No hate to the rest of the crew, but Nathan is definitely the best presenter we've seen yet. Really enjoy his tone and clear explanations. Keep it up guys!
It's also the editing that does it. Like whoever cut and edited all the footage is a champ because it's a lot of footage from multiple cameras plus mics
I run a 270mm single edge blue steel kiritsuke as a work horse. It's hefty but it's shape does wonders for my prep. with the length of the knife, i literally have different parts designated for different cuts. It was interesting to see a shorter, albeit double edged, version of the knife perform.
My husband and I have been going to knifewear and Kent of Inglewood for years !! Nathan is very knowledgeable and has always had amazing customer service skills! I remember buying my husbands first razor about 7 or so years ago from Nathan. He always says hi and makes you feel welcomed. As a long time customer 10/10 recommend a visit if your in Calgary I always get amazing service!
I agree with previous comment that this is very clear and well-done. Since Nathan was comparing knives, it would be helpful if the brands were listed. Maybe I’m just lazy. ✌🏼
Yeah would be nice to have text insert within the video or maybe everytime a knife is introduced on screen have a 2016 suicide squad intro with info on the knife :)
Just received my brand new 9" (230mm) Kiritsuke the other day... Used it once but now that I've found your video in amongst a trillion others (on the 'Tube') I'm anxious and at the same time; excited to grab a few raw veggies and getta chopping, slicing ( hopefully - just the veggies!) and dicing! One thing I noticed you didn't get to prep was a bell pepper. Q: would you recommend using the Kiritsuke for this veggie?
Yes totally! There are some pretty unique ways to cut up a bell pepper. My advice is to take it slow the first few times you do it, but once you're comfortable with a knife that large, it can do pretty much everything! Ps: Congrats on your new knife!
As I mentioned in a previous comment, I have a beautiful Muneishi 21cm Aogami #2 kiritsuke-gyuto, tempered to 61-62 HRC. It's clad in iron and has a stunning Kurouchi finish. I love this atom splitter. For a Christmas gift, my wife gave me a 17cm funayuki from the up and coming young bladesmith, Kyohei Shindo. This knife is also forged from Aogami #2 steel tempered to 62 HRC, (I love blue paper steel). It's also clad in soft iron with a gorgeous Kurouchi finish. This knife is wafer thin. As such, it can be sharpened to an electron shaving edge. I've been sharpening my own knives for over 40 years. Seriously, this knife has the sharpest edge I've ever created. The knife is a dream to use for a variety of refined general purpose uses. Being so thin, does mean extra care is needed while using it. Definitely no bones, frozen products and hard veggies like celeriac and pumpkin, Boned meat, fish, poultry and softer veggies and fruits are where it shines. You should do a review on this knife. I think you'll be shocked how good it is. It's also a real beauty to look at.
OK, sold on the Nigara! Will you be getting any more of the 240? I have the Bunka from that line and it is one of my favorite knives. I love the look, the way it cuts, and just the feel in my hand. I have been looking for a 210 or 240, and just couldn't decide what to get.
A 240 kiritsuke is definitely my next knife... Not sure which one yet (actually not even set on single or double bevel), but I'm not in a hurry, I'll keep an eye out for future garage sales!
I work in a kitchen on the 6am shift We bake our own pastries and try and get the mis en place out of the way by 11am. Other day, one our second year apprentice pulls her 8th breakfast shift since starting out She had to be told by the sous how to use a claw grip, because she has been spending her whole time on larder, deep frying or grilling, and reloading her station out of the cool room.
I "cheated" as a chef on a sailing ship with teenagers. Not only making the food, but teaching the kids to make the food. Had four new every day. After breakfast I had two cleaning it up and two starting the preparation for the lunch. - Are we making lunch allready? We just had breakfast. - Oh yes. We have to prepare everything, so when we start cooking about 11, everything is Mis en place. It took its time. Some had almost never held a kitchen knife before. I really had to teach them how to use the knife safe, while sailing.
In a small kitchen space, I recommend using a good quality 17cm to 18cm bunka knife. I have a 17cm VG-10 bunka and a 21cm ironclad aogami #2 carbon steel kiritsuke gyuto. Both of them, are very cool speed demons.
