Best knife for Potatoes??

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Jeff

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Any thoughts on the “best” knife for slicing potatoes or other high starch product?

Relese seems to be a common problem.

Personally, I get the best release with a GLESTAIN chef knife. Potatoes just jump off the blade.

However, it is pretty soft steel and requires frequent steeling or sharpening touch-ups.

… And it is a crazy edge … 60/40 or 70/30 convex!

Thoughts?
 
Takeda… I’d recommend the cleaver but of course you can use a takeda gyuto. Right there with there Takeda and I’ve wondered at times maybe even better is my original kippington hook grind. I have considered selling it.
 
I have an NS funayuki and an NAS Gyuto.

Both are very tall. I giess that’s a good thing but A little awkward to use unless I am using a lower cutting surface (or platform shoes 🤡)
 
Wide bevel petties seem to work great on potatoes (No stiction), which is their primary saving grace, as they're almost always too thick for most other things. I keep around a Masakage Yuki that I convexed, precisely because it's awesome on potatoes. Otherwise, I've never seen a knife get so truly stuck when attempting to cut a carrot in my life as this one, and I would've gotten rid of it. However, it just breezes through potatoes with nary a hint of sticking, even when they're really wet and starchy. So, it keeps it earns its keep. Also pretty, and fun to sharpen.

A 150-210mm Masakage Koishi, Zakuri, Kochi, Yoshikane, Heiji, etc petty would probably be where I'd look if I wanted to upgrade my potato-slayer... Especially the Koishi. Look for something that's at least 2mm or more at the mid-point of the spine (My Yuki is like 2.6-2.7mm in the middle? It's a nutty little wedge-monster on most things, except taters. Great profile, though.). A little bit of convex-thinning, and you're golden.
 
Jeff said:
I have an NS funayuki and an NAS Gyuto.

Both are very tall. I giess that’s a good thing but A little awkward to use unless I am using a lower cutting surface (or platform shoes 🤡)
Click to expand...
Of course, there are many others Takeda just immediately comes to mind. Many Mazakis have very good release, Kato workhorse, shigefusa, just to name a few. Takeda just have a little magic about them, as well as my Kipp hook grind that many workhorse grinds don’t quite get there.
 
Jville said:
Of course, there are many others Takeda just immediately comes to mind. Many Mazakis have very good release, Kato workhorse, shigefusa, just to name a few. Takeda just have a little magic about them, as well as my Kipp hook grind that many workhorse grinds don’t quite get there.
Click to expand...
Jville said:
Takeda… I’d recommend the cleaver but of course you can use a takeda gyuto. Right there with there Takeda and I’ve wondered at times maybe even better is my original kippington hook grind. I have considered selling it.
Click to expand...



The common attribute appears to be S grind.

Had to break out a few taters and do a very very quick and limited hands on.

Had really positive results with my GLESTAIN tall santoku.

Need to try my new 240 Take
Jville said:
Of course, there are many others Takeda just immediately comes to mind. Many Mazakis have very good release, Kato workhorse, shigefusa, just to name a few. Takeda just have a little magic about them, as well as my Kipp hook grind that many workhorse grinds don’t quite get there.
Click to expand...


Just had to do a quickie hands on!

Still had great results w/ GLESTAIN TALL SANTOKU !!!

Have not tried my new Takeshi Suji 240 as it needs work (OOB edge is very disappointing)
 
Takeda anything! The gyuto just falls through and pops the pieces off the other side. His s grind is pretty aggressive with the bevel angle, I think that’s the key. And mazaki gyuto performs well once you take off the stock polish, it’s a gentle but noticeable convex.
 
My coreless Damascus Saji is a potatoe champ because of a very convex blade shape. It is also heavy so it goes through under it's own weight.
 
Steampunk said:
Wide bevel petties seem to work great on potatoes (No stiction), which is their primary saving grace, as they're almost always too thick for most other things. I keep around a Masakage Yuki that I convexed, precisely because it's awesome on potatoes. Otherwise, I've never seen a knife get so truly stuck when attempting to cut a carrot in my life as this one, and I would've gotten rid of it. However, it just breezes through potatoes with nary a hint of sticking, even when they're really wet and starchy. So, it keeps it earns its keep. Also pretty, and fun to sharpen.

