# What are Your Game Changing Knives?



## mr drinky (Aug 23, 2011)

I was thinking today about the evolution of my knives, skills (cutting and sharpening), and what types of knives I like now. In my rather short 'knife-life', I have had a few knives that changed how I think, so here they are:

(1) Mr. Tanaka 165mm Damascus Santoku. It is still the most beautiful blade I have, and it was the knife that made me take up sharpening.

(2) DT ITK 270mm Gyuto. It is big, but it doesn't feel big and I still use it often and for small jobs, and the edge lasted forever. 

(3) Carter 6.7 sun SFGZ. It was small, light, and thin and felt strange in my hand, but it is now my favorite knife in the kitchen. 

k.


----------



## G-rat (Aug 23, 2011)

My first real Japanese knife (first I bought was a shun yanagiba) was my Moritaka chukabocho. Completely altered my understanding of sharp. Could last and last as a cutting tool. Sure the grind is a little off but I will never ever sell it. It is beautiful and incredibly useful.


----------



## Lefty (Aug 23, 2011)

8" Henkels Chef knife that I inherited from my Dad. I don't care who you are, you'll probably have a soft spot for a late 70s Henckels. It's actually a great knife.

210 Misono moly gyuto. I discovered what thin Japanese steel was all about. It changed my perspective more than the Konosuke white 2 laser gyuto did. The jump from German to J-Knife was almost impossible to comprehend at the beginning.

5.2 sun Murray Carter SFGZ funayuki. All I can say is, if you have never used a Carter, you have to. They're that good!


----------



## ecchef (Aug 23, 2011)

+1 one the Carter. Still in my top 3.


----------



## mhlee (Aug 23, 2011)

1. Global G-2 Chef Knife. I learned that my Wusthof and Dexter Chinese Cleavers were so heavy compared to this knife.

2. Hiromoto AS 240 rehandled and sharpened by Dave Martell. I learned just how sharp a knife could get when sharpened by someone who knows what they're doing. (I still don't know what I'm doing.) 

3. Devin Thomas 240 Western. Not my favorite knife in certain ways, but I learned how important the grind is to a knife and that a well ground knife makes a good cutting knife. It's a superior cutter to the Hiromoto. 

4. 5.4 Sun Carter SFGZ Riveted Handle Funayuki (White Steel). Bigger blade isn't necessarily better and add a good grind to excellent steel and you get a fantastic cutting knife. The DT is a little smoother of a cutter, but the Carter is significantly thinner and stiff - it just feels better.


----------



## stereo.pete (Aug 23, 2011)

My Shigefusa opened my eyes to how a knife should feel and perform.


----------



## AFKitchenknivesguy (Aug 23, 2011)

This may sound weird, but my Kramers are my first high end/great knives I ever bought. I just didn't get the order until years later. When I first saw them online, I placed an order within minutes.

Watanabe gyuto was the first knife I bought and held were I said out loud holy sh%t!

I am gonna jump on the Carter bandwagon, it's the first knife I used where I could never go back to consumer knives.


----------



## Wagstaff (Aug 23, 2011)

My first good knives were just lucky for me -- an romantic interest, a woolly-headed (in my case) wish for carbons and "old things" -- I learned to cut with Sabatier "Nogents". My father had a super-thin Carbon Sab (no idea what maker -- that had long been worn off by the time I was allowed to play with knives). 

A Mac Professional 9.5 chef's was the real entree into Japanese knives, and that wasn't very long ago. That and discussion boards, when I started "researching" what I had with the Nogents. But I don't own a Mac. My first J-knife purchases were recent. The Yoshihiro got me to prefer wa-handles and their associated lightness. So that's a game-changer. And my most recent petty -- a first "laser", is the Gesshin Ginga 210mm petty. Freaks me out how sharp it is, how light it is, how thin it is.

Those are the four. Or five if you count my father's.


----------



## echerub (Aug 23, 2011)

A Tanaka VG10 240 gyuto hooked me forever on nice gyutos. I couldn't go back to German chef knives after that. I still love to use it.

A Takeda 240-ish gyuto got me onto carbon steel. I'll still use stainless or semi-stainless, but rarely. It's still my most-used gyuto though I have others to choose from now.

A CCK carbon steel cleaver got me onto using chinese cleavers. It was the first time I really enjoyed using a cleaver, changing my thoughts about cleavers completely - I'd grown up thinking all cleavers felt as cruddy as the $10 stainless slabs that my family's kitchen always had. This one, unfortunately, doesn't see much use anymore as other cleavers came along.

