# Pro's, what's on your line?



## macmiddlebrooks (Jul 15, 2012)

I'm not sure whether or not there is a thread like this already, but I thought it might be fun for all us working stiffs to show what we use on the regular (not your entire bag) and keep close at hand while on the line, etc. I currently work in a natural market doing prepared meals and have plenty of room, hence my multiple tools:

-Konosuke fujiyama 240mm gyuto
-Konosuke fujiyama 240mm kiritsuke gyuto
-small veg cleaver (no. 4) from a local asian market
-Dickoron sapphire steel
-wooden tasting spoon

What are you guys/gals keeping on your line?


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## tkern (Jul 15, 2012)

Konosuke fujiyama 240mm gyuto
Gesshin Ginga 270mm suj.
Zakuri 180mm Tosa bocha
Suisin high carbon petty
Idahone ceramic rod
spoons&tweezer-tongs

Thats what I pull out on an average non-fish butchering day. I don't work the line much anymore but thats my starting rotation.


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## Citizen Snips (Jul 15, 2012)

240mm A-type gyuto
210mm Suisin IH wa-petty
tojiro scissors
leather strop
tasting spoons, tweezers, fish scaler, brush


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## shankster (Jul 15, 2012)

240 mm Konosuke HD gyuto
150mm SS Konosuke petty
180mm Kasumi flexi boner or Moritaka honesuke(depends)
microplane rasp
??? small paring knife
Thermapen
Kuhn Rikon peeler


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## Eamon Burke (Jul 15, 2012)

macmiddlebrooks, why do you have two identical gyutos?


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## Salty dog (Jul 15, 2012)

Shown:
Mizuno Tanrenjo Suminigashi 240 gyuto
Carter 6.2 sun funy
Masamoto Honyaki 240 gyuto
Itou parer (gone)
Hiromoto hybrid
Shigefusa nakiri
Devin Thomas feather.


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## steelcity (Jul 15, 2012)

That DT feather looks like it would do a bang up job with some big fish.


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## knyfeknerd (Jul 15, 2012)

Is that free range cat?


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## macmiddlebrooks (Jul 15, 2012)

BurkeCutlery said:


> macmiddlebrooks, why do you have two identical gyutos?



They are very different (to me). The kiri has a much flatter profile and is very thin...I use it on most veg. The regular gyuto is noticeably thicker and I use it on proteins.


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## Eamon Burke (Jul 15, 2012)

So what do you use the Veg cleaver for?


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## macmiddlebrooks (Jul 15, 2012)

BurkeCutlery said:


> So what do you use the Veg cleaver for?



Herbs and the couple of cases of squash that needs to be broken down into coins mostly, but sometimes it's used to julienne onions if I'm in a hurry....or whatever . Best 6 dollars I'll every spend on a knife, that's for sure.


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## allumirati (Jul 15, 2012)

270mm Seikon dojo blue #2 yanagiba
240mm JCK Carbonext YoGyuto
??mm kumadori nakiri ground into petty 

Need Uprgrades quick but debating a new job first .


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## Crothcipt (Jul 15, 2012)

Zhen gyuto call it 300mm
Tanaka 150 petty
Tanaka 180 santouku

I have others that I take to work but those 3 I pretty much use every day.


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## Messy Jesse (Jul 15, 2012)

Masamoto KK 270mm yanagi
Masamoto HC 210mm gyuto
Mizuno Blue#2 240mm gyuto
Victorinox Birdsbeak parer
300mm tweezers
165mm Moribashi
Gray Kunz Spoons
Richcraft Slotted Spoons
Palette Knife


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## Salty dog (Jul 15, 2012)

knyfeknerd said:


> Is that free range cat?



You could say that. Aint no mouses in this restarant!


