Buying husband a kitchen knife, could use some help with quality assessment~

stereo.pete said:
Go with something simple that will perform. You don't need some fancy survivalist steel, stick with what is a simple yet effective cutting tool. My recommendation for people who are interested in buying a quality piece of kitchen cutlery with a budget ~130-150 is a Misono 440 Gyuto (Chef's Knife). They are stainless so you don't have to worry about rust/keeping it dry. They are also easy to sharpen so if you or your husband decide to learn the art, it won't be very difficult to start. The knife is very thin, which means even when it gets dull it will still feel very sharp compared to thicker knives (Richmond Artifex).

Also, Korin has a 15% off summer sale going on now through the 31st, I highly recommend it. What I would get if I was you is a 8.2" Misono 440 Gyuto with a right-handed grind. They are brand new $132 and that is not including the 15% off. I bought a set of these for my best friend as a wedding present and he and his wife absolutely love them. I sharpen them 4 times a year and they are very nice on the stones. All around a great performing knife.

http://korin.com/Misono-440-Molybdenum-Gyutou_2?sc=27&category=280074
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The Artifex and Misono in question both seem to be 2mm thick at the spine. Unless the Misono is ground much thinner just behind the edge I doubt there will be a discernible difference in use.
 
Colog said:
An 8" Shun chefs knife in VG-10 can be found in your price range if you know where to look. The handle looks good for small hands. I love shun kitchen knives.
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GREAT recommendation. Little by little, I'm replacing all our German knives with Shun. Fantastic knives.
 
Unless the Misono is ground much thinner just behind the edge I doubt there will be a discernible difference in use.
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in my experience, not that i have the gyuto, but do have a misono. artifex chef knives are ground thinner.

most japanese blades are ground thinner than most american made kitchen knives, specially the artifex (at least the ones done by lamson).
 
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Thanks to this messages and using google I have taken my election.
Carbon steel blade.
I know, take care with humidity, like having a gremlin.
But its superior sharpness, edge retention and ease of re-sharpening it is all for me.
And besides, they are really good priced, even shipping is cheap.
A Gyuto 210mm (8.2 inch) is perfect.

This
http://japanesechefsknife.com/FKHSeries.html#FKH
or this, more expensive
http://japanesechefsknife.com/HCSeries.html#HCSeries

BTW, this web has a lot of information: about steels, about Blade Type, Searched By Steel & Blade Type... I have learned a lot.
Sure that this is not the first time this web has been linked.
 
i own a masamoto hc petty. they're pretty good. the difference between the FKH and the HC from a new user wouldn't be too big of a difference. so you could go for the FKH and save some money.

check out the wa styled knives as well.

buuuut....

if it's from JCK, i'd choose these:

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

semi stainless, great bang for the buck. best introductory j-knife for a new user that's comfortable with carbon. absolutely worth the extra cash compared to the FKH.

takes an ugly patina though, doesn't give you the same patina like other carbons. gives you shades of greys instead of blues, reds, purples, yellows/browns like on regular carbon.
 
I'ven seem the Aogami also.
Figthing against rust. But I have an -ilogical- atraction for the pure carbon.
But, thinking that with a belt grinder, even with only sandpaper would it be possible to polish a rusted carbon steel so as to have a 'new' blade again.
 
rotan said:
I'ven seem the Aogami also.
Figthing against rust. But I have an -ilogical- atraction for the pure carbon.
But, thinking that with a belt grinder, even with only sandpaper would it be possible to polish a rusted carbon steel so as to have a 'new' blade again.
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Yes, but you'd likely have to repolish it over and over again every time it rusts, if you hate seeing red on the blade as much as I do.
Me, I would probably mirror polish the thing and then give it a good dip in ferric chloride to force a thick patina on it.
 
Guys, when you say "rusted" and "red" are you talking about actual rust or a patina? Carbon knives are very easy to care for if you have some knife etiquette, especially being used at home. The majority of my kitchen knives are all carbon steel and I've never had one rust red. Now beautiful blue and purple flames, most definitely.

Here's my first Japanese knife, a Fujiwara FKH. I use it all the time and I still can't get over that it only cost me $75, what a deal!
38v7.jpg
 
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not rust.

this is rust:





photos of that rusty knife are from a neglected made in korea el cheapo carbon knife that i bought off of ebay.


i was referring to similar hues you are getting on your fkm on this zoomed in photo of your knife:




patina on my suisin:



patina on my el cheapo tosagata funayuki



patina on my moritaka

 
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Well, I did not have a clue about the development of carbon blades.
Thanks a lot for the pics.
That patina is not unpleasant. The rusty spots yes.
As I thought a normal care at home -not to keep a blade which is wet- must be enough to maintain blades in good condition.
And I think that with the grinder is must be very easy to repolish the knife at its initail state. In the event of you get tired of the patina. Taking into account that the patina is not so important. The important thing is the sharp edge of this steel.

franzb69,
you really like Japanese knives. What a collection!
 
[video=youtube;tza5pymb5yg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tza5pymb5yg[/video]

here's a video on how to take care of carbon steel knives. daily care, at least.

thanks but i don't have half as much knives as the rest of the folks on here on other forums.

=D
 
M390 is for a steel junky not the average home cook that knows next to nothing about steels. Imo that's just a horrible recommendation.

+1 to all that mentioned the fujiwara, Misono, and artifex (AEB-L version), all good knives that are easy to maintain and perform well. The fujiwara and Misono will have a 80/20 grind though so as long as both users are right handed and understand this grind for maintenance then its all good.
 
knifenut1013 said:
M390 is for a steel junky not the average home cook that knows next to nothing about steels. Imo that's just a horrible recommendation.

+1 to all that mentioned the fujiwara, Misono, and artifex (AEB-L version), all good knives that are easy to maintain and perform well. The fujiwara and Misono will have a 80/20 grind though so as long as both users are right handed and understand this grind for maintenance then its all good.
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It might be a tad overkill, but it should still be relatively simple to sharpen with sandpaper and a mousepad right? It's not like we're recommending S90V or some equivalent. Not to mention that I would consider carbon steels like White and Aogami Super Blue would be worse recommendations given that average cooks typically don't even bother wiping their knives completely dry before storing them, putting aside oiling them.

Though I would certainly agree that AEB-L would be a preferable choice if ease of sharpening is the concern.
 
Why would you ever use sandpaper and a mouse pad to sharpen a kitchen knife? With that steel it would not only be slow but take a lot of sandpaper as it would wear out quickly.

None of the knives I mentioned have white or blue steel, though if we are talking carbon they are some of the best for kitchen knives. I see rusted stainless knives too so anything is possible with neglect.

As for sharpening of M390, its in a completely different league. You need premium waterstones to sharpen it and in most cases diamond, both my Nubatama and chosera waterstones struggle to sharpen steels with that much wear resistance.
 
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