Have you checked out any of the new Acre Forge stuff? It looks like all of the guys that worked for Carter for years started a new knife company in Portland
Seriously, your cutting skills made me completely speechless. How do you do tap chop without letting the food stuck together? Like, how do gett full contact on the board with just tapping?
Hey I'm actually ordering this same knife, do you have any recommendations for sharpening whetstone-wise and caring for the blade? I start culinary school and I work as a prep cook for BOH, what kind of technique is that called when you were feathering and dicing the onion? I'm used to western style knives, so I'm not familiar with that type of chopping. Thanks for the vid, hope to hear from you soon, cheers!
I have the Tsunehisa 240mm Kiritsuke Nashiji in Ginsan and .... this brand is really amazing. Probably the best bang for bucks brand. What do you think of the edge retention and ease of sharpness of VG10/AUS10 ? I was going to ask about the sharpness too but your tsunehisa has no problem with it obviously haha. I had chinese VG10 and AUS8 and the experience was not great. That is why i aimed directly at carbon japanese steels after this ... or high end stainless like SG2 or a middle ground like ginsan. VG10/AUS10 felt like a big downgrade from there. But now that i'm more educated in knife things, i'm thinking about VG10/AUS10 again but from a good japanese maker. What do you think ?
Hello i love your videos, it is very relaxing to watch you cut stuff and talking about knifes. I like thin, lightweight, tall blades. I already have a Takeda Gyuto NAS Small(21cm) and i would like to add another performer. Would you recommend a Shibata Koutetsu SG2 or a Shiro kamo SG2 Damascus to add to a collection ? they are at the same price in my country.
hi, just wondering about your technique...i got a SK 210 gyuto today and in the box theres a note saying not to chop straight down or you will damage the blade, you are obviously blindingly fast so i'm trying to work it out.... are you just chopping straight down or is there an element of a slight pull on your strokes, or are they being over the top about chopping straight down and blade damage? you're very aggressive on the potato and onion, have you no feat of chips? i'm nowhere near your speed but hope to be half as quick some day, i also dont want to wreck my new knife, it wasn't cheap for me! , thanks
Hi. Sorry for the late reply. only time i go stright up and down is when I do the tomato test. Others i put a very very slight push in the cut. But only ever had micro chips which will happen regardless. Hope you like your knife!
Wow that was fast i just ordered my mom a konosuke 210 hd2 gyuto for christmas she doesnt have any nice knives yet im just wondering abkut sharpening i got her a worksharp with diamond sharpeners she likes that becuase you can set the angles and its very easy to use im just wondering if you kmow what degree of angle the bevel would have on thr knife i ordered and if i can use that sharpener with it thanks :)
@agibson2005 thank you very much for responding I have seen a few of your videos you have a ton of very high quality knives of all you have used if you could just pick 1 chef knife to use forever what would it be?
Great knife. Super lightweight, nimble, razor-sharp out of the box. Your knife skills aren't too bad either, but you cut off and throw away way too much from those bell peppers and onions.
Hi. Thanks for sharing everything 👍 Have 2 questions to bother you with, if you please: Which is your preffered japanese knife and why ? Any insight about what you consider the best balanced knife in geometry, food release, edge retention, cutting performance, sharpness ? Details would help, like maker, specs :)
To fill in some gaps, its 266mm cutting edge, around .10" thick at the spine and its a full convex grind. Aaron has one of my 52100 gyuto which has the S grind on it.
I have the same, its a great workhorse knife, after a few sharpenings its getting better and better, i use it for meat prep mostly, ginsan is a great steel, it loses its super sharpnes pretty quickly but stays on a usable sharpnes Level almost forever if stroped or used with a fine ceramic rod
@@agibson2005 yeah whereas most Japanese knives we get in the West are overhyped and overpriced and basically meh bang for a lot of buck. Just shows you how marked up so much stuff is, stuff thats lower quality, lower fit and finish and ues lesser grades of materials which are easier to work with. Some of them are so ridiculous you just have to embrace it as more of a hype knife or luxury good, like say a TF denka. $1000 USD for a 240 gyoto for something that's no better than a $200 Morikata. At that point it's so absurd you have to embrace it for what it is. But other stuff like say a dumb ass masakage koishi for like $400 or whatever. Just absurd. I do custom regrinds on these and so many of these expensive hype knives aren't even worthy of being turn key, you have to work on them to make them reach potential. It's like, insane. You have to spend that much for something which still needs hours of work to make it all it can be? Nah. The gems are worth it tho. imo this Takamra R2 migaki knife is worth every cent. But it's more of a tool. If I could get the quality, fit and finish, tolerances, warranty and handle that comes on a tojiro R2 pro with the geometry of this knife. then I'd have something I could suggest to everyone.
Do you go straight up and down with your knife while cutting or do you also incorporate a slight forward or backward movement to get more of a slice? If i try this sometimes my knife gets stuck half way in the onion and if i use some forward movement it is easier to go through material.
My R2 santoku is like VG10+++++ didn't believe it until I got one. Only con is it chips easily like VG10 but the edge retention is like nothing I've used before. I will be changing all my knives for R2s.. hap-40 is better retention? I will try.. I tried zdp189 and its great when sharp but hard to maintain..
if you think zdp is hard to maintain then forget hap40. and no hap40 barely has any better edge retention than R2, it's nowhere near zdp regardless what those who promote it might claim. And yes you are 100% correct, R2 is very much like VG10++++ it's very similar to VG10 but everything is slightly better, slighter harder, slighter tougher, slightly more stainless, slightly finer grain, but then you get a decent slightly more than slight bump in edge retention to boot. Otherwise very similar to vg10. It's basically powdered vg10 with an order of magnitude more vanadium. Great stuff. The best thing about it is how common it is, so there are millions of knives to choose from made in that steel. Something for everyone. Much better choice than something niche and kind of weird like hap40... which isn't a steel that was ever intended for knives much less kitchen knives.
