Slowly starting slicer shopping...

I'm largely a lurker around these parts, but have slowly started to entertain a "need" for a slicer to join my smallish collection (a couple of Masamoto vg-10s and a nice Del Early parer, among others). I'm thinking 300mm or so, wa handle, stainless-ish (sorry - I just know what would happen with carbon in my kitchen), probably double bevel but could be convinced otherwise, somewhere around or south of $500.

As for use, I set myself up with a Good-One Heritage smoker early last summer and have knocked out a few pork bellies and briskets - enough to reckon that a slicer would make life much easier. Did a neat version of Baltimore Pit Beef with eye of round a couple of weeks ago - a nice long draw slicer would have helped there, too. I’m in no hurry, so no need to limit the search to stuff that’s on the shelf/bench now. Say you were in my boat - what would you consider?

Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!

 

My daily driver is a 270 Martell, I forget what I paid for it, but it was 500 ish. I used a lot of suji's before it looking for "the" one and while there are many that will hold up to the task, none had all the attributes I was looking for except the Martell. I don't know what his wait is like, or what your time frame is but it might be worth it to drop him a line. That being said....I am very picky. You certainly do not need a 500.00 dollar suji to knock out some BBQ.

The Gesshin ginga line from japanese knife imports has good steel, well ground and great fit and finish. It is thin and will feel very nimble in your hands. (I think these are 300.00 ish now)
Kurosaki makes a R2 suji, little more robust in your hands than the Gesshin, which you may or may not prefer. It does not drive as well(not as nimble), but has a robustness that will make it feel like you can tackle anything with it...hard bark on your brisket or sear on your belly....no problem for this knife. (approx 300.00)
Another R2 suji I liked was the Shibata, very nimble feeling, great steel, edge holding is grand (approx 300.00)

Hope this helps a little, let me know if you have any specific questions about any of them.

 

I have a 270mm Kurosaki stainless clad carbon suji that I'm more than willing to put up against most others out there. But I'm not a fan of much flex in my larger suji blades. Also must admit mine has a lovely custom handle from Ian Rogers of Haburn knives. Not sure he still does handle work these days, but there are many others out there that do, and do it well. Just watch out for long turnaround times that some have been notorious for.

You might want to consider a stainless clad carbon yourself-- kind of "best of both worlds". You also might want to consider a larger scimitar or scimitar-like profile for what tasks you're looking for. Just food for thought.

 

Thanks to you both. Lots of food for thought here. Not all of these are available in 300mm, but I'm learning a lot more just from looking into them all. I'm currently wandering down the rabbit hole of researching R2/SG2 vs VG10. Ah, this is fun.

 

Based solely on my experience, vg10 is kind of a wash compared to the others. Seeing as how you already have a coupe knives in this steel is recommend splashing out to something different. Change it up a bit, reap the benefits.

 

Thanks to each of you for your guidance, and to Jim for his good counsel, as always, behind the scenes. I ended up with the Gesshin Ginja 300mm stainless. Jon at JKI was wonderful to work with, answered my questions completely, and brought both the blade and the wa handle to a fantastic finish. The knife arrived on Monday, but I wasn't able to break it in properly until today. The brisket wasn't my best (Wal-Mart choice is always a bit of a crapshoot, and I erred on the higher end of the temp scale to the detriment of a bit too much cambro time pre-dinner), but the end result was both tasty and, of course, quite easily carved!

 

You can't go wrong with Jon. That guy is a damn gentleman with an arsenal of knowledge, and the wares to back it up.

 

Congratulations Chad, that brisket did not stand a chance!