Gyoto recommendation?

[DrRockzo]

Hello!

New user from Sweden here
Looking for a decent chef knife/Gyoto.

First the formula:

1)Pro or home cook?
Home

2)What kind of knife do you want? (Gyuto, Santuko, Petty, Paring, Sujihiki, etc.)
Gyuto

3) What size knife do you want?
20 cm (8 inch)

4)How much do you want to spend?
around 200-300 dollar range

5) Do you prefer all stainless, stainless clad over reactive carbon, or all reactive carbon construction?
not sure, stainless I think

6)Do you prefer Western or Japanese handle?
Japanese

7)What are your main knife/knives now?
I was gifted a set of Global knives many years ago:
G-9
GS-11
G-30
G-2
GS-35
GSF-33

of which I use the G-2 the most

8)Are your knife skills excellent, good, fair?
Fair/Good, working on it

9)What cutting techniques do you prefer? Are you a rocker, chopper or push/pull cutter?
Mostly rocker

10)Do you know how to sharpen?
I have only used a MinoSharp ceramic wheel(MC-550). I am planning on getting a sharpening steel and wet stone.

Now for my questions:

I obviously want the knife to be a "better" knife than my G-2.

I've had my eye on a couple of knives:

Yaxell Zen/Ran/Gou
Miyabi 6000 MCT (this is the only one I have had the opportunity to hold on my hand, felt nice) and 5000 MCD
Tamahagane SAN Tsubame

Aestethically I like the damascus pattern with Kanji inscriptions.

Which would you pick of these, and why? Are there better knives out there for the same money? Is VG-10 good enough and a step up from my Global steel?

Is this a decent wet stone? Ohisi 1000 grit & 6000 grit https://www.cleancut.se/butik/knivslipn ... -18-detail
In combination with this sharpening steel? Tamahagane ceramic https://www.cleancut.se/butik/knivslipn ... 5_5-detail

Many thoughts, hope someone can help me

[jbart65]

Lot of ground to cover before we offer recs. Are you buying from the US or outside? Shipping and customs add up.

The knives you mention are all fine mass-produced knives. I owned a Yaxell and used several Miyabis. But you can do better, perhaps much better, without necessarily paying more.

CKTG mostly carries artisan knives that are largely hand crafted, though not all of them are to the same degree. These are among the sharpest knives in the world and have developed a small but hardcore following. They will easily put your Globals to shame - even though Global knives are pretty good. I used to own a handful.

Look at the knives on CKTG and see if any interest you. Some can be bought in Europe. And skim the following post from the old CKTG Site. You won’t understand all of it, but some will be useful and might help guide your search or inform your questions.

https://www.chefknivestogoforum.com/int ... t8328.html

[lsboogy]

I might take a look at this one

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/kurosaki210.html

Kurosaki blades are excellent, enough belly to rock with, and it will take a miyabi or global to school - my neighbor has (had- who knows now) a nice collection of Miyabi knives that he loved, until he tried some of mine - even after sharpening a couple for him he wanted to know about CKTG - I still have some Shuns (NSF stuff for some kitchens), good knives that work well, but nothing like most of my stuff.

[Altadan]

That ohishi stone is a good stone. I happened to have used that stone...in Ystad

There really is much to cover.
The knives you spoke of are very nice factory made knives. Miyabi, I believe, is the Japanese-style line by Zwilling, and they are loved by every owner I've heard of.
As Jbart pointed out, most of the knives on CKTG are hand crafted, and (mostly) not factory made.

VG10 seems to be a surperior steel when forged well by an experienced smith, but has earned some negative reputation from the big-factory processes.

Several Smith's whose VG10 work has received praise include shigeki Tanaka, Yu Kurosaki, and Yoshimi Kato, among others.
There are several other steels one can consider as well

[DrRockzo]

Thanks for your feedback, I will look into your suggestions
Since I'm ordering to Sweden customs and taxes would impact the price pretty hefty unfortunately, but might still be worth it?

Also since I'm new to using wet stones and such, maybe I should order a cheaper softer steel until I've learnt to sharpen properly? I wouldn't want to destroy a brand new 300 dollar knife?
Maybe I should stick to V10 steel? Hmm...

Any thoughts on the Sakai Takayuki VG10 damascus? Looks really nice to me, is it any good?

[Jeff B]

The Sakai Takayuki VG10 Damascus is a good knife. The is a very good Japanese knife dealer within Sweden and several within the EU.
You are not going to destroy a knife learning to sharpen on stones. Virtually nothing you can do to a knife can't be fixed. Soft stainless knives can as much or more of a pain to sharpen than harder steels.

[Altadan]

Yes, it would be better for you to add some other cheap carbon steel knife to your purchase, and practice on that - blunting and resharpening it, if you prefer to keep the other knife for later.
Many people get something like:
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/toitkshse.html
or
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/yofuwh1.html (these Fugens, buy the way, offer a whole lotta value for their relatively lower price. Maybe you end up adding a Nakiri...)

[ChefKnivesToGo]

This is a good knife for you.

https://www.chefknivestogo.com/kanasugy21.html