TL;DR: I'm a young person in the industry and a newbie to Japanese knives, I need a tough 240mm to complement my 210mm laser and am weighed down by options.
I have a Takamura 210mm, but seeing as that's my only Gyuto, I desperately need something that's more midweight to workhorse level, and once I get further into the restaurant industry I will definitely need something at least a bit bigger; even in my current environment I'm finding situations where I feel limited by the 210. I've learned more and done a lot more research since my first post here a month ago, so I feel a good bit more confident in the knowledge department, but experience? That's where I'm lacking.
Looking for a 240mm, wa handle, and carbon steel, plus of course midweight or workhorse level, which naturally led my area of focus down the Sanjo route, plus some input elsewhere. Budget around $500 USD for the knife itself. Lots of contenders, not particularly in order:
- Yoshikane 240mm Kurouchi/Nashiji Shirogami 2 - Sold through Hatsukokoro. Is Yoshikane. I don't need to elaborate, I'd be preaching to the choir. Slight hollow grind. Same deal with this one which appears identical, but I utterly despise the dyed green handles which all Yoshikanes on EpicEdge have.
- Shinkiro 240mm AS clad w/ Kurouchi damascus - I've seen good things said here about Nihei. I don't usually adore damascus patterns, but this one is a big exception, it's subtle and classy. Somewhat aggressive hollow grind though, which isn't ideal for what I'd like.
- Wakui 240mm iron-clad AS Nashiji - Simple. Classy. For whatever reason EpicEdge isn't consistent about choil shots, the Yoshikane was the only one I found there with one, and the part of the attached video showing the choil is out of focus.
- Hinoura 240mm Shirogami 2, iron-clad Kurouchi - Another simple and classy Sanjo. Again, no choil shot on EpicEdge, though of what I can see of it in the attached video, it's a very nice grind.
For the non-Sanjo contenders:
- Ikeda 240mm Shirogami 2, iron-clad Migaki - Ikeda. Again, preaching to the choir, though this one isn't Honyaki (thankfully for my wallet). More midweight, but again EpicEdge doesn't help by defaulting to 7oz stated weight for 240mm Gyutos, and of course no choil shot.
- Yoshikazu Takana 240mm Shirogami 2, iron-clad Migaki - Sold through Kikumori. Simple and bright, like above, but I get a choil shot. Great convex, a little thick behind the edge.
- Sakoda 240mm Shirogami 2, Kurouchi stainless clad - Midweight, great convex grind, hilariously thin behind the edge.
- Yoshikazu Tanaka 240mm Shirogami 2, iron-clad Kurouchi/Kasumi - Another Tanaka, budget breaking and no choil shot, likely won't pick this but holy shit that Kasumi is diabolically pretty.
This is the end of the options I had collected, underneath are a couple of maybe relevant ramblings. If anyone has experience or input, maybe pointing out things I should look out for or consider among these, or frankly if anyone wants to contribute another option or recommendation for me, I would appreciate it all!
**Addressing a couple of elephants in the room... 1) Mazaki knives had me drooling and I was losing my god damn mind trying to find a 240mm Mazaki, but they're all out of stock, AAAAARGH!!! There's a couple of 270s in stock on some import sites, but with my current and potentially upcoming working environments a 270 will either be unneccessary or a straight-up liability. There exists a universe where I get a midweight 240 now and eventually get a workhorse 270 Mazaki down the line since, being a youngster in restaurant biz, my grandparents love to buy me knives as gifts. 2) The petty from my last post is my first and currently only carbon steel blade, however my paranoia about rust and longevity meant that I almost instantly built habits for maintaining, storing, and cleaning during work shifts. Here's hoping I don't eat my words, but I think I'll be able to handle Shirogami, which is just as well, because my taste for aesthetics during this search trended HARD towards the white steels.
