Why aren't these knives widely used?

[WaterPixie]

I did. I recommend western style japanese knives for superior performance and Victorinox for light weigt and acceptable performance. You can review some good quality Japanese knives on this web site (not my web site.). I have knives from Masamoto, Misono and Glestain shown on this site. All are outstanding. I have many others as well. Hope this gives you an idea of what I consider the best kitchen cutlery on the planet. Please understand that there are great kitchen knives made in North America, Europe and even China. But Japan has been making high performance cutlery for over 700 years and they are the best.

I remember how I cut myself on the Zwilling knife I bought.
Chopped food stuck so much to the blade. I used a finger to get it off. Did it many times, didn't get cut. Then one time I did, I got cut.

Any way to avoid food getting stuck on sides of blades?
I know you can buy blades with like uneven stamping things on the sides, but I read from research a while ago, that it makes no difference?

You say Victorionix, but I bought one before. I think I might have written about it in my post that I just told you about. Is there another one you recommend or is the one I had bought the one you'd recommend?

How do I know which of those Japanese blades are light? I remember reading that Japanese blades are made from a brittle or softer metal so the edge doesn't last as long and can crack more easily or something? And they're harder to sharpen?

Thanks

 

[blades]

I remember how I cut myself on the Zwilling knife I bought.
Chopped food stuck so much to the blade. I used a finger to get it off. Did it many times, didn't get cut. Then one time I did, I got cut.

Any way to avoid food getting stuck on sides of blades?
I know you can buy blades with like uneven stamping things on the sides, but I read from research a while ago, that it makes no difference?

You say Victorionix, but I bought one before. I think I might have written about it in my post that I just told you about. Is there another one you recommend or is the one I had bought the one you'd recommend?

How do I know which of those Japanese blades are light? I remember reading that Japanese blades are made from a brittle or softer metal so the edge doesn't last as long and can crack more easily or something? And they're harder to sharpen?

Thanks

The best approach to prevent food sticking is to use something with a narrower blade than a chef knife. Dealing with cheese or even potatoes with a wet texture can stick to the side of the blade. Give the food less steel to which it can stick.There are knives with granton or dimpled blades that help a little. Narrow blades are inferior to taller wide ones for chopping so there are tradeoffs. I use slicers for cheese, for example.

Zwilling, Wusthof, Messermeister etc are German knives with thick heavy blades, bolsters and handle heavy imbalance. My preference is for the opposite. I prefer thin hard blades, no bolsters and a balance point just forward of the handle. You then grip the balance point with the thumb and forefinger and wrap other fingers around the handle. German knives have many fans but I am not one of them.

All the western style Japanese knives are light compared to German knives. They are thin so there is less weight and less material to push through what you cut. Why do razor blades cut so well? Because they are thin. Japanese blades are harder so you can apply a more acute angle than German knives without causing the edge to fail. More acute angles cut better than more obtuse angles.

If I had a dollar for every time I have cut myself preparing food, I could buy a new microwave oven with the money.

Hopefully all of this is just common sense and easy enough to understand. Let me know if you need more information. Take care.

 

[WaterPixie]

The best approach to prevent food sticking is to use something with a narrower blade than a chef knife. Dealing with cheese or even potatoes with a wet texture can stick to the side of the blade. Give the food less steel to which it can stick.There are knives with granton or dimpled blades that help a little. Narrow blades are inferior to taller wide ones for chopping so there are tradeoffs. I use slicers for cheese, for example.

Zwilling, Wusthof, Messermeister etc are German knives with thick heavy blades, bolsters and handle heavy imbalance. My preference is for the opposite. I prefer thin hard blades, no bolsters and a balance point just forward of the handle. You then grip the balance point with the thumb and forefinger and wrap other fingers around the handle. German knives have many fans but I am not one of them.

