Chef's Knives, What's Yours and Let's See Them!

Here are most of my Shun's minus 8 inch classic and the Ultimate Paring knife

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Here's a few from my current stable.

Yoshihiro 270mm White #2 Yanagiba

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The legendary Shigefusa 240mm Kasumi Gyuto w/ friction fit Saya

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Michael Rader, M.S. 7" Boning Knife 52100
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Michael Rader, M.S. 240mm Gyuto 52100 w/ Mustard Patina
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Devin Thomas Duo, 240mm Gyuto and Sujihiki in AEB-L
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stereo.pete said:
Here's a few from my current stable.

Yoshihiro 270mm White #2 Yanagiba

2fh4.JPG


96le.jpg



The legendary Shigefusa 240mm Kasumi Gyuto w/ friction fit Saya

vp17.jpg


r99l.jpg


Michael Rader, M.S. 7" Boning Knife 52100
xmnl.jpg

xil2.jpg


Michael Rader, M.S. 240mm Gyuto 52100 w/ Mustard Patina
4bah.jpg

0amt.jpg

q82f.jpg


Devin Thomas Duo, 240mm Gyuto and Sujihiki in AEB-L
v0g7.jpg

2onr.jpg
Click to expand...

Nice collection ! The Raders & Devin Thomas knives look fantastic. I tried ordering a knife from Devin a few years ago....didn't work out.....
 


I added a Chinese style cleaver to it, but haven't received it yet so I cannot provide any input. As for the chef knives, you'll see I have three in this pic - a heavy, large one, a Western gyuto, and a lighter, shorter one. The heavy one was my only chef knife for a while, so it received a ton of use. It was somewhat superseded by the Western Gyuto, which in turn was superseded by the lighter chef.

In all I find that I want a chef knife with a fairly neutral balance and a full distal taper, and NOT stainless steel. The balance is mostly a personal preference. The distal taper is important - a lot of chef knives I've used (production ones and many customs) are uniformly thick and, while this provides the necessary fineness for the tip area, the heel lacks chopping power. I've actually ruined a few by using the back area as a cleaver when it clearly was not designed to do so. Oops. With these, I do not have that problem.

I also find I prefer a blade of about 8" to the longer 9-10" blades for standard use, however the heavy chef comes out whenever I have some serious butchering work to attend to, as I don't have the patience to pull punches in terms of length, thickness, or weight when I'm processing a portion of a large animal.

Also, the slicer you see here is my go-to fish knife (again, full distal tapered) and the paring knife is pretty handy for peeling and picking. I have very little use for the petty these days but still do use it when I'm cutting something small and don't want to wash a larger blade.
 
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This is amusing ! How many of you guys using Japanese style kitchen knives are of actual Asian descent or do you just like the kitchen steel they produce? I'm not knocking just curious! Their little filet pairing knives remind me a lot of giant opinels I just noticed after getting my first opinel last week.

Will get home and photograph my stuff as soon as soon as I get the chance!

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cchu518 said:
This is amusing ! How many of you guys using Japanese style kitchen knives are of actual Asian descent or do you just like the kitchen steel they produce? I'm not knocking just curious! Their little filet pairing knives remind me a lot of giant opinels I just noticed after getting my first opinel last week.

Will get home and photograph my stuff as soon as soon as I get the chance!
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Sometimes it is a matter of design preference or even the types of cuisine one prepares. I know a handful of Japanese people who use French-style chef knives simply because they want to, so it cuts both ways (hmmm, yeah sure why not: pun intended).
 
That's totally cool, like I said I wasn't judging. I like how folks like what they like. I love the Japanese style kitchen knives, but I don't find the need to go beyond a trusty European chef knife most of the time and I'm Chinese!

CapitalizedLiving said:
Sometimes it is a matter of design preference or even the types of cuisine one prepares. I know a handful of Japanese people who use French-style chef knives simply because they want to, so it cuts both ways (hmmm, yeah sure why not: pun intended).
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those are real nice Pete, I don't think I have ever seen your collection put together.
 
My wife is a chef and has a set of Global knives, I am allowed to use the boning knife for lamb legs if I ask nice. I have a Shun just like the one in the first post for my own use at home and love it.
 
One of my working prototypes that i use daily i made a while back. 15n20 carbon, .065" at the spine, 7 3/4" blade, copper bolsters, 15 degree bevel, micarta scales and brass pin. I manage to make a couple of these and gave them to my friends. They all seem to like 'em.

Since then my knives have morphed into more conventional looking pieces. My recent stuff. 7 1/2" chef, 6" nakiri and 4" paring. Wedding gift for a foodie friend of mine. 52100, stabilized Mallee burl scales, copper bolster and my copper and aluminum mosiac pins. Ready for buffing.
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Phil Dobson santoku in M390, blackwood, olive wood, and Mike Sakmar 3 toned mokume gane, Peters HT

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Kris
 
Karburized said:
One of my working prototypes that i use daily i made a while back. 15n20 carbon, .065" at the spine, 7 3/4" blade, copper bolsters, 15 degree bevel, micarta scales and brass pin. I manage to make a couple of these and gave them to my friends. They all seem to like 'em.

Since then my knives have morphed into more conventional looking pieces. My recent stuff. 7 1/2" chef, 6" nakiri and 4" paring. Wedding gift for a foodie friend of mine. 52100, stabilized Mallee burl scales, copper bolster and my copper and aluminum mosiac pins. Ready for buffing.
1073305_10151757723619708_1920563560_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Awesome work! I love your style for sure, and your choice of materials isn't shabby either...
 
My newest purchase was a vintage Forgecraft carbon chef's knife. This will be used for a fun rehab project.


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Im asian and prefer japanese knives for work, because theyre usually thin and light (great for long shifts), and the steel is amazing.

most wouldn't know until you rub it on a high grit stone, fjne steel feels like wet glass and cheap steel feels like lava rocks.

I have a wursof(spelling) and while it works fine it doesnt compare in performance to a japanese equivalent.

also most japanese knives are carbon instead of stainless.

I asked my headchef why sushi knives are carbon and not stainless, he joked that in japan (he was born in japan) only women and children use stainless, that real men can take care of their tools.
 
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