Octaveman

I guess that's what I meant by "ruining". Use oil on a water stone and you'll never be able to use water as it's supposed to be. Thanks for the clarification Dave.

Do NOT use oil on water stones. Wetstones is "wet". Nobody says wet _______ down with oil. If it doesn't say "oil stone" on the box, don't use oil of any kind light, dark, thick or thin. You will ruin the stone.

Timing is everything I guess.

Chris, thanks. I guess I have to see them on my blades to get a better understanding. Are they made so that the open end clips over the spine or does the open end just rest against the side of the blade? How much effort does it take to move the covers...IOW, how tight are they? The edgemags cannot be slid off the knife. One has to physically pry one side open to get to your knife. Then the knife has to be removed from the other side of the cover since both sides are magnetized. That cover aint going nowhere. The only drawback that I can see from the EM is that they are not lightweight. I'll try to remember to take a few pics with my EM on a knife and weigh it too. The ones I have were originally bought for my steak knives kept in a drawer then I decided to get a wall rack for them but it will give an idea as to how they work, weigh, etc. Heh, carboard and duct tape. I've seen this plenty of times and works pretty well as it's a custom fitted cover. No sanitation issues as the blade should be clean when you put it away anyway.

Depends on the stone, not the knife. What do you have?

Sorry for another post...I started thinking about them more. I personally wouldn't choose them as there's nothing really holding them on to my blade. They would have to be an exact fit to keep from sliding down toward the tip. Not that I'm a rep for Forschner but those edgemags are on for good when they're put on. No sliding, no moving, no marking of blades, no nothing. The magnets do what they do best and it takes a LOT of effort to move them or take them off. This alone makes them ideal because you wouldn't want to handle a knife thinking you're protected by the slip cover and have it come off or move on you. You don't need the whole blade covered, just the edge so it doesn't matter if the edgemag doesn't cover the entire blade...doesn't need to.

They just slide on? Never used them. Edgemags are good stuff.

I'm asusming your talking about Forschner Edgemags? If so, I have a couple and think they are great. They stay on very well and don't magnetize the blade. Since I don't use a knife roll and you do, I can't say one way or the other which would be best. But IMHO, I think the edgemags would probably keep the knives from slicing into the roll over time not to mention do a good job of protecting your blades.

Hmmm, very interesting. What kind of relationship do you have with your mother? Were you bullied as a child? Mmm Hmm, I see.... All kidding aside, I sort of am in the same situation in that my wife isn't a cook and is unaware to most details surrounding the art of cooking. I learned many moons ago that the relationship is more important than the meal. The whole point of cooking together is to have fun and if you're not having fun, don't think those feelings will stay in the kitchen when the meals over. Let him screw things up, don't micromanage and have fun. If you want to cook dinner your way, tell your SO to relax in front of the tube with a beer and tell him dinner will be ready in 30 minutes. Take it from me who has gone the distance and knows, back off and have a good time. Let him do things his way and meet somewhere in the middle when it all has to be put together. It's up to you to create a fearless and safe environement for him to join you and enjoy spending the time with you. The "neurotic and anal retentive" cook in you should be reserved for when you're on your own. You can ask if he wants to learn how to cook and designate certain meals for teaching but take it from me...don't force it. Hope this helps, Bob

Made Larb tonight...it was excellent.

The DP honesuki can double as a petty too!!! Very versatile knife. Pull the trigger Kathy on the 240 and the honesuki!!! Steven, the 270mm DP would be a good/best gyuto choice under $100. There are a few others both SS and carbon but this would be your best bet as it's got the most heft to it at 11.5 ounces. The transition from your Wusthof would be eased by the beefier of the choices. I should note that one of the trademarks of Japanese blades is the lightweightness of them while still keeping that very thin edge. If you think you'd like to try a lighter knife then the Kanetsugu Pro-M or the Hiromoto HS would be the best bets with the performance nod going to the HC (carbon). Now if $150 is an option then without question the Hiromoto AS would be the head over heals winner as the best blade to get over any of these choices. That's up to you though. Despite it's heft, the DP still shouldn't be used around bones.

Speaking as someone who's only Japanese spoken throughout his life comes from the rock group Styx , how are these terms phonetically spoken?

I can't beleive that it's standard practice to give the best cuts to bar sitters rather than everyone who orders whether they sit at the bar or not. I would not be happy knowing I was being shafted because I chose to not wait 90+ minutes for a seat at the bar and immediately took a seat at a table. I also can't believe that sushi chefs and servers are not cognisant of the fact that time is of the essence when making and getting sushi out to the tables. People make it sound like sushi is sitting on a hot plate underneath heat lamps for 15 minutes before you get your order. When I sit at the bar and see orders being made for tables, it's almost always 2-3 chefs filling the table orders so the table that ordered 6 rolls are getting them made pretty quickly and to them in a reasonable time frame. Being a knife freak I watch what and how the chefs are cutting the fish. I personally have not seen this predetermined seperation of quality when sushi is being made. The bar is where I prefer to sit but when you're starving, you're starving and you want that Spanish Mackeral right NOW! Know what I mean? If the chef has morals he should not be stiffing the customer sitting at a table. He doesn't know who he's making sushi for so IMHO, it should be best he has.

