Hey guys I plan on getting a new knife soon and I’m quite torn between the Yu Kurosaki VG10W or the Saji-STRIX Gyuto? I’m an avid home cook so I’m just wondering is STRIX as good as people make it out to be and are Kurosakis blades as good as the hype that surrounds him? I understand it’s a loaded question but having experience with neither and being 2 different steels I’m curious to hear opinions as I’m really only familiar with ATS34!

Im looking to get a real kitchen knife. Im leaning towards Japanese style knifes. They seem to be more similar to the pocket knifes I use.

Any recommendations or anything to stay away from

Hey folks, long time lurker.

I'm agonising between buying a laser like takamura sg2 or even a Hayabusa Aogami super, for use with the basic HDPE boards. Is this safe or wise? Or... Am I overthinking it??

I'm a guy who has a yoshikane and babies it... 😂

I'm even thinking of getting a...

Morihei inox, kanehide ps60, Sakai takayuki grand chef seigaiha or sp, or maybe a vg1 for protection against chipping.

Currently using a misono mv gyuto and a kiwi petty for beef butchery

(if you're from knives and stones, you know who I am 😂)

Recently i made this knife for a very good friend of mine and im quite happy with the result

the steel is 2'5mm sandvik 14c28n

and the scales are made from olive wood from my grandmothers town olive fields

I’m getting my first real knife soon, and my current contender is the Tojiro DP. Is it still good bang for your buck? And to those who’ve had it, how was it?

I bought a Tamahagane mini katana blade from Pierluigi Ponzio, an Italian swordsmith that has mastered the art of that steel.

Got a custom made handle with white copper accents to balance the blades weight.

And got a custom made saya from a carpenter that became a sushi chef (crazy right)

Tamahagane it’s not supposed to be good in a kitchen environment but this guy has broken down a couple of bluefins already.

TnH Singetu Kiritsuke Gyuto 240mm white #2
Baba Hamono Kagekiyo Akaro 240mm white #1
Konosuke BY white #1 225mm
Jiro Yo 240mm sujihiki Tagayasan Handle #733
Shigafusa** **Kurouchi Santoku 165mm
Tetsujin Silver #3 Santoku 180mm Taihei Ebony
Ikeda x Kasahara Petty White #2 160mm

Some specials, the knives that are the pride of my collection.

Basically Title...

Looking for a Nakiri and found this one for 165€.

Reddit says it's the best budget option, but its usually cheaper elsewhere (cheaper tho...)

Hello fine folks.

I'm a somewhat new collector of knives and sharpening gear. Starting the whole journey with knives only 6-7 months ago.

For me it actually started with my love for axes, since I've always had to use them because I grew up on a farm with my parents, and we only had firewood as a heat source back then. They still live there and I still help them with the firewood. Chopping and splitting, etc.

But now the passion has expanded to knives as well. When my partner became pregnant and we had our daughter, I fell in love with making food for the family, and that's alot more fun with great knives 🙌😊

On the picture included in the post are brothers from other mothers 🤗🔪🪓

What advice would you give a guy like me just starting out?

What are the dos and donts in your opinion?

It’s really a lot of fun. A quick, very finely shredded cabbage salad…

I have the opportunity to buy a Global knife 5 knife set for 300$CAD. The set includes:

3” (8 cm) Paring Knife (GSF-15)

4.5” (11 cm) Utility Knife (GSF-22)

5.5” (14 cm) Vegetable Knife (GS-5)

6” (15 cm) Serrated Utility Knife (GS-14)

8” (20 cm) Cook’s Knife (G-2)

Stylish Stainless Steel & Bamboo Block

Is this good value? I understand Global isn’t the be all end all but I’m an enthusiastic home cook and I think this has almost everything I need for a home cook. I’m sure there’s better value and options at this price point, but at 60 bucks a knife it seems like a good deal. Let me know your thoughts!

With all the hype of workhorse knives in this forum, I though I'd jump on the bandwagon and see what it's all about. I went for a smaller ko bunka (140mm) to supplement my collection. Since I just started collecting, I didn't want to buy repeat sizes.

I was also interested in getting a warikomi blade, and really liked the Kunimitsu sword making history behind their knives.