A Shimatani yanagi opened my eyes to the fun and joy of using single bevels. Too bad I cracked the poor thing while learning to sharpen it.

My very first and most important game-changer though? My mom's old Henckels 8" chef knife. I learned the fun, enjoyment, and basic skills of cooking with that thing - and I remember I took good care of it, at least based on my knowledge back then.


----------



## phan1 (Aug 24, 2011)

1) Konosuke HD 270 gyuto. My most used knife that cuts smooth and fast.

2) 300 blue # 2 yanagi. Gives me an edge that is beyond the beyond. I haven't seen many other people's knives but it gives me the sharpest edge I've ever touched in my life.

3) 210 Deba. The "heart" of my knife set. It picks up any work that my other 2 knives can't do, since the others are extremely thin and delicate.


----------



## chazmtb (Aug 24, 2011)

Gyutos:

Tojiro DP 270 First true Japanese gyuto

Hiromoto HC 270. First carbon gyuto I used and wasn't afraid of patina, rust, sharpening scratches. Light, thin laser like.

Yoshikane 240 SKD 11. Awesome knife, first tool steel, semi stainless, that could get really sharp and stay sharp. I wished that I had never sold it (with a Stefan handle no less) trying to chase thinner knives.

Ichimonji Mitsuhide TKC 270. A knife that I always go back to, no matter what other knives I bought, no matter what flavor of the month I was in a kick to buy.


----------



## Eamon Burke (Aug 24, 2011)

My Tanaka Yanagi is the knife that made me think "holy hell this thing is sharp". My first real knife purchase. I marveled at it for a long time...still do, but for the price they sell them at.

But my Tojiro DP 210 that came with it really changed my whole attitude. I was cutting a snapper with it, and focusing on the fish, not the knife. Next thing I know, I've bent the thing like a fillet knife and there's nothing left on the bones that can be scraped with a spoon. I never would have stressed my knife before that, I had that "quality=probably fragile" mentality. Ever since then, I've beat the hell out of it and it's given me back 100%. Ok 80% but still.

The Rader passaround was surprising for me because I was initially very unimpressed with the knife--I didn't like it at all. But to this day, I think about it at work. It had design qualities that are full of character--nonstandard, but full performance, you just have to learn to drive it first.

Then the most recent: My friend's Henckels International Fine Edge Synergy block. I have never used a knife set and been so ready to find the people who made it and slap them. There is not excuse, in 2011, to be putting out ready-made landfill additive like that. There is nothing to be liked about them, and if robots in a factory can make a car part that fits within a tolerance of .002", or make computer parts in a lab with chemical reactions, they can damn sure put out better knives than that for the same money. Absurd. You pay money, and get NOTHING in return. Poor steel, dim-witted design, uncomfortable, absurd looking, bad edge, uneven/sloppy fit, careless finish, 5 even-more-useless knives in the block. Changed my outlook, for sure.


----------



## NO ChoP! (Aug 24, 2011)

Back in the day, I used to be the guy that sharpened the big plastic handled house knives on an old oil stone. I bought a Henckels chef and parer somewhere in the nineties. Those were game changers for me. I kept 'em sharp, took 'em home every night. I rounded out the collection with other Henckels and Wusthofs including a slicer, utility, bread, cleaver, etc... I thought they where the shizzle probably until 2000'ish, when a new cook from CIA broke out a MAC. Well, I was impressed to say the least. I quickly replaced my German line up with the MACS. 

The MACS opened me tro the world of JKnives, and seeing Salty's collection first-hand really rocketed it to a true compulsion!

I would say my love/ hate relationship with the Takeda is what opened my eyes to what a great knife should be. 

Although, I use a gyuto more because of its versatility, I really love sujihikis.


----------



## unkajonet (Aug 24, 2011)

Heiji 150mm petty. Simply, an awesome knife.


----------



## Cookin808 (Aug 24, 2011)

Has to be the Takeda 240mm gyuto...Not the prettiest visually, but upon first cut I was amazed at how the blade slid through whatever product I was working with. It is still a go to knife and one that I show to students to demonstrate the benefits of Japanese carbon steel.


----------



## jaybett (Aug 24, 2011)

First German Knife - dramatically improved quality of cuts. 