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## turbochef422 (Jul 15, 2012)

12inch vintage carbon sab
10inch misono Swedish steel
7inch vintage carbon sab
Carter6.2 funy
Ceramic peeler


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## Sarge (Jul 15, 2012)

270 Yoshihiro gyuto
255 Monzaburo Kiritsuke
12" tongs
Kuhn peeler
Plating/Saucing Spoons


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## knyfeknerd (Jul 15, 2012)

Cutco fugubiki
Bud-K kanisaki deba
Knuckle Sandwich kurimuki
Rachel Ray Furi Menkiri
Farberware unagisaki
Sharpsu miroshi deba


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## Crothcipt (Jul 15, 2012)

wow bud-k gets around.


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## sachem allison (Jul 15, 2012)

10" forgecraft chef knife
240 delbert ealy gyuto in aeb-l
150 Will Catchsides dammy petty
150 SpikeC pettysuki in o1
messermiester birds beak paring knife for carving wooden amulets and spoons
old case bone handled mini trapper also for carving
wooden spoons
tasting spoons
pieces of wood
pocket full of string for the amulets
some teeth, claws and bones
tongs


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## Dusty (Jul 16, 2012)

270 kono hd gyuto
240 yoshikane kasumi skd 11 gyuto
270 carbonext suji
210 gesshin ginga ss petty
Tojiro honesuki
Microplane, peeler, crank handled palette knife.


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## allumirati (Jul 16, 2012)

Dusty said:


> 240 yoshikane kasumi skd 11 gyuto



I miss my yoshi. Once you got the right edge on that steel is a beast. The reason while I love semi-stainless. Although the carbonext doesn't come close.


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## allumirati (Jul 16, 2012)

Hey citizen snips. How's that a-type treating you? Is the edge retention all that it's cracked up to be?


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## JKerr (Jul 16, 2012)

Changes a lot, but at the moment:

Haslinger 10" chefs (CPM s35vn)
Azuma minamoto blue 1 yanagiba 30cm(doeasn't see much use)
Vintage Nogent 9" flexible fillet knife
Lion Sabatier 10" chefs (for splitting crabs etc)
Misono swedish 9cm parer
Tojiro flash VG-10 gokujo boning knife
That's my set up anyway for prep. In what was a seafood heavy environment. Though as of this week we're going _contemporary italian_ :curse:


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## labor of love (Jul 16, 2012)

my work kit at the moment:
zakuri 150 petty blue 1
tojiro bread knife
kono hd 270mm gyuto
moritaka ks clone 250mm gyuto
sakai yusuke white 2 300mm sujihiki
gesshin ginga stainless cleaver


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## Citizen Snips (Jul 16, 2012)

allumirati said:


> Hey citizen snips. How's that a-type treating you? Is the edge retention all that it's cracked up to be?



it matches up and then some!! it took some time to get the bevel where i wanted it but now that i have it where i like it, it performs beautifully. a side note that may make a difference on why i love that knife so much is that the geometry of the knife itself seems to have been made for my preferred way to sharpen. i bought it from a member who did some work on it but it would have taken me like 1 more hour if i had gotten it from scratch. really i got it where i like it in like 3 hours time and am reaping the benefits. it is one of my favorites because i put the time into it and would never let it go.

i still love my konosuke knives but i kinda keep them around for special tasks and fish fabrication.


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## Lefty (Jul 16, 2012)

turbochef422 said:


> 12inch vintage carbon sab
> 10inch misono Swedish steel
> 7inch vintage carbon sab
> Carter6.2 funy
> Ceramic peeler



I like your style!

Not that I'm a pro in the same sense, trust me, I do cook for a living (at least part of what I do is cook), and I currently use a Global chef knife (seriously, but only until a project of mine is done), and/or a Forschner chef knife and parer. All of these knives take a licking!


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## kalaeb (Jul 16, 2012)

Josh, Gabe, Raul, Natali, Ismael and Omar....what else do I need? These guys/girl rock....oh and they usually use 10 inch Dexters and one Fuji.


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## gentlecook (Jul 16, 2012)

MAOR photos ? )


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## Miles (Jul 16, 2012)

My everyday kit is listed below, but I'll periodically augment it with added knives and/or tools depending on what the day's menu requires.

