Overhyped/ underrated knives

Noone told you yet?
You will never find a blade that cuts really virtually efortlessly. How could that be?
At the end of the day, you push a piece of steel through hard structure. The root of the root veg grows to store energy, not to fall apart when cutting.

I think for those who want it efortless there are ready-cut vac packed vegetables at their green grocers

So naturally question arises, why everyone is bragging about this or that flying through produce?

From my experience, most users, also on the boards, are just amateurs[me included], who cannot sharpen properly and I dont think are able to cut efficiently. I dont care about tomato slicing, but about the technique and effort.
I could easily say that most members, instead of getting their hands dirty, prefer to watch youttube vids of others sharpening and making silly comments about that.
And so, would you ask them [me] about opinion? That also works for most chefs.
In Oslo there is not one single cook that is interested in blades maintenance. No clue about knives either. Not a slightest about sharpening[OK there are two in the japanese restaurants with a clue, no more than that]. Ask me how do I know?
That is just about the way its working. You want a knife that works well for you, you have to spend the time and effort yourself.

 

All well and good but I need to start some where. At the moment looks to be starting at random from the bst forum

 

So.. I am very happy to have Bieniek back. He writes this at something like 7am his time. I see it at 1:30am after a few too many.. The only worthwhile things I have ever posted at 7am are: I'll take it, or 'pm sent'..

And he is right on the money this time.

 

+1 bieniek! nobody wants to work, they all want instant gratification. it's like doctors buying sports cars and can't handle it so blame it on the car..

 

Share the poop, LOL

Best. Post. EVER!!

 

This should be a sticky somewhere

 

If you live anywhere near a knife store, the best thing you can do is go handle a few and see what you like. What's comfortable and functional for you, and is one that you will maintain at a level that keeps you happy, is the "best" knife, regardless of hype. If you enjoy things like damascus or fancy wood handles and it makes using the knife more fun for you, go for it. Use what you like, and take what anyone says with a grain of salt.

Personally I find the most under-rated things in the world to be comfortable shoes and soft toilet paper.

 

ive read about knives that can cut both of those two in half with little effort

 

+1

 

At 7am he has probably been up for two hours already beating the living crap out of some sourdough.

 

With all due respect, I don't think that's where you are at this point. There are other better starting options. 1. I agree with Lucretia...if you have any chance of visiting a knife store, or even a mall store with knives, do it. Without buying a thing you can get a sense for what you like to don't like in a profile, balance etc. 2. Call a vendor. I'll put Jon (JKI) on the spot here. He lives and breathes this stuff. He'll ask you questions to help you realize what you like. My brother in law got his first knife there (truly first non-butter knife), at a very intro price point, but Jon gave him all the time in the world; 3. Your recent comments seem like you are looking for good starting/value knife advice. I'll be honest that I don't think you were going to get that with a thread title of 'overhyped/underrated'. That kind of title is a call to arms.

 

agree with you there. There is a single Japanese knife shop in sydney. And I am planning to make my way there soon.

 

Also the debate is kind of fun. I would get some idea of what to look for.

 

Naaaah.
Its a holiday week for me so at around 6- 7am I am enjoying my coffee

Bread is later haha

 

To revive an odd old thread, but one which I participated in, I have to say that I take back part of the "Kato is overrated" comment I made. I still think the petty is just OK and not deserving of immense praise, but my 180mm gyuto is pretty brilliant. I ordered one thinking it was going to be a chunky overweight thing, but the 180 actually gets quite slender and has a very fine tip, and the geometry combined with the buffed (slightly oleophobic though it looks coarse) finish make it one of my best cutters. It's only really beefy at the heel, and even there it's manageable.

I probably wouldn't buy another Kato petty, but the gyuto has turned me around.

I have many other opinions about many other knives, but figured I'd just correct my old position. Wonder if anyone else has had a change of heart toward their overrated/underrated choices.

 

how is the sharpening of that chunky monkey?

 

I bought a 180 petty a while ago when Maksim had one of his sales,used it a few times and wasnt overly fussed.At the end of last year i gave it another whirl and really like it now,dont know if its because i sharpened it(which i hadnt ootb) or it just needed a slight thin? It is pretty reactive though.

 

id like to try one of these 180 petties. a friend of mine said he didnt like katos because they are hard to sharpen. i now have my doubts on these.

 

I certainly dont find it particulary hard to sharpen.

 

Honestly, I haven't had to do much more than touchups since I am low-output and the edge was surprisingly nice and stable out of the box. Further, I wouldn't label it as a very chunky knife. It's thick at the heel and slightly thicker than my Shigefusa at midblade, but is thinner for the front third of the knife, becoming thinner than my Yusuke extra-thin at the tip. I expected a beast, but it turned out to be a very nice knife. And I'm saying that as a guy who normally prefers very thin knives.

Anyway, I think the steel should play very nicely. It's hard and presumably low alloy, and my limited time with it on stones suggests the metal works easily.

Maybe it's the height/thickness that made me less than thrilled with the petty. It's not bad, but definitely not lightsaber stuff. After a bit of thinning, I think it'll be very respectable, but the gyuto impressed me a lot more. If I were a petty kind of guy, I don't think I'd go the Kato direction and probably get something thinner and less reactive.