# My gear



## NoneMoreBlack

I'm a sous-chef in San Francisco. I have seen and worked with a pretty broad range of knives in a diverse set of high-intensity kitchens. One thing that always bothers me about knife reviews is that they are "out of the box," which tells me nothing about how that knife will hold up to a couple years of abuse. It's alot easier to spend a couple hundred on a knife that I am confident will last me 5 years; actually cheaper than using a variety of inferior knives that wear out or get thrown away in the interim.

So this is half gear-gallery, half shorthand review of knives I have experience with.







This is my half-assed tool tray setup I keep my stuff in 90% of the time at work; I hate continually packing and unpacking my knife roll. 

Left to right: JCK Carbonext 270mm Sujihiki, JCK Carbonext 140mm petty, JCK VG10 honesuke, mystery butcher saber, Akifusa 240mm PM gyuto, skewer, microplane, Hand American borosilicate glass hone, Edgepro 1000grit white ceramic hone. In back: random tools (I get lots of compliments on the pink Kiwi peeler, and I keep that sucker sharp with my ceramic)

I sharpen with an Edgepro, which has given me about 5 years of loyal service and which I consider the best investment I ever made in kitchen equipment. I have bought interesting knives at thrift stores for $0.35, put a nice edge on them, and sold them to other line cooks for $20. I used to sharpen the knives for all the dudes on my line, as it is so much more efficient than a freehand stone, and they would bring me tacos and beer in exchange.

I start with the stock edgepro stones, going up to 1000 grit, and then jump to the 5k chosera. I know many people have more complicated sharpening regimes, and go down to micrometer strops and whatnot, but in my experience, even this relatively basic edge loses its polish pretty quickly in real-world use, and is several times sharper than just about anybody else's knife on the line.

The ceramic hone that comes with the edgepro works fine, as far as I can tell it is identical to the Mac or other versions of the same. I also absolutely love the Hand American glass hone. Since I got it, my honing regime is glass rod several times a day, ceramic rod maybe once a day or less, and sharpening isn't necessary for weeks if not months at a time.

I'll discuss the Akifusa first. My understanding is that this was one of the first of the current generation of PM steel knives on the market. It was my first serious gyuto (I had a pretty basic Tojiro before that which I still use extensively at home) and I mostly purchased it on the strength of the review at zKnives. It is a very abrasion-resistant steel, but has a surprising amount of malleability, and once profiled, sharpening is not at all terrible. The first time I tipped the knife (argh!) it actually just bent sideways, and I was able to rectify it without losing a significant amount of material at the tip. The second time did break a bit off, but oh well.

I am extremely pleased with this knife. It's about 3 years old now, and has lots of life left in it. Its distal taper is fairly pronounced and thickness at the heel is medium, so while I wouldn't classify it as a laser, it has a nice flex at the belly and it robust enough at the heel for real line work. I cut my teeth on the edgepro with this knife, so it definitely suffered excessive wear in its first year of ownership. I have never experienced significant chipping or breaking of the edge, even hacking my way through chicken bones and hard vegetables. To my knowledge, the steel has superior wearing characteristics to Misono UX10 (a very popular choice in kitchens I have worked), and at the time I bought it, they were of similar price (I now see the UX10 is $150 MORE.)

The blade profile is fairly narrow, which I like. It is very lightweight at under 8oz (UX10 is 8.5). My only complaint is that I would prefer a 270mm, which I do not believe they produce. I am currently struggling with the decision to upgrade to an Aritsugu, which based on my impressions of the reviews would fit my needs very well.


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## NoneMoreBlack

The Carbonext: I got both these knives in the last year, so I don't have long-term impressions. I like them both. The petty is short for my taste, the longer one was sold out at the time. The spine of the sujihiki may be a tad thick for others' taste; I am not a sushi chef (this isn't a yanagiba anyway), but I like it quite a bit, and have sliced plenty of delicate proteins with no issues. It has a generous concave grind behind the edge, which helps it keep from dragging. I find the length perfect. F&F is fine, just functional and utilitarian. 

