# Yet another request for help picking out a first gyuto.



## Hoop Nasty (Jan 5, 2019)

Hi guys and gals,

Long-time lurker, first time poster. Where to begin. I've been cooking/prepping food in a professional setting for around 15 years. As of now, I'd say I have decent knife skills; though, I've lost some fingertips along the way. 

Until recently starting a new job at a hibachi/sushi restaurant, I had been satisfied with my knife roll. Couple shuns, a messermeister for the heavy lifting, and a mac ceramic honing rod. I've always been intrigued with reactive steels, and higher quality knives, in general. So, I've done a lot of research on my own, through this forum, or through comparing statistics on CKTG. It wasn't until I started at this newer job that I got a chance to use them and see, first hand, how much keener they can be. I think I'm finally convinced that I need to get a better knife, and I could use a little guidance. Being from a smaller town in the southern US doesn't give me a lot of options to try before I buy. It can be frustratingly backwards here, at times.

I have a king 1k/6k and the aforementioned ceramic hone. I am looking at getting a new stone with my knife, likely a shapton/naniwa 8k or something similar, along with a strop and something to impregnate the strop. So, hopefully I'll have the sharpening taken care of. I've been sharpening my own 50/50 knives for years, never tried an assymetrical grind.

That just leaves the knife, eh? The 25000 dollar question: which knife is the perfect one for me? I have been seriously considering reactive steels, I like the idea of the patina giving my knife its own unique look. Plus, the higher Rockwell numbers that reactive steels tend to score lend to taking and holding a better edge. But, if I'm going to be using this knife on the line, would a stainless or semi-stainless option be better? I tend to wipe my knife off after every use anyway, but I wouldn't say that I am thoroughly cleaning it each time. More like wiping with a moist and then dry towel. Stainless knives tend to have lower Rockwell scores, but the konosuke semi-stainless lines are apparently all the rage. 

Our cutting boards, they're plastic and color coded. You know the sort. They've got a hook cut into one corner for convenient storage. They're probably not the best for edge retention, this is another factor I'm considering. Should I get the semi-stainless for the lower hardness and less likely to chip factor on those poly boards? Or should I buy a reactive blade and get my own cutting board while I'm at it? Am I over thinking the situation entirely? 

Other miscellaneous information:
Right handed - pinch grip.
Normal/average sized hands.
I'd rather not spend more than $400usd on a knife, but that's not prohibitive, if it's truly worth more. 
I know suggestions tend to favor the 240mm gyutos, but I honestly think it would be a little unwieldy for our endangered counter space (we're elbow to elbow at times). For that reason, I'm leaning toward the 210s.

I'm really wanting to buy either a reactive steel blade or one of those semi-stainless konosukes, but since these knives are somewhat costly, it's worth doing the research first. Plus, they're always out of stock.  Maybe one of you fine folks has some experience with a situation similar to mine, and can pass on insight or suggestions to a knife that you feel would be better suited to my situation. 

Thanks,
Hoop


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

Welcome to Cheftalk

There is no correlation between stainless and lower HRC - (see my review of the Takamura Chromax). For ease of maintenance consider a carbon core with stainless cladding. For a pure stainless the Kanehide PS60 comes in Wa and Yo handled versions. I never thought bling and line work were a good combination. Too much opportunity for a nice knife to grow legs.

Tanaka makes a wonderful blade in all flavors - blue#2, vg10 and gin3. His geometry and grinds are excellent as well and the prices are not bad either. http://www.metalmaster-ww.com/product-list/5 Welcome to the rabbit hole.


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## Hoop Nasty (Jan 5, 2019)

mike9 said:


> Welcome to Cheftalk
> 
> There is no correlation between stainless and lower HRC - (see my review of the Takamura Chromax). For ease of maintenance consider a carbon core with stainless cladding. For a pure stainless the Kanehide PS60 comes in Wa and Yo handled versions. I never thought bling and line work were a good combination. Too much opportunity for a nice knife to grow legs.
> 
> Tanaka makes a wonderful blade in all flavors - blue#2, vg10 and gin3. His geometry and grinds are excellent as well and the prices are not bad either. http://www.metalmaster-ww.com/product-list/5 Welcome to the rabbit hole.





mike9 said:


> Welcome to Cheftalk
> 
> There is no correlation between stainless and lower HRC - (see my review of the Takamura Chromax). For ease of maintenance consider a carbon core with stainless cladding. For a pure stainless the Kanehide PS60 comes in Wa and Yo handled versions. I never thought bling and line work were a good combination. Too much opportunity for a nice knife to grow legs.
> 
> Tanaka makes a wonderful blade in all flavors - blue#2, vg10 and gin3. His geometry and grinds are excellent as well and the prices are not bad either. http://www.metalmaster-ww.com/product-list/5 Welcome to the rabbit hole.


