Watanabe Knives

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knightzerox23

Joined
Aug 2, 2005
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Hi, I'm a new member that joined today. Let me say that I did a search but was unable to find enough solid information.

I have been trying to find a hand forged japanese knife and researhing different brands. A few that I have found are Suisin, Aritsugu, and Masamoto. I looked into the Masamoto's set of knives and there seems to be a general consensus of high quality for his knives.

I however can not currently afford spending $1000 on a kitchen knive just yet. I happen to find S. Watanabe's site,

www.watanabeblade.com

and have been intrigued. He seems to sell mostly hand forged knives ( except his "standard" kitchen collection ) and custom set knives. AFter looking at some of the photos I really felt like this person could offer me a high quality, hand forged knife at a resonable price.

I checked on here and all the information I found was positive, and I went ahead and orderd a sashimi knive from his pro collection. For the price of the knive it seems to be well worth the cost. I currently own 3 Kershaw Shun Classic knives and 1 Global vegtable knives. All very good knives but I really felt that I was missing something.

In anycase, can anyone comment on his blades? Quality? Etc?

I ordered the sashimi knive ( $60 ) to test out his workmanship first, before I order a custom knife from him. Thanks!

P.S. Sorry for the long post.
 
Not at all a long post. Welcome to the Forums. That's a very interesting site. If you like kitchen knives check out Thomas Haslinger, and William Henry's new culinary stuff.
 
Yes, I have one of his Kintaro Ame petite knives and like it very much. You will find a bunch of us who own Watanabe knives over on
http://www.knifeforums.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=Kitchen
and in Fred's cutlery forum http://216.91.137.210/ubbthreads/postlist.php/Cat/0/Board/cutlery
Fred also reviewed one of his wa-gyuto here http://www.foodieforums.com/watanabegyutoreview.htm

Another smith everyone is interested in is Takeda. He has a bunch of rustic looking traditional carbon steel knives that are rather popular http://www.dento.gr.jp/takedahamono/e-kajiya/e_index.html
 
Oh cheese whiz, Am I going to save your money or what! There is no Kitchen Knife made on this planet worth over 100 bucks! Go to the restaurant retailer outlet & get yourselfe a 1095 carbon steel kitchen knife or several if your heart desires! I have a Foster 1095 Chef knife with 8 inch blade that cuts like Hell on Fire! You Must clean & dry it after use though!!! Good Luck! :cool:
 
Pogo, I'm afraid that there are going to be a bunch of kitchen pros that will disagree with your assessment of the value of kitchen cutlery. Just like the superiority of a Chris Reeve blade over a Kmart special, Shinichi-san's or Mr. Haslinger's blades (among others) are far-and-away the superiors of the likes of Foster Bros., Henckels, and their ilk...to the discerning buyer.
-Mark
 
OK, I see your point here. My Uncle worked in a packing house for years & they brought every combination of knife steel in over the years! My uncle just grinned. He told me there is no better steel than 1095 for such work! If there is some Primo supersteel out there somewhere please Educate me! I am all ears!! :)
 
A kitchen isn't a packing house.

All kitchens aren't the same.

For some tasks, a knife with a very acute bevel and polished edge works better. This requires quite hard steel. Such a knife would chip out in a packing house, and is best sharpened on a water stone.

Just different tools for different jobs.

Japanese cooks, particularly sushi chefs make use of such knives.

for tasks like this:

05.gif


That is a large radish being cut into a paper-like sheet.
http://www.tsuji.ac.jp/hp/gihou/Basic_Techniques/japan/vegetables/katsuramuki/katu.htm

Try that with a knife from the packing house.


Such knives are traditionally made from particular carbon steels and can be over Rc 64 in hardness and shrpened with waterstones. Unless great care is exercised, steeling with a smooth steel (never a ridged one!) can lead to chipping. Some new alloy steels are said to provide comparable performance and are resistant to corrosion and staining.

Though more delicate, such knives provide superior performance for many kitchen tasks, and hold their edge a long time. Not for chopping bones for certain, though.