270 Aritsugu A type gyutou
240 Yoshihiro gyutou
240 Tanaka blue steel or 240 Kikuichi Elite gyutou
240 Misono Swedish suji
270 Tomotsugu blue steel yanagi
Kikuichi VG10 honesuki
Mac chef series boning knife
Victorinox offset serrated knife
Mac ceramic honing rod

Assorted tongs, spats, turners, peelers, etc.
I also carry my very old school HA honing base with a horsehide leather hone, and a two sided MDF hone loaded with 1 mic and 3 mic diamond paste for touchups.


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## jmfreeman35 (Jul 16, 2012)

I have a few other petties and gytuos that I sometimes bust out, but these are the main ones:

240 yoshikane kasumi gyuto (just got it so its been seeing most of the action)
240 kono white gyuto
270 kono white suji (for filleting/skinning fish)
240 ikkanshi tadatsuna inox suji (my line knife once service starts)
Kikuichi carbon honesuki
125 carbonext petty


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## VoodooMajik (Jul 16, 2012)

Production/Prep
270 Tadatsuna White steel Yanagi
270 Yoshihiro Carbon Gyuto
165 Tojiro DP Nakiri
Tojiro ITK petty
Tojiro ITK bread knife
Blue ceramic rod (mystery, coarse)
Mac white ceramic rod
Palette knife
Peeler
Rasp

Line Service
Tojiro DP Nakiri
Blue ceramic rod
Palette knife
Large offset spatula
Grill tongs (2x)


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## mattrud (Jul 17, 2012)

It changes often. There is a relatively long list of 240mm gyuto that I rotate through

Staples-
Paring knife from JKI
Kikuichi Hankotsu
Heiji 240mm Suji
Joyce chen Scissors
mini off set spatula
peeler (green)
F. dick Spatula
Cake testers
Microplane
Can opener

Currently also in the box-
240mm Leder "line knife" (May become a staple)
7 inch s35vn Rodrigue Boning Knife
240mm Gyuto from Marko


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## JohnnyChance (Jul 17, 2012)

I was intending on starting one of these threads myself and took pictures of my hotel pans on some days for the past month or so.

June 9th: Gengetsu 210mm semi stainless gyuto, Pierre boning knife, Don Nguyen prototype gyuto, 270mm Shigefusa gyuto w/ Marko shoes, Tojiro ITK bread knife with kaleab dressing, Marko Tsourkan 240mm gyuto, mac rod, oxo peeler, car keys.






June 13th: mhenry's Takeda passaround, Gengetsu, mac rod, rosle tongs, sharpie.





June 16th: Marko, Gengetsu, 300mm Hiromoto suji w/ Dave & Marko accoutrements, mac rod, rosle rongs, Gray Kunz spoons, wallet.





June 23rd: Shige, Marko, Tojiro, Yamawaku 210mm yanagi, mac rod, kunz spoons.





June 25th: Marko, Pierre, Michael Rader 12" W2 Scimitar, mac rod, kunz spoons.


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## GLE1952 (Jul 17, 2012)

Johnny,
Whats your impression of the Don Nguyen Gyuto?


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## jgraeff (Jul 17, 2012)

What do you use the scimitar for? Cutting beef it'd imagine? If so does it work better than a Gyuto?


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## Andrew H (Jul 18, 2012)

jgraeff said:


> If so does it work better than a Gyuto?



Absolutely.


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## aser (Jul 18, 2012)

I try to be much more slim than a lot of you guys, I usually only have 2 knives out and the rest are tucked away in the roll. There's no room for me to put my knives in a hotel pan. Heck, not enough hotel pans to have the luxury of using one for full time knife storage.

270mm Yoshihiro stainless gyuto
150mm Ichimonji TKC petty

These are in the roll and pulled out when the task demands it.