Yeah, it's too bad JCK.com recently dropped Tojiro from their selection of brands. That's why Korin was suggested rather than JCK. JCK is a great place to buy from and Koki will bend over backwards to help you find and get what you need even if not listed on their site as EMSNY has experienced. Reasonably priced brands to consider at JCK are Kanetsugu Pro-M for stainless and Hiromoto HC for carbon. I've given the Kanetsugu as gifts to friends and I've owned the HC...both great knives. Of course there are many others that are great knives but these two are the proverbial best-bang-for-the-buck that JCK sells right now. JCK will have the best everyday prices of any retailer.

Kathy, let me address the length issue by telling a short story. My wife is not a cook and when she gets the urge to give it a shot and use my knives she just doesn't get the idea behind how to properly use them. Just last night, she was taking the 210mm gyuto I bought for her and setting it on top of the tomato and trying to cut straight down with zero forward movement. It took effort to break the skin of this tomato and proceeded to say this knife is dull. For those of you who know me, I took great offense to this statement and asked her why she thought this. She showed me what she was trying to do. I took her hand with the knife in it (ala the movie Ghost), told her to relax her wrist and set the tip of the knife on that tomato. I took her hand and just started to move forward. You should've seen her face light up as the knife slid effortlessly through to the cutting board. These knives are meant to be used in this manner and the extra length will come in handy for larger items like wide onions, cauliflower, cabbage, etc. They are not to be used forcibly straight down. They are meant to be used in a slicing motion. A longer knife will give you the room to finish the slice without having to saw back and forth. I can gaurantee you will be delighted as you move your knife forward and the only thing you feel is the cutting board. A 210mm is a good size to start with. A pinch grip style of holding the knife will give you 180mm worth of usable edge. I wouldn't go any smaller than 210mm and wouldn't even recommend anything smaller than that as then you'd be getting into petty size territory. A pinch grip on a 180mm would give you 150mm of usable edge. 150mm = 6" petty. A longer knife will also allow you to keep the tip on the board for rocking when cutting up large veggies. My favorite size is 270mm and use it for 90% of my needs includes garlic/shallots. Seriously, the DP is a good knife for the money and a good intro into Japanese knives. If you're contemplating getting more than one knife you could try a 180mm and a 240mm to cover all your bases but I have a feeling you'd be pulling out the 240mm the most because the 180mm will be too short. It's unfortunate that Korin doesn't have a complete selection of the DP line. Fugu, thank you and I'm glad you've enjoyed them. The Hattori FH line is very good and a highly recommended blade. Be sure to report back what you think when it arrives. I always like to hear what people think. Reminds me of what I felt when I got my first gyuto too.

They ARE the be-all-end-all of cutlery. It's been said that you're either in the Santoku camp or the Gyuto camp. It's clear the you're in the Gyuto camp. The Santoku is not the only basis for judging western style Japanese cutlery. The gyuto has the same profile as a French chefs knife and is much more versatile than a Santoku. You can push cut or rock with it, it comes in lengths the santoku doesn't, it has more heft than a santoku and takes very little time to get used to its shape if you're used to Euro chef knives. I say take advantage of Korin's sale which ends on 8/1 and get a Tojiro DP gyuto (best cheapest option). You will notice the differences right away and might even carry you to the land of enlightenment. After years of Henckels, I was enlightened Aug 2005. Matter of fact, my new birthdate is Aug 2005. I'm with kathy...grok?

A few Japanese makers do have small "paring" knives but most stick to "petty's" that start at about 110mm and go to 150mm. Shun, Hattori, Misono, Al Mar, Kasumi, MAC, Dojo make small parers starting around 70mm (2.75").

I'm sorry, I should've asked a few more questions. Are these your first stones? If so, then the 5k by itself would be too fine to do any sharpening. It would be good for honing your knife between sharpenings instead of using a honing rod. What is your budget? Three stones would be ideal. Two you can get away with for a while but the better you get at sharpening, the more your going to demand from it. Since the GlassStones are cheaper and some say better than the Pro series I see nothing wrong with getting them. I have and love the Pro stones but haven't used the GS so I can't give you any insight there. The reason you will need additional stones is that the edge is very "toothy" after a 1k stone. The succesively higher grits will help refine your edge and make your bevels clear of scratches. If you make too big of a jump in grits, it will not sufficiently take care of the thoothyness or remove the scratches left by the lower grit stone. The minimum GlassStone 2k and 4k, or Shapton Pro 2k and 5k Better Glass 1k, 2k, 4k, or Shapton Pro 1k, 2k and 5k Set for life Glass 1k, 2k, 4k and 8k, or Shapton Pro 1k, 2k, 5k and Naniwa 10k If you chip your knife, repairs can be made on the 1k but it will most likely take quite a bit of work so you can either get a lower grit stone like a GlassStone 500 or just leave the chip there and it will eventually get ground away through regular sharpenings. Honestly, why grind away your blade if you don't have to. Hope this better explained things. (edited for clarity)

Absolutely. Which grits you choose is the REAL issue.

