What would be my top stainless gyuto?

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Don't go with the artifex... I bought one, without custom handle, a while ago and I wasn't impressed at all. Although it's made of a good steel and the custom handles looks good, it's too thick behind the edge.
 
Rest assured, Jon does not sell crap and never deceives. If he says its a fine grained stainless, it most certainly is.
 
ThEoRy said:
It's the one with awesome in it... :)
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how did you know?

So, i used to share a lot more information about things, but it caused some problems (either customers being distracted by things that werent relevant or competitors copying what i was doing). So, sadly, now days i share less. However, that doesnt mean i'm not willing to describe things in depth. For example, its much less important that you know what a steel is, but i can tell you about the grain structure, experience in sharpening, what kind of an edge it takes, how it holds an edge, how brittle or tough it is, etc. In fact, in the store here, i can often show people.
 
evert67 said:
...I was thinking $250 max or so. Maybe a bit more for something really special. But less is better in this respect.

If I count the votes :), it’s clear that the Gesshin Ginga and Suisin Inox are the most popular ones here. And also more than one vote for Togiharu, although different knives. Thanks also for the link to the rehandled Ginga in the B/S/T forum. It looks like a great deal, but unfortunately 240 mm is really too large for my purposes.

Surprisingly (to me) no-one mentioned the knives that were recommended to me on another forum: the Sakai Takayuki Grand Chef and a rehandled Artifex in AEB-L and the Hiromoto G3 in Ginsanko. What makes you prefer the Gesshin Ginga or Suisin Inox over these knives?
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Those three knives are cheaper. The Grand Chef and Hiro both take nice edges. Neither comes close to matching the pure cutting pleasure derived from such superb blades as the Ginga or the Suisin. Every time I see someone mention a knife made by Lamson it seems they tend to use the words "help" and "thick." Suisin Inox honyaki line is 19c27. I go out of my way to get the best stuff. None of those three made the cut. The Ginga is pretty much unmatched at that price point for the combination of cutting power, stain resistance and edge-taking and the edge retention is pretty nice, too.
 
apicius9 said:
Looks like the Blazen has completely fallen out of fashion, but I still like mine. Think it's a good allrounder.

Stefan
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I've been very happy with the 180 gyuto I bought from EE on sale a few years ago. It is my go-to knife when I need to do something quick, and don't want to fuss too much about the knife. It can get incredibly sharp. Impeccable fit and finish. Love it.
 
markenki said:
I've been very happy with the 180 gyuto I bought from EE on sale a few years ago. It is my go-to knife when I need to do something quick, and don't want to fuss too much about the knife. It can get incredibly sharp. Impeccable fit and finish. Love it.
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Wow, when I first started this whole adventure all everyone was talking about were Blazens and the Hattori FH.

Let me give another vote for the Susin Inox, but I'm sorry I can't contribute anything insightful about a western handled knife.
 
I don't get the Hattori FH love but Blazens are excellent knives. However, the edge they take doesn't approach that of carbon steel like the Ginga does. The Suisin doesn't either, for that matter.
 
I'll need to check out the Ginga line. Afterall I don't have a 210 stainless. :) My cousin-in-law is moving into their new home in Southern California tomorrow, and we promised to visit them sometime next year. Of course, I will have to visit JKI (assuming Jon and Sara will have me!). It would be cool to pick up the knife at the store in person.
 
i love it when people from the forums come in... i dont have to tone down my dorkiness
 
The 19c27 steel in the suisin is amazing stuff. It's edge retention IMO is comparable to high HRC tool steel knives but it can be taken to a sharper edge than those tool steel knives. I've been able to use my suisin in a pro enviroment for a couple of weeks of heavy board work with it still shaving sharp after a couple of strokes on a borocilicate rod. No other steel I've used has been as responsive to the borocilicate rod which I also find interesting.

Another steel that I've recently have been trying and enjoying is the Cronidur steel that Henckels uses. Got my hands on a cheep santoku from the line and it's kept an agressive edge no matter what it's cut (acidic foods included)

I wonder if any of the custom makers have used this steel yet?
 
