Selecting Nakiri Knives

[Chris Amirault]

I've been using the Gekko for a while and wanted to report back.

I mostly love it. The knife is beautiful, well-balanced in my (big left) hand, and was terrifically sharp out of the box. I've been using it once or twice a day -- and for several long holiday cooking marathons -- and it's doing just what I'd like it to do with vegetables, meat, and fish. Adjusting from French/German chef knife profiles to this smaller blade and much straighter edge has been a breeze. I'm also really looking forward to sharpening it with my EdgePro.

I think that the real boon is the thinness of the blade. When I have done a tri-directional dice of an onion in the past using a chef's knife, it often ends up looking pretty messy, which I've understood is par for the course. Take a look at Marsha's photo from the great eGCI knife skills course that she taught:

As she does here, I struggle to maintain the curl while keeping the pieces together; you can see that her thumb tip is exposed to the blade. Using the nakiri, you really notice the difference a thinner, sharper knife makes: the onion doesn't splay as you do the first two sets of cuts, allowing you to do a real curl, keeping your fingers out of the way and making the third, final cuts a breeze.

I do have a few minor issues. The blade height is about 1/2" or so less than I'd like, both in terms of knuckle clearance and scoopability (making me wonder if a Chinese cleaver is in my future), and there are moments when I miss a pointed tip (see previous parenthesis).

I've had a Wusthof classic chef's knife for nearly all of my life; it's the one I have grabbed nearly every time to do most kitchen chores for over 20 years. But I'm starting to think that it's not the right first knife for many people. If a friend who does light home cooking and takes care of his or her tools asked me where to start, I think I might suggest this knife and a paring knife, which would cost about as much as the Big Daddy Wusthof alone.

Anyone else find a nakiri in their stocking?

[Jon Savage]

Anyone else find a nakiri in their stocking?

←

No but now you've got me all hot and bothered and lusting after one.

[Octaveman]

Takeda's nakiri's are usually significantly taller than standard brands while not going as tall as a cleaver.

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/products/?id=7557

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/products/?id=7558

[Richard Kilgore]

Is there a way to decide what length of Nakiri to use? There seems to be a bit of a range.

[Octaveman]

Most production Nakiri's like Santoku's are close to the 165mm mark with a few longer than that. Hand made Nakiri's as you've obviously seen can vary quite a bit. Carter for example has a 213mm Nakiri up on the same website. I would think anything between 165 and 180mm would be good lengths. The thing with takeda's knives is that they are so light, any reasonable extra length will likely go unnoticed. I had a Nakiri that was 165mm and thought it was a good length but wished it to be a tad longer at times. Probably due to technique issues rather than the knife being too short though.

[Chris Amirault]

To illustrate the point I made about cutting onions, take a look at this photo, which is pretty typical of what's been happening with this knife:

[ChefCrash]

Nice photo Chris and a beautiful knife. It looks like a Blue/Sperm whale attacking the onion.

How does your Ken Onion knife do with the same challenge?

My wife ordered me the Shun classic Nakiri from Williams-Sonoma 8 days before Christmas. She was charged $124.95 for the knife, $5.00 for gift wrapping, $16.50 shipping and $8.79 sales tax (although it was being shipped across state lines), $155 total, guaranteed shipment before Christmas.

Christmas came and went. So did new years day.

My wife went back to the store. They called customer service and agreed to refund our money. They paid her back only $150. Said gift wrapping charges were nonrefundable.

It took another phone call to the store to get the rest of our money back.

I reordered the knife from Chef's Resource for $124.95 shipped free and no sales tax.

It will be arriving this Monday.

[jdanton]

Chris--you mentioned your "left hand". Are you left handed? And how much did it cost to have the other side ground? Thanks

[Chris Amirault]

How does your Ken Onion knife do with the same challenge?

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Fine on the two initial cuts, but because the edge is so heavily curved, you have to rock it on the final dice cut.

Chris--you mentioned your "left hand". Are you left handed? And how much did it cost to have the other side ground? Thanks

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Yes, I'm left-handed. Didn't need the other side ground; as the website states they come with a 50/50 double bevel edge.

[Octaveman]

That is a cool picture. Can you take a few more shots of the blade for me when you get a chance? Being a knife nut, I'd like to see a shot of the heel as you look down the underside of the handle and a picture from above the knife looking at it's spine. These two shots will give me a good idea of taper from spine to edge and heel to tip. Basically like these except with the second picture include the whole length. If you don't mind, it would be greatly appreciated to see what I recommend. :-)

[Chris Amirault]

Here you go:

There's no taper along the spine:

Of course, there's a taper from spine to edge:

I couldn't get a good shot of the heel as you look down the underside of the handle; it's impossible with my lousy camera skills to focus on the edge and not, say, the table.

[Octaveman]

Excellent, thanks. I'm sure the heel will have the same geometry as the tip given the lack of distal taper. It looks like a nice solid knife. Spine thickness under 2mm is pretty thin but near standard for knives like this. Fit and finish of the handle good? No gaps at spine, tang and/or pins and flush with scales? I'm tempted to get a petty in this line.

