commodorewheeler

Yes!

a 330m Sashimi Knife? that's Insane. One false swipe and you've beheaded the person next to you. Come on, it's only 2 1/4" longer than the 270 mm. Realistically, though, I do like my sashimi knives long; it really helps when cutting wider pieces of fish. I think my length of choice is 300 mm, though. Not sure I need the full 330 mm.

Yeah, I've heard the same thing. I chose the blue steel on Shinichi's recommendation, because I do want the knife to hold its edge well, but next time I order from him I'll try the white steel.

all the same, it looks better and handles many times better than a Henckels Twin Select or a Wusthof Culinar. Yeah, Globals feel lighter than Wusthof or Henckels, and because their handles are hollow, they're not quite as handle-heavy as the Twin Select and Culinar lines. I like the blade shape on Global chef knives better than the blade shapes of the Twin Select and Culinar, too.

commodore... Did you ask for the togidashi sharpening with your Watanabe knife? Yes, I did. I think it might be what makes the knives so sharp. But because there were some complications over the types of handles on the knives that I ordered, Shinichi actually sent me a deba as a bonus gift along with the knives I actually ordered from him. The deba definitely doesn't have the polish of the custom knives I ordered (no mirror polish or engraving or ebony handles), and I don't know if the deba had the togidashi sharpening, but it is also super-sharp, to the point that I can't really tell a difference between its sharpness and that of the custom-made knives from him. Actually, I'm still in touch with Shinichi. I'll drop him an email and see if he gets back to me on whether that deba was togidashi sharpened.

heh! my next purchase is probably the Hattori Gyuto 24cm (10inch), will probably be paying the equivalent if USD 186 including taxes. are the G series of Global knives really stamped? i always thought that they were forged and then welded to the hollow handle. the GSF series is drop forged meaning the entire knife was created in one go? You know, you might be right about the Globals. Someone told me about how it was done a long time ago, and I don't remember the details of what they told me or how accurate it was. But I would be really surprised if the handle of the GF series is actually forged from the same piece of metal, or even from the same type of metal as the blade of the knife. It just seems to me that it'd be prohibitively difficult and costly to do, especially since that handle is hollow.

Just wanted to offer a differing opinion on the functionality of these different knives. I own at least one knife by each of these companies except G Sakai (I have forged Globals as well as stamped Globals), and I feel I can definitely tell a difference between them. As far as out-of-the-box sharpness goes, the Hattori is noticeably sharper than the rest, the Kasumi is next, the stamped Global next, and, to me, the forged Global was noticeably duller than the rest. I also found the Globals to be a bit more handle heavy than the Kasumi or Hattori, and a little bit heavier overall, especially the forged Global, which has a thicker spine on the blade, too. I don't know if all this makes a difference to you, but I hope it helps.

I know there's a whole thread on this, but in case you didn't want to read through all 6 pages of it, I've summarized my contributions to it below: My recommendation depends on how much you want to spend on these knives. If money is no object, I would recommend a Nenox S1 ($300-$400), a Glestain ($200-$300), or a Shinichi Watanabe custom blue steel chef's knife ($200-$300). These 3 are my favorite knives that I've ever used, and the Nenox and Watanabe blades are sharper than anything I've ever tried. Another name to look for is Tokifusa Iizuka, who supposedly makes amazing knives, but they're even more expensive than what I listed above, and I haven't had the pleasure of trying them out yet. If the choices above are too expensive and you're OK with around $150 a knife, go with Hattori. I also have one of those, and I'm quite pleased with it. If you'd rather go about $100 per knife, try Kasumi or Kershaw Shun, both of those are great as well. From my experience, though, I wouldn't go much lower than that in price for a quality Japanese knife if you're buying from a major manufacturer. Global isn't a bad option either, but you already have some of their knives, you said. I can think of other brands that are supposed to be excellent, but I'm mainly discussing knives that I've actually used here. The Nenox and Glestain are available at both knifemerchant.com and japanese-knife.com. The Shinichi Watanabe knives are available at watanabeblade.com. Tokifusa Iizuka is available at bladegallery.com and japanwoodworker.com. Best place to get Hattoris is to email the folks at seki-cut.com, and the Kershaws and Kasumis are widely available; they shouldn't be too hard to find.

I've seen their knives, and they look real nice, but I've never had a chance to use them. I would imagine, though, that they're probably along the same level as most of the top end German stuff.

While Korin doesn't carry Ryusen/Hattori, they do have the Ittosai suminagashi series which is similar (layered damascus outer with a VG-10 core). Apart from Ittosai, they also have some other fine brands as well, such as Nenox, Tojiro, Misono. Maybe you can visit Korin to try them out and let us know what you think. One thing though, I notice that pricing at Korin is quite high compared to other places. If they have Glestains for you to try out, you should definitely give them a whirl, too. They're some of the best that I've tried.

