Octaveman

If you're thinking about waiting for the new Hattori knives they will blow Blazen out of the water...but they are more expensive too. yes, they're non-damascus but they are primarily hand made with upgraded materials. I've tested a few of the prototypes and they are truely awesome. They will be better than the Nenox S1 series knives. Matter of fact, Hattori (who makes Nenox) will be changing the steel used on the Nenox to this steel. HERE is the initial price list that was generated last June. The prices may vary once the knives are finished and actual costs determined but this gives you an idea. If you haven't already, check out the pictures in the Useful Links section at the top of In The Kitchen at KF. KF does have many serious people but the focus on custom knives is mostly because the mainstream knives like Blazen, Misono, tojiro et al, have been around for a long time and have been discussed and analyzed to death. So the only thing left to discuss are the Murray Carters and Watanabe or other custom knives that are more custom/hand made. If someone has a question about any mainstream knive's, they'll all be happy to talk about them. I think the other site you're thinking of is Foodieforums. There is also great knife discussions there too. Totally use your Henckles for boning. I wasn't sure what you had or what you wanted to keep them around for.

No problem. At those prices why not get both? If you end up preferring one over the other, there's always ebay. Which brand Gyuto you decide on? Curious, what other forum are you referring to?

The first thing to look at is what kind of things you want a knife for and then apply that to design or style. You say you want to get a Nakiri for veggie prep but also a gyuto for general prep. Other than veggie prep, there's not much else to prep with a knife really that would justify buying a second knife. Most Nakiri's are 6" long and if you get a 7" gyuto, that's just duplicating blades for doing the same job. IOW, the sizes are too close together to be independantly useful. Generally a Nakiri is a slicing knife, not a chopping knife. Some people use it instead of a gyuto or chef knife but it just doesn't make sense to get both IMHO. A couple of thoughts here. First, there is no need to get a series of knives that are 1" apart. You can get away with just three knives for all uses...parer, gyuto and bread knife. Second, a gyuto is far from lumbering at any length...even 12" so don't think that you should get a small one to compliment your 8" chef. Third, the gyuto should be thought of as a replacement for your heavy german blades rather than a compliment for general/veggie prep. Honestly I've never heard of anyone who has bought a Japanese gyuto say they're still keeping their heavy, easily dulled, cumbersome knives in case they want to use it to split a carrot (rather than cut it). With that being said, I'd suggest to get a 210mm gyuto (no shorter). Don't worry about the size maybe being too big. You will not be sorry. It is very light and very maneuverable. I use 270mm as my favored size from mincing garlic to slicing cauliflower. So, now that uses have been matched with a design/style, size has been adressed, the brand is last. Out of the knives you listed, I'd recommend the first three. You can't go wrong with either of them and they are all within the same class. All handles are very comfortable and well made. The blades are very good with the UX10 being a bit softer. The Blazen would be my top rec with UX10 my second. Hattori would be my second choice but I've had not so good experiences with the one I had. Others that own them love them and have not had the same issues I did.

I did a little digging amongst people that I thought may have used both oil and water stones and the consensus was that oil stones are inferior for a couple of reasons. First, they don't cut as fast as waterstones. Second, the oil stones don't create a true slurry which aids in polishing. The specs of metal that are created do more damage than good knocking down the edge which retards the process. Third, oil stones tend to clog up a lot faster reducing the efficiency. Fourth, oil stones don't get into as fine of grits as waterstones. So, you can use them but the results will be much better with waterstones.

For my monthly chicken stock, I throw in about 4 raw carcases of chicken after taking the breasts/legs/thighs off for cooking during the previous month. Each carcas will have the neck, back, complete wings w/ meat and the breast bone. I just freeze them for later use for my stock and usually combine with a bulk package of thighs I get for $.89/lb. I have NEVER had a problem with loose stock. One time I threw in 2 whole cornish game hens and got good results too. When I'm done after 4-5 hours of simmering the cooled stock is a huge gelatonous blob that is firm that can be cut without any bleeding. As Dave said, extend the cooking time to at least 4 hours. Pack your stock pot really well. I use a 16qt pot and the ingredients come to within 5 inches from the top to which the water gets to 1 inch from the top. Lots of bones and some meat. Wings, thighs, neck, back and breast bones have been berry berry good to me.

This may seem weird coming from me but I have heard that the shears made by Cutco are the only thing that this company makes worth buying. Owners of them say they are truely the best they've ever used.