@@twintriode I forgot to mention I also have a 17cm Aogami #2 funiyuiki by Kyohei Shindo. Now this thing is the beast. It's a true whisper thin atom splitter blade. It's not a knife for the novice cook, the fainthearted, or the heavy handed hacker. It's for the experienced cook, who's looking for delicate precision cutting.
My knife set burnt down in a fire. It was the brand kasumi. At the time I bought it I thought because of its sales pitch that they were the bees knees of Japanese knives lol. Now I am begining to replace my set with the miyabi Birchwood. Now I want to get a set of small maker Japanese traditional single bevel knives, but I'm LEFT HANDED and I just don't know who the good artisans are. Can you help me out with some of the good makers names that do left handed single edge knives????
All the double beveled knives are suitable for a lefthanded user, Just get octagonal handle and you will be fine. As to the artisans, all the blacksmiths that Knifewear work with are awesome ( you can read more if you buy the book Knifenerd guide). Just find one you like and you can afford and go for it. You will hardly be disapointed and will most definetly be the best knife you will own up until now ;). Good luck
Oh no! I guess that's a good opportunity to splurge on something truly magnificent! Our buddy DJSergeotto said it best. Any of our makers that do double-bevel knives made them ambidextrous. Some do make non-symmetrical handles, but lots of lefties love them regardless. If you shoot us a message on our site, we would be happy to make some suggestions! Personally, I'm a huge fan of Moritaka, Masashi, and Fujiwara when it comes to the high-end handmade stuff.
I know why my small 6in chef knife is dull now, I'm just smacking it on the board like a clown! LOL Already doesn't cut tomatos like when I got it out of the box. I'll have to get a nice honing rod
Kiritsuke is usualy longer than a bunka. Bunka is more like a nakiri with a Ktip and typically go from 150 to 180mm .The kiritsukes are more of a Gyuto with higher profile and more agressive K lines. The usually go from 180 to 270mm. There are also slight differences in the hight or the flatness of the blade.
That's a great point, we've had a lot of questions about that! Both bunkas and kiritsukes are loose terms, kiritsuke specifically refers to the sloped tip. Some makers even put it on other shapes and call them kiritsuke nakiris, kiritsuke sujihiki, etc. The knife in the video is actually called Hakata, which is another regional name for that general shape.
@@KnifewearKnives thanks for elaborating. I purchased my first Japanese knife ever from knifewear. It was a Takeda sasonoha and it is still my main goto knife out of the 8 Japanese knives that I now have. It arrived in Texas about 20 hrs after I ordered it which was amazingly fast.
@@KnifewearKnives The Ryusen Blazen 180mm Is called Santoku by the manufacturer but it is a textbook Bunka (which can be called a small Kiritsuke) It is possible that Ryusen chose to call it Santoku because Santoku knives are more popular with more people. I would imagine the search volume for Santoku is much much bigger than Bunka. But to me the Bunka shape is better.
Santokus are usually 165-180mm, whereas a double bevel kiritsuke can range from that size, up to 210 or 240mm. The kiritsuke also tends to have a flatter blade profile, whereas the Santoku is more curved and a bit taller.
@@KnifewearKnives Thanks for the explanation. Single bevel is probably the real deal for kiritsuke, but I already walked away from pesky single bevel bread knives
A double beveled kiritsuke is uasually called a kiritsuke gyuto, since it caters to the western (foreign) market. Apart from the explanation from Knifewear, I'd like to add on that K-tip gyutos are very pointy and you can stab yourself very easily, or stab the knife into something hard like your cutting board especially if you use a rocking motion, and there goes your tip. Santokus have a point but it's like a 45 degree penknife versus a 30 degree penknife blade. The 45 degree blade will always cut sharper. The santoku will always feel more unwieldy and unable to do precise cuts. Not saying it can't, but you got to be more careful. The intended audience is less experienced (Japanese) home users who just want one knife to cut everything and not care too much about detail work. Because santokus have more weight towards the very tip of the blade, as mentioned, they are much more unwieldy than K gyutos, which will feel much more nimble. It's like driving a tractor VS a sports car.