From what I hear, the best source is Seki-Direct over at seki-cut.com. They're based in Japan, but international shipping is cheap, and their prices are outstanding. You won't see the Hattori kitchen knives listed on their website, though; you have to email them to get their selection and prices. Here's their reply to me: Hi Ken, Here are the information for Hattori Damascus kitchen knives: Thank you for your interest in Hattori kitchen knives. Although they are not listed on our website, Hattori produces two different types of fine Damascus kitchen knives as per the attached photos. Premier series are the hand-made custom knives from the nickel stainless steel Damascus blade with a core of Cowry-X powdered steel, and black Micarta handle with brass bolster. Available in: Gyuto 270mm blade Retail $1500.00 SD Special $1,099.95 Gyuto 240mm blade Retail $1200.00 SD Special $899.95 Santoku 180mm blade Retail $1,000.00 SD Special $749.95 Petty 140mm blade Retail $400.00 SD Special $299.95 It will take about 30 days for delivery. Regular series are made of 63 layered nickel Damascus with VG-10 Cobalt/Vanadium steel core and Black pakkawood handle with stainless steel bolster. Availabe in: Retail SD Special Gyuto 300mm $322.00 $229.95 Gyuto 270mm 264.00 189.95 Gyuto 240mm 207.00 149.95 Gyuto 210mm 167.00 119.95 Gyoto 180mm 146.00 109.95 Santoku 170mm 146.00 109.95 Sujihiki 270mm 264.00 189.95 Steak 240mm 253.00 179.95 Deba 240mm 368.00 259.95 Honesuki 150mm 180.00 129.95 Petty 150mm 125.00 89.95 Petty 135mm 100.00 74.95 Petty 105mm 97.00 69.95 This series are available for immediate delivery. Please add $7 for shipping, and we will ship to you by EMS (Speed Post) directly from Japan. Thanks, Jemmy Iwahara Seki-Direct/Kencrest

My one experience with a Wusthof knife was actually somewhat disappointing. My girlfriend and I bought a Grand Prix santoku for one of her sisters for Christmas this past year. We were all also involved in cooking Christmas dinner for the extended family, and since all of the knives at her parents' house (where the dinner was hosted) are dull as can be, her sister brought her brand new santoku into the mix. Out of everyone in the kitchen, I turned out to be the fastest with a knife, so I did the bulk of the chopping and slicing. And, to my disappointment, the Wusthof felt really dull to me right from the get-go. I mean, I know I'm pretty used to Japanese knives, which are noticeably sharper than German ones, but her brand new Wusthof was even duller than our half-year-old Henckels Five Star santoku, which has never been sharpened before, and the Wusthof definitely didn't seem damaged or defective. Now, I've always held the understanding that Wusthof is a slightly superior brand to Henckels, so this was kind of a surprise to me. Maybe it was just bad luck for me (and my girlfriend's sister), but has anyone else who's tried a lot of knives experienced this with Wusthof?

I think its just a ploy by knife makers to get yuppie buyers to buy sets of useless knives. Give me a good chef's knife, a serrated bread knife and a pairing knife and I would be a very happy man. Add in a boning knife for special occasions and viola I should be set for most of the cutting challenges that would face me in the kitchen. I actually like the utility for when I cut very thin strips of meat, like when you cook beef pho.

I know Wylie Dufresne of 71 Clinton Fresh Food and wd-50 likes them. I like them, too, but I don't necessarily think they're among the best knives in their price range.

I'll second that. And on mine, I think they forgot to sharpen a 1/2 inch segment along the middle of the blade; it's noticeably duller than the rest of the length of the edge.

I sometimes wonder what's the point of buying a knife that's supposed to last a lifetime or at least many many many decades when I'm just gonna give it away and buy the latest greatest that I can afford every year or so. My threshhold of pain (as in financial outlay) increases with time. A $300 knife once upon a time would have been just ridiculous to contemplate buying sudden becomes something i must have once i finish the next project and get my money. Heh, yeah, though I'd like them to last a lifetime in those cases when I get one that I really like and want to keep (the Nenox S1 and Glestain both come to mind as far as my past purchases go). But I end up buying a lot of knives too, especially chef knives and santokus. It's a sick hobby, and my girlfriend loves to give me a hard time about it. She's always threatening (in jest, of course) that if any long, thin packages come in, she'll return them to the sender or throw them away.

i'm in the middle of deciding between a dropforged Global or a Kasumi. The Kasumi is about 30% more expensive but way pretty. The Global is awesome and probably would get the job done just as well, abeit less prettily. Between the two, I would go with the Kasumi. I also have a drop-forged Global, and for me, the drop-forged Global wasn't nearly as sharp out of the box as the Kasumi. As a matter of fact, the drop-forged Global wasn't even quite as sharp out of the box as the sintered Global that I have. Maybe it's the thicker spine on the drop-forged Global, or maybe it's just bad luck on this particular knife, though it certainly isn't defective or anything. Plus, the Kasumi looks a lot nicer.

Thanks for the info. I think I'm gonna go ahead and order a Western pattern gyutou by Iizuka, bvut who knows how long it'll take to come in. Everyone seems to be severely backordered on his knives.

I'm not absolutely sure about this, but I've heard that these particular Morimoto Nenoxes use a cheaper steel than the S1's that everyone has been talking about. From what I hear, they use the same steel as in the Nenox G-type series, which is Nenox's "bargain" line. Of course, the word "bargain" is being used rather loosely here, since Nenox's cheap line is still more expensive that just about anything you can get from Henckels, Wusthof, Kershaw, Kasumi, Global, etc.

I've bought from them a couple of times, and they've been good. The service has been fast and the knives have arrived in great condition.

I have a chef's knife and a petty from them, and I like them. Good sharpness and edge retention, very similar to that of the Kershaw Shun knives, which is the most similar knife that I can think of. Kasumis are a little less blade-heavy than the Shun knives, though. The only negative things that I've heard about them are that sometimes the rivets in the handles aren't flush with the wood, and that sometimes the metal and wood parts of the handles don't meet very smoothly. There's a little bit of that going on in my petty handle, though it's not bad at all, but my chef's knife handle is perfect.

Haven't tried the sujihiki by Nenox, but I own the 240 mm (9.5") gyutou (chef's knife), and it's my favorite knife I've ever used. It feels great, it's well-balanced, and noticeably sharper than the Ryusen/Hattori equivalent (which I also have one of). Cutting is almost effortless with this knife. The only drawback is that it's really expensive, but if you love knives, it's probably worth it. Speaking of expensive knives, has anyone ever tried the Tokifusa Iizuka Shigefusa knives? His Western pattern knives are very intriguing, and I'm getting tempted to get one of those...