My supervisor at work is wanting me to find him a decent sushi knife that will hold a good edge and be an excellent slicer. I was thinking shun, but what do you guys who have experience think? I don’t cook sushi at all.
I believe he is wanting it in the $150-250 range.
Although Shun are a popular knife the only really good ones are the top line the cheaper Shuns are relatively high prices because of their Damascus cladding that is an expensive solution to cladding I would have thought there are a couple of questions to ask is it to be used to slice raw fish or is the desired use broader .
If the knife is to be used to just slice fish then a Yangiba / Yanagi is the answer .
I would recommend looking at http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html then the next consideration is stainless or carbon steel & lastly are you going to keep it sharp for them ? Bear in mind a single sided blade should be Uraoshi sharpened which is done flat with leading edge strokes on a 1000-5000 grit bench stone .
Although Shun are a popular knife the only really good ones are the top line the cheaper Shuns are relatively high prices because of their Damascus cladding that is an expensive solution to cladding I would have thought there are a couple of questions to ask is it to be used to slice raw fish or is the desired use broader .
If the knife is to be used to just slice fish then a Yangiba / Yanagi is the answer .
I would recommend looking at http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html then the next consideration is stainless or carbon steel & lastly are you going to keep it sharp for them ? Bear in mind a single sided blade should be Uraoshi sharpened which is done flat with leading edge strokes on a 1000-5000 grit bench stone .
Although Shun are a popular knife the only really good ones are the top line the cheaper Shuns are relatively high prices because of their Damascus cladding that is an expensive solution to cladding I would have thought there are a couple of questions to ask is it to be used to slice raw fish or is the desired use broader .
If the knife is to be used to just slice fish then a Yangiba / Yanagi is the answer .
I would recommend looking at http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html then the next consideration is stainless or carbon steel & lastly are you going to keep it sharp for them ? Bear in mind a single sided blade should be Uraoshi sharpened which is done flat with leading edge strokes on a 1000-5000 grit bench stone .
Although Shun are a popular knife the only really good ones are the top line the cheaper Shuns are relatively high prices because of their Damascus cladding that is an expensive solution to cladding I would have thought there are a couple of questions to ask is it to be used to slice raw fish or is the desired use broader .
If the knife is to be used to just slice fish then a Yangiba / Yanagi is the answer .
I would recommend looking at http://www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html then the next consideration is stainless or carbon steel & lastly are you going to keep it sharp for them ? Bear in mind a single sided blade should be Uraoshi sharpened which is done flat with leading edge strokes on a 1000-5000 grit bench stone .
Basic Japanese knife types
Since the site is not performing here is a link to KORIN that shows the basic Japanese types of knives http://korin.com/Learn/About-Japanese-Knives also Chefsknivestogo do video reviews of a lot of the knives
Josh,
There are a number of online sites that cater to specialized Japanese sushi knives, but the one that I highly recommend is Chef Knives to Go: http://www.chefknivestogo.com/
Some of the knives they carry are custom made (and within your price range), but all are guaranteed to be extremely sharp when you received it, but then again we know what you’ll do to do it once it’s in your hands.
One word of advice, know and understand the purpose of each blade first before choosing one specifically. You can google and read about the style of knives your supervisor wants online as well, but you will want to ask him specifically what his intended purpose is to make the appropriate selection. As you’ll note one doesn’t need to spend a fortune to get the exact results desired, but it can increase the appreciation involved knowing the knife’s intended purpose and how it was made. As always, enjoy the journey!
Thanks guys for the input! He said it’s for his daughter… Said he wants it to be more general purpose. Guessing I want a deba?
Leo,
Looks like you beat me to the same recommendation…I like the way you think, my friend! 
A Santoku or a Gyoto or if she has small hands a Petty www.chefknivestogo.com/kitchen-knives.html these are more conventional knives.
Nothing beats a Gyuto knife for general purpose, that’s for sure!
At least we know who’s going to maintain the edge for this specialized gift…
Chefs knivestogo have started doing video reviews of many of their knives which is very good plus they are alway swift to deliver .
Alright guys… So I’ve settled on a gyoto
Which one of these would you recommend? They all have high marks… I need to be able to sharpen whatever he gets on my WEPS, so what are my options out of these 3?
http://www.chefknivestogo.com/moritaka8.html
I think I would go for either the first or the last one the last is stainless so it is probable more practical . You should be able to sharpen it nicely on the WE at something like 16* maybe once in say three sharpenings it will be necessary to thin the profile they work best thin . Perhaps even take a photo of the section so you will have that as a reference for knowing when it should be thinned the cutting bevel should be very small around or less than 1/32 of an inch.
I would choose the last one the Richmond it’s stainless try to keep the knife good and thin when you sharpen it the cutting bevel should be no wider than 1/32 of an inch so thin it every so often & possible take a picture of the blade looking from the point to the handle so you can keep a similar thinness to it .
But some of these have to be sharpened on a bench water stone, right? That way they can be zero ground?
That does not matter you have the low angle adapter so you can keep it thin with that and I would sharpen the cutting bevel at 15* just keep that bevel good and narrow when it is really narrow it really does not make any difference whether it is a v bevel or convex just keep it small.
So what did you mean by this? [quote quote=“LeoBarr” post=14740]Bear in mind a single sided blade should be Uraoshi sharpened which is done flat with leading edge strokes on a 1000-5000 grit bench stone .[/quote]
The Richmond is a normal bevel knife.
The yanagi , Debas etc are sharpened like a chisel & the flat side Uri is concave so to help clean slicing and to remove the burr it I urioshi sharpened as in flat on the stone and polished on fine grit so as to glide easily through the fish or whatever it is slicing this sharpening is done with the cutting edge leading as it is pushed over the stone then the blade is lifted off on the return stroke most knives of this type are left for the owner to do the urioshi sharpening but it has to be done at the end of each sharpening to remove the burr people often do not bother working much on the flat side but the advantage is a super smooth blade an it leaves a great finish on the fish flesh where as if it is not done the fish slices will not look as good nor will the knife perform so well.
Rest assured the Richmond is not this type since if it was it would say if it was for left or right handed people.
What about the Moritaka? It looks like one of the reviews says it is for right handed users…
