Knife Blog

This time, please let me introduce my recommended knives.
 
The more expensive knives are, obviously, the better quality they have. The better quality means that knives are sharp, that knives keep sharp for longer time, and that knives are easily sharpened. When knives are hard, they are sharper, but they are difficult to be sharpened. When knives are softer, they are easily sharpened, but they are not so sharp. The balance between the hardness and the sharpness is critically important for knives.
 
Let me go back to the main topic, recommended knives. A first, you need to select a single-edged knife or a double-edged knife. Single-edged knives are originally designed in accordance with the traits of “Washoku,” so they are suitable for cooking “Washoku.” Single-edged knives are sharp and suitable for beautifully cutting foodstuffs. On the other hand, if you look for knives for home-use, double-edged knives may be better because they make it easy to cut as you like when you look at things from above although you can master using single-edged knives when you keep using them.
 
Recently, I am often asked the materials of knives by retailers probably because the retailers are asked them by consumers. Knife materials are important to some extent for knife qualities, but the qualities differ depending on the temperatures of quenching and tempering and so on even if two different knives are made from the same material. In other words, even if the materials of two different knives are the same, when craftsmen are different, the qualities of them are different.
 
Let me explain about materials in detail. Most professional chefs of “Washoku” prefer single-edged knives and most of them prefer white II steel the most because white II steel knife is the sharpest. It is said to be a steel material with a composition closest to Tamahagane which is used for making Japanese swords. On the other hand, when you hope knives should keep sharp for longer time, you may want to select blue steel knives.
 
The most popular double-edged knives’ material is VG10 now as far as I talk with retailers. I would like you to see this page about VG10 in detail, but it is said that VG10 is the sharpest among stainless materials. However, as I have mentioned above, when you see two different knives whose materials are the same, if the craftsmen are different, the qualities differ. Therefore, you may want to ask a retailer staff about the traits of knives other than the materials when you would like to purchase a knife. VG10 is popular but I know great stainless double-edged knives made from Swedish steel and High-speed steel. As I have mentioned above, the knife material is just one of the important factors for you to select your good knife.
 
One more important thing is if you like the knife weight, its gravity point and the feeling of the handle although some people pass over them.
 
Recommended knives depend on your budged, your use, your preference, but I would appreciate it if you could refer this article if only a little.
 
*The knife above on the picture is single-edged “Shobu” knife and the knife below on the picture is double-edged Chef’s knife made from Swedish steel.