Finally, I've finished the review of this exceptional piece of cutlery. It's been more than 9 months, sinceI've first placed an order for custom honyaki knife. Then it
went for rehandling, and then finally came to me. After roughly 3 months of use in home kitchen I've collected enough data to finish the review. Overall, it's one of the
best knives I've ever had, and I've had a lot of knives in my life. Superb cutter, light and very comfortable. Weight pretty much half, ok 60% of what the same size Western kitchen knife
would weigh. Despite of the common myth (read marketing BS) that a good kitchen knife should be heavy, it's light and outcuts all of those heavy, fully bolstered and tanged chef's knives. 200g extra weight on the knife won't give you squat in terms of cutting performance, but will get your arm tired much sooner. Anyway, check it out, it is well worth
the high price.
Friday, February 20, 2009 16:41:51
Another sharpener mini-review is up. In short, very versatile, relatively small sharpener. If you need to sharpen your serrated bread knives or any other serrations on any knife, except for those microscopic teeth found mostly on POS knives, then this is the thing you need. Oh yeah, serrated knives need sharpening too ;) Imagine that. Still, this is the right tool if you ever go there. Which you should do eventually.
Thursday, February 19, 2009 19:48:08
Updated Strider MH and Benchmade Nimravus reviews. nothing major this time, just a few facts. It's been so long I've looked at those reviews. I really have to do major overhaul for those two. But, so many new knives not even reviewed so far and just 24 hours in a day. On the positive side, finally managed to order black handled Gude Bread Knife. Took me long time to find one. I love this 320mmbladed monster. The best bread knife I have ever used.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 23:15:02
Finished version 2.0 of the revised and reworked sharpening pages. Somehow, I have overlooked how much has changed in my sharpening equipment since I've posted the first page regarding knife sharpening equipment. New version includes dedicated sections for different types of sharpeners. Looks like I have collected pretty much all of them(type-wise), during the last 5-7 years. Renewed section has reviews, use tips, reports and links for the sharpening devices, systems, stones and abrasives I have used in the past and I am using now. Still not finished with Japanese whetstone(waterstone) reviews though. Those are still in progress.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 19:13:25
I guess my sharpening pages is too old by now. Bunch of sharpeners were retired, I have lots of new sharpening equipment too. More importantly, I'm using several Japanese whetstones (waterstones) now. Plus some of the newer offerings from DMT. All that definitely calls for major overhaul of the sharpening equipment section. Which is that I am doing now. I guess that's a biggest single project for the next few days. Once version 1 is done the old page will be removed and redirected to the new location. New one has dedicated pages for each sharpening device/system type and more detailed use information.
Sunday, February 15, 2009 22:09:59
Because lots of questions regarding the kitchen knives involve the discussion of the steel used in that knife, I've decided to add another grouping of the reviews. Reviews are grouped by the steel used in the reviewed knives. Sorting is alphabetical and doesn't reflect anything else, thus, just because 440C is on the top of the list, does not mean it is the best or I like it the best, just like ZDP-189 is at the end, even though it's a very good steel. More information regarding individual steel can be found in local Knife Steel FAQ.
Sunday, February 15, 2009 13:29:58
Decided to make portobello pizza. The recipe calls for lots of chopped and minced ingredients. Was a good test for Sanetsu. Plus, one of the worst enemies of the edge - cheese. Overall, cutting lasted about an hour. No noticeable edge degradation whatsoever, except the 1cm section at the heel. Not sure what caused it. may be I've pushed down hard and the applied lateral load. Still, nothing that couldn't be fixed by few passes on the 0.25µm diamond spray loaded strop. The more I use this knife, the more I love it.
Friday, February 13, 2009 17:38:41
Used Sanetsu 270mm ZDP-189 gyuto today. This is the first kitchen knife that is made out the latest super steel in my kitchen. Obviously single, 1.5 hour long session isn't enough to make final conclusions, but I love the performance of this knife. Very light, nimble. One of the rare knives that I didn't have to sharpen out of the box. Edge holding so far - superb. Cut julienne and batonnet from carrots, chiffonade from basil, chopped and minced over an hour. Build quality and fit/finish are also top notch. A+ in performance so far.
Thursday, February 12, 2009 21:42:24
Having 3 feeds on this site and just discovered that feature. Anyway, now index and blog pages both have feed auto discovery tags in them.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 21:00:53
Initial review of the Kobayashi nakiri is up. Completed General sections, including blade, handle, sharpening etc. Usage data is still in progress. Check back later.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 17:19:01