First Japanese Knife - A Shun Santuko. It was surprisingly light, and amazingly sharp. I probably would have been satisfied with this knife, except it wasn't good at prepping large amounts of veggies. 

Ideal Knife - Cleaver. Short knife, with a long flat edge, which makes it suited to small kitchens. The weight of the blade, assists in the cuts. The height of a cleaver, acts an edge guard, makes horizontal cuts easy, and my favorite, a cleaver can clear a board in one pass. 

Jay


----------



## cnochef (Aug 24, 2011)

My first and still favorite, Ichimonji 240mm TKC gyuto (love it so much I just bought a used 270 from bishamon). Recently I purchased a Harner parer from Dave at JKS and I feel the same way about it, a truly amazing knife. I will buy another if I can.


----------



## tk59 (Aug 24, 2011)

I started cooking with an old, cheap but well-designed Sabatier stainless. My first game-changer was a Glestain 240 mm gyuto. It got me thinking about the curvature of the faces of knives and how then affect cutting. That led to the A-type where, I (like some others here) basically ground my own knife in stages trying to find the holy grail of hamaguri edges. After a year of tinkering with the geometry, I had something that continues to hold its own in my rotation. Then I started in with the thin stuff and the DTITK which are great but I can't say they really changed the game. It changed once more with Heiji and Carter which really operate on the same principles the difference being that the Heiji is thicker and heavier (while still being an incredible cutter).


----------



## karloevaristo (Aug 24, 2011)

+1 Carter SFGZ... it's just crazy good... I'm not really particular with looks... And actually for me it doesn't look bad at all and I don't mind the handle also... the important thing here is that... IT CUTS LIKE A DREAM!!!


----------



## JBroida (Aug 24, 2011)

my suisin inox honyaki... i still love that knife. My favorite knife before that was my blazen.

First game changer for me was my masamoto gyuto.


----------



## Cadillac J (Aug 24, 2011)

Global G2 - largest single knife-to-knife performance increase (from crap I had)
Takeda AS - keenest/sharpest/thinnest behind the edge I'd seen at the time
Konosuke - best personal fit ...made me go "oh yeah, this is what I've been waiting for"


----------



## kalaeb (Aug 24, 2011)

I have no game :cry:

But I have lots of nice knives that make it look like I do


----------



## Amon-Rukh (Aug 24, 2011)

I think like a couple others have posted also, my biggest change came with my first set of decent German knives. The upgrade from stuff purchased off the wall at Target to my Zwilling 4-Stars was the real "wow, this is sooooo much better" moment. After that my mind quickly switched over to "of course there are nicer things out there" mode.


----------



## jm2hill (Aug 24, 2011)

My biggest change was from semistain/stainless to carbon.

I thought my Tojiro's were sharp. Then I saw this SK5 knife on sale and I figured my sister would enjoy it and I would try the steel. Sharpened it up and I was done. Its only carbon from here on out. I spent hours trying to get a tojiro petty to the same level and I couldn't do it. I retired that petty and got myself a gesshin ino petty (white) and a miroshi deba (blue) and love those thing.

Now my next biggest changer will probably be a carbon gyuto and something longer than 210 (DAVE!!!!). Whenever that ones done I think I will be super happy. 

My mom's biggest change has to be the Tojiro petty that got retired. She used it for the first time today and texted me today: "OMG -------/ just used a great knife!!!!!". Then informed me of two things: 1) she now understands the obsession 2) that I have consent to replace more of the knives I own so she can get the left overs. 

Now if only my GF would consent. Then life would be a dream.


----------



## tk59 (Aug 24, 2011)

JBroida said:


> my suisin inox honyaki...


 If you can count someone else's knife, this particular one might make my list. You're knife convinced me I needed a laser.


----------



## Mattias504 (Aug 24, 2011)

The first gyuto i bought other than Shun was a Nenox S-1. I still use it alot to this day and I have been in love with it since I got it. It just feels right.

Game changer. The next game changer was definitely the Heiji gyuto. Perfection IMO...


----------



## Vertigo (Aug 24, 2011)

A big ugly fat-bellied Shun Classic gyuto. A new employee brought it in and added it to the house stable, and one day I found myself using it to do something stupid, like cut a quesadilla. Kinda took me by surprise, like _"wait a second here... this isn't like the other knives..."_ It performed so much better than anything else I'd seen, that I started to bogart it and hide it in my station. Eventually, curiosity got the best of me and I wrote down the model number and went on the internet looking for better stuff.