300mm Kanemasa e series suji
180mm Shimatani white 2 deba
80mm Dojo paring


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## macmiddlebrooks (Jul 18, 2012)

I like your less-is-more attitude, Sir.



aser said:


> I try to be much more slim than a lot of you guys, I usually only have 2 knives out and the rest are tucked away in the roll. There's no room for me to put my knives in a hotel pan. Heck, not enough hotel pans to have the luxury of using one for full time knife storage.
> 
> 270mm Yoshihiro stainless gyuto
> 150mm Ichimonji TKC petty
> ...


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## JohnnyChance (Jul 18, 2012)

GLE1952 said:


> Johnny,
> Whats your impression of the Don Nguyen Gyuto?



Overall it was excellent.



jgraeff said:


> What do you use the scimitar for? Cutting beef it'd imagine? If so does it work better than a Gyuto?



I use it for butchering and portioning steaks, breaking down whole chickens and ducks, as a lobster splitter, slicing roasts, Portioning pork belly, and I have used it as my line knife in the past for slicing duck breast or skirt steak to order. For most tasks like this it is significantly better than a gyuto.


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## heirkb (Jul 18, 2012)

aser said:


> I try to be much more slim than a lot of you guys, I usually only have 2 knives out and the rest are tucked away in the roll. There's no room for me to put my knives in a hotel pan. Heck, not enough hotel pans to have the luxury of using one for full time knife storage.
> 
> 270mm Yoshihiro stainless gyuto
> 150mm Ichimonji TKC petty
> ...



I keep pretty similar stuff on hand all the time.

270 Yoshihiro
150 Ikkaku Honesuki

Used to have an 80mm Suisin parer with a custom sheath from Eamon in my pocket at all times (that's why I had the sheat made). It was stolen last Friday, which was one of the first times I put it down in a tray. Lesson learned: beware when you stage at places, or you could suddenly be working with a smaller kit.


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## JohnnyChance (Jul 18, 2012)

heirkb said:


> Used to have an 80mm Suisin parer with a custom sheath from Eamon in my pocket at all times (that's why I had the sheat made). It was stolen last Friday, which was one of the first times I put it down in a tray. Lesson learned: beware when you stage at places, or you could suddenly be working with a smaller kit.



Wow that sucks. And of course accusing people of stealing that you just started working with hours ago can be awkward.


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## bieniek (Jul 21, 2012)

Does not rotate. I have one set of knives, I know them and like to use them. 


Most important tool - nailbrush
Cleaver from ebay
Masamoto 27 slicer
victorinox bread knife - planned kasumi bread knife instead.
fujiwara FKH petty.
Shigefusa 27 kasumi chefs
Misono carbon parer thinned
Hiromoto 24 superthinned - soon to e replaced with Kato 27 chefs knife
Ultra petit gyuto noname my handle 
Yoshikane SKD petty 15


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## chinacats (Jul 21, 2012)

bieniek said:


> Does not rotate. I have one set of knives, I know them and like to use them.
> 
> 
> Most important tool - nailbrush



Love the one set idea! What is the nailbrush used for?


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## JohnnyChance (Jul 21, 2012)

chinacats said:


> What is the nailbrush used for?



Cleaning your nails.


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## chinacats (Jul 21, 2012)

JohnnyChance said:


> Cleaning your nails.


:rofl2: I thought for sure there was some secret knife cleaning technique of which I was unaware...


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## heldentenor (Jul 21, 2012)

Bieniek,

How often does the Hayate go to work with you?


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## bieniek (Jul 21, 2012)

Heldentenor, It stays at work, in the office. Last time we ordered tuna, Hayate was very happy - he told me. 
Unfortunately, when the fish actually arrived, price pr kilo doubled [from 180 kroner to 367!]! It rose virtually overnight. And nobody informed us.
So weve sent fish back and Mr Hayate sleeps in the box waiting. 
I dont know if its because theres no more tuna [it was a bluefin] or whats the story. We'll try to order again.

