C.Morris

I just finished sharpening my Takeda with a 1000/8000 grit Norton waterstone, and finished stropping on legal pads loaded with 1 micron boron carbide and 0.5 micron chromium oxide pastes. I'm glad I took the recommendation to do it. I did a quick paper test, and my knife will now push cut paper (after a little slice to get it started). I just wanted to post this to let everyone know how much I appreciate their recommendations. Thanks again everyone. I will spend many happy years with this knife. Carl

I got an email advertisement for gifts from Amazon, and I stumbled across this interesting indoor garden for growing herbs (here's the product on Amazon). Is a kit like this useful, or is it just as effective to by standard potting equipment? I like the idea of having a few common fresh herbs handy, since I always end up buying herbs and wasting them as they don't hold well in the refrigerator. I figure that Christmas is coming up soon, so a slight frivolous cooking purchase seems in order, since the rest of Christmas is going to be knife sharpening stuff .

I can't give you too much advice, other than I loved my 10" Global Chef's knife that I had for a little while, and I still love my Shun Chinese Cleaver. I must admit that I am super happy with my Takeda, but it is carbon steel, which everyone else has already ruled out. I heard that Devin Thomas makes a brilliant stainless steel gyuto, but I've never used one so this recommendation comes from other's recommendations. As for a storage method, I love these magnetic covers, readily available from amazon called Edge-Mag. They keep the edge nice and protected so you can put the knife in a drawer and not lose an edge or a finger. Best of a luck! A good knife is definitely worth the investment. A good knife should hold a nice edge for a while, so you'll have plenty of time to learn to sharpen in the mean time.

I guess I'll have to be sure I give the purchases some thought, but I guess if I'm willing the strop, then it won't be too large of a leap to free-hand the edge, although I know the processes are different. I'm sure I'll still get a lot of use out of my Edge Pro. I might also consider using a shim if necessary, because, as Scubadoo97 mentioned, the evenness of the Edge Pro is tough to match.

The Devin Thomas Knives both look beautiful. I'm sure that will be great knives. In the end I got the Takeda 240mm Gyuto, and I love it. I will still consider a DT knife in the future, perhaps for a petty knife. I have a good Victorinox paring knife that is awesome for what it does, but I'm sure a petty would be good to have now and again. Thanks for posting the pictures!

Thanks for the encouragement! I look forward to Christmas when the inevitable splurge for sharpening supplies will occur .

Thanks for the recommendation of materials; I'll take it slowly for sure. I found a Norton double sided stone 1000/8000 which might work well when combined with the felt and or leather strops and paste. I find it slightly ironic that I'm going from sharpening freehand using a Japanese water stone then with some Norton diamond stones (which I unfortunately no longer possess) to an Edge Pro, only to return back to free hand with water stones. I'm sure that I will like the results, though.

Sean, Thanks for the heads up about the bevel. The moment that you said 7 degrees I realized that the Edge Pro wouldn't work. I'm amazed the blade can hold such an acute angle. How difficult is it to hold such a shallow angle steady?

Do you have a recommendation on the grit for the paste?

A dual paste setup sounds nice, especially since I'll be going straight from a fine stone to stropping without anything in between. I can't wait until I get the chance to see how it feels after stropping with some paste.

Thanks Prawncrackers for the additional advice. I'll be sure to avoid the bones, even the fine fish bones. I love my knife so much right now. I made an egg and tomato soup tonight to complement a chicken and bok choy stir fry in a hoisin based sauce. I love being able to cut chicken into nice thin slices without so much effort (using a sushi chef inspires draw cut on the bias). Dakki, The legal pad encouraging a light touch seems like a good idea to me. Do you recommend a particular brand of paste, or are they mostly created equal?

Dakki, The legal pad seems like an interesting idea. Do you just apply the diamond paste to the cardboard of a legal pad? I've used the magic marker trick a few times. Thanks for the reminder. It's easy to forget that trick, since I don't often have to re-bevel an edge. Prawncracker, It's pretty cool that we both took the same path. How long have you owned your Takeda? I will certainly be wary of the crusty bread. Can you think of any other problematic food items? I would guess most fruits and veggies are fine. What about roast meat?