16 months and a lot of money later, I still bogart the thing and hide it in my station whenever I can't use my personal knives.


----------



## deanb (Aug 24, 2011)

Suisin Inox Honyaki Wa gyuto (270 mm) and Bob Kramer 9" chef's knife.


----------



## Wagstaff (Aug 24, 2011)

Vertigo said:


> A big ugly fat-bellied Shun Classic gyuto. A new employee brought it in and added it to the house stable... {snip}...
> 
> 16 months and a lot of money later, I still bogart the thing and hide it in my station whenever I can't use my personal knives.


 
Yeah, 'cause if there's one thing I know about you, it's how much you "love" that big, curvy, exaggerated German profile....


----------



## apicius9 (Aug 24, 2011)

A few steps for me. Decided to get a good knife at age 19 when I moved to do my civil service, and I got a Henckels 23cm chef's knife - some distant relative worked there, and I got a 40% discount. I made use of that for a few more knives and was happy except for the fact that I never got them as sharp as I thought they should be. The next step was when I was cooking with a friend who had just gotten a complete block of Globals for Christmas - quite a difference to the thick German knives. Picked up a few cheaper Japanese knives that weren't all that convincing until I got a Watanabe kuro-uchi nakiri on sale somewhere - that opened the world of custom knives to me (even if the Watanabe was from the standard line). I then had a Hiro AS 240 rehandled by Fish, which spoiled me on the side of esthetics, and around the same time ordered a 285 suji from Murray which was my first full custom knife. Not much looking back after that...

Stefan


----------



## TDj (Aug 24, 2011)

i jumped in with suisin honyaki in 240, but then when i wanted 270, i went konosuke HD. haven't looked at another chef's knife since ...


----------



## Andrew H (Aug 24, 2011)

JBroida said:


> my suisin inox honyaki... i still love that knife. My favorite knife before that was my blazen.
> 
> First game changer for me was my masamoto gyuto.


 
"Spine width at the heel is just 1.54mm" 
Is that a typo?

And the biggest game changer for me was department store stuff to victorinox.


----------



## jmforge (Aug 24, 2011)

A 7 1/2 inch Joe Flournoy fighter??:lol2: My first custom knife.:wink:


----------



## Gator (Aug 24, 2011)

#1 Ikeda(Akifusa) Gyuto - First kitchen knife I've ever had with high hardness, learned a lot from it. Thanks to Thom Brogan for talking me into that one.




#2 Was Aritsugu Yanagiba, drove me nuts while I was trying to sharpen it, came with no edge... Gave me new perspective on steel and sharpening. 




#3 Watanabe honyaki gyuto, first gyuto for me that sustained ~5 per side edge.


----------



## fowlero (Aug 25, 2011)

Masamoto KS wa petty (165mm) in white #2. Once I learned how to make it really sharp it changed the way I look at food.


----------



## tk59 (Aug 25, 2011)

******* said:


> A 7 1/2 inch Joe Flournoy fighter??:lol2: My first custom knife.:wink:



If you're going to post some graffiti on yet another kitchen knife thread, the least you could do is make it interesting.


----------



## oivind_dahle (Aug 25, 2011)

My first Japanese Guyto was an eyeopener. It was a Hiromoto 240 AS. 

In my search for the perfect knife I still continue to have several eyeopeners. The DT was a far better knife than the Hiro, and I was also impressed by Shigefusa. Carter also impressed me. But Im still unexperienced... will get more knives to try


----------



## Mike Davis (Aug 25, 2011)

My first japanese style knife is a damascus Delbert Ealy 240mm gyuto, aside form the petty i made, it is my only good kitchen knife i own. It really got me thinking about profiles and edge geometries. This was only less than 2 months ago, and now i am going to jump in and continue my quest for collecting and making a rather wide array of quality kitchen knives...Trying to get a Carter, just for comparison purposes....


----------



## stevenStefano (Aug 25, 2011)

My Masamoto KS. It was really the first knife with great geometry I bought and it made me look at knives differently


----------



## mr drinky (Aug 25, 2011)

stevenStefano said:


> My Masamoto KS. It was really the first knife with great geometry I bought and it made me look at knives differently


 
I have to get a Masamoto KS.

k.