Thanks for the input, I checked out the link and your other article. Good read. I appreciate the link to another store, too. I only really know about cktg and jck for quality knives. It's good to know that I don't necessarily have to get reactive steel to hold a good edge. My only experience with stainless has been lesser quality stainless, I guess. Thanks again!


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

From what I understand MetalMaster is not to be trusted these days. JCK, JNS, JKI, Korin, Knives and Stones and Aframes are all good choices. For professional use especially I'm partial to the Geshin Kagero because it holds its sharp so well, they're in stock right now. I do think the Tanaka blue 2 would be a fun knife for you, if you can grab it in stock.


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

rick alan said:


> From what I understand MetalMaster is not to be trusted these days.


Where are you getting that information @rick alan ? His ebay feedback is very good as well as across several other forums. I've had good dealings with him as well. If you want a Tanaka at a fair price he's your man. EMS shipping is like 4 days from Japan to me in upstate NY.


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## Hoop Nasty (Jan 5, 2019)

rick alan said:


> From what I understand MetalMaster is not to be trusted these days. JCK, JNS, JKI, Korin, Knives and Stones and Aframes are all good choices. For professional use especially I'm partial to the Geshin Kagero because it holds its sharp so well, they're in stock right now. I do think the Tanaka blue 2 would be a fun knife for you, if you can grab it in stock.


Thanks for the input Rick. Both of you guys have recommended Tanaka knives, and they seem to be moderately priced. A good thing, to be sure. But, will the f&f be of lesser quality? I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest knife I can get, especially if it's not comfortable. I checked out the gesshin too. I thought I had read that powdered steels were hard to sharpen somewhere: is it actually that big of a deal breaker? I don't sharpen my knives that often anyway. Once every 2 or 3 months, maybe.

If I end up waiting to purchase a proper cutting board, are there certain steels I should absolutely avoid buying/using on those poly cutting boards at work?


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

KKF members reported trouble a few weeks back, like complete lack of response, it had looked like MM was no longer in business. You've seen different recently?


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

I'm not finding that I see posts from 2017, early 2018, but all were about long shipping times. I pony up for EMS when dealing with him. He's still in business - his site I listed is better than his ebay one.

The guy you do want to avoid on ebay is 330mate - he does take forever to respond and ship. Took over a month for a Yamawaku gyuto to get here.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

Got it Mike.

HN, you can live with the polyboards so far as I understand, with conservative microbevel of course, as you'd likely use anyways. Why not right away pick yourself up a High Soft though?


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## kevpenbanc (Jan 18, 2014)

Hoop Nasty said:


> Thanks for the input Rick. Both of you guys have recommended Tanaka knives, and they seem to be moderately priced. A good thing, to be sure. But, will the f&f be of lesser quality? I'm not necessarily looking for the cheapest knife I can get, especially if it's not comfortable. I checked out the gesshin too. I thought I had read that powdered steels were hard to sharpen somewhere: is it actually that big of a deal breaker? I don't sharpen my knives that often anyway. Once every 2 or 3 months, maybe.
> 
> If I end up waiting to purchase a proper cutting board, are there certain steels I should absolutely avoid buying/using on those poly cutting boards at work?


Tanaka f&f is pretty basic from metalmaster.
You can get better from http://www.knivesandstones.com/tanaka/
You pay your money and make your choice

They are very good knives, I have a blue 2 (from metalmaster) and a ginsan (from knives and stones).

As to sharpening powdered steel, I have a bunch of R2/SG2 knives and have no issues sharpenjjng them. Yes a little harder than carbon, but a couple of extra minutes maybe.


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