Meat trimming knife

i like the idea of a carbon steel blade for easy sharpening. I have a set of shapton stones. I'm ok with the care that requires and the tarnishing that could happen. I cook a lot of roasts and pork shoulders and the like that require some trimming and trying to find a good knife for that. I'm not a big fan of many of the handles on the more traditional Japanese knives. But I do like the Shun blue steel 6" utility knife. Anyone have any experience with that line of blue steel knives? Or have another good recommendation for a more modern looking meat trimming knife? I've contemplated some honesuki or hankotsu (not sure the technical term but the fact that the blade goes right into the handle makes me nervous on these) knives as well. I'm more of a Japanese knife person than western.

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pd3ski_278514

Hi torridice, I've got a few jknives and I would recommend a good petty for meat trimming in the 170-210mm range. Honesukis and hankotsus are more for butchering or breaking down a chicken, bone work, etc.. nothing wrong with them they're just more dedicated to what they do. I use a 180 petty or a 200 gyuto the most for silver skin and other trimming duties. Most of my blades have a wa handle cause that's my pref but they also give a certain amount of resistance to slipping in hand.

So you're looking for a Japanese knife with a yo handle in blue steel? What's your budget? Are you looking for performance or bling or both? As far brands go you could do a lot better for your money than shun .. imo but again that's me! Their little paring knives are nice though! I'm just not a fan of machine produced knives.... gimme an old guy pounding steel for 30 or 50 years any day!

torridice_498271

Yea, I wasn't crazy about shun either. It's hard to find a modern looking handle though. I want carbon steel. It doesn't necessarily have to be the blue steel. I just heard that was the best. Performance is the priority, but I just don't want those ugly wood handles I usually see. I'll look up some 200 gyutos. Silver skin is something I deal with most often. I also am hoping to use it for cutting small things as well. I mainly just have a chef knife. So this will be good knife number 2. Hopefully followed by a carving/slicing knife or maybe a nakiri. Price range around $150-200.

pd3ski_278514

I like your knife purchase progression. The problem with finding really great carbon steel in western handles is that there are a lot more made with wa handles. You can always get a better handle than what you've seen which I assume are the standard ho wood black buffalo horn arrangement. Some vendors will work with you for an upgrade.

I agree a longer petty or small gyuto will also be able to portion what you've just trimmed, my small gyuto is dedicated solely for this. I just literally touched up a blue 2 petty on a jnat and it is hair popping once again! I have petties in white1 and ginsan... also great! I was kind of meh when I bought my first nikiri but after I reworked the wide bevel... wow 😳.. now I have four.. ha! My set is at the bottom of this thread...https://www.chefsteps.com/forum/posts/this-is-a-post-for-pd3ski

Where are you located?

I'll edit in some links in a bit...

Kind of a ghost town here..http://www.chefknivestogo.com/210mmpettys.html

Maybe something here..http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/SearchedBySteelandBladeType.html#WesternCarbon

Take a looksee here.. https://www.japaneseknifeimports.com/

There's usually some westerns here.. http://www.japanny.com/

torridice_498271

Thanks. Correct on the typical handles. I've thought about even swapping them out and making my own at some point. I'm a woodworker too. I live in Michigan. I'm a lefty and my wife is a righty so I try to stay away from the single bevel stuff. I geek out on knives a lot more than her though, so if it has to be handed it's going to be a lefty.

pd3ski_278514

Well it appears I lost my post ... I posted a link to a really cool knife maker that I thought you being a woodworking guy who loves knives would appreciate. He's just south of where I live. Here you go.....

http://www.haburnknives.com/customkitchenknives/

For some reason on this forum you can only post so many responses then it won't accept any more... so must post up here.

torridice_498271

I just saw this. I must have missed the notification. Now we're talking! These are incredible. I was actually just going to reply to you about one I saw here. But now I need to look through this site some more that you sent. Really liking these thanks.

Yea I guess these custom ones are probably more than I need. But I REALLY like them.

I took a cheap knife block blade that's about 130mm and sharpened the crap out of it (took like an hour) so that it can shave just to get an idea of what I want for the real knife. Now that I've used that for a little while I'm set on wanting a 150mm petty. Something just a little longer would be ideal. Also I like the "shorter" knife style where the blades isn't real tall. It seems like there are some that are shorter and some that are taller from what I've seen at all those Japanese knife sites.

Hopefully I can find the perfect knife now. Seems like I might need to up my price in order to get a better handle from what I can tell.

pd3ski_278514

Oh yeah the anryu! Yeah there are taller petties which some refer to as mini gyutos... I'm with you, I like the 30-38mm range depending on length. Oh one more thing.... a lot of knives are advertised longer than what you actually get from heel to tip usually by a centimeter or more so be sure to ask beforehand! Some companies actually go over length as well but not a lot. Can't remember if I linked you to this site there's a lot of info here for the sharp steel inclined! ....http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/

Pretty sweet looking stuff in Ian's photo gallery.. huh!?!

Here's a link down under... James does some nice handle upgrades...http://www.knivesandstones.com/sitemap.php?view=categories

torridice_498271

I'm debating between this and this. Any thoughts? I'm leaning towards that Tanaka one. Seems like a good deal and with that custom handle to boot.

pd3ski_278514

Hey torridice.... both great makers!! The Tanakas from James are very nice in the respect that he cleans up all the rough edges that Tanaka is know for then puts a nice handle on. He's the best site to buy them from! The Tanaka in blue is a pretty reactive knife but once the patina settles in you're good to go. The Tanaka will have more of full convex grind while the Anryu will have a wide bevel with a flat kurouchi finish that helps with rust prevention. You picked a couple of good ones. Man I'm having a hard time picking for myself ... hmmmmm.... I'd go with Tanaka I like the convex grind on smaller petties for shallot garlic work and save a couple of bucks for the suji or longer petty.

torridice_498271

I'm horrible at pulling the trigger on purchases. After more searching I found this one. It's not carbon, which has me wondering if it's a good one or not. It's rather pricey. What do you think?