@@jiahaotan696 Japan has many variants, I have an european santoku of 100g, 1.2mm spine near the tip. Is too short for cutting bread, so I use a worn carving knife 210mm blade with 70g left. Not sure those qualify as having more weight.
@@2adamast Wow, 70g carving knife... Sounds like a Western style flexible slicer, with granton or offset for thinness. Didn't even know they could get so light. My santoku from Masutani is 139g and 165mm long. A very quick search for sujihiki (Japanese slicers) tells me that a 240mm Sakai Takayuki is 129g, so not sure how your blade is 70g... Must be Western! Lol Edit: I realised very quickly that you misunderstood what I meant. I'm talking about the weight at the very tip of the knife, but you interpreted that as the weight of the whole knife. To further illustrate with an extreme example, imagine a very thin,straight metal rod attached to a handle, that I can freely insert a 100g mass anywhere along its length. A santoku would be similar to the rod with the 100g mass at the very tip. A nimble, fast knife (slicer, gyuto with distal taper, etc etc) would be similar to the rod with the 100g mass at the handle. The weight of the rod is almost negligible compared to the 100g mass, and you don't feel like swinging a weight around because the balancing point of the system is very close to your hand, which now acts as the pivot... With your forearm muscles providing the opposing force. You can also see this example illustrated with a metronome -- when the weight is at the tip, the darn thing moves at a graveyard pace... when the weight is near its fulcrum at the base, the BPM rises! Much less effort to swing the weight around and it moves faster. As for what a 'gyuto with distal taper' is and knives that feel like the 100g weight is somewhere in the middle... well.. I'm not going to go there!
that perpendicular cut on the onion is completely unnecessary and doesn't affect the outcome in any measurable way ... get a magnifying glass and look closely at the structure of the onion itself ... it becomes self evident ... total waste of time
Does a talented young person have any chance whatsoever of realizing his non-conformist, individual abilities in the culinary world without what seems to be the obligatory tattoos?
As long as decent cooking are a basis for your activity, tatoos are entirely a preference thing ;). My mother compares tatoos to easter egg decorations, I personally don't mind those, and we still get along great ;)
No hate to the rest of the crew, but Nathan is definitely the best presenter we've seen yet. Really enjoy his tone and clear explanations. Keep it up guys!
Awe thanks buddy! I love to teach and share knowledge, and I'm glad to be doing more of these!
Totally agree
It's also the editing that does it. Like whoever cut and edited all the footage is a champ because it's a lot of footage from multiple cameras plus mics
Was about to type the same
Seeing the Nigara knives pop up a lot in these videos. Got myself a Nigara petty, and I get why now. It cuts and it looks stunning!
Happy to hear it, Nigara knives are sick!
I run a 270mm single edge blue steel kiritsuke as a work horse. It's hefty but it's shape does wonders for my prep. with the length of the knife, i literally have different parts designated for different cuts. It was interesting to see a shorter, albeit double edged, version of the knife perform.
My husband and I have been going to knifewear and Kent of Inglewood for years !! Nathan is very knowledgeable and has always had amazing customer service skills! I remember buying my husbands first razor about 7 or so years ago from Nathan. He always says hi and makes you feel welcomed. As a long time customer 10/10 recommend a visit if your in Calgary I always get amazing service!
Thank you so much, I'm so happy to hear it! I hope you two are doing well!
Great video! I always learn something new (usually how to improve my knife technique) when I watch Nathan and Mike.
Thanks buddy! We got lots more awesome technique coming your way!
That cutting board.....amazing!
thicc
I love the love for Nigara knives! I got a 240mm gyuto and a 180mm bunka from them and I LOVE them. Keep up the nice content! :)
Thanks, will do!
I agree with previous comment that this is very clear and well-done. Since Nathan was comparing knives, it would be helpful if the brands were listed. Maybe I’m just lazy. ✌🏼
Sorry about that, got the list up in the description now. Thanks for watching!
Yeah would be nice to have text insert within the video or maybe everytime a knife is introduced on screen have a 2016 suicide squad intro with info on the knife :)
i just bought a vg10 damascus steel hammer forged 9in kiritsuke chef knife for christmas! best knife ive ever purchased 🔪 🧑🏽🍳
That's awesome! Merry Christmas!
