What People Talk About Japanese Knives »
ghost asked on Jan 15, 2010:
Which culinary knife sets are better, German Dick brand, or Japanese Mercer knives?
Jamie answered:
germany is known for the best knives
Jamie also said:
germany is known for the best knives
raphael.hogarth@btinternet.com asked on Apr 17, 2009:
What is the difference between German, French and Japanese chef's knives and what should I be looking for?
Visor answered:
If you look at chef's knives specifically then all 3 are pretty similar, French, German and Japanese Gyutos(Chef's knife in Japanese).
The difference is the blade geometry. German style has significant "belly", i.e. blade starts curving upwards somewhere mid section. French style has less pronounced belly and Japanese version, Gyuto is somewhere in between.
I personally prefer French style Gyutos.
More generally there's 2 schools of kitchen knife making, western and Japanese.
Short summary of differences is that western knives tend to be made of softer steel, heavier and with thicker edges, to withstand all the abuse from the average western user.
Japanese knives are far better cutters, thinner edges, harder steel, much
lighter too.
Typical hardness for Western kitchen knives 54-56HRC, Japanese 58-62HRC and high end blades are up to 67HRC,
Average edge sharpening angle on western knives 40-50 deg. Japanese - 30 or less. I have a few sharpened at 6-8 angle, that's quite a bit thinner than the straight razor.
Sate size/style western knives are 1.5 - 2 times heavier than Japanese counterparts.
More details on west vs. Japanese kitchen - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/a rticles/kkchoser/westvsjapn.shtml
And kitchen knife steel FAQ here - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/a rticles/kkchoser/kksteel.shtml
Simply put, if you plan to use your chef's knife to cut veggies and chop bones then go western.
If you want to take minimal care of your knives then go with Japanese blades. They stay sharp longer, cut far better and are lighter.
Whichever way you go , ignore all the marketing BS how good kitchen knives must be forged and have full tang and bolster. NONE of that is required to make a good kitchen knife and some of it contradicts history of knifemaking for 2000 years and common sense :)
Tangs in particular. Chefs (blame culinary schools) and knife dealers keep repeating the same mantra about "full tang for strength", except nobody was making full tang knives until factories started stamping stainless knives, because it was easy to automate.
Japanese katanas and American bowie knives don't have full tang. Those are the blades designed to cut through the bone, armor, leather. Stick tang was plenty for those heavy duty blades, but today knife dealers want you to believe that you need full tang in the kitchen ;) And, obviously pay extra for that. yes, full tang has its place in heavy duty survival/combat knives, may be meat
cleaver too, but not on the chef's knife or paring knife.
Also, heavy knife won't do cutting for you as marketers claim. Sharp edge is far more important. Main benefit you get from heavy knife is exhaustion and probably repeated stress injury.
For more on how to choose a kitchen knife including what to avoid and better brand and steel overviews check this article - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/misc/a rticles/kkchoser/index.shtml
For the budget you can't do better than Victorinox/Forschner chef's knife. Alternatively Tojiro DP line is the best bargain for the performance.
If you buy Chef's knife you don't need Santoku. And Santoku is less versatile than Chef's knife.
mark also said:
I recommend Henckel or Sabatier. I have both. I have a 6 inch chef and an 8 inch chef. I prefer working with the 6 inch but I know others that prefer the 8 (or even 10).
I don't yet own a Santoku knife but am planning on getting one. santoku is a Japanese chefs knife. I will buy the Henckel or Sabatier Santoku knife.
If cost is an issue, I also recommend Chicago Cutlery knives. I like them better than the Victorianox or Wusthof.
Malee H asked on Dec 02, 2008:
Japanese Chef's knives: Shun, or Global?
Wonderwall answered:
Shun!!
I own the Shun Ken Onion 8 inch chef's knife and the heft of it is amazing. Very manageable great rocking motion when chopping whereas the Global handle is very small and almost no heft to it.
Jim Wrench asked on Jul 30, 8355:
What are good knives to cut through bone?
Visor answered:
In general knives aren't mean to cut through the bones.
However, there are a few specialized blades for that, although in the end it all depends on the thickness and size of the bone.
To cut through the femoral bone of the cow you'd need a good axe or a saw, and that is what butchers use for that.
At home you most likely never have to deal with those kind of bones.
For small stuff meat
cleaver will do, or a small hatchet. I personally use Busse "Paul's ratchet" for that, even though it's not a dedicated meat cleaver, it outperforms pretty much anything out there - http://zknives.com/knives/fixed/busse/bu sseph.shtml
Another alternative is Japanese hon-deba, or "true deba", heavy blade which is good enough to cut through the fish and poultry bones, lamb ribs, etc. e.g. - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/ indexbyst.shtml?Deba
As for the rest, Cutco knives are made of 440A steel which every knifemaker will tell you is a low end steel. So, the prices they charge for that is simply outrageous and nowhere near their performance.
If you go with Japanese chef's knives a.k.a. gyuto then avoid any bone contact with those, the edges on them are too delicate for that and they're designed purely for cutting soft food, which they do far better than any western chef's knife be it Wusthof, Henckel or whatever else.
And they hold those thing, efficient cutting edges a lot longer than western knives too.
To work around bones when cleaning meat you need a boning knife - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/ indexbyst.shtml?Boning
