Santoku and paring critique wanted

Matt Rochester

Matt Rochester

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Nov 28, 2014
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I am wanting some feedback on these designs. I already make the two gyutos on the bottom and am really wanting input on the paring knife and the santoku, although if you see something with the gyutos then feel free to comment. The santoku may have a little too much belly and the paring knife may need a little longer handle. Let me know what y'all think. Thanks.
 
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I like the Santoku, I would round the back of the handle a little bit on the paring knife and lower the tip of the blade, A trick I learned here was to draw a line from the middle of the butt of the handle to where the index finger rests. Keep going and somewhere on that line is where the point should be. This doesn't work all the time depending on what kind of knife it is, but I find it usually works pretty well.
 
coop7 said:
I like the Santoku, I would round the back of the handle a little bit on the paring knife and lower the tip of the blade, A trick I learned here was to draw a line from the middle of the butt of the handle to where the index finger rests. Keep going and somewhere on that line is where the point should be. This doesn't work all the time depending on what kind of knife it is, but I find it usually works pretty well.
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Thanks Coop. The pointy handle will be rounded, I guess I missed that.
 
To my eye, a lot of the 160mm-180mm santokus from the big Japanese guys look a lot like cut down 240mm or 210 mm gyutos as far as heel height and belly go. If I was gong to make say a 175 Santoku, I would probably take my 240 gyuto pattern, lower the 50mm heel height to the 210 gyuto height of say 46-47mm but leave the height out at the 175mm point the same and "redraw" the edge. make it a little flatter than the 240 and a bit taller out the blade than the 210, but not a huge amount of either..
 
SCI paring.jpgMy paring knives are 7 inches oa and have 3 inches of edge. I move the scales forward and leave very little riccaso. I also round the butt a lot especially on the under side for reverse paring.
 
Thanks fellas. I'm thinking the first 1/3 will be flat like a gyuto to finish the cut. Then a slight rise to the tip. I see some that are really flat and it seems they would not work well.
 
The guys buying from me want flat, almost no belly. They don't like to lift the heel too high when using a rocking motion. The heel of the knife no more than an inch or so off the cutting board with the tip still flat on the board. Make a few cardboard cutouts and see how the rock cut feels with different belly curves. I dis one that was almost a pivot, rather than a rock. That's how the chef wanted it, and loves it. This detail makes or breaks it for many users.
 
Paring knives can be like the one you drew, but some like the edge flush with the handle, quite useful for peeling.
 
I just traced out a 175-180 santoku on a 240 gyuto pattern of mine and it worked, it di require a bit of curve at the tip like Matt said. The "template" that I am trying to work from is the 165mm Shigefusa santoku with a western handle. That means the heel will be a fair bit taller than the typical small Henckels santoku and such.
 
jdm61 said:
I just traced out a 175-180 santoku on a 240 gyuto pattern of mine and it worked, it di require a bit of curve at the tip like Matt said. The "template" that I am trying to work from is the 165mm Shigefusa santoku with a western handle. That means the heel will be a fair bit taller than the typical small Henckels santoku and such.
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That is similar to how mine is. In the drawing, the flat spot at the rear is a little long. I will shorten it up when I cut them out.
 
Santoku looks fine.
Paring knife handle needs rounding at that pointy butt, and the blade has far too much rise. It should be rather straight edged except for the last inch rising a bit to the tip area.

Think about the name and the task that it is to do - paring. It is to cut the peals from vegetables and to remove parts of things not wanted. This requires a straight edge cut. What you have is more of a boner/utility than a parer.
 
I tried a couple paring knives on my 14 inch wheel and just didn't watch my grind close enough, so they aren't good. But I think the idea is good.
I was just browsing makers today and came across this one as an example of how to do it nicely. :)

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Matt R said:
Any thoughts on hollow grinding the paring knife?
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I've never tried it but if you start with thin stock like 0.06 to 0.078" I'm not sure it would help much.
It might be too thin? If you have one of Nathan Carother's radius platens it might work, however.
 
Paring knives need a straight and flat surface. A FFG on .060" stock makes a superb parer. Brock's fancied up parer shows some thinking out of the box, and is pretty neat looking. But, I feel that it is not conducive to a utilitarian counter knife. The same basic shape in a thin FFG and simple handle would get a lot more use in most kitchens. It is not a good idea to overdo such a very simple knife.
 
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