Japanese Chef's knives

Imperial · « **Reply #80 on:** 12 Jul 2007, 04:15 pm »

Quote from: ooheadsoo on 10 Jul 2007, 04:15 am

Diamond impregnated strop sounds very wrong...

You know, I probably should not mention this but the word "strop" just has a really wrong meaning
for a Nordic reader here...

"strop" would be like ( johnson, willie, schlong... you know..)
Diamond impregnated strop... dippin it in diamond dust...
I had to read it several times! And then I got it...

Imperial...

F-100 · « **Reply #81 on:** 16 Jul 2007, 11:12 pm »

I couldn't resist the price of the Shun Classic 10" Chef knife at Amazon ($99 shipped) so I bought one today.

http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-10-Inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0000Y7KN6/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/002-0681917-4041615?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1184620655&sr=8-4

jules · « **Reply #82 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 12:23 am »

Nice lack of resistance to consumerism and a good choice F100

I weakened and bought one of these ...

on the basis that there was a gap in my range of knives of course. It's a Hattori with a relatively small, light and thin 150mm blade which I'd call utility. I think a bit of product differentiation has gone on here to define Japanese knives as different to German. As the blurb says "Unlike German made knives, Japanese knife blades are ground to thin cutting edge for sharper cutting and easier re-sharpening. Please protect the edge from hitting hard materials to avoid chipping or cracking" [specifically ... pumpkin, frozen food, pineapple or things with bones in them]

The delivery time was 5 days, cost $7

. This contrasts rather glaringly with a UPS experience I had a couple of years back where the delivery cost for an audio item of a similar size came to a ridiculous $150 [once they'd arbitrarily added a "remote zone" charge and a non-existent duty that didn't apply

].

jules

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #83 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 12:25 am »

I'd jump on that amazon deal if it were a 6-8" knife, but 10"? Too long for me...

F-100 · « **Reply #84 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 01:45 am »

Hi Jules,
That Hattori HD3G Gyuto 150mm is a nice one too. How much did you pay for that if you don't mind me asking.

Thanks

jules · « **Reply #85 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 01:58 am »

Not as good a deal as you got F-100 ...

, $115US

I think the price on these knives, and I include the Shuns, is very good considering the high quality and the complexity of manufacturing multi-layer blades.

My first impression is that they are as good as they look ... very,very sharp even with a factory edge. The detail and finish is first order. I'll see how it goes with some use. I'll also be interested to see if the hardness can be a problem with chipping. Chips are such a pain to remove but avoiding problem materials usually keeps things right.

jules

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #86 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 02:00 am »

Quote from: F-100 on 16 Jul 2007, 11:12 pm

I couldn't resist the price of the Shun Classic 10" Chef knife at Amazon ($99 shipped) so I bought one today.
http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-10-Inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0000Y7KN6/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/002-0681917-4041615?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1184620655&sr=8-4

Holy crap!

That's about $25 cheaper than I've ever seen 'em. I better jump on that asap. Incidentally, for commercial use I find an 8" to be almost worthless for the stuff I do- I really prefer a 10".

some young guy · « **Reply #87 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 03:02 am »

Quote from: Rob Babcock on 17 Jul 2007, 02:00 am

Quote from: F-100 on 16 Jul 2007, 11:12 pm
I couldn't resist the price of the Shun Classic 10" Chef knife at Amazon ($99 shipped) so I bought one today.
http://www.amazon.com/Shun-Classic-10-Inch-Chefs-Knife/dp/B0000Y7KN6/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4/002-0681917-4041615?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1184620655&sr=8-4

Holy crap! That's about $25 cheaper than I've ever seen 'em. I better jump on that asap. Incidentally, for commercial use I find an 8" to be almost worthless for the stuff I do- I really prefer a 10".

don't be like that rob. any good pirate knows that you use what ever size blade feels comfortable for the job... yarrrr!

BradJudy · « **Reply #88 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 03:14 am »

Quote from: ooheadsoo on 17 Jul 2007, 12:25 am

I'd jump on that amazon deal if it were a 6-8" knife, but 10"? Too long for me...

I'm with you on this. Except for some specific tasks, I prefer something around 7-8" for most of my work.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #89 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 05:05 am »

My experience with VG10 steel is very good, fwiw. Very nice hard stuff that takes and keeps an edge.

Pez · « **Reply #90 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 05:21 pm »

Agreed, VG10 is one of my favorites and the Japanese really know how to work with it very effectively.

Not exactly "kitchen" knives, but made in Seki City, Japan AND VG10. My fav's!

Spyderco Delica Carbon Fiber handle special edition VG10 standard blade.

