The Wife's Knife...

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HumbleHomeCook

Embrace your knifesculinity!
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I mentioned here a few weeks ago that while watching the Knifewear "Garage Sale" stream, my wife decided she wanted a Murata 80mm Petty. Now, without hesitation, I ordered that knife. After more than three decades of marriage, my wife has rarely shown her own personal interest in knives. She fell in love with a Case Cheetah in red Kirinite that I promptly ordered and then another Case in the form of a red-slabbed Mini-Toothpick, that I also ordered.

But kitchen knives? Well, for years, that has been the realm of a Calphalon 6" utility knife and Henckels pairing knife. The Calphalon is actually not terrible and the Henckels is a thin little slicing demon but of course they are, well...

Anyway, on her maiden voyage with the Murata, she loved it. She loved the feel of it, she loved the edge, she loved the notion of it (a discontinued version of a knife by an aging blacksmith), and she loved that it was her pick. No prodding from me.

But, after a couple uses there was a bit of surface rust. I was certain it was just from some residual moisture on the towel she'd used to dry it after washing. She was careful to hand wash it right after use and dry it but she'd also done some other dishes and such so I think the towel was just a little damp. I was worried it would turn her off as being too finicky and I think it did for a while, but tonight, from the kitchen I heard, "Damn that's sharp..."

And sure enough, there she was using her knife. And this time, she engaged me in a serious discussion about caring for it. Do I always need to use soap? Is soap bad for it? So it needs to be totally dry? What about the handle? Is there anything I shouldn't cut with it?

Stoked! After all these years, she's bonded with a kitchen knife! Pairing knife or not, it is hers!!!

MiMTAdt.jpg
 
I finally got my wife off paring knives. Here is a picture of her 3 knives she likes best. The bottom is her favorite and the next one up is her second favorite, etc. Anything to keep her from using a paring knife.

The bottom is a Wusthof and the top 2 are Henckels 4star knives.

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I finally got my wife off paring knives. Her is a picture of her 3 knives she like best. The bottom is her favorite and the next one up is her second favorite, etc. Anything to keep her from using a paring knife.

The bottom is a Wusthof and the top 2 are Henckels 4star knives.

View attachment 131309

That's interesting; my wife's favorite knife is also a mini-santoku, just like the one in your picture. I find it to be too small to be that useful, but it's the first thing she reaches for...
 
When visiting the Tsubay store in Tokyo a few years back, I was looking at two knives and had a third I was gonna look at after that, while my wife and daughter was waiting for me. I get interupted after 10 minutes by my wife tapping me on my shoulder, showing me a knife, asking ”you think I should get a santoku, or a 210? They both look so nice”.

Out of the hundreds of knives in there, she randomly picked the one I was gonna check next, the Tsubaya Tanaka. And wanted to buy it. Soooo, my recomendation was ”oh, the 210, definatelly the 210”. :)

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Wife's knife is a Shun Santoku I bought her 10 years ago, took a year before she would use it. She has been encouraged to try my knives out, but will not.
I told her I would buy her any Santoku she wanted, she replied " Mine is just fine".
Do not mess with a happy woman.
 
Wife to be used my old Tojiro DP gyuto and Konosuke GS+ petty. She often leaves them to drip dry which doesn't seem to have done them any harm (Tojiro is stainless but the Konosuke is only meant to be semi-stainless) but otherwise looks after them pretty well. She seems to like using them but she's not interested in knives at all.
 
My wife used her tiny little 135mm JCK Natures petty to cut a watermelon yesterday. I asked her if she wouldn’t like a larger version to use and she absolutely refused because then it would be too big.

She got the petty just because it had a pretty blue handle 👍

https://japanesechefsknife.com/coll...-vg-10-tsuchime-damascus-petty-135mm-5-3-inch
How are those anyway? I must admit the blue handles sparked my interest too, but I never bothered to buy any because at that price point I figured it's going to be all bling and no bite. Or was I wrong on that?