I had wondered whether a diamond paste strop would work. Thanks for the recommendation! I've done some stropping before with a straight razor, so it should be the same principle, except that the spine of the knife is narrower in profile and the edge is longer than a straight razor. Any recommendations for a place to buy a strop? The coarse stone also makes sense to me since re-profiling a knife is quite tedious without appropriately coarse stones. Now I just need to figure out how steep of a bevel my Takeda has right now. It has pretty subtle edge geometry.

I'm very excited by the prospect of an even better edge. I have an Edge Pro, but with only the basic medium and fine stones. Do you think those two stones will work well enough until I can get a finer stone? I was amazingly pleased when I split a head of cauliflower and a cantaloupe. Both were very effortless. I personally would like to try and cut a head of white or savoy cabbage, because they have always been more difficult than they should be with the Shun. I will protect this knife with my life. This knife will be my baby .

Thanks Dakki! I haven't tried sharpening it yet. I look forward to seeing how it is it to sharpen, though, since it has a carbon steel blade rather than stainless. I think I'm little scared that I won't be able to put such a nice edge on it, but it'll be a fun experience. Maybe I'll try sharpening it closer to Christmas after I have time to break it in a little more .

I plan to use it as my primary knife for all my food prep. The only things I'd put it aside for are for very delicate jobs like peeling where a paring knife is more suitable or for rough jobs like cutting around bones, when I think I'd risk chipping the blade. It seems to be a great all around knife.

I got my new Takeda 240mm Gyuto Nov. 13, so I've had it now for about a week. I've only had the chance to prepare not quite four meals with it, so I'm only beginning to get a feel for the knife. I've attached a few photos. I think the forge finish is absolutely beautiful! The quality of the knife is very clear, including a custom saya (which I'm not sure is provided by Takeda or my ChefKnivestoGo.com). My previous main knife is a stainless steel (blade and handle) Shun Chinese cleaver. I maintained the Shun's edge with an Edge Pro system. The Takeda's edge came very sharp, much more so that the Shun. I had some previous experience with a 10" Global knife, but I haven't used it in a while, so there isn't much basis of comparison on that front. At first I felt somewhat clumsy with the Takeda (which continues until now, although I'm starting to get a grip on it) because I became very used to the balance of the Shun cleaver. I find I'm using more push cutting with the Takeda than I ever used with the Shun. I am not sure whether such technique is appropriate, but the cutting with the Takeda seems most efficient with a push cut motion using just enough slicing to let the blade do all the work. Carrots and apples have been the best tests of my knife so far. Carrots are cut quite easily, and it's becoming easier as I learn the balance of the Takeda. Something I immediately noticed was that the surface of the cut pieces of carrot were amazingly smooth. The smoothness of the cut surfaces actually felt quite odd at first, but I suppose it is a testament to actually cutting, rather than splitting, a carrot. I had some trouble with an apple at first because I'm tried to use a slicing motion but the edge wouldn't bite into the skin, but when I used more of a pushing motion, the apple opened up quite quickly. I feel that with a little practice, nothing will be a challenge with the Takeda. While the investment in the Takeda was somewhat daunting (more manageable if you choose to pass on the custom saya ), the knife is worth every penny. My last feeling about the Takeda is that, despite it's very thin edge, the spine of the blade is still fairly thick, so the knife still feels very sturdy (not invincible but not fragile). I still, however, keep my knife in my bedroom, since my kitchen is shared with my three roommates, who I don't quite trust with the Takeda. For them, I lend my Shun, since it's pretty tough. I hope this first impression review was helpful to someone. Please let me know if you want to know anything else. Carl

I can definitely make a post when I get the knife, and share a few pics. Would a new topic be appropriate for that?

