Utility Knife - Japanese - Carbon Steel?

[Mylegsbig]

I want a 5 inch japanese carbon steel knife. a knife i can develop a patina with and looks rustic, dangerous. extremely razor sharp. extreme quality

high hardness carbon steel

i want to buy a sack of like 100 onions and other old vegetables and just slice and slice... dice and dice... will this help me develop an early patina?

how bad to carbon knives eub off on food. does a carbon hold its edge well

main reason i want this knife is to trim small pieces of meat, shrooms, veggies, chile peppers,Slicing.etc please reccomend me some knives with some pics and reviews. couple hundred bucks for the knife is fine. Please dont try to convince me buy stainless ive made my mind.

What is this style of knife called in Japan.

Please post some links but prefer your personal experience and pics

 

[FryBoy]

As I said in another thread, I think Hattori makes some of the best production (i.e., not custom) knives in the world, and their kitchen knives are superb.

Hattori use Damascus steel for their kitchen knives, which is made of multiple layers of different types of carbon steel that are forged until they bond at the molecular level. This gives added strength and flexibility, and it looks awesome. Hattori makes three different shapes of kitchen knives in varying sizes, as well as lots of other types of knives.

Check this site for good selection and prices:

http://www.youwantit2.com/HATTORI.html

 

[FryBoy]

BTW, the distinction between stainless and carbon is very vague anymore. All steel contains carbon, or it would be just iron, and most includes many other metals. Whereas stainless once contained mostly nickel and chrome, modern steels include molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt, and other metals, and there are many varieties,including several high-carbon stainless steels. In other words, there's no longer a need to choose between stainless and carbon -- that's really an old-fashioned distinction that no longer applies.

The Hattori knives I recommended are made of VG-10, a newly developed high-carbon steel with molybdenum, vanadium, and cobalt to increase strength. It has a Rockwell hardness of 60 to 61, which is about as hard as it gets without becoming brittle.

 

[FryBoy]

If you want to see what a really accomplished artisan can do with Damascus steel, check this site:

http://www.caswellstudios.com/SwordPages/BodyPages/Enlarged/12-7-03/Daggers/1.html

Joe Caswell makes his own steel, and his knives belong in museums. This one happens to be in my collection.

 

[GB]

Just out of curiosity, and having nothing to do with trying to talk you out of anything...Why do you want carbon steel so badly?

 

[Mylegsbig]

i want the knife to develop character through a patina.

 

[Mylegsbig]

are hattori handmade?

 

[GB]

i want the knife to develop character through a patina.

I can respect that.

 

[Mylegsbig]

GB does german make good carbon steel knives?

i need a 4" knife, cabon steel, or not, MAYBE, that is SUPER ELITE. im talking a VERU FINE KNIE. I'm going to be chopping hundreds, thousands, of habaneros. help me out!

 

[GB]

I am actually not the right person to answer that leg. My knowledge on carbon steel knives is very very limited. I do know that German steel can be very good steel, but I am sure you already knew that.

 

[Mylegsbig]

okay then forget carbon steel. 4" german. superb styling and looking. SUPER SHARP

holds an edge.

what you got?

 

[Andy M.]

Good luck on your knife hunt.

If I had to chop hundreds of anything, I'd use a food processor.

 

[Mylegsbig]

This one is around 100 bucks and is Vg-10, and looks BEAUTIFUL

http://store.homechefsupplies.com/almarulpakn3.html


Andy, have to cut habaneros in half first to scoop out seeeds and placenta.

 

[FryBoy]

Another good choice in a 4" blade:

http://www.worldknives.com/product.asp?produid=426&manuid=24

If money is no object, try this slightly larger one:

http://www.worldknives.com/product.asp?produid=586&manuid=24

 

[corazon]

I have some of these kikuichi knives
http://www.knifeoutlet.com/kikuichi.htm
http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Browse.asp
I have most of them that are down in the middle of the page. The wooden handled ones at about $100.
I like this one fairly well. http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=KIUT I have another that I like better, but I can't seem to find it anywhere. It is similar to this vegetable knife but has a wider and thiner blade (whoops, that doesn't make sense does it? wider and thiner? wider blade I suppose but a thin edge). It is ideal for thin slicing of veggies.

I have the deba fish knife too. I like that because it has a lot of weight at the top of the blade to make for easier pressure on the knife if you are cutting something thick.

Maybe I should go take some photos of my knives. That might be more helpful than trying to describe.

 

[corazon]

Here's my collection.
2 photo is the two veggie knives. The bigger one is my favorite. Very thin blade but, like I said, I couldn't find it. We're happy with the smaller one though too.
The last two photos are the deba fish knife. We don't use this all that often and as you can see, has developed rust from not appreciating it.
Carbon steel takes care, like most things in the kitchen. Wash and dry it right away, then we apply some oil very lightly to prevent moisture getting in. Frequent sharpening. Most of the time, I prefer to use my cheaper messiermeissers (sp?). Someday, I will get henkels. Maybe after the kids go to college.

 

[Mylegsbig]

Fryboy, i just bought this blade.

Wow!!!! This blade is a keeper!

What a beast. I hope this thing is a razor blade.

was so excited i paid 20 bucks for express shipping..what a gyp

here is blade -

 

[corazon]

nice, legs. I love when you can see the lines of where they folded the metal. What kind is it?

 

[Mylegsbig]

nice, legs. I love when you can see the lines of where they folded the metal. What kind is it?

http://www.worldknives.com/product.a...=426&manuid=24

your knives are BEAUTIFUL by the way...my god

 

[FryBoy]

was so excited i paid 20 bucks for express shipping..what a gyp

I hate it when I do that!

I've learned never to shop when I've been drinking!