New, looking for 240-270 Gyuto for vegetable prep

[seahat]

Hello, new to japanese knives and looking for a long cooks knife. I have a set of Wustof's ikon that I love, but the 8 inch cooks knife is small for me and looking for a 270 (preferably) or 240 addition. I was going to add another wustof when I saw a video with a Masakage Yuki 270 chopping through an onion https://www.chefknivestogo.com/mayugy27.html. the amazing cut at 6:20 in that video left me speechless.

Before I pull the plug on that Masakage knife I wanted to ask for recommendations, is there any long knife that would be even better at slicing an onion that way? I have seen good things on hap40 steel like in the kohetsu hap40, I like the idea of long lasting edge, but I have not seen any onion slicing videos so I can't compare. What about "lasers"? Anything else I should look at?

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?
270, maybe 240

4)How much do you want to spend?
willing to spend for functionality,

5) Do you prefer all stainless, stainless clad over reactive carbon, or all reactive carbon construction?
no idea

6)Do you prefer Western or Japanese handle?
either is fine

7)What are your main knife/knives now?
Wustof

8)Are your knife skills excellent, good, fair?
bad but learning

9)What cutting techniques do you prefer? Are you a rocker, chopper or push/pull cutter?
I want to cut an onion like they do at 6:20 in the video of this page https://www.chefknivestogo.com/mayugy27.html

10)Do you know how to sharpen?
No, I have watched videos and willing to learn/buy the sharpening stone set up needed

[Lepus]

I think a Takefu made 240mm would actually be a great choice here. The Yuki is one such knife. As a home cook you would immediately appreciate how easily they sharpen and how pleasant they are to use. They're ideal starter knives at the current prices. The other Takefu knives are also excellent, but they usually cater to specific tastes. The alternative would be an Anryu Hammered, which I do like a little better and is similarly just great all around.

You might want a laser, and they honestly do manage the sort of onion cut you saw in that video most easily of all knives, but a knife with more weight like the Yuki is a generally better rounded tool. Properly sharpened most high end Japanese knives are just as capable of that sort of cut as any other and a medium weight knife lile the Yuki does very nicely through other things like potatoes and cucumbers which tend to annoyingly stick to the side of a laser.

I don't think you should get a 270mm here unless you can find a way to try one before buying. 270mm knives are really, really big, not just in length but also in height, and they shine best in large professional prep environments where a chef is cutting gallon after gallon of food. Nine times out of ten people using a 240mm knife for the first time realize they're more than enough. A lot of us have 165mm santokus and bunkas that we gleefully use to do everything at home.

[Nmiller21k]

How much veg prep are you doing that you're considering a 270 for home use?