Opinions on Flexible Chef Knives

BladeCommander

BladeCommander

Joined
Nov 13, 2012
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I've posted a couple threads asking some opinions on kitchen knives, and this one it no different.

Again I use my old Dexter as an example to illustrate my questions. This knife I picked up cheap just for fun, but has raised some questions for me about the different uses for different blade shapes, grinds, thicknesses, lengths, and other options one has when choosing a kitchen knife.

Question: What are your opinions on flexible chef style knives or gyutos?
I know there are many uses for thinner flexible knives, I fish a lot and am no stranger to a fillet knife. But this Dexter has a very thin distal taper toward the tip which leads to a very flexible knife. I have very much enjoyed my stiffer chef knives I have now, so this flexible tip is different from what I'm used to using.

What would this type of flexible knife excel at? What should I expect to be able to do well, or not so well with this knife?

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I appreciate any comments, please feel free to offer your thoughts.
 
That Dexter would be a great slicer, something of that size would be good for slicing melons, the thinner blade does no crack the rind with the wedge effect of a thicker blade. They also excel at many other tasks like thin slicing most any fruit or vegetable. For the root veggies a heaver blade is less fatiguing, if I had to julienne a 50 # bag of carrots I would use a much heavier Chinese cleaver of forged 10" French . I keep two old thin flex knives in my knife rack, a Warther 7" French and a Forschner 6" curved flex boning.
 
Thank you for your thoughths. They were very helpfull. I will have to use this guy for various slicing tasks in the future.

Anyone else have some thoughts on flexible chef knives?
Is there anything else this might be good at?
 
I must admit I feel a bit uncomfortable with too much flex in a slicer. And flexibility makes sharpening less simple IMHO.
 
Sharpening was a little more difficult. And when doing some cutting it felt like it was wanting to flex instead of making thin cuts. I'll practice with it some more. I don't want to give up on it because I like the new profile. Time will tell if it earns a place in the kitchen.
 
Verify for steering with a flexible blade is even more critical than with stiff blade where the user may compensate.
 
I have an old knife (heckle?) with a similar distal taper (starts out stiff at the heel, and gets progressively thinner, more flexible towards the tip). The strong distal taper creates less resistances when cutting from heel to tip (good for draw slices), but more resistance when cutting from tip to heel (bad for push cutting). I don't reach for it often, b/c i use the tip and/or just the 1st 3rd of a chef's knife quite a bit for garlic, shallots, etc. and don't like feeling the tip flexing. IMO, this kind of distal taper make sense on a dedicated slicer knife, but on a chef's knife / gyuto, i prefer a stiffer, less whippy blade.
 
Curiously, I would say the strong distal taper will benefit above all to the classic French slicing which starts at the belly, after which the blade is pushed forward.
With modern techniques the strong distal taper has become less noticeable. On vintages though that were hand forged the blade is extremely thick above the heel -- at the fingerguard -- and the tip very thin, almost fragile. I've often rounded the tip on purpose to have it a bit stronger.

http://www.cookfoodgood.com/?p=405
 
It's all dependent on the user more than the knife.

A thinner blade and a reasonable taper will provide more control than an ungiving piece of steel. The reason the tips thin is so you can "feel" your way through produce.
 
Benuser said:
Curiously, I would say the strong distal taper will benefit above all to the classic French slicing which starts at the belly, after which the blade is pushed forward.
With modern techniques the strong distal taper has become less noticeable. On vintages though that were hand forged the blade is extremely thick above the heel -- at the fingerguard -- and the tip very thin, almost fragile. I've often rounded the tip on purpose to have it a bit stronger.

http://www.cookfoodgood.com/?p=405
Click to expand...

It's been a while since i used it, but iirc there wasn't much difference between using a forward push vs backward pull cut on softer foods, but the backward pull cut felt better with harder foods. In either case, the main issue i have it is the tip & forward 1/3 section of the knife is too flexible. When cutting an onion, i have to make a conscious effort to start the cut at the stiffer portions of the blade (further back than i normally would), otherwise the cut wonders.
 
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