There's hundreds of videos on whetstones. Another one would be superfluous at this point.

😄

lol

it's funny 'cuz it's true, the Miyabi Koh santoku was love at first cut, best knife for me, after the global G2 ( which they dissed by calling it nothing special in 2023). Shun you buy if they are 1/2 price and then you sell it and get a Miyabi, Mac, Kramer, Tojiro or Global....etc.

Oh also my favorite knife is completely randomly your favorite knife. I didn't even know that before commenting. The Kramer carbon absolutely rocks. It's almost like a chef knife with the heart of a cleaver (not really but that thing is heavy)

I also have the 9.5 inch version of your Miyabi Birchwood arriving today (looked for years and finally found the 9.5 for $266 USD) so i'm a little sad you didn't like it, but we'll see how it goes.

​@@nuggyfresh6430the handle is too heavy imo and has too big a gap that requires choking up or soley holding the handle no pinch grip. it also hates to take an edge.. I have a diff model but the handles are the same issue and gap.

proven to be a powerful deterrent against burglars.

Love the takeda, the only knife I've tried that consistently doesn't let food stick while cutting.

@@ajq0301 too bad you can’t find them anymore…at least I can’t find anywhere they aren’t out of stock. Looking to add a 240mm Gyuto to the collection.

Willing to take a look! cultflav.com/review-units 🙏

Kikuchiyo Ren

In good news, unless you have VERY high humidity, the oiling shouldn't be necessary - just dry it after use!

knife likeness can be subjective. ni find the willing perry mediocre and the handless scratch easily .

I have smallish hands and the miyabi 6000 MCt, similar style. I find the handle pretty much useless as I have to choke up due to the gap but then your thumb sits half on the metal bump, so it's best just to hold all on handle . Also handle is bulky & overly heavy , but so are shuns, & kramer is worse.

Yup, they were oiled!

I would definitely prefer the carbon line performance-wise (also, Damascus is very much not the vibe for us).

Added link to the description. Not sure why that wasn't there in the first place 🤔

i have used the curved serrated rosewood vic since 87.im on my 7th one now. $30 great cheap commercial knife.i also have the dalstrong 12.5 " devastator awesome bone breaker and show piece.

I thought the the same. I own three, including the one they reviewed. They couldn't be more wrong about that knife. I personally love it, and it's a daily user for me in the busy kitchen I work in.

@beckynelson8758 it objectively was the second-worst construction and finish of the bunch and the performance didn't live up to the price tag for us. Glad you love it though, nothing wrong with that.

​@@Nailenthusiast1981Dalstrong is 99% mysogynistic marketing , 1% extras aka sheaths & pins, All to hide from the poor china made construction & material. Dullest knives I've ever tried & dollar store value. Anyone that says they are good havent tried a good knife, as even mercer ultimate is sharper otb. No one needs bougie handles, that's all gimmick. Good Kitchen cooks use carbon steel anyway, or reliable commercial brands like Victorinox /Dexter/ Mercer ,which cost 1/3 for better quality . A material knife, tojiro or misen is better and those are sub $80.

they are all marketing but Chinese made crap and they only make the handles. You can literally buy their blades for 1/4 what they charge on temu and other sites like that

Easy answer: we've never encountered any of those issues across several Misen units and we didn't like the Material as much. Sounds like we've had pretty opposite experiences across the board though, as DP has been super easy to sharpen for us, as have the super hard miyabis. Misono not mentioned because we had to pack in a bunch of knives within our a budget for the review and they didn't make the cut. This review was already ~$5k out of our own pockets.

And that's why it's not our default recommendation which we have an entire video about. We also have an entire video about knife chemistry and the impacts of chromium.

@@cultflav My point is that if someone cruises in and takes this particular video at face value, they very likely will be disappointed if they make a purchase based upon your top recommendation. Providing more context would be more helpful.

@@acbarnard Same, i own some japanese knives that are all stainless (cause im not stupid enough to go carbon), and even then 1 time forget to rinse/dry one it will get rust spots..

@@acbarnard They clearly say that their most recommended knife is the hedley and bennett, which is made of AUS10 stainless. I think you mean to say that if someone just looked at the number one spot they would be disappointed, which isn't their fault at all.

​@@larsvegas1505 well it's stain less not proof. That said, Ive mistreated my stainless but none rust. I have a global, Miyabi and material knife and none rust after a year. Carbon is ok if u wipe it which is easy to remember to do if u make it a habit. Depends on the composition tho

Steel wise, it's probably around with Victorinox, although I haven't had one in my hands personally it doesn't look like a handle I'd enjoy.

I heard well of them but they are not available in my country. My favorite chef knife is Xituo Butcher, the one with the blue turquoise ring.