All the western style Japanese knives are light compared to German knives. They are thin so there is less weight and less material to push through what you cut. Why do razor blades cut so well? Because they are thin. Japanese blades are harder so you can apply a more acute angle than German knives without causing the edge to fail. More acute angles cut better than more obtuse angles.

If I had a dollar for every time I have cut myself preparing food, I could buy a new microwave oven with the money.

Hopefully all of this is just common sense and easy enough to understand. Let me know if you need more information. Take care.

Wait. You cut yourself very often?! That's terrible. Why is that happening?

 

[TastyReuben]

I cut myself probably three times a year on average, and I use a knife pretty much every day.

My mishaps are 100% carelessness on my part. Jacques Pepin, famous for his knife skills as much as anything…if I could ask him one question, it would be, “Have you ever cut yourself while prepping?”

I’d feel a lot better if he said, “Yes, all the time.”

 

[WaterPixie]

I cut myself probably three times a year on average, and I use a knife pretty much every day.

My mishaps are 100% carelessness on my part. Jacques Pepin, famous for his knife skills as much as anything…if I could ask him one question, it would be, “Have you ever cut yourself while prepping?”

I’d feel a lot better if he said, “Yes, all the time.”

Oh. I'm terrified of cutting myself.

I've seen that man cut an onion! Here's the video.

View: https://youtu.be/EaJWqEXaG9Y?feature=shared

Crazy. Using a tiny utility knife or whatever it's called.
There's plenty of Indian street food vendors cutting onions like that with very thin cheap knives too.

I'm crazy slow at chopping.

Have you ever used those plastic cord pull things with blades inside that chop up onions etc? Very fast and efficient. And very safe.

 

[blades]

Wait. You cut yourself very often?! That's terrible. Why is that happening?

Because I am old and sloppy.

 

[blades]

Oh. I'm terrified of cutting myself.

I've seen that man cut an onion! Here's the video.

View: https://youtu.be/EaJWqEXaG9Y?feature=shared

Crazy. Using a tiny utility knife or whatever it's called.
There's plenty of Indian street food vendors cutting onions like that with very thin cheap knives too.

I'm crazy slow at chopping.

Have you ever used those plastic cord pull things with blades inside that chop up onions etc? Very fast and efficient. And very safe.

There is no substitute for a sharp blade. I suspect the street food vendors understand and practice that.

 

[janine05]

I very rarely cut myself as I was taught early on to guard my thumb behind my fingers and when cutting at at angle make sure if you slip the knife hits the outside of your finger nails and no fleshy bits

 

[blades]

I very rarely cut myself as I was taught early on to guard my thumb behind my fingers and when cutting at at angle make sure if you slip the knife hits the outside of your finger nails and no fleshy bits

Sound advice. Unfortunately some of us manage to work around it. I'm guessing I get a cut every couple of months. It happens when I'm not concentrating.

 

[karadekoolaid]

There is no substitute for a sharp blade. I suspect the street food vendors understand and practice that.

Spot on, and totally agree. It's blunt knives that cause most accidents, because you have to force the blade through and then it (usually) slips.
Haven't cut myself for a while, but I can feel one coming on It's the same as bakers saying they never get burned; of course they do, but just get used to it.

I very rarely cut myself as I was taught early on to guard my thumb behind my fingers and when cutting at at angle make sure if you slip the knife hits the outside of your finger nails and no fleshy bits

Yes, exactly. I was taught it's "The Bear Claw", where the only thing exposed is your knuckles, and that is your guideline.
If you do get cut, however, you just stick a plaster on it and keep going.

 

[WaterPixie]

Sound advice. Unfortunately some of us manage to work around it. I'm guessing I get a cut every couple of months. It happens when I'm not concentrating.

Are these any Japanese knives that you recommend that are less than £100? Thanks

 

[badjak]

You can check out this site KAGAYAKI CarboNext (ES) Series

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Are these any Japanese knives that you recommend that are less than £100? Thanks

Have you considered a blade similar to these? Ironically it is the one that wasn't in my photo.

