JC

Hiroyuki, Just found this thread and it's very interesting. Just wondering, does everyone in your town eat Uonuma-san Koshihikari rice? Or is it more like a luxury? Is the rice cooked the normal way using a rice cooker?

All I can think of now is that "wow, rice in Japan is expensive!". Here in Malaysia we can get a 10kg bag of top-grade Thai jasmine rice for about 900 yen. But most folks use a local grade that is only 450-500 yen per 10kg bag.

Yes, do a search on this site. Here's another forum specifically on kitchen knives that you might enjoy: http://www.knifeforums.com/ubbthreads/post...=&Board=Kitchen

Good thing about Carter is that if you're concerned about the thin edge chipping (on bone), you can always ask him to make it thicker than usual. One of the benefits of dealing with a knife maker.

YES

I was told once that the best way to judge a soy sauce is to eat it with hard boiled eggs. I normally use the Yuen Chun brand myself.

Mmmm... durian. A perennial favourite here in Malaysia. We often say it "smells like hell, tastes like heaven". One of the best local varieties is called D24. Thai durians are also very nice.

What's even more insane is that 360mm isn't even the biggest out there. This place has a 390mm model - http://www.mizunotanrenjo.jp/shop/search_e...1&strings=AHH01

You want insane? Check out this line up: Starts from 180mm and goes up in increments of 30mm. The one on the right-most is 360mm!!

Yes honyaki blades are harder to maintain. Generally only recommended for professional Japanese chefs. For the rest of us, kasumi is just fine. I'm sure a lot of Japanese chefs also use kasumi blades since only the top chefs can afford a honyaki one.

One key word in understanding why bud's knife is so expensive: 'honyaki'. A honyaki knife is single steel construction as opposed to the more common laminates ('kasumi'). Any hand forged honyaki knife will cost a lot! Sakai Takayuki honyaki yanagiba. 300mm blade in blue steel. About $1,500. Masamoto honyaki yanagiba (300mm). $2,136 from Korin. That's not far from the truth actually since many of the modern day smiths are descended from sword makers. When public use of swords was outlawed in Japan in the late 1800s, many sword makers turned their talents to cutlery to make a living.

twodogs... See here: http://www.watanabeblade.com/english/pro/togidashi.htm

How far is Fukui from Tokyo? Any idea how much on the Shinkansen to get there? It's another place I'd like to visit soon.

commodore... One more thing, if you want the ultimate in sharpness go for a white steel blade next time. While blue steel holds an edge better, white steel cuts that tiny bit better. Put togidashi sharpening on that and phew!! You know how people praise the "aggressiveness" of VG-10? White steel might actually surpass that!

Aun... A true Japanese hand forged kitchen knife is not all that common. Many of the more "commercial" brands do involve machine making operations (plus some hand work sometimes). I think Hattori (for their Unryu series anyway) and Kasumi and Global are like this to varying degrees. True hand-forged knives are usually made by the smaller workshops or individual smiths, of which there are numerous in Japan but not many are well marketed outside Japan. Some names have already been given in this thread. Other names I can mention are Murray Carter and Takeshi Saji.

Moby... Which particular knife was this? Any idea what you cut that caused the chipping?

commodore... Did you ask for the togidashi sharpening with your Watanabe knife?

I used to have a Henckels 4-star santoku. Sharpness out of the box was ok (but of course not in the same league as Jap knives) but it didn't seem to hold an edge that well.

oh man! really? i've never had the chance to touch Masamoto knives. I agree. The finish on Masamoto's western knives does not befit the price tag. Even a Wusthof is better finished IMHO. Their Japanese knives are ok.

I tend to think of WMF more for cookware and utensils. They probably contract out the knifemaking to some other German firm. Their normal range is nothing to shout about. That said, WMF does have something different in their knife range that is the series made from damasteel. Only commercial brand I know of with knives of damasteel. Problem is the range only has 3 pieces and the chefs knife is only 6" (the other is slicer and something else). If they had it in 8" I'd be tempted.

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.

Hmm... I wonder if this is Shinichi Watanabe? He visited that area sometime last year and some shops bought stock from him. FYI, white steel cuts better than blue steel, but blue has better edge holding.

That looks like the "lower" end Nenox G-type series.

That's correct. Daniel told me that Ryusen makes the "cheaper" Hattori line. So Ryusen makes the knives for Hattori? To add a twist, it's been mentioned that Hattori owns the patent for the laminated steel used in the blade. Perhaps they license it Ryusen to do the actual manufacturing?

Here in Malaysia, peanut oil is very popular for home cooking (incl. deep frying). Soy bean oil is gaining more acceptance (seen as more healthy) but the higher price is keeping it from really taking off. Right now I'm using rice bran oil (from Thailand). Supposedly has many good benefits: http://www.thaiedibleoil.com/more_info/main.htm