We have never been sent a review unit - we exclusively bought them ourselves.

​@@cultflav I researched about them a while ago and that was the only self bought knife I found. Maybe you guys got lucky. Or maybe he got unlucky. It's hard to know with only two reviews.

@thiago.assumpcao if it helps, this was the 4th one we've tested.

20% of our scoring metric is price. But it's also relative to the quality of the product instead of just price in isolation.

Steel isn't the only factor in a knife though... zdp189 + sg2 (e.g. the Miyabis) are both cpm steels like s35 and would have a lot of the same benefits. The grind and geometry for the Dalstrong were complete trash, which were the real issues.

The nice thing about japanese knives is the craft/precision and edge retention.. but i like chinese chefs knifes for most jobs.. i like to chop stuff op fast for home cooking.. and the extra weight/height and flatness of the blade makes that perfect for the job. And after the chopping u can use it as a scoop aswell..

Yup, they're cheap. That's their best feature and we did give them points for it. That x50 steel is so soft though that it requires constant maintenance as you mentioned. I would not consider that a good knife - just a cheap knife. Re: x50 in more expensive knives, we took materials points away from those knives bc of that since it's such a budget steel. There's a deep dive video on knife chemistry on this channel that has more details on why we don't recommend any of the 4116 formulations.

@@cultflav Even the expensive knives need constant honing, as is even suggested by every chef out there.

@zoned1361 I think there's a couple things to unpack there. 1. Most chefs in the world don't use high-end knives (and they shouldn't). Food workers outside of super high-end or very customer-facing roles want cheap stuff that can get damaged without too much issue and they often have sharpeners come in on a weekly (or at least monthly) basis, so soft isn't too bad for them. 2. A massive majority of home cooks almost never sharpen their knives and don't know anything about honing either (e.g. the prevalent myth that "it doesn't sharpen, it realigns the edge"). There's this idea that's prevalent rn that home cooks should use commercial tools bc they're somehow better. Really, they're just different things. 3. Higher-end steels do require sharpening, but depending on the steel, it's often much less frequently which saves home cooks loads of time over the lifespan of the knife. In general, we advise honing when it starts to feel dull. That'll give it a little more bite through adhesive wear. If that doesn't fix it, time to sharpen. I have zero patience for anything approaching a dull knife and I only need to sharpen every few weeks bc I prioritize edge retention over corrosion resistance (basically the opposite of x50).

@@cultflav Yes, I agree that expensive knives are better and have better quality, better edge retention, no deny about that. But I don't agree that expensive knives are better for beginners or most of home cooks. First thing everyone needs to buy, along expensive knife, is honing rod and then sharpening stone and learn both honing and sharpening, which is not that hard to learn but it takes time. Second, and often, it comes the maintenance such as oiling the knives so they don't rust. How many people want that? It is not very practical for most people. If you chip an IKEA knife, no big deal, but if you chip a 300 dollar knife it is a different story. Wouldn't you agree? I bet knives like IKEA's are more practical to beginners and home cooks. Once they learn how to handle knives and what is working for them and what is not, once they learn how to hone the knife then sky is the limit. But for home cooking the knife that cuts, is well built, does not slip in hand and has almost 0 maintenance, apart from occasional honing may be the way to go for many people. And you can use those commercial sharpening gizmo's on these knifes. No harm done and they will cut. And lastly, I liked your review and the span of knives you guys used, really amazing! Also it's super amazing that you even tested IKEA knives! I just tried to show another point of view. Anyways, Happy New Year and all the best! :)

I think going too cheap can hurt consumers too, because many then feel like they don't need to take care of it at all. That's why our main recs are in the middle ground between your examples here - right around $100 - where imo it maximizes the bang for your buck. Appreciate you jumping in either way, just trying to expand on why we ranked them this way. Happy new year!

In what sense? There are tons of knife makers not represented here. We tried to cover as many mainstream brands as possible within a $5000 review budget

@@cultflav Yaxell / ENSO is one of the big names in fine Japanese cutlery. They also offer exceptional value in their lower-tier lines, especially when you catch them on-sale. ENSO SG2, Yaxell Super Gou, and Ypsilon are works of art. I use Yaxell RAN+ in my kitchen.

​@@TheCyberMantis Are you a Burrfection fan?

@@jks3190 I have watched some of his videos. He seems like a cool dude.

@@TheCyberMantis I just asked because he was heavily promoting their knives when he was endorsed by them. I'm just curious, where are you getting this info that Yaxell is one of the big names in Japanese cutlery? I used to be a chef in Japan and frequent online knife forums, but I don't see anything that aligns with that statement.

Slow the playback speed down.

When they make above-average knives, we'll change it! 😂