Just received my brand new 9" (230mm) Kiritsuke the other day... Used it once but now that I've found your video in amongst a trillion others (on the 'Tube') I'm anxious and at the same time; excited to grab a few raw veggies and getta chopping, slicing ( hopefully - just the veggies!) and dicing!
One thing I noticed you didn't get to prep was a bell pepper.
Q: would you recommend using the Kiritsuke for this veggie?
Yes totally! There are some pretty unique ways to cut up a bell pepper. My advice is to take it slow the first few times you do it, but once you're comfortable with a knife that large, it can do pretty much everything!
Ps: Congrats on your new knife!
As I mentioned in a previous comment, I have a beautiful Muneishi 21cm Aogami #2 kiritsuke-gyuto, tempered to 61-62 HRC. It's clad in iron and has a stunning Kurouchi finish. I love this atom splitter. For a Christmas gift, my wife gave me a 17cm funayuki from the up and coming young bladesmith, Kyohei Shindo. This knife is also forged from Aogami #2 steel tempered to 62 HRC, (I love blue paper steel). It's also clad in soft iron with a gorgeous Kurouchi finish. This knife is wafer thin. As such, it can be sharpened to an electron shaving edge. I've been sharpening my own knives for over 40 years. Seriously, this knife has the sharpest edge I've ever created. The knife is a dream to use for a variety of refined general purpose uses. Being so thin, does mean extra care is needed while using it. Definitely no bones, frozen products and hard veggies like celeriac and pumpkin, Boned meat, fish, poultry and softer veggies and fruits are where it shines. You should do a review on this knife. I think you'll be shocked how good it is. It's also a real beauty to look at.
That's crazy! We will definitely check it out. We should do a video on the sharpest knives of all time.
Good information!
Nice knifework. Congrats on getting out bro
Thanks bud!
@@KnifewearKnives no worries, really agree with your view on mandolines too, nursed some nasty bites from them. Garni can have those palm carvers.
OK, sold on the Nigara! Will you be getting any more of the 240? I have the Bunka from that line and it is one of my favorite knives. I love the look, the way it cuts, and just the feel in my hand. I have been looking for a 210 or 240, and just couldn't decide what to get.
Eventually. You can add your name to the "to be contacted" list on the product page of the website.
Very informative, especially coming from a Chef
Great video Nathan!
Thanks man!
A 240 kiritsuke is definitely my next knife... Not sure which one yet (actually not even set on single or double bevel), but I'm not in a hurry, I'll keep an eye out for future garage sales!
Good thinking! For double bevel, the nigara and Masashi are both amazing.
I work in a kitchen on the 6am shift
We bake our own pastries and try and get the mis en place out of the way by 11am.
Other day, one our second year apprentice pulls her 8th breakfast shift since starting out
She had to be told by the sous how to use a claw grip, because she has been spending her whole time on larder, deep frying or grilling, and reloading her station out of the cool room.
I wanna that T-shirt!
I "cheated" as a chef on a sailing ship with teenagers. Not only making the food, but teaching the kids to make the food. Had four new every day. After breakfast I had two cleaning it up and two starting the preparation for the lunch.
- Are we making lunch allready? We just had breakfast.
- Oh yes. We have to prepare everything, so when we start cooking about 11, everything is Mis en place.
It took its time. Some had almost never held a kitchen knife before. I really had to teach them how to use the knife safe, while sailing.
That's awesome, what a great challenge!
I use a 270 to bang out my prep and on the line I use my 5'' petty and my 6'' chefs knife
Is that nigara a 210 or 240?
I've been wanting an kirisuke so bad, but im still recovering from my last knife spending spree
I get that. Nothing wrong with pacing yourself!
The left biceps tattoo dude looks like Tim Cook :D
😂
In a small kitchen space, I recommend using a good quality 17cm to 18cm bunka knife. I have a 17cm VG-10 bunka and a 21cm ironclad aogami #2 carbon steel kiritsuke gyuto. Both of them, are very cool speed demons.
Great suggestion, that was my go to as well!
