Euro vs Japanese kitchen knives- a primer

NCStateFan12 said:

My mother had an awful experience with Global knives so next knife set I buy will probably be German. Very hard to pick between Wusthof and Henckels

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NCStateFan12 said:

She found them to lose their edge very quickly and required a lot more frequent sharpening than past knivies. She swears would always hand wash them and always store them in the stand or block it came with. Maybe she just got a bad batch of knives?

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Maybe she liked them so much she was using the 5x more than her old ones?

little Big feather said:

Got my 3.5",6"& 8" SHUN Classic knives today!! They are beautiful and SHARP !

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So far in my short lived career as a cook, Ive found Shun to be the most overrated, overpriced knives. They do not hold up very well in a professional kitchen, they lose their edge ridiculously quick. The metal that they are made of chips which is very frustrating. I love how Globals feel in the hand, they are really not that bad of knives, Id take a Global over a Shun any day of the week. Talking from 6 years of experience: 3 Shuns, 2 Globals, 4 MACs, 5 Takedas, 1 Tojiro, 6 Wusthof in my collection at the moment. The Shuns are hidden in the RV because I am embarassed to sell them to someone else, even though two of them are brand new, and the one that isnt was used two days, professionally sharpened and put away. I primarily use my Takeda Cleaver, Takeda 270mm Guyoto, Takeda Banno Bocho (like a pairing knife), and Wusthof bread knife for my everyday kitchen rotation. When I want to break down fish or chicken, or cut through bones I use my Takeda Deba...its a beast of a knife.
The other knives are just in case backup knives from an addictive buying disorder. If I didnt have the Takedas, Id be using my 8" Wusthof chefs knife. My number one recommendation for home cooks with crappy knives is to spend $150 on a set of classic Wusthofs because they can go through an ultimate beating and keep on going.

I'm a professional cook, and have been in kitchens for around 8 years. My take on the german vs japanese debate is that the two schools of design cater to very different needs. I like Japanese knives for home or specialized sashimi work, and the Germans for professional applications. I doubt most people will ever put the same ammount of wear on their German knives in a lifetime than I do in a few months, so the reliability factor is excessive for the home cook. Japanese knives are more time consuming to maintain, which isn't a problem in the home but it is when all you have available are beat up restaurant steels. The Japanese knives may hold their edges longer, but I can hone my German knife appropriately in less than a minute, which makes them easier to deal with at work. Bad things happen in restaurants, from idiot coworkers grabing the thing and doing god knows what, to being dropped, and simply using the hell out of it. I've seen very few Japanese knives in the restaurant that don't have chips, but the German knives are easy to repair with a good old 3-stone. Get a Wusthof or Henckels for a pro kitchen, and whatever Japanese knife appeals to you for your house, unless you're a sashimi cook.

^ sorry coelacanth, I'm going to have to disagree with you here... Although the German style of knife is by far the most popular in the US. many national & international companies have modeled their offerings off of this style. for the most part, most home cooks have german style knives. the major benefit to the culinary world is that each country who copied this style also looked at their customers and made determinations based on their target audience... due to my production load in a commercial setting & average sized hands, if i were to use a german style knife from: germany, france or the US, it would make my hand ache. it is too heavy. i actually find that a japanese version of the german style is lighter & I find them easier to sharpen & for me, they stay sharper longer.

my personal knife of choice is currently the kasumi, but used primarily Global knives for 10 years before I could afford the upgrade... With Globals, you have the best of all worlds, they make a forged line (which are heavier) and a stamped line that both copy the German style of knives, but even the forged are lighter than their German counterparts...

I had the chance to visit Tokyo a few years ago, and bought a pair of kitchen knives to bring back to Ohio.
They are amazing Masamoto blades from the fish market area, and while not the greatest cosmetics, they are scary sharp.
The big gyuto is styled more like a typical chef's knife, and extremely heavy. The smaller deba is designed with one edge bevel, and really made for prepping fish. (Neither are as light or delicate as my German Wusthof or Felix kitchen blades.)
I CAN agree with the support for a nice thin Chinese cleaver style knife for all around kitchen use. The Dexter in my drawer sees more cutting for salads and sandwiches than any other blade I own...
YMMV.

Help...
Just bought this knife and I'm a less than impressed. First use and I'm having to "saw" through a tomato. Am I using it wrong? Is it a pull only or push?

rxonmymind said:

Help...
Just bought this knife and I'm a less than impressed. First use and I'm having to "saw" through a tomato. Am I using it wrong? Is it a pull only or push?

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That blade style would lend itself to push cutting. Knives like that tend to come from the factory pretty fat behind the edge. If you have a set of stones you could thin it down and then create a new edge on it.

rxonmymind said:

Help...
Just bought this knife and I'm a less than impressed. First use and I'm having to "saw" through a tomato. Am I using it wrong? Is it a pull only or push?

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I have that knife. The wife loves it, so I keep it extra sharp. It works great for small chopping jobs.

Jim said:

That blade style would lend itself to push cutting. Knives like that tend to come from the factory pretty fat behind the edge. If you have a set of stones you could thin it down and then create a new edge on it.

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Thanks. I'll try that. Although I have to say my other Henckle knife of 25 years can cut well either way. New habits to learn.

DoctorShavegood said:

I have that knife. The wife loves it, so I keep it extra sharp. It works great for small chopping jobs.

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Absolutely. I like it also and bought a 1000 & 6000 grit stone
http://www.amazon.com/King-Sided-Sh..._UL160_SR160,160_&refRID=1B1Z2RDQH3JJDMFQDM6S

Hope that keeps it up to snuff. I also have a Chef choice 100 automatic sharpener that does a remarkable job of keeping knives sharp. But it's the stone I'm interested in trying and learning on.