And this one is extra special! VG10 spyder-edge, Stainless steel custom handle with Malachite and Yellow mussel shell inlay, one of a kind!

I love them both!

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #91 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 06:45 pm »

I never got the delica because it doesn't have the finger choil. I can't believe they charge so much for the g-10 handles, like the caly 3. It's just plastic, as my mechanical engineer composites specialist friend says...but the vg-10 steel is great. Of course, he says, "they just put different stuff in it, still no reason for it to be so expensive." And when you consider that the caly 3 is 3" long and $100 and the shun 10" is also $100, you know he's right. Pocket knives have quite the markup.

Double Ugly · « **Reply #92 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 07:33 pm »

Quote from: Pez on 17 Jul 2007, 05:21 pm

Agreed, VG10 is one of my favorites and the Japanese really know how to work with it very effectively.

Not exactly "kitchen" knives, but made in Seki City, Japan AND VG10. My fav's!

Spyderco Delica Carbon Fiber handle special edition VG10 standard blade.

The Carbon Fiber Delica is one of my favorites, too. It maintains an edge well, can be made extremely sharp, is lightweight and has proven very versatile.

(Special thanks go out to Pez - who told Tyson about the knife - and to Tyson, who told me!

)

-Jim

Pez · « **Reply #93 on:** 17 Jul 2007, 08:07 pm »

Jim,
Here's another killer Carbon Fiber knife. The Delica is still more practical, but the Benchmade Ares is a great no B.S. knife, with the quick release it's very easy to open and close with one hand. At almost 4" it's a lot to carry, well balanced, but not as light as the Delica.

Special Edition Benchmade Ares D2 steel/Carbon Fiber handle.

Rob Babcock · « **Reply #94 on:** 18 Jul 2007, 02:08 am »

Bear in mind I'm talking commercial work. An 8" is fine for chopping herbs but not ideal for bulk prep or meat cutting, IMOHO. I will often use a 7" Santoku for stuff that doesn't require my 10" French knife.

ooheadsoo · « **Reply #95 on:** 18 Jul 2007, 02:59 am »

Yes, perfectly understandable, 10" for lots of bulk meat, but I don't need that at home. Too bad, because I want one

F-100 · « **Reply #96 on:** 20 Jul 2007, 03:55 am »

I received my 10" Shun yesterday, very fast shipping from Chef Resource. Whoa!! you guys are right. This knife is a bit too long, it will take a while to get use to this one. A 7" or 8" knife probably is a better fit for me. Anyway, I'm rebuilding my whole knife collection so it's doesn't matter and I'm having couple knifes (7" Tojiro-DP Gyutou and 4.7" Misono Molybdenum Petty) coming from Korin next week.

jules · « **Reply #97 on:** 20 Jul 2007, 04:28 am »

10" and larger chefs knives need a different technique. For most operations you keep the tip end on the board as a pivot and simply raise and lower the handle end. Depending on what you're cutting you can either use your free hand to feed items through [eg carrot] as near as possible to the handle end. When you're doing carrots [or similar] you can use the tops of your ~~knuckles~~* against the blade as a guide but, be careful, if your fingertips start to lead your knuckles or if you raise the blade too high, they might get sliced. If you are chopping a pile of parsley the technique is to use the heel of your free hand on the tip of the blade, pressing down firmly, to help spring the handle back up [be careful! If you curl your fingers under they can get sliced and ... don't use the tips of your fingers to hold the end of the blade .. they can slip off and get cut some more]. It's also good practice not to raise the handle too high which is aided by keeping the bulk of the stuff you're cutting closer to the handle end. This is particularly true when you're doing the "carrot" style cutting [for the sake of your knuckles] but also true for the "parsley" style chopping where it saves a whole lot of inefficient and excessive movement. This saves you from cutting your fingers some more Sorry, I've had a web browse to see if I could find a few photos of the correct action but for some odd reason it's not a popular thing to take photos of. Funnily enough I found all sorts of techniques while web browsing, some of which I reckon are plain wrong and DANGEROUS, but different people do use different techniques successfully I guess.

jules

afterthought ... and for a 10" knife you need a decent board, say 2' X 1'6" minimum and not too hard, it blunts blades too fast.

*knuckles would be impossible

... that should read the first joint of your finger [from the base ...

um, does that make sense?]

F-100 · « **Reply #98 on:** 20 Jul 2007, 04:51 am »

Excellent tips, Jules. I'll have to try out this technique next time when I'm slicing and dicing in the kitchen.

jules · « **Reply #99 on:** 20 Jul 2007, 04:54 am »

Hmm ... I wonder if it could be converted into an avatar

?

jules