----------



## SpikeC (Aug 25, 2011)

Takeda 210 gyuto. Coming from a Vic rosewood handled non-bolster.


----------



## Eamon Burke (Aug 25, 2011)

oivind_dahle said:


> My first Japanese Guyto was an eyeopener. It was a Hiromoto 240 AS.
> 
> In my search for the perfect knife I still continue to have several eyeopeners. The DT was a far better knife than the Hiro, and I was also impressed by Shigefusa. Carter also impressed me. But Im still unexperienced... will get more knives to try


 
Oivind, you are the first person to tell me that I needed to add "OOTB" to the Glossary. You'll have tried plenty soon enough.


----------



## oivind_dahle (Aug 25, 2011)

I wish 

Too bad I have to buy them all to try them...
I cant even tell what my favorite steel is. I really like the AEB-L from Devin, but I also like the cladded knife from Carter. I have still to try the 52100 from Bill, and I have no clue about Damasteel and Elmax....


I have to try different HT as well, and handles and handlematerials...


----------



## jmforge (Aug 25, 2011)

Sorry. :O That is another way of saying that I haven't really had a kitchen knife that was game changing..........yet. But I have gotten some good suggestions.:wink:


tk59 said:


> If you're going to post some graffiti on yet another kitchen knife thread, the least you could do is make it interesting.


----------



## Dubsy (Aug 25, 2011)

my first was actually a Mundial 5100 10" chefs. up till then i was using an 8", and it really opened me up to what length could do. it was still a bit too long for me, though, but it came sharp. like, REALLY sharp. it could shave my arm no problem, couldnt even feel it. it ALSO opened me up to the issues of a Forged knife. i hate those bolsters, and the spine was just too thick.

my first jump into the J-knife market was a Tojiro DP, which i LOVED because of how thing it was, and pretty sharp too. but the handle felt cheap, and didnt really like it.

lastly, my first exposure to high end j-knives was my boss's Misono UX10. it wasnt as thin as the tojiro, but it was sharper, WAY more comfortable, and the length felt perfect (turns out it was a 240, after i bought my own and it turned out to be identical). it always felt a little tall, though, so after finding out about this forum i got the 270 suji, same series, and its the BEST knife ive ever used. feels absolutely perfect. i honestly couldnt be happier with it.


----------



## Delbert Ealy (Aug 26, 2011)

Mike Davis said:


> My first japanese style knife is a damascus Delbert Ealy 240mm gyuto, aside form the petty i made, it is my only good kitchen knife i own. It really got me thinking about profiles and edge geometries. This was only less than 2 months ago, and now i am going to jump in and continue my quest for collecting and making a rather wide array of quality kitchen knives...Trying to get a Carter, just for comparison purposes....




:viking:


----------



## Dave Martell (Aug 26, 2011)

I remember the first Japanese knives sent to me by ChefJeff to check out (Watanabe & Tosagata) and how it turned my world upside down. I had been professionally sharpening for a couple of years at that point and had never seen anything like this. They floored me with how hard and thin they were and how sharp they got, nothing before existed after that.


----------



## goodchef1 (Aug 26, 2011)

I believe it was a very cheap and on-sale knife from complete kitchen, the name was kotetsu, and till this day, I still cannot find any info on the company or steel used.


----------



## Crothcipt (Mar 31, 2012)

When I worked at a butcher plant I used what looked like a Henckel, and it never could hold a edge. They even recommended to hit the steel just before you went to the next cut. It wasn't until a few years later that a coworker in a kitchen brought in his starter Global set that I went "holey s....", he just laughed. It was also the first knife that I could get sharp enough to cut through salmon skin instead of just sliding on top of it. Fast forward a few years I finally bought my first Global knife last year. Now I am looking for the next best thing and I keep being impressed every were I look.


----------



## geezr (Mar 31, 2012)

Recent change is to single bevel - Gesshin Hide Kamagata Usuba and Mioroshi Deba for prep rather than double bevel gyuto. Two knives instead of than one, but have the time.


----------



## JKerr (Mar 31, 2012)

I reckon my first "game changer" was my Sab. Before that I had used the likes of Shun and Tojiro, but the Sab really made me appreciate how key the profile is for a knife and not just the steel. I've since moved on to cleavers and now I'm tinkering with single bevels, but I'll always love my Sabs.