They're not required. I've never worked with oil stones and almost all of the people I'm aware of use wetstones or devices like the Apex. I vaguely remember this subject coming up in discussions before but can't remember the actual discussion. I can't imagine it being a problem. The bigger issue would be proper grit progression and technique over the medium used for lubrication. If good oil stones are used then should be fine. Just don't get a water stone and use oil with it. That would be bad. Chad is around here somewhere. I'm sure he could answer this question better than I. Good choice with the AS by the way. At least a 240mm but 270mm is quite versatile. What's another inch anyway, right?

Sure, no problem. First, I would definately recommend Korin's DVD. It's one thing to read about it and see pictures but it's another to see it in action. Their prices are typically on the high side and there are lesser expensive choices of brands that would work just fine. Second, I've always used stones and have never tried anything else so I'm a bit biased when it comes to the stones versus other devices discussion although I have heard that the Apex Edge Pro is very good. With the help of the DVD, it didn't take me long to learn how to sharpen my knives. You must go slow at first to get the motions, muscle memory and concepts down but it won't take long before you're up to speed. The only trick is to keep your angle consistant as you work back and forth on the stone and practice, practice, practice. Good brands to consider are Shapton Pro, King, Norton, Bester and Naniwa. Shapton Pro's are the best you can buy IMHO for most all grits. They are ceramic stones and do NOT need soaking before use. A little water on top and you're good to go. They are harder than other brands but they cut really well. King and Norton are good stones for the price but they DO need soaking. They will make more of a mess than Shapton but are good stones. Bester has similar characteristics to King and Norton but some prefer it over the others. The Naniwa I have is a polsihing stone. Very soft but great for polishing Japanese blades because the old saying goes "hard knife, soft stone" when it comes to polishing. For the newbie, I recommend a 1000 grit (or close to it) single stone and a 4000/8000 combo stone (or close to it) although you could get away with a single 4k instead of the combo. The reason for the single stone for the 1k is that it will wear faster and it's thicker and would last longer. If you got a 1k/4k combo, the 1k side would wear down faster than the 4k but it would take a while for that to happen. If you need to repair chips a lower grit around 220-400 is ideal. You can repair chips with the 1k grit but it will just take a long time. Now that grits are out of the way the brands are the next step. Here is what I would suggest and you can pick and choose what you like given your budget. Keep in mind that a good stone is important and will last a very long time. Some initial investment in good stones would be a wise thing to do. It amazes me that people will spend all this money on knives then get the cheapest stones they can and wonder why they don't do a great job or they disintegrate before their eyes. For chip repairs and/or re-establishing your bevel angles The Pink Brick 220 grit Great coarse stone that gets great reviews. All stones at this grit level will wear fast but this one wears the least. Used for serious repairs. DO NOT buy Norton's 220 grit stone as it will need to be flattened within minutes. Bester 700 grit This stone is a good intermediate stone to remove the scratches left by the 220 grit stone. Used for minor chip repair. Stones to start with for initial sharpening when noticably dull Shapton Pro 1000 grit The best stone to go with. Fast cutting and will last a longer time due to it's construction. Can start with this one or the Shapton Pro 2000 grit. Either one are great stones to start the sharpening process with. Bester 1200 grit A good stone to start your sharpening with. Shapton Pro 2000 grit Can be used instead of the Shapton Pro 1k. Stones to use for light touch-ups and further sharpening from prior stones King F1 4000 grit single stone Great stone that would give you a nicely sharpened and polished edge. With this stone, there's no need for a higher stone right now. Can invest in one later if you'd like. Shapton Pro 5000 grit Great polishing stone that does a very good job at refining your edge further. Norton combo stones to be considered in place of the above single stones Norton Combo Stones all grits This place can give you an idea as to what Norton offers. A 1k/4k can do a good job to get your feet wet with sharpening without spending a lot of money. Eventually though you will probably want to branch out. It's my opinion and experience that one should stock up on lower grits and have just a few higher grits. The reasoning is that the lower grit stones vary greatly in partical size from one grit to the next while the higher grits vary at extremely small intervals. This means that to get really nice scratch removal as you move up the grit scale, it's important to make sure the prior grits scratches are properly removed to end up with a superior edge and polsihed mirrored bevels. This is done by making sure the gaps in grit sizes are not so big that the higher grit stone is too fine to remove the lower grits scratches. For example, a jump from a 1k to an 8k is too big of a jump whereas the jump from a 1k to 4k is not so big and is doable. Does that make sense? To give you an idea what I mean, my stones are 325, 600, 1k, 2k, 3k, 5k, 10k. There is more concentration on the lower grits with only two higher grits and am extremely happy with the results. The partical size with each grit is cut in half with each step to the next higher grit. You won't need to get all these to get started so don't freak out. I spent a year or so getting all these because as I got more proficient with sharpening, I demanded higher quality edges/bevels for myself. You don't need to do this unless you want to and have the funds to expand. One final note, these stones like all stones will need to be flattened periodically depending on the stone and how often you use them. A dished stone cannot properly sharpen a blade and must remain flat. There are flattening stones out there. The one from Norton would be fine and is fairly cheap. Hope this helps and that I just didn't confuse things. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. Chad I'm sure can add plenty to this discussion so hope he sees this too. Glad to help. Cheers