Thank goodness I have a HUGE kitchen.
@@twintriode I forgot to mention I also have a 17cm Aogami #2 funiyuiki by Kyohei Shindo. Now this thing is the beast. It's a true whisper thin atom splitter blade. It's not a knife for the novice cook, the fainthearted, or the heavy handed hacker. It's for the experienced cook, who's looking for delicate precision cutting.
My knife set burnt down in a fire. It was the brand kasumi. At the time I bought it I thought because of its sales pitch that they were the bees knees of Japanese knives lol. Now I am begining to replace my set with the miyabi Birchwood.
Now I want to get a set of small maker Japanese traditional single bevel knives, but I'm LEFT HANDED and I just don't know who the good artisans are. Can you help me out with some of the good makers names that do left handed single edge knives????
All the double beveled knives are suitable for a lefthanded user, Just get octagonal handle and you will be fine. As to the artisans, all the blacksmiths that Knifewear work with are awesome ( you can read more if you buy the book Knifenerd guide). Just find one you like and you can afford and go for it. You will hardly be disapointed and will most definetly be the best knife you will own up until now ;). Good luck
Oh no! I guess that's a good opportunity to splurge on something truly magnificent!
Our buddy DJSergeotto said it best. Any of our makers that do double-bevel knives made them ambidextrous. Some do make non-symmetrical handles, but lots of lefties love them regardless.
If you shoot us a message on our site, we would be happy to make some suggestions! Personally, I'm a huge fan of Moritaka, Masashi, and Fujiwara when it comes to the high-end handmade stuff.
I'm looking for single bevel left handed knives not 50/50 grind
I know why my small 6in chef knife is dull now, I'm just smacking it on the board like a clown! LOL
Already doesn't cut tomatos like when I got it out of the box.
I'll have to get a nice honing rod
A honing rod will.make a big difference for you!
what you have there is a bunka no? looks more like a bunka than a kiritsuke (the first one)
Good question! They're all regional styles, so some would call a kiritsuke a "bunka Gyuto", and others might call a bunka a "kiritsuke santoku".
@@KnifewearKnives cheers!
I fully resent the Kiritsuke having anything remotely to do with “hipster.”
Nice video, wished you had of pushed it more of varied size and toughness, e.g. pumpkin
Whhat's the difference between that and a Bunka?
Kiritsuke is usualy longer than a bunka. Bunka is more like a nakiri with a Ktip and typically go from 150 to 180mm .The kiritsukes are more of a Gyuto with higher profile and more agressive K lines. The usually go from 180 to 270mm. There are also slight differences in the hight or the flatness of the blade.
it is bigger than the bunka, more versatile... totally more badass too
DJSergeotto hit the nail on the head! Bunkas are closer to Santokus/ Nakiris, a Kiritsuke is closer to a gyuto.
The first knife he shows looks more bunka like to me than kiritsuke but I'm no expert.
That's a great point, we've had a lot of questions about that! Both bunkas and kiritsukes are loose terms, kiritsuke specifically refers to the sloped tip. Some makers even put it on other shapes and call them kiritsuke nakiris, kiritsuke sujihiki, etc.
The knife in the video is actually called Hakata, which is another regional name for that general shape.
@@KnifewearKnives thanks for elaborating. I purchased my first Japanese knife ever from knifewear. It was a Takeda sasonoha and it is still my main goto knife out of the 8 Japanese knives that I now have. It arrived in Texas about 20 hrs after I ordered it which was amazingly fast.
@@KnifewearKnives The Ryusen Blazen 180mm Is called Santoku by the manufacturer but it is a textbook Bunka (which can be called a small Kiritsuke)
It is possible that Ryusen chose to call it Santoku because Santoku knives are more popular with more people.
I would imagine the search volume for Santoku is much much bigger than Bunka.
But to me the Bunka shape is better.
What's the difference between a double beveled kiritsuke and a santoku ? Apart a few millimeters at the tip
Santokus are usually 165-180mm, whereas a double bevel kiritsuke can range from that size, up to 210 or 240mm. The kiritsuke also tends to have a flatter blade profile, whereas the Santoku is more curved and a bit taller.