----------



## half_hack (Apr 3, 2012)

First game changer for me was the same as everyone else it seems - my first japanese knife. In my case, a *Blazen* gyuto. then it was down the rabbit hole, and my wallet hasn't been the same since. the balance, cutting ability, edge holding of the blazen amazed and still amazes.

I got a *takeda *knife along the way and that was game changer number two. That one showed me just how bad ass a knife can be.


----------



## jmfreeman35 (Apr 3, 2012)

Mine was my kono white #2...I had a TKC for about a year before that, but it wasn't till I first held the kono that I truly feel in love with Japanese steel. Thats when the addiction began...


----------



## Chifunda (Apr 3, 2012)

My eye opening intro to Japanese kitchen cutlery wasn't Japanese; my DT 240 gyuto in 52100. I'd owned hunting knives that performed similarly, but had no idea that level of performance was available in a chef's knife.

Bob Loveless once gave my wife a petty sized kitchen knife made by Ted Dowell back in the late sixties. It was great little cutter but was made from D2 and harder than the gates of hell. Once it got dull it took a belt grinder to restore the edge.


----------



## heirkb (Apr 3, 2012)

For me the game changer was a 240 Heiji gyuto. I still kind of regret selling that knife even though I'm not a huge 240 fan. My Shig, which was the first knife I tried didn't blow me away. 

Nothing I've tried recently has blown me away except for a Gesshin Hide gyuto I got to use just for a little bit at JKI. What a seriously badass knife. Jon has all the awesome stuff, no fair lol.

Edit: Just read the post after mine. I know it wasn't directed at me, but let me add for any future readers that I am by no means experienced lol. I still like what I like, though.


----------



## Johnny.B.Good (Apr 3, 2012)

Fact: this thread caused me to order a number of knives over the past six months.

Hard not to want to try something that experienced members call "game changing."


----------



## tk59 (Apr 4, 2012)

Johnny.B.Good said:


> ...Hard not to want to try something that experienced members call "game changing."


Keep in mind that the term "game-changing" is a compartive term. If you used a KitchenAid and then went to a Forschner, that would also be game-changing, no doubt. The biggest jump in performance I ever experienced was the Henckels to Glestain transition. I love my Rottman and Devin knives and they are excellent performers but I don't know that they were game changers at the point that I acquired them. After that, I'd say there were a few paradigm-shifting revelations for various reasons: Heiji, Carter, Zakuri, Kochi, and the latest is the Gengetsu.


----------



## Johnny.B.Good (Apr 4, 2012)

I know it's not a "favorite knife" thread, but when you hear the names of certain makers over and over again it's difficult not to want to experience them for yourself.

I almost bought a Glestain long ago...still sort of want one.


----------



## tk59 (Apr 4, 2012)

Johnny.B.Good said:


> I know it's not a "favorite knife" thread, but when you hear the names of certain makers over and over again it's difficult not to want to experience them for yourself.


I'm there with ya. I try out every knife I can get my hands on and there are still plenty I'd like to experience.


----------



## phan1 (Apr 4, 2012)

Aritsugu A gyuto. This baby GETS THINGS DONE. It's the only knife I have that will go through crates of vegetables and still keep going easily. I know even a lot of professionals don't go through crates of vegetables at one time, but I do, and this is the only knife that can do it. And I'm talking about going through crates of having to finely cut green onions type of work here, not rough chop work. Sure I own sexier knives that get super sharp like the DT or the Konosuke HD, but in a practical working environment, my Aritsugu A is "the one".


----------



## kalaeb (Apr 4, 2012)

tk59 said:


> Keep in mind that the term "game-changing" is a compartive term. If you used a KitchenAid and then went to a Forschner, that would also be game-changing, no doubt. The biggest jump in performance I ever experienced was the Henckels to Glestain transition. I love my Rottman and Devin knives and they are excellent performers but I don't know that they were game changers at the point that I acquired them. After that, I'd say there were a few paradigm-shifting revelations for various reasons: Heiji, Carter, Zakuri, Kochi, and the latest is the Gengetsu.



The Gengetsu is on my short list as well, I get the shifts with Heiji and Carter, what is it about the Zakuri that provided a revelation. For some reason every time I am on Jons site I look at them but have never heard much about them.


----------



## tk59 (Apr 4, 2012)

kalaeb said:


> The Gengetsu is on my short list as well, I get the shifts with Heiji and Carter, what is it about the Zakuri that provided a revelation. For some reason every time I am on Jons site I look at them but have never heard much about them.