I have made other box for my single beveled knives. Show off planned when lacquering is done and handle mounted.
I was looking for a handle for like two months. Finally I got something more or less fitting the concept.

Yeah, I am quite crazy about my hands... Especially when cutting down whole fish.


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## allumirati (Jul 22, 2012)

Citizen Snips said:


> it matches up and then some!! it took some time to get the bevel where i wanted it but now that i have it where i like it, it performs beautifully. a side note that may make a difference on why i love that knife so much is that the geometry of the knife itself seems to have been made for my preferred way to sharpen. i bought it from a member who did some work on it but it would have taken me like 1 more hour if i had gotten it from scratch. really i got it where i like it in like 3 hours time and am reaping the benefits. it is one of my favorites because i put the time into it and would never let it go.
> 
> i still love my konosuke knives but i kinda keep them around for special tasks and fish fabrication.



How do you sharpen yours? I just ordered the 270mm suji whoot! It will slay hundreds of maki and slice fish at the same time . I've been sharpening asymetrically for awhile but not like anybody else. More like honesuki style but only going to a high angle on the front with my highest grit stone. I'm going to attempt to flatten the back of the suji. The a-types are slightly concave on the back correct? I'm still honing in on my perfect knife sharpening regiment. Anyway this baby is taking place of yanagi, gyuto, and petty. I'm too busy to sharpen 3 knives everyday and this menu doesn't merit having specialized knives. So I'm hoping I can get the retention I want out of it.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jul 24, 2012)

JohnnyChance said:


> Overall it was excellent.
> 
> 
> 
> I use it for butchering and portioning steaks, breaking down whole chickens and ducks, as a lobster splitter, slicing roasts, Portioning pork belly, and I have used it as my line knife in the past for slicing duck breast or skirt steak to order. For most tasks like this it is significantly better than a gyuto.



Boy you have some very nice work knives,that Rader Scimitar is a cool looking blade.I like a small carbon cleaver for splitting Lobsters.


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## Keith Sinclair (Jul 24, 2012)

bieniek said:


> Does not rotate. I have one set of knives, I know them and like to use them.
> 
> 
> Most important tool - nailbrush
> ...



Nice set,what kind of cleaver?The Victorinox wavy edge bread knife is popular in Hawaii,It just sails through clubs & all kinds of fancy sandwiches.Has a gentle rocker & can be sharpened wt. a slipstone.I've used quite a few bread knives some pretty expensive,the lowly victorinox is still one of my favorites.


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## bieniek (Jul 24, 2012)

I bought this off ebay for 30, and turned it to this


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## Keith Sinclair (Jul 24, 2012)

Being carbon I imagine it's pretty sharp.So you made your own handle & Saya good job:doublethumbsup:


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## bieniek (Jul 25, 2012)

Cheers.

Its getting as sharp as all other carbon knives I have. Plus it has the weight behind it, so its very funny to work with


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## hambone.johnson (Jul 26, 2012)

my daily is 

******** Artifex 210 gyuto
Aritsugu A type 210 gyuto
Aritsugu Mukimono 180 Blue II steel
Stephan Fowler 278mm Suji in W2
Hattorii 240mm KF gyuto 
No-name 80mm paring knife

The gyutos are rotated between sharpening sessions for daily prep but the Atype is my preference
the Hattorii will stand in for the Fowler if it becomes dull during service to slice protienes other than that i dont use the Hattorii during prep for space reasons


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## K-Fed (Jul 26, 2012)

Glestain 240mm gyuto: lent it to a co-worker to dice onions for soup. Our house knives are in desperate need of sharpening.
Masamoto virgin carbon petty
Vintage German scimitar
Suisin Inox Honyaki 270mm gyuto
Seikon Dojo 300mm yanagiba
Zakuri blue #1 240mm gyuto

I had my 240mm Suisin IH suji out too when I had to switch kitchens to put out hors d'oeuvres for a 150 person marketing party.


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## JohnnyChance (Nov 10, 2013)

Dragging this back from the dead. 

