# Sujihiki and Petty recommendations



## pripps (Jan 2, 2016)

Hi, I have been lurking around this forum and others for a while now and finally decided I'd join and ask my questions specifically instead of finding advice from others inquiries.

I'm in the process of replacing a couple knives at home, a slicer, petty and a santuko.The santuko is mainly my wife that uses but I pick it up myself from time to time.
My wife loves Global knives, so I got her a set. For me that will do fine in many cases, but I want more from "my" knives.
In addition to the set of Global knives I have a 210mm Miyabi 7000D chefs/gyuto which is my go-to knife, and a cheap santuko (and a Victorinox bread knife, plus a K-Sab tomato knife).
On top of that I have a 300mm Masamoto KS yanagiba (this is my pride and joy, even though I'm not skilled enough to use it properly).

The 210 Global "slicer" does nothing for me, and that is my top priority to replace.
I'm looking for a 270mm Japanese sujihiki with a western handle. Western handle due to my roast-slicing "technique".
Right handed, stainless or semi-stainless is a must on this one (not full carbon).
Budget approx $200, but there is room to go slightly above.
Edge retention is important, but the kickass sharpness retention is not the most important (if that makes sense).
This one will get some abuse as my wife will most likely use it as well ;-)

I'm also looking at getting a 150-180mm petty, this one I plan to keep in a saya to be able to keep it to myself (keeping my wife away from it).
Here I would be open for carbon, I manage to take care of my carbon yani and don't foresee any problem taking care of a petty. Stainless and semi-stainless is also OK.
Similar budget as the suji (approx $200).
I want a Japanese (wa) handle on this one.

Even though I'm well aware of the limitations of the santuko, I still feel that it has a solid place in our kitchen and would appreciate if you also can advise on this too.
All carbon is out, but stainless clad carbon would be OK.
This one will take a lot of abuse, so think utiliy knife (but I still want a nice one).
Western, Japanese or "hybrid" handle will all do, but hybrid is probably the way I'd like to go.
Budget approx $100.

My knife maintenance skills are much better than my knife usage skills, and even though I don't need knifes in these price ranges I just feel that I want them.
I have a ceramic honing rod, 3 shapton glass stones (220, 1k and 4k) and a naniwa 8k polishing stone.
I think I'm decent at using them, even though I have yet to hone the yani (currently deep studying the theory of yanagiba honing).
I rinse and thoroughly dry my knives after each use (but my wife does not always do that...).
I don't really cook, I prep for my wife that does most of the cooking. My knife skills are bad, and not really doing much to improve them. I do however enjoy prepping food in the kitchen, and like to have nice tools (once again, I don't need them but want them).

I would like to own a Konosuke, I would also like to own a laser (but not sure how much more difficult they would be to use).
I live in Sweden, so anything that can easily be acquired within the European Union is a plus but I have friends in Dallas, TX, that can easily receive an order and get it to me via colleagues that travel to Dallas often enough.

I hope you can help me with some advise.
Please let me know if any more input is needed.


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## pripps (Jan 2, 2016)

As an extra note...
The Miyabi is a bit on the short side, but with that and a Global G2 its currently not the top priority to do anything about.
I do however plan to get a nice 240mm wa-handle gyuto at a later stage.

I have decent wood boards, and space is flexible to some extent (but the knife sizes listed for the suji and gyuto are in accordance with my normal "work stations").


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## mike9 (Jul 13, 2012)

You should check out Maxim's site he's in Europe and a good guy to deal with - http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/

Then there is Rakuten which I've had very good luck with - http://global.rakuten.com/en/category/210216/


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## pripps (Jan 2, 2016)

Checked out Maksim's site. Located in Denmark which is great but his knives seem to sell faster than he gets them in, and I don't know much about the brands he sells (appart from Shigefusa I haven't heard of the others, which I suspect has more to do with my ignorance than anything else).

The Itinomonn Kasumi Santoku seems like a good option to cover that need.

http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/itinomonn-kasumi-180mm-wa-santoku/

As it turns out I will be in Dallas, TX, first week of February which of course opens up for more US suppliers.