@@KnifewearKnives Thanks for the explanation.
Single bevel is probably the real deal for kiritsuke, but I already walked away from pesky single bevel bread knives
A double beveled kiritsuke is uasually called a kiritsuke gyuto, since it caters to the western (foreign) market.
Apart from the explanation from Knifewear, I'd like to add on that K-tip gyutos are very pointy and you can stab yourself very easily, or stab the knife into something hard like your cutting board especially if you use a rocking motion, and there goes your tip.
Santokus have a point but it's like a 45 degree penknife versus a 30 degree penknife blade. The 45 degree blade will always cut sharper. The santoku will always feel more unwieldy and unable to do precise cuts. Not saying it can't, but you got to be more careful. The intended audience is less experienced (Japanese) home users who just want one knife to cut everything and not care too much about detail work.
Because santokus have more weight towards the very tip of the blade, as mentioned, they are much more unwieldy than K gyutos, which will feel much more nimble. It's like driving a tractor VS a sports car.
@@jiahaotan696 Japan has many variants, I have an european santoku of 100g, 1.2mm spine near the tip. Is too short for cutting bread, so I use a worn carving knife 210mm blade with 70g left. Not sure those qualify as having more weight.
@@2adamast Wow, 70g carving knife... Sounds like a Western style flexible slicer, with granton or offset for thinness. Didn't even know they could get so light.
My santoku from Masutani is 139g and 165mm long.
A very quick search for sujihiki (Japanese slicers) tells me that a 240mm Sakai Takayuki is 129g, so not sure how your blade is 70g... Must be Western! Lol
Edit: I realised very quickly that you misunderstood what I meant.
I'm talking about the weight at the very tip of the knife, but you interpreted that as the weight of the whole knife.
To further illustrate with an extreme example, imagine a very thin,straight metal rod attached to a handle, that I can freely insert a 100g mass anywhere along its length.
A santoku would be similar to the rod with the 100g mass at the very tip.
A nimble, fast knife (slicer, gyuto with distal taper, etc etc) would be similar to the rod with the 100g mass at the handle. The weight of the rod is almost negligible compared to the 100g mass, and you don't feel like swinging a weight around because the balancing point of the system is very close to your hand, which now acts as the pivot...
With your forearm muscles providing the opposing force.
You can also see this example illustrated with a metronome -- when the weight is at the tip, the darn thing moves at a graveyard pace... when the weight is near its fulcrum at the base, the BPM rises! Much less effort to swing the weight around and it moves faster.
As for what a 'gyuto with distal taper' is and knives that feel like the 100g weight is somewhere in the middle... well.. I'm not going to go there!
thats more a bunka, isnt it?
imagine if that Nigara was SG2 instead of aogami super...
I'm partial to Aogami Super, but we do have some stunning knives in SG2 from Nigara!
knifewear.com/collections/nigara-hamono
I thought garlic is simple ... japanese knife, end of the handle, western press on the blade, chinese knife, smack the thing.
that perpendicular cut on the onion is completely unnecessary and doesn't
affect the outcome in any measurable way ... get a magnifying glass and look closely at
the structure of the onion itself ... it becomes self evident ... total waste of time
I agree 😂 But you wouldn't believe the outage online if you miss it!
All I saw was a great cutting board. Everything else was an excuse for content.
Mise en place means "put in place" not everything in place. "tout en place" means everything in pleace.
Culinary school failed me!
if they would just stop using it to cut meat...
"Knifeware not "knifewear."
Does a talented young person have any chance whatsoever of realizing his non-conformist, individual abilities in the culinary world without what seems to be the obligatory tattoos?
As long as decent cooking are a basis for your activity, tatoos are entirely a preference thing ;). My mother compares tatoos to easter egg decorations, I personally don't mind those, and we still get along great ;)
Double beveled Kiritsuke are meh. The chiseled bevel are for the truly talented. Also, always go with carbon steel over the stainless crap.
What a load of bullshit... you haven't done your research it seems
This didn’t need to be 12 minutes long at all
Risotto; After me; REE-ZOT-TOE. again : REE-ZOT-TOE. Greetings from The Unoted Kongdim.
Pardon my Canadian 😂