A 150-210mm Masakage Koishi, Zakuri, Kochi, Yoshikane, Heiji, etc petty would probably be where I'd look if I wanted to upgrade my potato-slayer... Especially the Koishi. Look for something that's at least 2mm or more at the mid-point of the spine (My Yuki is like 2.6-2.7mm in the middle? It's a nutty little wedge-monster on most things, except taters. Great profile, though.). A little bit of convex-thinning, and you're golden.
Click to expand...

I'm selling one in the marketplace, in fact. 😅

https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/maskage-koishi-honesuki-150-reduced.55556/
 
My 240 S-grind from @The Edge is a championship-level performer on potatoes or any thick, somewhat sticky product. It's great on anything, but the wide, high, thick blade, pronounced double-S grind and perfect light kasumi finish generally refuse resolutely to stick to produce. It's very often the blade I reach for large potatoes or (definitely) sweet potatoes.

My 240 Kato is a championship-level performer on literally anything, and is definitely my most-used knife. Of course, good luck getting your hands on one, and even if you find one, the price is... let's call it "a consideration."

My 240 AS Hinoura is another great performer on thick sticky stuff, and a downright steal given the price, the quality and the availability.
 
Here is my best knife for potatoes. I was ricing some potatoes today so I took a video. I don't think it cuts as smooth some of these other ones shown here.
I am having technical problems with the upload. I uploaded a mov file to my computer but I cannot upload the mov file here. How do I do it? When I figure it out, I will replace with movie?

 
Last edited:
coxhaus said:
Here is my best knife for potatoes. I was ricing some potatoes today so I took a video. I don't think it cuts as smooth some of these other ones shown here.
I am having technical problems with the upload. I uploaded a mov file to my computer but I cannot upload the mov file here. How do I do it? When I figure it out, I will replace with movie?
Click to expand...

Just upload it to Youtube, then post the mink here using the "insert video" button.
 
coxhaus said:
Here is my best knife for potatoes. I was ricing some potatoes today so I took a video. I don't think it cuts as smooth some of these other ones shown here.
I am having technical problems with the upload. I uploaded a mov file to my computer but I cannot upload the mov file here. How do I do it? When I figure it out, I will replace with movie?

Click to expand...


You got it working now. Nice first video. Thanks for sharing
 
It takes me longer to peel the potatoes than to cut them with a knife. I have a mandoline but for home use like my video above I can cut the potatoes by the time I get the mandoline out. Then I have to clean it. I could see if you were doing an awful lot then it would be faster.
 
coxhaus said:
It takes me longer to peel the potatoes than to cut them with a knife. I have a mandoline but for home use like my video above I can cut the potatoes by the time I get the mandoline out. Then I have to clean it. I could see if you were doing an awful lot then it would be faster.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm with you. I bought a mandoline for home ten years ago. It's still in the box and I'm not even real sure where that box is. Probably the only BNIB J-knife I own.
 
Jeff said:
Any thoughts on the “best” knife for slicing potatoes or other high starch product?

Relese seems to be a common problem.

Personally, I get the best release with a GLESTAIN chef knife. Potatoes just jump off the blade.

However, it is pretty soft steel and requires frequent steeling or sharpening touch-ups.

… And it is a crazy edge … 60/40 or 70/30 convex!

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Nothing crazy about asymmetric convex edges! I want the right bevel to form a continuous arc with the face. The edge being off-centered to the left helps as well with the food release.
 
Random comment on the videos- why is no one using proper cutting technique, everyone is just doing a brute force push cut. I'm sure those blades are so sharp that your technique does not matter... But if you need to go through a case of potatoes you need proper technique (or you just use a mandolin).
 
CA_cook said:
Random comment on the videos- why is no one using proper cutting technique, everyone is just doing a brute force push cut. I'm sure those blades are so sharp that your technique does not matter... But if you need to go through a case of potatoes you need proper technique (or you just use a mandolin).
Click to expand...

In my particular case, that video was intended for another thread just to show how nicely the spuds cut and released. That isn't how I cut when I'm just doing food prep.
 
CA_cook said:
Random comment on the videos- why is no one using proper cutting technique, everyone is just doing a brute force push cut. I'm sure those blades are so sharp that your technique does not matter... But if you need to go through a case of potatoes you need proper technique (or you just use a mandolin).
Click to expand...

Personally, I think some of the vids here display fine technique, but if you want to criticize people's cutting I think it's more useful to say "hey, have you tried doing it this particular way?" instead of alluding to a `proper' way of doing things. Most likely, if someone's not doing what you think is proper, they will have no idea of what you mean by proper unless you explain.
 
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