[jmfangio]

This thread just inspired me to buy the GE-1 Petty. I'll report back with my impressions after it arrives.

[andiesenji]

I have the RyuSen Damascus but haven't used it as much as I used its predecessor which had a somewhat broader blade and gave more knuckle room. The RyuSen was a replacement of the other knife which I returned because it developed graininess on the surface that was determined to be a flaw in the metal.

I can state that the RyuSen is incredibly sharp and glides through vegetables like nothing else I have used and as far as onions are concerned, the only way I can slice them thinner is on my mandoline. I have not used it enough to require sharpening but I was assured it could be sharpened with my Chef'sChoice Diamond Hone sharpener.

[Chris Amirault]

I am out in Chicagoland (St Charles, to be specific) for a big family event and spent yesterday in the kitchen as sous to the host and cook. When I went to pack a knife, I grabbed the Gekko nakiri, slid it along the ceramic steel a bit, and took it with.

It performed fantastically -- the heavily vegetarian South Indian meal required a lot of nakiri-perfect prep -- and in so doing probably will be inducing several of the cooking-mad people here to order it. The thin, light blade and keen edge were show-stoppers. (You can learn more about the South Indian meal itself by clicking here.)

[Jon Savage]

Finally ordered the Gekko from jck - Chris' picture put me over the edge. I already have several knives from jck. I reckon this will be a welcome addition.

--note to self need to buy another magnetic knife strip.

[Jon Savage]

Have had the Gekko nakiri since Monday. No vegetable is safe from me! The knife is a pleasure to use; the factory edge acceptable although I'll be putting some time in this weekend on it. I'm very pleased with it and just prepped an enormous amount of veg for our stir fry tonight.

This knife blows through prep accurately and lightning fast.

Well worth the $98- My wife also loves the gekko santoku that I ordered in error initially.

Good times.

PS it is easy on the eye too

Edited August 20, 2009 by 6ppc (log)

[Chris Amirault]

A while back scubadoo97 posted this:

A nakiri or santoku would be great for doing julienne and dices. I still like a pointed tip which the nakiri doesn't have but some santokus retain.

Over time, I came to the same conclusion. In a perfect world, I'd find a nakiri with a pointed tip.

Cut to Kappabashi Street in Tokyo, home of more kitchen and restaurant equipment than you'll ever find in any other one location. I spent hours in dozens of stores, with an emphasis on the many amazing knife shops (more on them later). While I was perusing the mindblowing selection at Tsubaya Hochoten, 3-7-2 Nishi-Asakusa, Taito-ku, Tokyo (Japanese website here; some photos -- not by me -- here; 1985 NY Times article here), I saw what looked like the object of my dreams.

Pointing at it with my mouth agape, I said to Hiroshi Saito, the proprietor, "It looks like a nakiri with a pointed tip. What is it?" He said, dryly, "It's a nakiri with a pointed tip. It's the only one in the world. I make them myself. Good idea."

So, 22000 yen later, I am the proud owner of a Tsubaya pointed-tip nakiri:

The knife is a bit bigger than my Gekko nakiri, though the blade length is basically the same. I haven't used it at all yet but will report back when I do.

If anyone can find out more information about the knife from the Tsubaya website, I'd be eager to know. I didn't get into a long discussion with Hiroshi about steel in particular: I was in too much of a consumer frenzy to think rationally.

[Hiroyuki]

I can't find the one you bought in their website:

http://e288.jp/?mode=srh&cid=&keyword=%BA%DA%C0%DA

Four types of nakiri; yours isn't listed here.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for trying. I had the same experience but I thought it was because I was a dumb gaijin.

[Chris Hennes]

I see that at JCK they are now listing an additional line they call "Inazuma": the styling is more traditional, and they use a different steel. Does anyone know anything about 19C27 steel, and how it compares to the VG10 in their Gekko line?

[Hiroyuki]

Thanks for trying. I had the same experience but I thought it was because I was a dumb gaijin.

If you really want to know about your knife, I can always send them an inquiry, asking for more details about it.

[Hiroyuki]

So, 22000 yen later, I am the proud owner of a Tsubaya pointed-tip nakiri:

I understand that you like your nakiri, but I just can't resist asking: Is that exactly what you call pointed-tip?

[Chris Amirault]

If you really want to know about your knife, I can always send them an inquiry, asking for more details about it.

I would really appreciate that, yes. Thanks!

I understand that you like your nakiri, but I just can't resist asking: Is that exactly what you call pointed-tip?

If by "that" you mean the tip of the bottom knife -- which is acute and not rounded like the knife above -- then, yes, I call that a pointed tip. (As did Hiroshi Saito.) It's not as pointed/acute as a deba or yanagi, of course, but it will enable me to prepare a shallot or garlic clove for mincing with greater ease than the rounded tip of the nakiri.

[Hiroyuki]

I got a reply from the shop, which says that the knife is called:

粉末ハイスダマスカス鋼　百層打　八角紫檀柄　菜切

powder HSS (= high speed steel) damascus, 100-layer, octagonal rosewood handle, nakiri

It adds that 8- and 16-layer ones are easy to find, but a 100-layer one is rare.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Hiroyuki (log)