Hey, I'm looking to buy a decent kitchen knife. Gyuto, 240 mm, around $200. First choice is Ogata SG2 gyuto, second and third are Akifusa and Fukushima in Blue Super. The Ogata is very similar looking (construction wise) to the one in the video and the other two are very similar with a thin, banana shaped blade. Which one would you get? Can the SG2 be sharpened on regular stones? Would Shapton pro 1000 and 3000 be enough considering it's a powder steel with high hardness?
yea sg2 and any other kitchen knife steel can be easily maintained with regular stones. this stuff is already well thought out. the only steel you might find on some niche knives that can't be maintained easily with regular stones is called hap40 and it's mostly only promoted by CKTG. Aside from their influence it's not really a thing. Almost no one in Japan uses or prefers that steel. It's really only a thing they sell to overseas customers, mostly in the US, and mostly just because of CKTG. Get whatever you want. The knife in the video is pretty sweet. I'd suggest the standard Takamura R2 240 for something similar but more budget friendly. Also comes with western style handle which some might find preferable... or if you want something different, get a flat ground factory made R2 knife and do a regrind on it yourself to make it a laser or however you want. You can easily find some for as low as $120 brand new with a full warranty. The fit and finish and build is generally higher than these knives for the same price range as well.
@@jeffhicks8428 The Shiro is a Santoku 170 or so long and it looks twice as thin as the Yoshikane gyuto but the Yoshi cuts better and the food barely sticks, unlike the Shiro. I didn't think that was possible. The Shiro is so thin that when I cut a tomato and I slide the edge across the skin to initiate the next cut, the blade is ringing.
@@westsenkovec yeah man I agree the Yoshi is a much higher quality and more desirable knife. I'm not really a fan of the takefu stuff but it's not bad or anything.
mumble whispering without a mic. Not great. I have this knife with the sweet rosewood handle with the white horn from MTC. It's really nice as you'd expect from Sukenari however HAP40 is... just vastly inferior to ZDP in every way for a kitchen knife and it shows. This thing is ground anywhere near thinly enough for the single theoretical on paper benefit of HAP40 over ZDP, which is toughness, thus less likely to chip. The hardness difference between 66 to 68 is not important at all. ZDP has vastly better edge properties. It gets sharper. Sharpens VASTLY easier. Takes better edges and with less effort. And get this. It holds those edges, especially the fine edge, A LOT better. The HAP40 in practice is barely an improvement over SG2 in the way it keeps a fine edge. The ZDP is very easily noticeably ahead. So overall, unless you're buying this knife with the intention of doing a custom grind on it, thinning it yourself, I'd get the ZDP every single time. Also at 68 rc the HAP40 is extremely prone to straight up rust. Don't think this thing is semi-stainless, no, you need to treat it like it's carbon steel. It will rust out in 20 minutes if you leave it bloody. For the flatter K tip type that you can do more veg work and chopping, I guess HAP40 could make sense. 99 out of 100 cases though, you're better off with the ZDP and vastly so.
hello, I said that , I'm a cook , I work in the Brazilian navy. I'm looking for a good Japanese knife to use, one that has a blade that doesn't stick to food, especially potatoes. You seem to have a lot of experience. what knife tips do you give me. 
Hi , what do you think about edge grain cutting boards?How do they compare with endgrain in edge retention? Endgrain boards are the most recommended but i'm afraid of warping
Hi! They are great. More surface area for glue so lower chance of twisting. End grain are ok but can warp more and aren't as edge friendly. Just don't put in dishwasher and you'll be ok
@@agibson2005 oh that's different from what i read in knife forums i thought that endgrain are more edge friendly because the knife go through fibers not cutting the fibers, there's just one article from america's test kitchen that say there's no difference and your old videos using edge grain board, Another question does any wood work because I'm not from us and maple here is way too expensive.
There is ZERO difference in edge retention. This is an evidence free myth that everyone just blindly repeats because someone selling end grain boards said it one time. Do yourself a favor and ask for EVIDENCE next time before you believe something. Or better yet, it's not hard to test it for yourself. Try it and see what you find. The same type of wood you will find there is zero relevant difference in how quickly end vs edge grain will dull the knife. What matters much more is picking a good type of wood and a good quality cutting board. Personally, I have both end and edge and both have pros and cons. Edge is overall better and will be easier to maintain and less work and more robust. The end grain does have benefits also in that some of them are very pretty. Buy good quality stuff, don't go cheapo on it. You will regret it. Edge grain I like teak a lot. I also like Walnut. End grain I like maple, walnut, etc.. even tigerwood, which is quite a bit harder, but some of them look very nice and for end grain isn't terrible in performance either. Acadia wood is trash. Do not buy some cheap end grain acadia board.
I wouldnt recommend any type of solid wood cutting board. Any time you go up to the higher Rockwell knives, or regular knives, there’s the possibility of dragging the edge on wood which given the type of heat treat done, could have adverse affects on the edge. Would highly recommend a Hasegawa or an Asahi rubber mat. Look them up, while not aesthetically attractive like a nice wood block, there’s a reason that all of your top Japanese restaurants use them as opposed to wood. One being you won’t damage the edge or dull the edge, there’s no maintenance like oiling, they are anti bacterial and they don’t warp. They are not the cheap plastic cutting boards, these things are amazing. Will never go back to a wood block again.