Why aren't these knives widely used?

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blades said:
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. :wink:
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Thank you for your detailed reply. I love learning about cooking. So no problem if you reply with long replies.
What are your thoughts on this video?
View: https://youtu.be/wd9uoHsWuOE?feature=shared


Also it was a typo. I meant 'there', not these. Well... Auto-correct not really a typo per say.

I would ideally like to spend no more than £50 on the main chefs knife.

Thanks
 
WaterPixie said:
Thank you for your detailed reply. I love learning about cooking. So no problem if you reply with long replies.
What are your thoughts on this video?
View: https://youtu.be/wd9uoHsWuOE?feature=shared


Also it was a typo. I meant 'there', not these. Well... Auto-correct not really a typo per say.

I would ideally like to spend no more than £50 on the main chefs knife.

Thanks
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The problem is soft steel. Soft steel requires a more obtuse bevel angle or the edge will fail. It cannot perform like a thin hard blade. It is just a matter of the laws of physics. I suspect the author of that video has never used a really good knife. Or perhaps he is just pushing a brand. I can't watch internet videos because of slow metered country internet service so I'm just guessing. A good performing Japanese gyuto will last a lifetime. In my view it is a bargain given the amount of service it will provide.

If 50 pounds is your budget then I recommend the Victorinox. This is the Swiss company famous for the Swiss army knives. The kitchen knives were once branded Forschner but Victorinox acquired them several years ago. They are light and have thin blades but the steel is soft. They are very popular and get good reviews. I used to sell them when the brand was Forschner. I sold literally thousands of them and had only a handful of returns. They should be available well below 50 pounds.
 
blades said:
If 50 pounds is your budget then I recommend the Victorinox.
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Here is a chef's knife by Victorinox on Amazon which seems reasonably priced at £34.87 in the UK:

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Morning Glory said:
Here is a chef's knife by Victorinox on Amazon which seems reasonably priced at £34.87 in the UK:

View attachment 119107
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That's exactly the knife I bought and wrote about how I hated that knife in a previous post on here 😂 I returned it to amazon for a full refund. I hated the handle, food stuck to the blade like crazy, and the blade is super deep which I hated too.
 
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I don't understand how to chop with a tall western style blade in that, say you're chopping an onion and you're right handed. The height of the blade means you can't see to the right side of the blade. You can't see how thin or thick you're cutting your onion.
 
WaterPixie said:
The height of the blade means you can't see to the right side of the blade. You can't see how thin or thick you're cutting your onion.
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My instinct tells me you were no using the knife correctly. I had one of those exact knives for over 10 years, and it was used in a commercial kitchen.
To cut your onion:
Firstly, you cut the onion in half through the root end. You now have two halves of an onion, with the root end intact.
Place the onion with the root end towards you.
Put the point of the knife in front of the extreme righthand side of the onion. Raise the handle so it is at an angle above the onion ( I won't say 45 degrees, because it never gets that high). Now cut down , with the point STILL on the chopping board, until you are about 1/4 cm from cutting all the way through. Continue doing the same all across the onion, so you have multiple slices, all held together by the root end. Now turn the onion to you right, and start slicing, with the point on the board, all the way through. Perfect brunoise (I hope). You use you knuckles as a guide for the knife - that way you don't cut yourself. Your knife should move from point to shoulder, almost in a rocking motion. Using a chef's knife like the Victorinox, you never want to be cutting with a vertical blade; always a rocking motion. That's why one end is thicker and taller than the other.
(Any pro chefs out there? Did that more or less explain chopping? Any additions would be welcome).
 
blades said:
There you go. It is what I recommended for her budget.
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And she wrote that she had bought that very one and returned it.
WaterPixie said:
That's exactly the knife I bought and wrote about how I hated that knife in a previous post on here 😂 I returned it to amazon for a full refund. I hated the handle, food stuck to the blade like crazy, and the blade is super deep which I hated too.
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I realized after reading this thread that in my 62 years on the planet the only knives I ever hated were ones that were flimsy or dull (and the dull ones were a quick fix with a knife sharpener except for some cheap steak knives I bought years ago that I donated). And I am a petite female without a lot of arm and wrist strength, so...guess I am just not all that picky. And I rarely cut myself (except with a mandoline) and I started wearing a protective glove whenever I use that.
 
blades said:
No. Your desires and your budget aren't in line with one another. At some point you need to compromise. That is a personal decision.
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My desires? I want a blade which food won't stick to it like crazy, that has a thin blade and that is light. I'm sure you don't HAVE to spend over £100 to get that...
 
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