No trouble. I was curious myself.

did some asking around at Korin.com where I bought the knife and they confirmed the characters to mean 1st Character - PURE 2nd & 3rd Character - JAPANESE 4th - STEEL 5th, 6th & 7th - ITTOSAI 8th & 9th - KOTETSU 10th - BY Basically, the message is saying "A pure Japanese steel made by Ittosai Kotetsu"

Um yeah, $12,000 mfg suggested retail. Couldn't find actuall selling price anywhere and didn't want to call anyone but still a big chunk of change. Beautiful fridge though...and BIG.

Where is everything? That's a mighty empty fridge ya got there.

Japanese-Knife.com is their old site that they keep running for some reason. Korin.com came along and included all cooking related items in addition to the knives. They actually keep on changing the look of the JK.com site. Probably keeping it going because it's purely a knife related site and it does carry stuff that the Korin site doesn't... like THESE cute little knives. Korin.com is a bit more informative though.

We bought a place in October that didn't have a fridge. I did extensive research and went to several stores (Sears, Lowes, local appliance stores) to get a feel for all my options. I wanted a bottom freezer REAL bad but there was always something with each brand/model that kept me from saying THIS is the one. Wether it be lack of an ice maker, flimsy bottom drawer, no water/ice dispenser, useless low 3" drawer in the fridge section, lack of required cubic feet for either the fridge or freezer sections or the price. I never did find the ONE fridge that had everything I wanted but I settled on the one that had most of the requirements I sought. THIS side by side by Whirlpool is the one I bought. The fridge section is plenty big at 15.4 cu ft and 10 cu ft for the freezer section (same or better than most all bottom freezers without paying $2,300). The ice dispenser is on the door, making the freezer plenty big enough for anything I've encountered. See through veggie bins to easily see what's in there. Roll out shelves to get to the stuff in back. Adjustable door bins. Two freezer lights. Two Roll out freezer bins. Very nice. No bottom freezer could give me what this one could for the money I was willing to spend just to keep my food cold. The ratio of freezer/fridge space was inline with that of bottom mount fridges and to date has not been overflowing with so much that I had to use my 7 cu ft. chest freezer in the garage. Also, with the additional shelves/drawers to use in the freezer section, I can easily seperate stuff like beef, chicken, pork, leftovers, etc. The bottom freezer doesn't have the capabilities for that...just one big bin. Fatguy, I don't think ANY mainstream fridge is wider than 36". That seems to be the standard width available for fridges. The space in my house is 36" and my fridge is 35 1/2". How deep and how high your available space is probably more important as these measurements vary quite a bit in frdiges. Plus, if your kitchen floor space can handle a wide single door or the smaller French doors. The former allows for better access to your food but the latter is more space conscience. My fridge sticks out beyond my counter by a few inches and is further sticking out due to the contoured (bowed) doors. Not a big deal to me though.

I don't think the price is really that bad. A lot cheaper than my wood board. And given how long they last, it's a very good investment. Joes had his for coming up to 8 years now. That would make your (Mom's) 15x20 board cost $1.75/month!!! No brainer to me.

