Toyama Noborikoi Kasumi Stainless Clad Nakiri?

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deskjockey

deskjockey

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I see a lot of love for the Damascus Toyama Gyuto. How do his 180mm and 210mm Nakiri compare to similar options from other makers? At $400 and $500, these are definitely in the nose-bleed section but, knives like these are all way up there in price. Considering his age, I'm wondering if I should try one while I can.

I have a Sugimoto cleaver and like it a lot but, I find it is a little thick and heavy for a lot of the veggies I cut. How would a large Nakiri compare to something like this? A Masahiro TX-101 is listed at 1.6mm thick but, seems overly heavy and "clubby". For hard meat cuts, a fine choice but, not a veggie slayer either as it seems to crush stuff a bit (I need to try thinning it BTE).

Perhaps there are other 180mm~210mm Nakiri I should consider but, they all seem to be pretty specialized and expensive so I'm not seeing anything I would consider a bargain and enough cheaper to NOT get the "best" one available.

I will be cutting mainly soft skin vegetables, fruits, and various leafy things. I have a preference for stainless/semi-stainless cores with stainless outer layers but, I can deal with the normal carbon and stainless blades too. I also prefer a wide flat 'sweet spot' in a Nakiri with relieved/curved points so I don't tear-up my cutting boards with less than perfectly perpendicular and square cleaving cuts.

TIA,
Sid
 
I had a 180 last year. Been through a lot of knives since then, but I recall that it was a very good cutter, with more food release than I expected. I sold it as budget only has so much room and I kept a 240 gyuto instead. As my tastes have involved I seem to prefer heavier nakiri now, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.
 
Sugimoto Nr.6 is very heavy as a 210 Toyama is. I love mine for veggies.

SirCutALot
 
I got my Toyama 180 Nakiri a month ago. Love it! I like tall knives for scraping up veggies, and its ideal for my kitchen and how I eat and cook. I've sold off my other Nakiris. In fact I like the Toyama Nakiri so much I ordered the 240 Gyuto a couple days ago. Maksim at JNS was kind enough to pick me the tallest 240 he had. I'm slowly "paring down" my knives to a few high quality ones... the Toyama Nakiri is a permanent knife. I suspect the Gyuto will be as well.
 
Buy it while you can. Watanabe already raised price by 40%+ and Toyama will follow soon. If you don’t like it just keep it for a year until cheap stock sell out and then sell it without losing a penny.
 
Btw I have/had Toyama 210 nakiri, 240 dammy gyuto, 240 iron clad gyuto and 240 stainless clad gyuto. The nakiri is the “sharpest” in term of geometry, especially combined with its weight. If I want to impress a guest through a cutting test, I would let them try my Toyama nakiri on potatoes, onions and carrots.
 
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Hz_zzzzzz said:
Btw I have/had Toyama 210 nakiri, 240 dammy gyuto, 240 iron clad gyuto and 240 stainless clad gyuto. The nakiri is the “sharpest” in term of geometry, especially combined with its weight. If I want to impressive a guest through a cutting test, I would let them try my Toyama nakiri on potatoes, onions and carrots.
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Thanks for sharing! How do you feel about SS Toyama/Wat vs iron clad in terms of cutting ability? I really like the heavy laser feel of the SS Watanabe gyuto.
 
blokey said:
Thanks for sharing! How do you feel about SS Toyama/Wat vs iron clad in terms of cutting ability? I really like the heavy laser feel of the SS Watanabe gyuto.
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My ss clad was 210 gram, iron clad was 230 gram, and the dammy is about 250 gram, all with light weight handles like ho wood or burnt chestnut. Iron clad and dammy have a little less distal taper on the spine and a little more convexity on the grind. Overall the difference among the 3 is not as big as I thought tbh. I like the extra 40 gram on the dammy but the ss clad was very good as well. The tip of the ss clad is more usable than the tip of iron clad and dammy. Plus it’s ss clad so it saves you some maintenance work. If you can find an iron clad or dammy for a reasonable price I would say go for it, otherwise I wouldn’t pay a big premium for iron clad unless you really want to do kasumi polishing.
 
blokey said:
Thanks for sharing! How do you feel about SS Toyama/Wat vs iron clad in terms of cutting ability? I really like the heavy laser feel of the SS Watanabe gyuto.
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Just to put in my two cents, I had a 240 Toyama SS last year that was very good and now have a 270 Wat iron clad that's just fantastic. The ironclad is a noticable level up from what I remember the Toyama's performance being like, just super fun to use and pretty effortless on a variety of product. Just nudge it forward and the blade weight does the work. But, one confound is that the IC has the very acute original edge, while the SS came to me with a more practical working edge angle. So - maybe the true difference with the same edge on both would be smaller.
 
Hz_zzzzzz said:
Btw I have/had Toyama 210 nakiri, 240 dammy gyuto, 240 iron clad gyuto and 240 stainless clad gyuto. The nakiri is the “sharpest” in term of geometry, especially combined with its weight. If I want to impress a guest through a cutting test, I would let them try my Toyama nakiri on potatoes, onions and carrots.
Click to expand...

What about wedging compere 210 Nakiri 240 SS clad ?
 
I currently have Toyama Nakiri 180mm in Kasumi finish, as well as Watanabe Nakiri 165mm KU finish. As both brands are made by the same blacksmith, Toyama. I have been following him for many years and currently have 165mm Santoku KU as well as a custom made Gyuto Honyaki 255mm. All knives by this blacksmith are superb when it comes to cutting power. So much so that you will have to search hard to find anything better. Toyama 180mm Nakiri is not exception from this. The cutting power is beyond the dream. the release power is not the best I've seen, but it's not the worst either. The fit and finish is on the top end, but not the best. I found that I had to work on F&F a little to make it perfect for me, but I am a demanding person when it comes to F&F.

Overall, I often reach out to use Toyama Nakiri for my veggie cutting and every time it puts a smile on my face. If you have a chance to get one, I wouldn't hesitate at all. Good luck
 
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