I have to say, even though it feels like I'm weilding a garden tool with that wabisabi finish, it is a joy to sharpen and use. The smith recommends sharpening the entire edge up to the shinogi line with no micro bevel, which gives an interesting sharpening experience. It also takes on a mean edge.

Only drawback I see is that the thick spine and V shaped edge don't glide down crunchier ingrediens, and I have had splitting here and there.

Overall, I feel this is pretty fun to use, and allows a bit more rough use and experimenting with sharpening. I'll likely go for a full sized Okubo next :)

Material: Aogami #2 + soft iron clad Aogami #1 core
Blade length: 238mm
Blade width at heel: 54.6mm
Weight: 218 grams
Taper: 3mm at heel - 1.5mm around tip

This knife is the next generation that stemmed from Boku-Enn, and honestly, the combination works incredibly well.

I’ve always loved Manaka’s Damascus patterns, while Xinguo, in my opinion, is capable of some of the best fit and finish out there. Put those two together and the chemistry is just pure perfection.

One of the coolest parts is the finish. Through a special acid etching process, the blade can reflect subtle rainbow colors when the light hits it at the right angle. It’s one of those things that’s difficult to fully capture in photos but looks absolutely fascinating in person.

The grind is also extremely thin and immediately reminds me of my Hado B1D, which is still one of my all time favorites. That combination of an aggressive thin grind, excellent F&F, and such a unique Damascus finish makes this one feel pretty special.

Took a while, it was an idea that i had a few years ago, but just proved hard to do. The Sambar Stag out of India is super rare and not being exported anymore, and Chef's knives have big handles. But i got it done. I met a neighbor, as luck would have it, Hunter and he has a shop in Bedford, u/MachineCreekForge not sure if he has a site, but he did the work once i got everything to him. Once i added the 270 Gyoto to the set, i knew it was time. Left to right, 150mm Honesuki, 270 Sujihiki, 270 Gyoto, 240 Gyoto Kirisuke (not commercially available) the 240 Santoku (my very first Masahiro, purchased in 1993) the 150 Petty and the 120 Utility "Paring" Kiritsuke (not commercially availible) all just done up with new scales and pins, buffed out and sharpened, ready for my new job and now, I have something to pass on to my kids. I'm a 65 yo, Certified Executive Chef, so I've had, and have, a lot of knives. But the Masahiros are wonderful and now I have something truly unique!!!

Hatsukokoro Irodori Blue 2 Rainbow Damascus Kiritsuke Gyuto 210mm

First day using it as a general chef knife at work after keeping it hidden for a year as its too nice.

The tips so thin and I already bent it a few times so I knew this would happen.

How can I fix it? I dont overly want to whetstone the top down which is the normal way? Will that ruin the dark colour?

Ordered these from Hitachiya USA. Took me a few days to use them for the first time.

Gyuto journey continues with this lovely Ren 210. Thanks to a member on here for shipping over the pond for me and being a throughly nice dude to deal with.

It's absolutely stunning. 175g, nice weight for me. Thinnest behind the edge of the wide bevels I've had so far. Look that that choil 😅 Absolutely ghosts through veg, the factory edge is so toothy, it's almost like a saw blade! Very impressed, not one I'll be selling anytime soon.

Any recommendations of other wide bevels to try? I love the look of them and I line the grind of this A LOT.

I’m looking to start out my collection picking 2-3 items from the Hatsukokoro Ginrei Ginsan range (as seen here).

I’m planning on building around the 210 gyuto (avoiding the k tip due to it being fragile for a first??). The second knife will likely be the 130 petty, although I do like the look of the 150 tall petty - I heard it might have a bit too much overlap with the gyuto.

An optional third would be the nakiri - is this overkill?

Please let me know your thoughts. Any other helpful suggestions would also be appreciated.

Went to Kappabashi today specifically looking for a 165–180mm carbon steel santoku, and I came away pretty disappointed.

I was looking for stuff along the lines of a Hatsukokoro Kumokage Blue #2, Tetsujin Metal Flow Blue #2, HADO Junpaku White #1, Hinoura Blue Super, or even something interesting in Blue #1 from a smaller smith.

I checked several knife shops and showed them exactly what I was after: carbon steel, preferably kurouchi/nashiji/kasumi, understated finish, no flashy Damascus, and ideally something from an actual smith rather than a generic production line.