I can't exactly gift them to my gf either; she's cutting with a Sukenari Gin-3... I'd be downgrading her...
 
How are those anyway? I must admit the blue handles sparked my interest too, but I never bothered to buy any because at that price point I figured it's going to be all bling and no bite. Or was I wrong on that?

I can't exactly gift them to my gf either; she's cutting with a Sukenari Gin-3... I'd be downgrading her...

I haven’t used it much, so it’s only seen light duty from my end. OOTB the edge was decent but not great. My wife actually surprised me when she noticed it was sharper after I gave it a light touchup on the stones. The scales were also not quite flush with the tang in some areas - I smoothed it out pretty easily with 400 grit sandpaper but was a bit disappointed that I needed to do that at all. All of that aside, it’s a great looking knife and my wife loves it.
 
When visiting the Tsubay store in Tokyo a few years back, I was looking at two knives and had a third I was gonna look at after that, while my wife and daughter was waiting for me. I get interupted after 10 minutes by my wife tapping me on my shoulder, showing me a knife, asking ”you think I should get a santoku, or a 210? They both look so nice”.

Out of the hundreds of knives in there, she randomly picked the one I was gonna check next, the Tsubaya Tanaka. And wanted to buy it. Soooo, my recomendation was ”oh, the 210, definatelly the 210”. :)

View attachment 131343

I don't think my wife would use a knife that big. The only time I have seen her use a big knife is if she is cutting a large watermelon in half. Our Texas watermelons are very big over 2 feet long and around 10 to 12 inches thick.
 
I don't think my wife would use a knife that big. The only time I have seen her use a big knife is if she is cutting a large watermelon in half. Our Texas watermelons are very big over 2 feet long and around 10 to 12 inches thick.

I think her favourite is a Takeda ko-nakiri, 11 cm, so this is the largest in her comfort zone. That said, she’s used the Tanaka ironwood 240 on occasion for cutting watermelon and enjoyed that aswell - so apparently that’s a thing all over the world :)
 
Had a small break through tonight. I've been trying to get my wife to try something other than the Shiki 210 and a Yaxell petty for a long time with no luck. We are traveling and i have an abbreviated kit. She wanted to cook tonight and I put the Yoshikane SKD 210 in her hand and commented that this should be her go-to knife even at home. I did at least get a, "this is a very nice knife" while she was dicing onions!
 
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I found the wife using the Mac PRO petty and saying she loved it and later she mentioned she actually tried my Suncraft bunka which I've encouraged her to use. That really excited me.

Well, until she said it was nice for smashing garlic. Now, I'm surely not opposed to smashing garlic with my knives like some are but I do ensure a proper technique is used to avoid bending the blade and well, I'm not sure right now she'll be so conscious.

So, I finally bought a proper stainless board scraper a few days ago and showed how easily it smashes garlic and she is stoked. I'm betting the Mac and that board scraper become her primary board tools.
 
Introducing anyone to a knife they love, or at least the world where they can find it, is always a moment of joy... Congrats. :)

As for the Murata paring knife... She has good taste! You can reduce the reactivity by thinning it, and bringing it to a higher and more consistent polish. Tosa knives have a rougher factory finish, and their cladding initially feels a bit rusty due to that surface texture. Take it up to a Lv.3 or better J-Nat polish, and it'll settle down.
 
I found the wife using the Mac PRO petty and saying she loved it and later she mentioned she actually tried my Suncraft bunka which I've encouraged her to use. That really excited me.

Well, until she said it was nice for smashing garlic. Now, I'm surely not opposed to smashing garlic with my knives like some are but I do ensure a proper technique is used to avoid bending the blade and well, I'm not sure right now she'll be so conscious.

So, I finally bought a proper stainless board scraper a few days ago and showed how easily it smashes garlic and she is stoked. I'm betting the Mac and that board scraper become her primary board tools.
Chinese cleavers are great for this while still being able to cut stuff. They're like a super bench scraper.