The Zakuri I tried out basically shattered by ideas (at the time) about what a thick knife could and couldn't do. Impressive knives...


----------



## Chifunda (Apr 4, 2012)

Johnny.B.Good said:


> Fact: this thread caused me to order a number of knives over the past six months.



Has anyone actually seen Mr. Drinky and Jon Broida in the same room? :scratchhead:


----------



## Craig (Apr 4, 2012)

Wusthoff Gyuto: Taught me that knives could actually be sharp.

Watanabe Petty: Taught me what sharp actually means.

Shigefusa Gyuto w a Marko rehandle: Taught me how great it is to have the whole package.


----------



## chuck239 (Apr 5, 2012)

tk59 said:


> The Zakuri I tried out basically shattered by ideas (at the time) about what a thick knife could and couldn't do. Impressive knives...



Tinh, If you're going to say that is showing how good a "thick" knife can cut you need to mention the Hide.... Maybe I'll let you borrow that at some point as a reminder.


----------



## Cookin808 (Apr 5, 2012)

About two years ago I switched from a 10" rosewood Forschner to a Takeda 240mm gyuto....man talk about an eye opening experience. Different in every way (profile, height, steel makeup, sharpening...I mean everything was different). I have not been the same since.


----------



## sw2geeks (Apr 5, 2012)

My first Moritaka Chinese cleaver. It was the first knife I custom ordered to my own specs that really opened my eyes to just opening a dialogue with a knife maker and getting what you wanted. Here is a video they made for me when I asked if they could take a few pictures when they made my knife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CXe6k1Ne0

I have had other custom made to order knives since then, but the first one holds a special place in my heart.


----------



## tk59 (Apr 5, 2012)

chuck239 said:


> Tinh, If you're going to say that is showing how good a "thick" knife can cut you need to mention the Hide.... Maybe I'll let you borrow that at some point as a reminder.


You bought a Hide, too?!!! I thought you were cutting down on your collection?!! How many gyutos do you have now?!!! Sheesh. I do have to agree, that knife is some kinda cutter, esp. considering it's so thick. Too bad Jon is thinking of discontinuing it.


----------



## Duckfat (Apr 6, 2012)

Ikkanshi Gyuto and suji. 

Dave


----------



## labor of love (Apr 6, 2012)

tk59 said:


> The Zakuri I tried out basically shattered by ideas (at the time) about what a thick knife could and couldn't do. Impressive knives...



Sorry to get off topic, but I just picked up one of those new zakuri 150mm Pettys and I'm pretty impressed! Im alittle surprised there isn't more talk about them. I might have to write a review.


----------



## El Pescador (Apr 6, 2012)

Duckfat said:


> Ikkanshi Gyuto and suji.
> 
> Dave



Do you mean Ikkanshi Tadatsuna?


----------



## Duckfat (Apr 6, 2012)

El Pescador said:


> Do you mean Ikkanshi Tadatsuna?



Indeed!


----------



## jmfreeman35 (Apr 6, 2012)

Great knives! I have a suji and freakin love it


----------



## VoodooMajik (Jun 26, 2012)

My first knives where my Fujiwara FKH Suji and Tojiro DP Nakiri. That Nakiri can take a woopin.. and it's very easy to keep more then shape enough to push cut almost anything.

My Yoshihiro Showed me what a decent gyuto is capable of. Have a Tadatsuna in the mail and very excited XD


----------



## Eamon Burke (Jun 26, 2012)

:zombiegrave:


----------



## VoodooMajik (Jun 26, 2012)

Lol!


----------



## SameGuy (Jun 26, 2012)

kalaeb said:


> I have no game :cry:
> 
> But I have lots of nice knives that make it look like I do


Gosh, can I relate... except I barely even have knives. Hehehe. 

For me, moving from stamped steel hand-me-down hardware store knives and "EverSharp" Farberware "housewarming gift" knives to a Solingen-made Henckels slicer and French Sab parer changed the way I thought about cutting and food prep. But my game-changer is more recent, a $9 Chinese-made KAI bread knife.


----------



## bkdc (Jun 27, 2012)

Mine's been mentioned many times.

Takeda AS gyuto. It's ugly but it's pretty. The 240mm got me addicted to Japanese cutlery, and my wallet hasn't been the same since.

I'm really thinking about custom ordering a Moritaka chukabocho with hammer-patterned kurouchi damascus.


----------