Wear-wise, they both seem to be doing great. I inspect the edge regularly, and I am pretty sure I haven't sharpened them since the initial reprofiling when they arrived, although of course I use them quite a bit less than my gyuto. I do find the petty requires more time on the white ceramic than my Akifusa. The steel is semi-stainless (as far as I know, it is the same steel in the Kikuichi TKC line, but the knives are cheaper) described as a semi-carbon tool steel, at 59-60HRC. Since the petty touches a good deal more reactive vegetables and whatnot, it is taking a light patina which doesn't bother me. The sujihiki has maintained its polish as it rarely touches acids.

JCK honesuke: As a note, between this knife and the CNs above, I have purchased 4 knives through JCK (I also got the aforementioned Tojiro there), and I am their #1 fan. They have literally gotten a knife in my hand within 72 hours of me ordering, coming from Japan to Minnesota where I lived at the time. Faintly ridiculous.

Anyway, their house knives have all treated me well. We all know and love VG10 steel, nothing unique for me to report on that front. This knife is too thick for my taste, but I have not actually seen a thin honesuke so that is par for the course. Again, F&F is basic, it has held together just fine in ~3 years of use. One complaint is that it could use more concavity on the flat side to make sharpening easier; I generally have to raise the back side a tiny smidge to get the burr off. I assume this would be a feature of an otherwise similar knife costing 3x as much.

Saber: Not much to report here, except that I bought it for $1 at an estate sale and it is totally awesome. I have taken down some whole hogs and lambs, and it actually worked great on a 78lb yellowfin we got in last week. I hate plastic handles so I was glad I found it instead of getting some Dexter Russel or whatever.


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## Eamon Burke

Nice! Any further elaboration you can do on how to sharpen the peeler with a honing rod??


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## NoneMoreBlack

Yeah! I was going to throw it away and get another one for $4 when it got dull, but then it occurred to me: I also sharpen my Benriner mandoline with the hone, as the steel is so soft that the ceramic will raise a burr and you can keep the edge going indefinitely. So, I just secure the swivelling blade with my hand and then stroke the hone across each face of the blade at what seems like a decent angle. Then I take the small tip of the hone and swipe it along the inside of the blades to clean the burr. I get some weird looks when I do but it seems to do the trick.


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## Crothcipt

lol kinda the same looks I get using a steel on a serrated blade. ty for the advise, and the gallery thread.


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## tk59

I like your reviews. Your assessment is very fair and to the point. Thanks. With regard to going with an Aritsugu, I'm assuming you mean the A-type? These knives are pretty different to the Akifusa. Most that I've seen are very thick toward the edge and mediocre cutters out of the box whereas Akifusa has pretty nice geometry to begin with. The A-type is semi-stainless so it will require more care but the edge it takes (once you've removed the relatively stubborn burr) is very, very sweet. They are also softer than they are supposed to be and it makes sense given the sort of deformation I've experienced while looking for the sweet spot (thinness vs toughness). Newer blades seem to be thinner but still fairly mediocre cutters out of the box regardless of keeness at the edge. I guess my point is I'm not sure an A-type would really be an upgrade, depending on what you're looking for.

The MAC rod is finer than most other ceramic rods and isn't solid ceramic so it doesn't crack.

...and thanks for the peeler sharpening trick. I'll have to try that sometime.


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## NoneMoreBlack

Thanks for the tips on the A-type, I have been reading around a bit more and am starting to rethink that, looking more closely at Konosuke HD. I am definitely concerned that for all the hooplah made about how hard it is to sharpen an a-type, many people report their edge holding to be mediocre. 

I'm not 100% sure the MAC rod is finer than the edgepro, they both claim 1200 grit, and I have used them side by side. In what way do they not crack? I have seen dozens of broken MAC hones. One guy I worked with liked them that way if it broke in just the right spot, made it a "pocket size" model.


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## tk59

NoneMoreBlack said:


> Thanks for the tips on the A-type, I have been reading around a bit more and am starting to rethink that, looking more closely at Konosuke HD. I am definitely concerned that for all the hooplah made about how hard it is to sharpen an a-type, many people report their edge holding to be mediocre.
> 
> I'm not 100% sure the MAC rod is finer than the edgepro, they both claim 1200 grit, and I have used them side by side. In what way do they not crack? I have seen dozens of broken MAC hones. One guy I worked with liked them that way if it broke in just the right spot, made it a "pocket size" model.