 
My wife finally mentioned wanting more specifics in a knife ( after 6 years together and using a variety of my knives) she has a bad habit of washing and drying knives and leans into smaller/lighter knives. I recently got her the Konosuke “Tosho collab” KT petty 165mm and she loves it. Uses it every day for everything and has really taken to taking care of it as it’s hers! I’ve used it a couple times and highly recommend as a home/line knife!
 
My wife is not interested in knives and uses a misono parer and a (shigeki) Tanaka vg10 petty for everything.

But ... She does complain when they're getting dull ;)
 
My wife quit using the Wusthof santoku. I bought her a MAC Pro 8-inch which she uses and a Henckels chef's knife shown above. She realized she likes chef's knives better.
 
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Of course, the knife from the "wife beater" thread. Wüsthof Crafter.

I like it. How's the steel compared to the Wusthof Classic knives?
I have not bought any smaller Wusthof chef's knives so my wife can use them. I have a Wusthof Classic 8-inch chef's knife which I will see if I can get her to use it.

The only reason I don't buy small Wusthof chef's knives is I like 10-inch chef's knives. I have 1 Wusthof Classic and 2 Henckels 4star 10-inch chef's knives that I use. I already own some Henckels 4star smaller chef's knives that were my mom's old knives so it seems redundant to buy more unless of course my wife likes them.

I bought the Wusthof Classic 8-inch chef's knife because so many recommendations on forums. It turns out I hate the 8-inch size. I like the 10-inch size.
 
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My lady’s setup:


293A7717-BFBB-4A31-A5DB-EB4327BDDFC1.jpeg

Tojiro Bread 270
Yoshihiro Ginsanko Santoku 180
Yoshihiro Ginsanko Petty 135
Wakui SS/W#2 Gyuto 240
Kaneshige SLD Gyuto 210
Tanaka Blue Dammy 180 (Not pictured)
Tanaka VG10 Petty 150
Opinel Parer

She really liked our Kaeru SLD, but we gifted it away this past weekend.
 
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One must not forget that once your wife/gf starts using/respecting/loving knives, your hobby grows a) more expensive and b) more complicated. I recently wanted to sell my Dalman 180 from the mass drop because we had only used the knife once. Whoa, I didn’t see the discussion coming! 😂
I wished I never introduced her to wa-handles. She won't even entertain any yo-handle options anymore, purely based on the aesthethics.
So much for getting a cheap petty for her... :rolleyes: Ginga petty it is.

View attachment 147815
Of course, the knife from the "wife beater" thread. Wüsthof Crafter.
My girlfriend would sue me for domestic abuse if I tried to make her use that. I don't know what Wüsthof is thinking with that profile. Who rockchops with a 6 inch knife?

I like it. How's the steel compared to the Wusthof Classic knives?
I have not bought any smaller Wusthof chef's knives so my wife can use them. I have a Wusthof Classic 8-inch chef's knife which I will see if I can get her to use it.

The only reason I don't buy small Wusthof chef's knives is I like 10-inch chef's knives. I have 1 Wusthof Classic and 2 Henckels 4star 10-inch chef's knives that I use. I already own some Henckels 4star smaller chef's knives that were my mom's old knives so it seems redundant to buy more unless of course my wife likes them.

I bought the Wusthof Classic 8-inch chef's knife because so many recommendations on forums. It turns out I hate the 8-inch size. I like the 10-inch size.
I think the profile might be your problem with them. I share your confusion about the Wüsthof 8-inch's popularity. IMO the profile gets worse the shorter it gets, as it's basically nothing but belly and curve. The longer they get the more flatspot they have. The shorter they get the sillier they become. You'd probably like 240 western handled gyutos over 210s.
Interestingly enough the favorite knife among my Wüsthofs is what they call a 6 inch (16 cm) slicer. I use it as a paring / petty hybrid. That one I like exactly because it has a very low profile - lower than most petties in that length - and it doesn't have this typical Wüsthof belly...
On top of that it has a half-decent sized handle, compared to most patties in this length that tend to have handles too skinny for me.

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