You can only keep 3 knives

[madelinez]

So I noticed this year in the 2020 bucket list a lot of people wanted to reduce their collections. Most of us have more knives than we can reasonably use, especially the home users. So I thought it would be fun to list the 3 knives you own that you'd keep if you had to sell everything else. Feel free to add a *short* description on why you'd keep it.

Tansu Damasteel 235mm Gyuto - The profile and grind is perfect for me plus having a stainless knife nearby really reduces anxiety when everything is coming together at the last minute.

Catcheside SC125 231mm Gyuto - Very blade heavy and has awesome food release. This one is probably a little redundant but it's easy to sharpen so I think it'll be hanging around for a long time.

Tansu (HVB) Boning Knife 155mm - Because it's tough as hell and no gyuto is going to work for that task.

Honorable mention goes to my Takeda Nakiri but a gyuto is always going to win out for versatility. I should have kept a petty in the list but...

 

[Michi]

Easy:

• a gyuto (Masamoto KS)
• a paring knife (Zwilling Kramer Meiji)
• a bread knife (Wüsthof Super Slicer)

With those three, there is nothing I can’t cook.

 

[GorillaGrunt]

Raquin 250mm gyuto, Munetoshi butcher, Seisuke hiraki. I’d miss having a heavy gyuto, a suji, and a proper petty but with these three I could likely get any job done.

 

[chinacats]

Tanaka blue dammy gyuto, Sab petty, cck 1102...all inexpensive but high end performers...

 

[Nemo]

I can only keep 3 knives?

Nonsense- I have over 20 in my 'bushfire- leave NOW' box.

 

[Bensbites]

I could do 95 % of my hone food prep with a gyuto and Bunka. My current favorite is a doa gyuto that I have heavily thinned. I grab one to two other gyutos just for variety of experience.

——
changing my mind.
1 high performance Gyuto
1 beater gyuto for things like hard cheese and squash
1 bread knife.

 

[TRPV4]

No problems my man, I only got 3 knives.

 

[Chuckles]

Martell 240 gyuto O1
Martell 150 petty CPM154
Harner paring O1

 

[MrHiggins]

This is hard because I think one of those knives has to be a bread knife. So for me: my Dexter bread knife (I'd upgrade quickly, though); Kochi migaki 240 gyuto (it's my most well-rounded 240), Hattori FM honesuki (it can break down chickens and meats, and also double as a petty/paring).

 

[lemeneid]

TF Denka Gyuto
TF Denka Petty
TF Denka Nakiri

 

[Gjackson98]

TF Denka Gyuto
TF Denka Petty
TF Denka Nakiri

You got me by a min lol.
I was typing " I am surprised that no one has yet come out and say 1.TF 2.TF 3.TF "

 

[Anton]

Guess if I had to:

Me:
Rader 240
Mizuno honyaki 210
Marko petty

Wife:
Harner parer
Rader 180
Ittetsu honyaki slicer 290

Daugther:
Bread
Garasuki

Best I can do

 

[riba]

Wat 21cm suminagashi gyuto
DP 15 cm petty
Opinel breadknife

 

[Hz_zzzzzz]

A carbon gyuto, a stainless gyuto for wife, and a long bread knife.

I don't use paring knife because the cheap peelers do it fine if not better.

 

[Itsjun]

Tanaka Shirogami Suji 270mm
Shigeki Tanaka Ironwood Gyuto 240mm
Kitaoka KU Blue2 Yanagiba 180mm

 

[Ochazuke]

I thought I was going to list my yanagiba, deba, and usuba since I can from a sushi background, but it’s actually hard if I want to do more western food too.

1. Suisin Kiritsuke 240mm (actual kiritsuke though, not kiritsuke gyuto or kiritsuke yanagiba).
2. Gengetsu 240mm gyuto
3. My cheap, unlabeled shirogami deba

 

[Paraffin]

Yoshikazu Ikeda 165mm Nakiri for veg
Yoshikazu Ikeda 190mm Petty for soft protein
Kohetsu 150mm Honesuki for protein around bones

I would miss a few other knives like the old Wusthof paring knife, and the pair of cheap Chinese cleavers I use for mincing meat. Or the Sukenari 165mm petty in HAP40 I use for citrus and general "utility" use. But I could do all the home kitchen prep with just those three. Bucking the KKF trend, I am just not a Gyuto guy.