Funny thing, hardness levels. Until the actual knife is destroyed and tested you'll never know with 100% certainly how hard it is. I've even seen the same knife rated differently at various retailers so who are you going to believe? I'm not so certain I can even trust what is stated at the manfuacturers website. Could be a typo, who knows for sure. At least 58 would be considered conservative so you know they're not overstating hardness. Anyway, assuming it really is 58, it won't chip on you. If you hit a bone, the edge may fold but it won't chip. How low you go is personal preference and 60 would be as low as I go even for this. What you gain in those few points could be the difference in sharpening it every week or every month. A chip can be left alone, a fold in your edge is harder to ignore. But then again, it's a boning knife. I don't know...with all the better stuff out there I would choose something else. After many no-holding-back uses of my deba, it's never chipped or folded. Is it really HRC 60? I have no idea. But I do know it's held up to ribs, carteledge and back bones. I guess the only way to find out about the MAC is to buy it, use it and keep it if it works out or sell it if it doesn't. Don't baby it. A knife is meant to be used so if you get it put it to the test. BTW, those Hattori FH knives on JCK.com? The honesuki will be ready late this year. Good to know for budget planning since you're not in the market right now anyway. BTW, how long is MAC's honesuki you looked at? The spine thickness is about right. I personally feel 160-165mm is a great length for chickens. The average 150mm of most honesuki's are just a tad small and I like the additional length.

I have two Peppermills one for black and the other for mixed and the first one is about 1.5 yrs old and the other about a year old. While the original charges lasted a good 6 months, I'll be lucky to get a month out of them now. That and the cool little light on the bottom died on one of them. No biggie really but it was cool to have. The owner of Peppermills said the bulb can't be replaced but it's out of warranty so that's the end of that. I'll just wait until these die off and try the Magnum everyone's raving about.

I understand the M5's have issues. Something like they clog up quickly or they wear faster than the Pro stones. I can't recall but a simple email to http://www.shaptonstones.com/ asking what the differences are would be a good idea. While your at it, ask them how the new GlassStones compare too. I understand their great. It blows me away that people spend $100's and $100's worth of knives then go to the asain market and spend $10 for a stone. It's all about how closely graded the partlicles are, the binding material, etc. and can make a huge difference in how well your knives come out. If the stone wears quickly it will dish in the middle and it will be impossible to sharpen your knives properly. Don't buy a high performance car then take it down to the corner service station for a tune up. There's a reason the stones are cheap. Just a word of caution to anyone who might care.

That's a great knife, Matt. I didn't realize you were in the market for a carbon blade. If the kanji is engraved then you got some of the last ones as they print them now. I had that knife for a good while and enjoyed it a lot. Easy to sharpen and stayed sharp for a good while. Yeah, in the big picture, the DP is not heavy but when you compare to 4 ounce santoku's or your expectations, it's going to feel heavy. The Hattori HD was my first gyuto and I thought that was heavy too. Turned out to be average. What was Hidatool like in the shop? Have more stuff than what was on the website? The Hiromoto AS is awesome...that knife rocks.

What pisses me off is when the weights of meat are wrong. I usually look for chickens over 5lbs and I saw this one bird that the label said was over 6lbs. It looked small so I took it over to the produce section and weighed it. Just barely 4lbs. I showed the store manager. She said "it seems heavy" and walked over to weigh it for herself. She didn't say anything after that except asking if I'd like another one. On a previous day at this same store, whole chickens were on sale (I buy only whole and cut them up myself) and amongst the birds with the correct sale pricing there were birds that were the original amount which was almost double the sale amount mixed in. I also told this manager of this problem too. I was pissed at her attitude. Here we have a meat department trying to screw over the customer and she's not batting an eyelash. From now on, I check everything. Another thing that irks me is when stuff is placed in the most illogical of areas in the store making it damn near impossible to find unless you go down every single isle and look at every single thing on the shelves. Exactly, nobody should care whether a CC is used to pay for a candy bar or the weeks grocery's. If you're behind me, you should just be greatful I'm only buying a candy bar. I too pay with my check card for everything. Don't have to worry about making sure I have enough cash on a daily basis and if I find myself stuck without cash, I won't have to pay up to $5 for not using my banks ATM. Besides, I can get in and out faster than the dope trying pay with exact change.

This is a joke, right?