Would 1095 perform similarly in such an application? Needs someone more expert than me to answer. If I had to guess, 1095 at such hardness would be more brittle than the steels currently employed.
 
Ok... I see the point. But, how many cooks are on this Forum? I can see the hard steel doing a different job better. Your right about the smooth steel..I have one! You wouldnt think it would work but, it does! Thanks for the imput. :cool:
 
pogo said:
Ok... I see the point. But, how many cooks are on this Forum? I can see the hard steel doing a different job better. Your right about the smooth steel..I have one! You wouldnt think it would work but, it does! Thanks for the imput. :cool:
Click to expand...

Actually, quite a few drop in here, not to mention home cooks who've tried a Global and got a taste of what they can do, and then went on to the higher grade stuff and become addicted to Japanese cutlery, or exotic steels like ZDP-189 or VG-10 laminated Cowry-X or just plain wrought-iron laminated white or blue paper carbon steel blades (a lot of these people also collect other types of knives too). AFAIK, Fallkniven knives and cutlery copy Japanese blade construction and are even made there.

Shinichi also makes some interesting outdoor knives http://www.watanabeblade.com/english/special/echigo.htm
 
Sure. Shinichi Watanabe not only sells the knives, he makes them. He is a one man show. When he gets busy, his master will help him out, but most of the time he does it all himself. I have found his lower end knives like the kuroichi models to be pretty low end but, of course, superior to anything made in the West for the kitchen. I've tested his kuroichi yanagi and santoku. The yanagi was simply too thin to be a true traditional knife. His higher end models (I have an aoko kasumi deba and gyuto) are as good as any. Now that I think of it, I have two of his gyutos.

I've never owned or seen a polished blade from his forge so I can't comment on the really high end.

You have to understand that he makes traditional Japanese knives in traditional patterns. It is pretty hard to compare them to Western style knives. They are carbon steel and single bevel with traditional wood handles on a rat tail tang. But to compare them to other traditional Japanese knives is fine and he compares extremely well in terms of value. I would say he produces a quality that is in line with many of the big brands like Masamoto or Suisin at the higher end of his line with noticeably lower prices.

He is reliable and fast. He fills most orders withing two weeks. I have even received a couple of knives from him within one week. In general, I would caution you about the kuroichi products but recommend the rest of his work without reservation. Good cooking.
 
hmm well, I went over to knifeforums and some people had reviews of the knife I just bought. All positive comments! I will be buying his high grade model definatley soon. Maybe in a couple of months or longer. I am just haivng trouble deciding what to buy.

I want a yanagiba again, but maybe only 210mm to 240mm ( I don't cut fish regulary, but I would like to use it for cutting thin strips of tuna and chicken breasts, etc.. Also for thins slices of vegtables like tomatoes) and maybe replace my Global Gs-5 ( Vegtable Knife ) with a santoku or gyuto. Hard decisions since I already have 4 excellent knives ( Kershaw and global ) and have a hard time justifying buying new ones.

I guess I'll have to sell them or give them away as gifts =] It will depend though on how good his master grade blades really are.
 
"But, how many cooks are on this Forum? "

What counts as a "cook"?

Some folks who cook professionally do show up here.

But think about knife use in say, a typical week.

Unless one eats out most of the time, has someone that does the cooking, or eats only prepared food, kitchen knife use is likely to be a large chunk of knife use for many (unless of course one's job requires knife use).


If one is willing to spend a lot on the folder used mostly for opening envelopes and packages, the knives that do what other tools would do better, or the ultimate "survival knife" (actually used how much?) why deprive oneself of a really nice couple of knives for the kitchen? If there's a food processor in the kitchen, it might get a vacation, because it is fun to cut stuff, and unless cooking for crowds not that much more time.

And if you are one of those who likes "scary sharp", chasing the ultimate edge, and free-hand honing, the Japanese kitchen knives are at least as addicting as any other kind.

Might even get some bonus points if there is someone that thinks you absolutely don't "need" another knife, ever. (Well, at least until you buy several).
 
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