 

[F-Flash]

Changes from time to time, but currently:
Raquin gyuto 280mm
Mazaki gyuto 210mm
Ittinomon petty 150mm

 

[dafox]

Fujiwara Kanefusa FKM 150 petty
Gengetsu ss 210 gyuto
Konosuke hd2 240 gyuto

 

[Brian Weekley]

I’m with Nemo. The Japanese have shown that knives can be tailored to use. A multitude of shapes, steels, sizes and grinds each having a practical purpose. However that’s not the OP’s challenge. So here’s my choice of 3.

#1 ... Victorinox 8” SS Chef’s knife. ... Versatile, robust, easy to use from prepping vege’s to carving roasts.

#2 ... Kikuichi Hankotsu 150mm. .... Robust, sharpens easily, perfect for dissembling meat and filleting fish(deba style), can handle squash and other hard veges.

#3 ... Victorinox forged steak knife. .... Big enough to be used as a petty, small enough to be used as a paring knife. Easy to sharpen to a scary sharp edge.

So there ... less than $250 Here’s a pic of my 3.

 

[YumYumSauce]

I'd keep my Gengetsu 240 gyuto, Gesshin Ginga 150 petty and bread knife. More or less, all bases covered. Sure would miss having a beater gyuto tho

 

[Ivang]

Ryusen blazen 240
Tanaka r2 210
Tanaka vg10 petty

 

[krx927]

That is a bit of a tall order to keep just 3, taking into account that also my wife uses some of them (mostly non J knives). But let me try:

Me:
1 SS gyuto (as I do not alaways have time/will to clean/wipe the knives I am using): I would need to choose between Takamura r2/Miyabi 189 zdp

2 carbon gyuto: Toyama/Wat or my excelent Shig kasumi

3 bread knife, in my case wusthof

Wife
1 wusthof petty 13
2 wusthof petty 15
3 Masasji Kobe petty 15

But this would leave me with the fourth - petty of the wife

 

[ian]

This is an easy one for me, since I only own like 5 knives.

Miz KS
Wat 180 gyuto, formerly KU, reground
Tanaka Ginsan petty

Depending on what products are most easily available in this hypothetical post-apocalyptic wasteland, I might sub in a Tojiro honesuki or breadknife for the Wat.

 

[Wdestate]

my most used work knives
Rader 240 gyuto 52100
The 9 W2 slicer 280mm
The 9 160mm sc125 petty

 

[DitmasPork]

I'd keep the three with the highest resale value on BST.

Which are actually the three I enjoy using most from my very limited collection.
• 240 Kato WH gyuto
• 225 Marko WH gyuto
• 270 Lefty Shig yanagi

 

[Kristoffer]

Oh, the simplicity of having a small collection.

240 mm Mazaki
165 mm Hinoura AS Nakiri
150 mm Tanka Ginsan Petty

 

[LucasFur]

1. My Ashi - sentimental
2. Kono FM AS Dammy - Top Carbon performer
3. Shiro Kamo R2 Dammy - Stainless beater

 

[valgard]

I can't keep just 3.
Pure function I would do a gyuto, a petty, and a butcher knife, but I have to add the Watanabe nakiri that's both the best cutter I have and the first knife my wife gave me.

So

Halcyonforge 257mm gyuto
Tanaka 150mm petty ginsan
Munetoshi butcher

And the wildcard is the Watanabe nakiri.

Honestly there's a few knives I would rather put in my emergency bag too... Raquin mini cleaver, Watanabe custom gyuto, Gesshin Ittetsu honyaki.

 

[Receiver52]

Me:

Takeda 180AS Funayuki. Great steel, easy to sharpen and really light.

Akebono 210 Gyuto. Hasn’t met something that needs to be cut that it can’t completely destroy. Also great steel and great profile.

Toyama 240 KTip Gyuto. The beast. I use it on crusty bread and still can’t damage the edge.

Wife:

Kurosaki 180 AS Nakiri. Good cutter with really good food release. Light and she really likes it.

Willison Nakiri 01 tool steel made to her specs.

Newham paring. Only SS in this bunch and she likes it for in hand work.

PS Pretty tough to keep my Wat 240 Suji off this list. Just saying.