Last night's:


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## quantumcloud509 (Nov 10, 2013)

JohnnyChance said:


> Dragging this back from the dead.
> 
> Last night's:



Johnny whats the top and bottom knives youve got there? Katos?


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## JohnnyChance (Nov 10, 2013)

Yoshikane on top, Kato on the bottom.


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## jigert (Nov 10, 2013)

Nice set there, Johnny! How's that Itonomonn working out for you? The handle looks petit.


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## Chef Niloc (Nov 10, 2013)

mobile work bag











On the hip:










In The office:


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## chuck239 (Nov 10, 2013)

Whats the Harner that you have in the mobil bag?

-Chuck


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## NO ChoP! (Nov 10, 2013)

Rosle tongs
Rosle peeler
Microplane
OXO small whisk
small palette knife
lefty wenge handled fish spat
microplane
slotted Sur La Table spoon
Vintage solid silver quenelle spoons
Kunz plating spoons
Cooper digi thermometer
Cooper timer
heat resist rubber scraper
DMT diamond and ceramic rods
New sharpie
G2 pen

various knives, dependant on the days tasks...


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## berko (Nov 10, 2013)

whats that king diamond stone? never heared of. how do you like it?


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## Chutotoro (Nov 10, 2013)

Knives i use on the line (90% of the time):

Masamoto KS 240 gyuto
Masamoto KS 240 suji
Tojiro ITK bread knife
Ube 80 parer


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## Chef Niloc (Nov 11, 2013)

chuck239 said:


> Whats the Harner that you have in the mobil bag?
> 
> -Chuck


It's a western Deba full convex grind to the whole blade not just the edge. Here is a pic of the work in progress you can see from the scratch marks the convex grind of the blade.






berko said:


> whats that king diamond stone? never heared of. how do you like it?



King 1000 diamond stone. A lot like diamond Mary stone. It's my go to splash and go. 5+ years and diamond still cuting strong, better then DMT. Nice scratch pattern I say in between a to a Shapton pro 1000 and kink 1200.


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## greasedbullet (Nov 11, 2013)

For prep I keep my entire roll near me, during service I use a mystery line knife, a Ghessin Ginga 210mm petty, and various utensils.

Niloc. That holster setup and the mobile work bag are AWESOME!


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## Keith Sinclair (Nov 11, 2013)

JohnnyChance said:


> I was intending on starting one of these threads myself and took pictures of my hotel pans on some days for the past month or so.
> 
> June 9th: Gengetsu 210mm semi stainless gyuto, Pierre boning knife, Don Nguyen prototype gyuto, 270mm Shigefusa gyuto w/ Marko shoes, Tojiro ITK bread knife with kaleab dressing, Marko Tsourkan 240mm gyuto, mac rod, oxo peeler, car keys.
> 
> ...



Whats worth more your knives or the Honda?


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## lobby (Mar 9, 2015)

Here's what I use for butchery which includes beef, fish, and crustaceans. 






suisin carbon 270 suji

tanaka 240 gyuto 

10" kershaw breaking knife

victornox boning knife

mac ceramic hone 

joyce chen scissors 

tweezers


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## easy13 (Mar 10, 2015)

Todays Lineup 

- Kato
- Hiro
- Marko
- Del
- Offset
- Spoons
- Ceramic Hone
- Notebook & Sharpie


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## Dardeau (Mar 17, 2015)

On Sunday I opened my bag to sharpen knives and it smelled a little funky. Time for the febreeze treatment! This means my work kit was laid out on my kitchen table so I took a shot for this thread.


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## Dardeau (Mar 17, 2015)

From bottom:
210mm Shigefusa gyuto
210mm Heiji SS gyuto
270mm Masamoto KS yanagiba
210mm Sakai Ichimonji deba
195mm Gesshin Uraku deba
195mm Yoshikane SKD usuba
150mm Yoshikane SKD deba
6"+/- R. Murphy boning shank


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