Any input on a suji and petty?


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## rick alan (Nov 15, 2012)

From Japanesechefsknife there are still Hiromoto Ginsanko (very nice stainless) 270 suji's left.  Just over $200 but close enough.  You should also check out the Hiromoto AS santoku, Blue Super carbon steel (practically semi-stainless) but stainless clad. $7 shipping anywhere and they may still get away with no vat.

From the States Japaneseknifimports has a Gonbei AUS10 (very nice stainless) 270 still in stock.  You can always buy in confidence with Jon.

Rick


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## ones (Jul 22, 2015)

Pripps,

I assume that you already know about the existence of your fellow countrymen at cleancut.se. I like their selection of knives though have never bought due to the tyrannies of distance. Various forum posts here and there make them out to be nice people to deal with and recently someone posted that they helped select a knife for the poster when he visited in person and found the whole process very illuminating.

Form that site I would suggest having a close look at the Shiro Kamo knives, Kurosaki and Murata - I have a Shiro Kamo gyuto in R2, a Kurosaki AS nakiri and a Murata funayuki and find them all excellent (I realise some of these are outside your price range).

I would back the call on the Hiromoto santoku in AS which Japanese Chef Knives have. Its my everyday 'beater' knife - I use it for everything up to and including boning poultry and it does admirably. Its edge retention is very good and the stainless cladding means I don't have to 'baby it' like I do my iron clad knives. I think its very good value.

http://japanesechefsknife.com/Hiromoto.html#Hiromoto

From the above same site I would look at the CarboNext series. I have a Carbonext petty and its gets quite sharp and is nowhere near as reactive as my full carbons - it does rust if not dried after use but there is no needs to wipe and dry every 5-10 mins like you would have to with normal carbon knives. My wife repeatedly pinches it and often leaves it wet after use - she hates my knife obsession but even she can see how much sharper it is than my stainless knives (I have some Misono UX-10s) ! The price is good value also.

http://japanesechefsknife.com/KAGAYAKICarboNextSeries.html#CarboNextSeries.

Just some ideas....


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## pripps (Jan 2, 2016)

Thank you so far for the input.

My preliminary list at the moment

Suji - 270mmm Hiromoto G3

http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/Page4.html#GingamiNo.3

Petty - GESSHIN GINGA 180MM WHITE #2 WA-PETTY

http://www.japaneseknifeimports.com...products/gesshin-ginga-180mm-white-2-wa-petty

Santoku

ITINOMONN KASUMI 180MM WA SANTOKU

http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/itinomonn-kasumi-180mm-wa-santoku/

or

Kohetsu Aogami Super Santoku 180mm

http://www.chefknivestogo.com/koaosusa18.html

I think this is a nice mixture of steel for each of its purpose.

Suji stainless for ease of maintenance, but still a "high end" SS

Stainless clad santuko should be quite low maintenance and seems like good value (even though the Kohetsu exceeds the planned budget a bit)

Carbon petty to be used only by me, so can deal with increased TLC (in my search for a Kono I stumbled onto Gesshin Ginga)

Please feel free to propose alternatives for any of them.

Sooner or later I will get a 240mm Gyuto (as my Miyabi is a little on the short side), maybe I can get a Kono HD then...


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## pripps (Jan 2, 2016)

OneS -

Thank you for your input

Cleancut is a great shop, and I can testify to their formidable service.
I have visited their shop in person as well, and I have purchased most of my existing knives (and wet stones) from them.

For all 3 knives that I'm now going to purchase there are fully viable options at cleancut, but I'm just after that little extra that either they don't have or is quite expensive.

I want polished non-damscus steel (at least on these specific knives), which rules out many in their line.

But I will continue to purchase from them in the future as well.

The Hiromoto AS santoku seems to be a really good knife, and I would consider it more if I decided on a non-Hiromoto suji (just a personal feeling of wanting to try different knife makers)


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