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Originally Posted by BobMcN /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Nothing quite like a good Japanese chef's knife. We have Henkel 5 star's and I recently got a decent Japanese Santoku. What an amazing knife. I went in looking for a Tojiro - Santoku but the salesman talked me into a Togiharu Inox - Santok for only about $10 more.
Here's a link to the mecca of Japanese knives: Korin - Fine Japanese Tableware and Chef Knives
Enjoy,
Bob
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Thanks for the Korin link: it's a fascinating shop to flip through.
I've been collecting 6"-15" kitchen knives for about 20 years. I cook, and they have always been a point at which cooking exigencies appropriately intersected with guy-like enthusiasms for collecting gear and owning big sharp things. The fact that they would get used was the built-in justification for not stopping collecting.
I never really had much of a strategy or even particularly discerning principles. I always looked for forged rather than ground knife edges and tangs that ran the length of the handle. Most of my kitchen knives are German and were purchased over time from variants of T.J. Maxx in three different countries, on two continents. Apparently, "T.J. Maxx" is Esperanto for something that can't quite be defined but is, nonetheless, immediately understood everywhere.
Anyhow, I've kept about twenty of the things. My best purchases or discoveries of the past two years were these: 1. I got a small Santoku knife from a direct Japanese importer off Ebay. The Seller advertised it as "the sharpest knife in the world," and we all know how to treat that claim. Nonetheless, the 7" knife is remarkably thin and sharp. It's 10-layer Damascus, hard and sliver-like. I find that as long as I carefully sharpen its blade, it works a treat for *everything* --just like that old magic Ginsu on the TV. Only this *really* works, and can do paper-thin tomatoes just as well as it does paper-thin slices of raw beef. I've read earlier in this thread that the German Solingen knives are heavier, less wieldy, but keep edges longer. This Santoku must be frequently steeled, but it's king-hell on prep when it's sharp, and I hardly need to use anything else.
2. I finally learned how to use a carbon rod to sharpen slightly dulled edges. I won't say anything about the method, other than A. it does indeed look like what butchers do, and if you know a butcher, she may agree to show you, B. it goes fast, C. it takes an incredibly 'light' touch [I've worn strips into my oldest carbon rod by trying years ago to 'grind' the knife-edge down on it--doofus!], and D. you do it bunches and don't mind because it makes a real difference in the quality of your cutting--and the safety, and the speed. Shave three minutes off the time taken to dice 8 big onions, and you'll notice it.
3. I got a couple of small, gray water cuticle stones from a Belgian seller on Ebay. They are very fine quality, and they weren't particularly expensive (all 3 were about $55.00 shipped, I think). I found out that you only use these for blades that have lost their edges significantly ('news to me but probably not news to many who check this thread), and gradually I found out the stroking techniques for whetting more effectively. I say that I've gotten *more effective* because I see that I'll be perfecting this for the rest of my life, but it's a useful thing to know, and it's good to learn that there's a 'right way' because it stops you from doing things the 'wrong way' ever after.