My first Japanese Gyuto, a Moritaka AS 210 mm
Lets see your favorite chef's knife.
- Thread starter 6Cuda6
- Start date
Well done sir!
Have you gotten your knife yet? If not, what's your preference on maintenance (low or high), carbon or stainless? For Japanese knives, I think most would agree that you should focus on steel first before brand. Carbon is sharp but would require you to wipe all the time to prevent rusting. Stainless is also sharp (HRC 59-62) but not as sharp as carbon steel (HRC 60-65). Then after than is mostly workmanship from different blacksmiths. Popular ones are typically more expensive for good reasons. But yeah, most people go for Tojiro because it is sharp and stainless, I think Tojiro DP is HRC 61 (too lazy to check), effortless to maintain, but plain.
Now, we consider what's your preference in cutting for knife shape recommendation, do you like to slice (recommend: gyuto, sujihiki), rock back and forth (recommend: gyuto, santoku, bunka), up and down chop (recommend: Chinese cleaver for extra knuckle clearance, nakiri, or santoku). If you like to cut hard stuff, get Deba which has a thick spine. I recently grew my interest in Kyohei Shindo Bunka, inexpensive, all-purpose, that has a K-tip, good for carving meat, separating meat from bone, flat bottom for chopping, and a slight curve for rocking. OR Kyohei Shindo Funayuki that is like a santoku but with a slightly thicker spine for breaking small bones. Bunka can go as low as $60 from some knife store websites.
Once you get into carbon steel Jap knives, it's an endless pit.
EITHER WAY, all knives will go dull and you might have to learn how to sharpen on a whetstone (another bottomless pit).
are those all originally kurouchi or just the angle caused the color diff?
That is the original kurouchi finish. Some knives you see advertised as kurouchi just seen to have a painted on finish , but this seems to be the real deal - I’ve had some of these knives in use for nearly 10 years.
The patina is slow to show. I haven’t messed with the edge yet.
Still factory edge.
Just arrived yesterday. SHIRO KAMO WHITE #2 TALL PETTY 125MM
That’s a looker, Rick. Very nice.
Thank you guys.
I think you guys are talking about the same maker here (?), but FWIW... the reactivity of paper steels depends at least as much, perhaps even more, on the producer than it does the steel itself. Presumably something to do with the forging and ht. I wouldn't really say that A2 is any more or less reactive than AS.
The thing that makes the most impact though is what you're cutting. Onions and many acidic foods tend to always give a brown, slightly rusty patina. If you want something quite cool though - try cutting cooked pork or chicken, you get a kinda iridescent, petrol-y, purple-blue effect. This pic was in terrible light, but you get the idea:
I don't have many of my knives atm, but here are the three I brought in my suitcase, so they probably count as favourites...
Shibata Tinker Tank in Aogami Super, the style is known as a 'Kiri Cleaver'. Takyuki Shibata is a master sharpener and this has the most extraordinary grind; very thick at the spine, down to the thinnest of thin behind the edge, someone else once described it as 'like a laser-y axe', which is pretty good summary. I was quite lucky to get this one as there's a couple of years wait list, but I messaged him on instagram last year and he made me one in about 4 weeks.
I tend to ask for knives without handles so I can make myself, this is Wenge with a two part steel spacer and horn ferrule.
Shibata Tinker Tank in Aogami Super, the style is known as a 'Kiri Cleaver'. Takyuki Shibata is a master sharpener and this has the most extraordinary grind; very thick at the spine, down to the thinnest of thin behind the edge, someone else once described it as 'like a laser-y axe', which is pretty good summary. I was quite lucky to get this one as there's a couple of years wait list, but I messaged him on instagram last year and he made me one in about 4 weeks.
I tend to ask for knives without handles so I can make myself, this is Wenge with a two part steel spacer and horn ferrule.
Mazaki Kuruochi 210mm Gyuto in Shirogami 2. Mazaki has a bit of a tendency to change up the profiles of his knives the entire time, this from around 2019 is about my favourite. They often also have quite thick workorse grinds, so I've thinned it a fair bit. Handle is Cypress burl with mottled blonde horn.
Kippington 240mm Laser Gyuto in 52100. This is probably a little thicker than Jules' normal laser grind (?) to accommodate to accommodate a high level of asymmetry with an s-grind on right hand side for food release. Handle is Western Myall, steel-Red Mallee burl-steel spacer, and Ebony ferrule.
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Kilroy6644
Smoking a corn dog in aviators and a top hat
It's at work, so I can't get a picture of my knife, but here's one from Amazon.
It's my favorite because it was a birthday present from my old chef. I don't know anything about knives or knife skills, but she thought it was a pretty good knife, and I'm happy with it.
It's my favorite because it was a birthday present from my old chef. I don't know anything about knives or knife skills, but she thought it was a pretty good knife, and I'm happy with it.
Got this for my son in law. He’s an avid home cook but lacks a real nice knife. After some research and recommendations I got him this.