About the MAC, they have a couple of models. The black one with a rubber tip doesn't break and it is 2k. I've given/traded a couple of them away and they have been very well received.

On the KonHD, that one's really thin and shortish at 240 mm. The 270 (260 on the edge) feels a little more solid but a lot of pros like something a bit more substantial. Great knife though. In my opinion it is a better pure cutter than the Aki. I also remember the western versions of the Kon/Ashi, etc. to be somewhat more substantial, if you like westerns.


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## bieniek

Very nice to read the reviews and watch on a photo of knives that actually are working their arses off! Finally, thanks 

What about Hiromoto AS? Have you thought about that? It could also use some thinning, but a decent knife. And cheap at what, 180 bucks for 240mm?


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## NoneMoreBlack

Oh, didn't realize you were referring to the black MAC rods, I specifically meant the whites. Yeah, the black ones are nice, I didn't know they were less fragile.

I am definitely going 270 on my next knife whatever it is. According to their specs, the western handled knife is .1mm thicker at the heel, I am not sure how much more subjective sturdiness this translates to. I was thinking of going wa handle just because I haven't tried it on a gyuto before. 

So what are the virtues of the A-type? If it is hard to sharpen but easy to roll/chip the edge, it sounds like the worst of both worlds with regards to stainless vs carbon. This seems to fly in the face of generally positive reviews I read a year or so ago.

I'll check out the Hiromoto, thought I have been and probably will remain a stainless guy.


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## tk59

The flexibility issue I notice the most in "lasers" is due in large part to the relatively small amount of metal leading into the tang. Western handles have more metal at that transition and a shorter transition, at that and thus are inherently less flexible. You will still notice similar flexibility at the tip, if that bothers you.

A-type takes and holds a very pleasing edge, in my opinion. It is very tough steel, as well. All knives will roll or chip given enough stress and enough thinning. In my use, the edge will roll rather than chip. Harder blades will tend to chip instead. Many have touted that steel's wear resistance. While I think it has good wear resistance, I don't think it is as amazing as some make it sound. Once the blade has been thinned to your liking, edge maintenance is very easy unlike very wear resistant steels. I think the legend is due to the fact that most knives (and esp. monosteel) don't require significant (or any) thinning prior to use.

Best stainless knife I've tried that isn't made by Devin or Rottman is probably an Ashi from JKI although I also really like Glestain.


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## NoneMoreBlack

Good to know about the western-vs-wa handle. I am not anti-flexibility, I just have reservations about excessively thin knives once it comes time to break down a chicken or chop some hard herbs, hence my more middle-of-the-road stance.

So JKI lists Ashi in the same category as Gesshin Ginga; these are the same knives?


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## tk59

NoneMoreBlack said:


> Good to know about the western-vs-wa handle. I am not anti-flexibility, I just have reservations about excessively thin knives once it comes time to break down a chicken or chop some hard herbs, hence my more middle-of-the-road stance.
> 
> So JKI lists Ashi in the same category as Gesshin Ginga; these are the same knives?


That flexibility only feels odd when there is some twisting or prying with the blade, like peeling large, hard squash, etc. I have no problem breaking down chickens with this thin knives. What do you mean by hard herbs? Like woody stems, etc.? If I'm doing that kind of work, I will use a slightly thicker, more robust edge than my usual which is under 15 deg per side.

JKI carries (or at least used to) the regular Ashi line and the Gesshin line (also by Ashi) which sports a somewhat harder HT and somewhat better fit and finish, supposedly. I say supposedly because the fit and finish was already very good. I don't recall what the precise differences were supposed to be.


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## bieniek

NoneMoreBlack said:


> I'll check out the Hiromoto, thought I have been and probably will remain a stainless guy.



Its cladded weith stainless. its hard to rust the core, you really must try hard. 
Plus it is somewhat thicker at the spine, has no flex, is robust, doesnt chip easily and gets, well, nicely sharp. 

For the first months you wouldnt even need to thin it. Not too much anyways


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## NoneMoreBlack

Good info guys thanks. I'll probably start a proper thread when I get closer to actually buying something, just to see if I'm not missing anything.


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