HA. Great links, thanks. I've been disspointed with the newly revamped US Kikuichi website. Their old one at least had all their knives up for viewing but was rarely updated. These links give me plenty to ponder how I can afford them. Yeah, the Honyaki looks to be made the same way although the Hamon line goes further down the blade. Very nice looking and in line with what the Ittosai cost. That damascus blade though looks very nice and cheap too all things considered. I'd like to know more about the materials. Thanks again

Wkl, there is no connection between the two. I can't recall exactly what I've heard but I vaguely recollect it not being all that great of a knife. The HRC is pretty low too. Korin's Snakewood collection (if they still have any) has a great blade but the wood shrinks and swells badly. For other knives in the price range of the Korin VG Silver line though, the Tojiro DP truely is a great knife for the money. Other quality knives in this range would be Kantesugu Pro-M series. I've never used them but from the description they appear to be pretty decent. A little more in cost but the next in line after that would be the Hiromoto Tenmi-Jyuraku series. The AS (Aogomi Super) is quite a remarkable blade and very affordable for what you get. I've treid them before and it's a very tough blade that holds up well to constant use. The Hiromoto HC line is the best bang-for-buck carbon steel knife. I have this one too. Great knife. All these are sold at JCK.com. No, I'm not a rep for them...they just have one of the best selections of Japanese knives anywhere and their customer service is incredible. $7 to ship one or more knives from Japan in 3-5 days just can't be beat. I ordered a knife from them on a Monday once and got it Thursday. Great place to order knives from. Kristin, I have the MV series Honesuki (actually a Hankotsu) and think it's a pretty good quality knife. The fit and finish are very good. I asked Koki at JCK.com what he thought about Masahiro's carbon steel series (not the MV) and he said it's a very good steel and a high quality knife. The steel used is Masahiro's own. The MV line is a good stainless steel line that would be a good choice. The Knife Merchant is a good site to order from. edited for clarity and inability to type.

Jeancho, glad that you've decided to send them to someone who knows what they're doing. Learning to sharpen your own knives on stones is not as hard as you may think. Enjoy your newly sharpened knives but I think you might find them getting dull even with steeling more often than once per year. Kramers Damascus is sweet. Some day...some day.

Kristin, absolutely.

Man, it's a knife that when I opened the box, my jaw hit the floor. I was in shock for at least a week and just studied it before using it for the first time. I can't put into words what it's like to use it. Amazing. It's an Ittosai Shiro-ko Honyaki Gyuto 270mm (special order). It took almost three months for them to make and deliver it. Blade material is Japanese White #2 and I believe this baby is 100% hand made. The handle material is ebony. The spine is nicely rounded for comfort. The bevel is 50/50 and it's my guess that angle is a combined 24* convex ground. It comes complete with a saya made from ebony as well. The steel is hardened to 61-62 on the rockwell scale and sharpens up pretty easily with some quick swipes on the higher grit stones. The knife originally came covered in a resin-like material to protect it during shipment. Any scratches seen is on the surface of this material. It took acetone to get it off. Quality of craftsmanship is incredible. This knife is in my top two favorite knives and it goes back and forth with the other knife for the #1 spot quite often. Here are a few more pics...

Is there a coding system to different hardness levels or is ther only one? I guess I can look it up on the net but just thought I'd post it here too.

I think adding a few drops of sesame oil is a good compliment for flavor. I second grapeseed for clean flavor overall.

You mean like this one?

The boards made by Totally Bamboo are good boards. Harder than Maple boards but not so hard as to damage your knives. There are brands out there that do not used food safe glue so if Bamboo is your final choice, then I'd stick with Totally Bamboo. Plenty of sizes and styles. Go to their website and check out what they have. As far as wood goes, I have a Boos maple board that is great. If you want the board to last (without warping), then get at least 3/4" thick. White poly boards are fine and can go into the dishwasher. The Sani-tuff boards are unknown to me from a usage standpoint. I've been very curious about them and just may get one some day but since I love my Boos board, it won't be happening real soon. But I've heard good things about them. Your knife may tend to get stuck in it more though from what I've heard. If you go with a wood board of some type, definately get end grain if you can afford it. Much better on your knives and for sanitation purposes.

I believe the original Bob's BB still exists in Los Angeles but the number of restaurants definately not what it used to be. For those that want a piece of Bob, they can get BBB wobblers made by Funko. They made standard wobblers and the restaurant made 1,000 limited edition anniversary ones too. Pretty cool looking. Yes, it sure was cool to visit and A&W complete with rollerscating staff. The only one I knew of was located in Santa Cruz, CA. Don't think it's there any more. There are Shakey's Pizza here locally in San Diego. The one chain pizza place I don't see anymore is Straw Hat Pizza. SHP was much better than Shakey's IMHO. The only restaurant that I remember as being all over the San Jose, CA area is Burger Pit. Complete menu with large selection of steaks, burgers, chicken, etc. Went there all the time as a child with my grandparents. None exist that I'm aware of. Here in San Diego, the ONLY chain place I truely miss is Doodleburgers. I lived across the street from one once...good times.