lot of knives. I sold and traded 71 knives since January 20th. My record was 8 new knives in a single day. I have already slowed down quite a bit. Think I will buy maybe 1 knife every other week going forward and will most likely slow down even more.
 
NotAddictedYet said:
My most recent purchase, a Hardent werkgericht gyuto seriously made me consider stopping the game altogether. Simple, functional, yet elegant, with extreme geometry. The desire for acquisition took a major hit for sure.

View attachment 321498

On another note, maybe it's more helpful to talk about end game budget, i.e. how much money you are willing to float on knives over your lifetime. Knives come and go but there usually is a total monetary number you would feel uncomfortable going over....

or not, then more power to you!
Click to expand...
I have no actual lifetime budget. I doubt I would go over $2000 USD on a knife.
That’s about the price of the most basic Grand Seiko quartz watch.
 
To me knives are fun to play with and
SharpestToolintheShed said:
I have no actual lifetime budget. I doubt I would go over $2000 USD on a knife.
That’s about the price of the most basic Grand Seiko quartz watch.
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That's the appeal of knives to me. It's relatively low cost, and you can really put on your own spin on it to an extent.
 
SharpestToolintheShed said:
Does it exist or is it a mythical state of being?
I used to be into watches. I figured if I got an endgame watch, I could quit the hobby and move on. I did. I got a Tudor BlackBay 36 and didn’t buy a watch after that. Ok it’s not a very expensive watch but it was enough to hurt.

Is there a Knife you can buy and then say…ok it’s done. I don’t need more knives. I tried that last year with TF Denka. I told one of my oldest friends (who is a chef ) that she will inherit it if anything happens to me.

Then I decided that I needed to get a ZKramer at Bob’s workshop. And I want a Steelport as a souvenir when I do a Portland vacation.

I’m currently waiting for my turn at a custom Edward Mayhew (yes I’ll be taking polls to see what I should get). Will that be my final piece?

Is there and End Game knife? Do you know what yours is?
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For me, in collecting knives, there's no 'end-game knife'—I'll always find another kitchen knife avenue to pursue. I'm current's looking at lower priced makers I'd passed up during my 10+ years of collecting—I've never had the pleasure of trying a Global.
 
DitmasPork said:
For me, in collecting knives, there's no 'end-game knife'—I'll always find another kitchen knife avenue to pursue. I'm current's looking at lower priced makers I'd passed up during my 10+ years of collecting—I've never had the pleasure of trying a Global.
Click to expand...
I started with Global. They’re good for people who mistreat their knives.
 
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