# Close to making a purchase. Wanted to reach out to the experts.



## yumyumgoodtimes (Mar 29, 2017)

Hey everybody. I'm currently doing research for a purchase and was hoping to ask for some advice. Any and all input is more than welcomed and much appreciated. Initially my goal was to find a good quality/bang for the buck chefs knife as well as a few steak knives to have on hand. I have realized that I may also want to invest in a decent honing steel.

As far as the chef knife goes, I have at the present moment settled on a Tojiro DP Gyutou (~$60). I've realized the world of steak knives appears to be much different from knives for use in the kitchen. As of right now I have settled on just getting a Victorinox paring knife (~$10) and playing it by ear for how I use it. As far as honing rods go I am completely lost. Any recommendations in this area would be especially appreciated.

I am just an at home chef who cooks his own meals. As far as budget goes I have a real fondness for getting the best quality at the best value and so am open minded and flexible in this regard.

Thanks in advance for any input 

-Marc


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## foody518 (Aug 6, 2015)

Hi Marc, welcome to Cheftalk.

The Tojiro DP is a good bang for buck knife. However, the metal at the edge will microchip as opposed to rolling from usage. You won't really be realigning any metal by using the rod and instead will want to refresh the edge by abrading to get some fresh metal on there - I use stones, and something like a King 1000/6000 combo waterstone plus drywall screen for keeping the stone flat can start you out on that front.

Suggest you swap out either the Tojiro or the honing rod for more compatible choices

No matter what your eventual buys, have a solid plan in place for maintaining them over time


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## smokin52 (Mar 15, 2017)

Looking to buy a duel core 8" Kiritsuke knife for my first Japanese knife.But needed more info on finding the best sharpening stones to take care of my future knife.Can anyone help!


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## brianshaw (Dec 18, 2010)

A ceramic honing rod will be much better choice than the traditional steel. They are affordable and are easy to use if you don't want to hone on a fine stone. All honing rods need to be used decisively and carefully with light pressure... not like we often see by the TV chefs who slap and bang their knives on the steel while grinning into the camera.


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## millionsknives (Apr 25, 2014)

So... I know chefs who use really expensive japanese knives with ceramic honing rods. It works great for them.

I tested a ceramic rod for review and I was getting microchipping even with light pressure on anything harder than 60 HRC

The form factor makes sense on the go as a last resort. At home, why bother? Just strop on a 6000ish grit stone.


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## yumyumgoodtimes (Mar 29, 2017)

Wow well I sure am glad I asked.

I don't have any personal experience with sharpening stones, but I may want to look into learning this in the future. If a ceramic rod would do the trick than I would have no problem with that, but after reading Million's response there is a slight hesitation. I am hoping for something that will be relatively easy to maintain. I plan on doing my best to take good care of whatever I settle on. It will see use a few times per week to cut a few things. With proper "honing" I would think I would be good for quite a while before needing to sharpen.

If anyone has any alternate suggestions or any other thoughts I would love to hear them. Something around the $60 price point, give or take, would be ideal. Like I said I have a deep appreciation for products that find the peak balance of quality and price.

Any and all input is much appreciated.

Thanks.


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## foody518 (Aug 6, 2015)

My take is that I don't think there is a large skill gap between learning to using a honing rod productively and learning to strop on a stone or other flat surface object (cardboard, balsa, leather, etc.), and from stropping effectively to the motions for full stone sharpening (which covers routine touch-ups as well as more involved metal removal).

I also tried out a fine ceramic rod at some point and wasn't keen on the very obvious scuff marks that showed on the bevel - it is abrading/sharpening, and with poor angle consistency or pressure control, likely not leaving a durable edge - you have to go back to the rod more over time.

This is to say I know I suck at using the form factor of something like a rod due to not putting in more time to learn the thing well, particularly after I got some consistency with using stones. Rods have a learning curve as a tool to be used to its potential, which also goes for more effective forms of knife maintenance, but for whatever reasons one proposition seems to garner more apprehension than the other.


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## yumyumgoodtimes (Mar 29, 2017)

Well I think it's safe to say that I am not close to making a purchase lol. Might need to retitle this ha. I get where you're coming from about the perceived lack of skill gap between the different methods of knife maintenance. It makes sense that someone with a deeper understanding of the subject would hold that viewpoint. At the same time I feel that the comfort level with a method is super important. Confidence is key right? I mean you figure if someone is nervous enough they could even start to manifest physical symptoms of being so. But anyways, I'm rambling at this point.

Thank you all for the insight.


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## foody518 (Aug 6, 2015)

Yumyumgoodtimes said:


> Well I think it's safe to say that I am not close to making a purchase lol. Might need to retitle this ha. I get where you're coming from about the perceived lack of skill gap between the different methods of knife maintenance. It makes sense that someone with a deeper understanding of the subject would hold that viewpoint. At the same time I feel that the comfort level with a method is super important. Confidence is key right? I mean you figure if someone is nervous enough they could even start to manifest physical symptoms of being so. But anyways, I'm rambling at this point.
> 
> Thank you all for the insight.


At the same time, I'd weigh the point about confidence versus the inherent tradeoffs of different methods and what the best result (or even good result) yields from each. I think home cooks could easily notice the difference; whether one cares or not is another matter (know folks who are apprehensive about sharp knives and are perfectly satisfied to use a thick dull knife and any amount of force to cut, have developed the skill to manage doing that, as long as the food gets reduced to smaller pieces), but it strikes me that the type of person to go and look for better options has an element of that caring.


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

@smoking52, the dual-core is a good [though not great] knife but ridiculously overpriced, the Hikari also even though on sale at the moment:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/prod...G9mqpsBBngYALD3uddJT5NXkLl_vZeEdmwaAuD98P8HAQ

This is what I'm recommending these days for that particular performance and FF, at half the Hikari price: http://www.thebestthings.com/knives/fischer_bargoin_zen_knives.htm

As to stones, buy anything but Shun stones, they really suck. Cheap and easy are the King combination stones, a big step up and still reasonably priced is Shapton Kuromaku. Or you can get the very best and go Geshin, the 3 stone set is a good deal at $210, and you might as well get their diamond flattening plate and sink-bridge while you're at it. Either way you want a finishing stone of 4K+, 6K I feel is just about ideal for getting the best out of these knives, though for really fine slicing that would be 8K+.


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