Jon,

The 210 mm Ginga gyuto seems out of stock. Do you know when you sell it again?
 
tk59 said:
the edge they take doesn't approach that of carbon steel like the Ginga does. The Suisin doesn't either, for that matter.
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I'd have to disagree with your comment about the Suisin's 19c27 from my experience, as I still cannot believe how sharp of an edge my 210 petty takes, and the retention is decent enough. Out of any knife I've used or owned, none have easily cut me from barely touching them...then again, I've thinned out and already uber thin knife to begin with.


jcsiii said:
The 19c27 steel in the suisin is amazing stuff. It's edge retention IMO is comparable to high HRC tool steel knives but it can be taken to a sharper edge than those tool steel knives.
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This is more of how I feel about it.


Just once again proves how everyone's experience is different.
 
Cadillac J said:
I'd have to disagree with your comment about the Suisin's 19c27 from my experience, as I still cannot believe how sharp of an edge my 210 petty takes, and the retention is decent enough. Out of any knife I've used or owned, none have easily cut me from barely touching them...then again, I've thinned out and already uber thin knife to begin with.




This is more of how I feel about it.


Just once again proves how everyone's experience is different.
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+1 to this I'm still amazed by my suisins. Fantastic knives and even with the recent price hike I would replace them in a heartbeat if something were to happen to them.

Jon, question, what grit level do you generally take you're suisin IH's to? I've been playing around with some different levels of polish lately and have found that they hold a rather polished edge, taken to 10k jks/ kitiyama, or natural finisher quite well. Much more so than I had expected. I hadn't taken them past 6k untill recently. Have you had a similar experience?
 
Let me just say that shaving with the Ginga is a much nicer shave than with a Suisin. There's really no comparison. :knife:

I will say that Suisins are great for edge retention if you are relatively gentle with them or apply a microbevel.
 
Has anyone said a harner, or ealy, or hhh, etc? If not, then I say a harner or ealy or hhh :)
 
tk59 said:
Let me just say that shaving with the Ginga is a much nicer shave than with a Suisin. There's really no comparison. :knife:

I will say that Suisins are great for edge retention if you are relatively gentle with them or apply a microbevel.
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Lol I'd believe that.
 
I just got a custom from Mario, its a 270mm Gyuto but has the profile of a suji, ive only used it for a few days but i love that knife, i recently got a second job at a hotel and my first position is the room service/pantry stuff and man do i do a lot of knife work! I cut about 60lbs fruit a day, on top of bread, portioning grouper and other fish, dicing herbs, cutting cases of tomatoes, chopping potatoes for fries etc just a heck of a lot of cutting, i have worked 4 doubles( that job and my sous chef job) thats the only knife i grab for right now other than my bread knife here and there. (don't have my Marko so will be interesting to see which i reach for more)

the knife still passes the tomato test, i feel there is no need to touch it up at all, the knife is awesome with great edge retention, sharp edge, and its stainless which is a huge bonus.

That may be something to look into... although about the above discussion i have tried suisin and gesshin ginga and i prefer the ginga overall, in my opinion it outperforms and costs a lot less.
 
K-Fed said:
+1 to this I'm still amazed by my suisins. Fantastic knives and even with the recent price hike I would replace them in a heartbeat if something were to happen to them.

Jon, question, what grit level do you generally take you're suisin IH's to? I've been playing around with some different levels of polish lately and have found that they hold a rather polished edge, taken to 10k jks/ kitiyama, or natural finisher quite well. Much more so than I had expected. I hadn't taken them past 6k untill recently. Have you had a similar experience?
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i've taken them up to 20k on synthetics and used high grit naturals many times, but i tend to stick somewhere between 6k and 8k usually.
 
Is it weird, after trying many other (Konosuke, Gesshin Ginga, Akifusa and Misono...)stainless gyutos and petties - my preference lies still lies with my first japanese knife, My Mighty Mac professional series? They simply, feel good.
 
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