I did some thinking, and I decided to go with the 240mm Takeda Gyuto: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/ta24gywcufit.html. I like the pattern on the steel, and the custom saya is just gravy . From all I hear, and from a few YouTube videos, I will probably love this knife. Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm really glad I learned about the Takeda. Carl

I'd made a previous post about knives: After reading through those comments I thought that I would get the Devin Thomas knife: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/dethfo270abg.html, A 270 mm Gyuto, but it is now unfortunately out of stock. I am shopping for my birthday (or Christmas if the search takes too long). Right now I use a Shun all stainless cleaver that has about a 7" blade. It's quite good, so I want to be careful to make sure whatever knife I get, will be truly distinctive in terms of performance compared to the cleaver. Probably the three that come foremost to my mind are Ryusen Blazen Gyuto 270 mm: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/blazen.html Hattori Gyuto 270 mm: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/hachkn101.html Tadatsuna Wa Gyuto 240 mm: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/tadatsuna3.html At the moment I lean toward the Blazen, but I wanted to be sure that I was overlooking an obvious contender. For example, I had never heard of Devin Thomas before my previous post. I really appreciate everyone's input. I'm sure I can be happy with any of these knives, but I want to make sure I've been thorough before making such a big purchase. Carl P.S. I use and Edge Pro for sharpening, with just the two starter stones (medium and fine). I guess I may also need to consider expanding my sharpening selection.

I don't get much choice in my rice brands at the moment because I live in a small tow, but in general I prefer long grain brown rice. As I eat a lot of Chinese food, the choice of rice may seem weird, but I love the whole grain flavor with some of the potent Chinese sauces--in particular Sichuan style dishes. After reading so much about Jasmine rice, I will definitely get a bag. I also sometimes like to throw in some long grain white rice or a bit of the Botan calrose rice. By this point I have nearly exhausted my choices of rice, so I will move on from there. Luckily, I'll be in Atlanta after about two months, so I will get to expand my selection somewhat.

Thanks for the advice. I may have just been too gentle . I tend to pamper my cast iron and carbon steel more than I should. I'll try both the salt scouring and a little wiping down the pan prior to cooking to see if I get better control over the carbon build up. I have looked at Grace's book on Amazon, and I might buy it. Previously my only cookbook was Dunlop's Land of Plenty, which I loved tremendously. Currently I'm using the Wok Shop's complementary cookbook for a little inspiration until I commit to some cookbook purchases, likely Dunlop's Sichuan and Hunan books, but maybe also the Grace book.

I just finished seasoning my carbon steel wok using an oven based method recommended by The Wok Shop. The coating that appeared over around half a dozen rounds seems fairly resilient, but I have one further concern about the continued maintenance of my wok. After my first two uses of it, first an onion to remove any nasty flavors left over from seasoning, and second a batch of beef and broccoli, I noticed a build up of a sooty substance (presumably carbon) in the center of the wok producing a matte finish that'll leave a paper towel slightly blackened if wiped across it. This coating is only present where the highest heat occurs in the center of the wok, and it seems to conflict with the non-stick properties of the seasoning slightly, but I'm not one hundred percent certain on it's effects. Does anyone have some information to at least explain what this is and if it is normal? I've used a carbon steel wok fairly regularly for the past year, but I am still very inexperienced by any measure. I have tried to look for information, but mostly I cannot find anything discussing this particular aspect of the wok. Carl

I have a slightly off topic question (although not entirely, given the shift toward sharpening). Previously, I owned a smooth 12" steel, no ceramics, diamonds, or grooves. I found a few strokes before my usual prep work, before dinner in 99% of the cases, greatly enhanced the performance of my Global knives. I don't hear a lot of mention about steels with the thin bladed Japanese knives. Is this step unnecessary for these knives or simply unmentioned? Also, since I'm asking about maintenance, do the aforementioned knives require more or less maintenance on sharpening stones than the average (using the term loosely) knife?

Thanks for mentioning the Kershaw and Forschner. I am less afraid of destroying the knife than temporarily rendering it useless in case my sharpening session runs over a day or two. Carl