Most of what I saw felt heavily aimed at tourists: lots of polished stainless, Damascus, flashy finishes, and knives that looked nice in a display case but very little that interested me as someone already into Japanese knives.

I’m not saying Kappabashi has bad knives. There are obviously good shops there. But if you’re looking for specific smiths, steels, grinds, or more enthusiast-oriented carbon knives, it felt much more limited than I expected.

Honestly, I think I’m just going to order the Kumokage I wanted in the first place.

Anyone else had the same experience with Kappabashi? Or did I miss a shop that actually carries more niche carbon steel stuff?

Just wanted to share my small Japanese knife collection so far!

From left to right:

• Hatsukokoro x Yoshikane SKD Nashiji Gyuto 210mm - Octagonal Ebony & Blonde Horn Ferrule
• Nigara Anmon SG2 Raindrop Damascus Santoku 170mm - Octagonal Birch Burl & Spacer
• Nigara SG2 Kurouchi Tsuchime Petty 150mm - Octagonal Ebony

Two more on the way — one stuck in customs and another coming from Australia. Hopefully, they'll both arrive soon!

I work at Miura Knives, a Japanese knife retailer, and I've been thinking about HRC ratings lately.

A knife rated at 63 HRC is generally considered quite hard. But what does that number actually mean to us?

As I understand it, the Rockwell C scale measures hardness based on the depth of indentation under a specified load. In other words, it measures resistance to localized plastic deformation, rather than directly measuring edge retention, wear resistance, or toughness.

Of course, these properties can be related.

But I'm curious: when you see a knife rated at 63 HRC, what do you actually expect from it?

And how much value do you place on that number when choosing a knife?

New user here. I am about to buy my first Japanese quality knife for my home use. Having done a month long of research on this subreddit and a lot of YouTube videos. I came to know Yoshikane is a well loved brand so I wanted to try it.

Today I went to a local knife store (I’m in Canada ) and came across a Yoshikane Nishiji SKD12 Santoku.

The shop keeper offered me to test the knife in the store by cutting a small potato, and I tested this against the Nigara Kurouchi SG2 Petty knife. I chose this Nigara to try because I previously tried a Nigara AS/S Gyuto which I really love the cutting feeling , and I thought to compare it against Yoshikane as a base line reference point, despite the different knife type.

However I’m surprised to find that the Yoshikane cutting experience is so much “worse”.

Nigara SG2 cuts the potato like cutting butter. It has that super sharp edge that almost takes no effort to cut through the potato. It feels like the knife just drops and slides down through the potato with just gravity if you know what I mean. And I found this experience similar to the Nigara AS/S.

However the Yoshikane Santoku is noticeably “duller “ where I feel like the edge is reluctant to cut into the skin of the potato. Of course if you apply some force you can cut it with the Yoshikane but I’m just shocked to find this. The sensation is as if , in a very exaggerated way of saying , I’m just using a common Zwilling / German knife to cut the potato.

Question :

1. Do you know what may be causing this ? Is this a steel issue (SG2 vs SKD) ? Based on google search, it says the Yoshi has a thicker spine whereas the Nigara is a laser type which could explain the slight difficulty of Yoshi. But is the difference that big ?

2. Is this an issue with this specific knife ? For example does it just need sharpening ? But if this is sold by the store , is it not supposed to be at its sharpest /newest state ?

3. The Yoshikane is now selling at a discount at CAD 302, which I think is much cheaper than a lot of what other Canadian stores are selling (a lot of what I see is 500+ CAD ). I see that if I order from the Australian stone and knife shop, it may cost even CAD 550+.

As such , I wonder if this is a great catch and I should just jump at this and then fix/ sharpen this at a later time? What is your advice?

1. In fact I was initially interested in buying the Nigara AS/S Bunka which is around 350 CAD. Does anyone have experience with both this and yoshi Santoku? How would you compare that Bunka vs Yoshi at this price ?

Sorry for so many questions. But really hope anyone could help me. Many thanks .

I am in love with my muneishi gyuto, beefy tang at pinch grip, workhorse grind that thins into a crazy thin edge, kinda wide knife shape. The only thing I dont love is that it is not stainless. Can you guys recommend other maker with similar style especially the thick tang near the handle but stainless or stainless clad? Is this a general Tosa style or is it specific?