The top one is a paring knife, the bottom one is very similar but twice the length. I use these 2 the most. The tip of the blade to the handle is 17cm on the bottom one.

They're both the same make, just the stamp is more visible on the paring knife.

 

[blades]

Are these any Japanese knives that you recommend that are less than £100? Thanks

I recommend the Japanese knife industry in general. I'm not sure what "these" means. Japanese knives are available at many price points with many material options. What is important is thin, hard blades. Most of the knives on that site would qualify. I think some good ones can be had for around 100 pounds, but I'm not familiar with what is available to UK customers. The models with exotic super hard stainless blades are probably in the 200 pound vicinity. The Misono knives are pretty affordable and great performers. The Masamoto would be a step up in blade steel.

The japanese prefer white (shirogami) or blue (aogami) steel blades. That isn't the color of the steel. It is the color of label that Hitachi applies to the blanks. They are not stainless although blue steel resists staining better than white. They are what we call carbon steel and carbon steels are more abrasion resistant than stainless steels. The Japanese also make use of stainless steels for some models and they generally heat treat them to a harder level than we do in the West.

Also you will see that some knives are available in left or right hand models. The reason is that the factory grinds the edges so that they are not centered on the blade but rather have a long side and short side. The long side determines whether it is left or right. long side on the right or away from the hand makes it a right hand knife. You can grind the edges to your preference, of course.

If you look at traditional Japanese patterns like the yanagi or deba, the edge has a single bevel. The side of the blade that points toward the body is dead flat and the single bevel starts there. They do this, not only to make the knife sharper (1/2 the bevel angle of Western knives), but also for ease of sharpening. The bevel itself is quite long and easy to keep flat on the waterstone. Then a quick swipe with the back of the blade on the stone turns the burr. I think this ancient practice is the reason the Japanese favor asymmetric bevels on their Western knives.

I have started rambling and have gone way past your question so I will wrap it up now. Thanks for reading this far if you did. Let me know if I have failed to answer what you intended.

 

[JAS_OH1]

I recommend the Japanese knife industry in general. I'm not sure what "these" mean. Japanese knives are available at many price points with many material options. What is important is thin, hard blades. Most of the knives on that site would qualify. I think some good ones can be had for around 100 pounds, but I'm not familiar with what is available to UK customers. The models with exotic super hard stainless blades are probably in the 200 pound vicinity. The Misono knives are pretty affordable and great performers. The Masamoto would be a step up in blade steel.

The japanese prefer white (shirogami) or blue (aogami) steel blades. That isn't the color of the steel. It is the color of label that Hitachi applies to the blanks. They are not stainless although blue steel resists staining better than white. They are what we call carbon steel and carbon steels are more abrasion resistant than stainless blades. The Japanese also make use of stainless steels for some models and they generally heat treat them to a harder level than we do in the West.

Also you will see that some knives are available in left or right hand models. The reason is that the factory grinds the edges so that they are not centered on the blade but rather have a long side and short side. The long side determines whether it is left or right. long side on the right or away from the hand makes it a right hand knife. You can grind the edges to your preference, of course.

If you look at traditional Japanese patterns like the yanagi or deba, the edge has a single bevel. The side of the blade that points toward the body is dead flat and the single bevel starts there. They do this, not only to make the knife sharper (1/2 the bevel angle of Western knives), but also for ease of sharpening. The bevel itself is quite long and easy to keep flat on the waterstone. There is nothing better for making delicate cuts on sushi ingredients than the yanagi. Then a quick swipe with the back of the blade on the stone turns the burr. I think this ancient practice is the reason the Japanese favor asymmetric bevels on their Western knives.

I have started rambling and have gone way past your question so I will wrap it up now. Thanks for reading this far if you did. Let me know if I have failed to answer what you intended.

I'm pretty sure that was a typo and meant "are there any"