Iida Tool kitchen knives

[Brian]

awesome! Glad to hear it, after years and years of western fillet knives it's a welcome change. I very much wanted very hard steel.

He had a 270mm up there for a while too then took it down, maybe papa Yamashita is putting it to use.

[dmccurtis]

It'll be a treat, no doubt, but I look forward to hearing a usage report nonetheless. I've not used one of Heiji's single-bevels (besides a Yoshikane and a Shigefusa all of mine are from Sakai makers) but his gyuto is one of my gems. I am curious to know how your saya fits. Mine is carved from a lovely piece of sandalwood, but is a bit rattly. Hopefully yours is a bit more snug. Oh, and watch the tip, it ought to be foil-thin. I'm careful, but I'm a little surprised I haven't lost mine to the edge of the sink yet.

[Brian]

I'll keep an eye out of both of those things.

This one will see very delicate use, sushi/sashimi only. I have designs on getting a gyuto as well for general purpose use…one of my friends offered me a shigfusa basically unused but I haven't heard much about it after the offer was made so I'm thinking he might have decided against selling it.

I'm sort of passively looking for a Shig gyuto, having heard so much about them it's hard not to want one. So's write up on Heiji suggests they're on par with Shig….I assume it's probably like some of the best chisel makers where all of the choices are good ones but you may have a preferred maker after some use.

[dmccurtis]

As far as steel performance goes, Heiji and Shigefusa are very similar, both having studied under Iwasaki and using his special Swedish carbon. You're right that, quality-wise, you'd be hard pressed to make a bad choice among the top makers, but there can be major differences in behaviour. Unlike with chisels, which are made to fairly standardized patterns, western-style Japanese knives can differ a lot between makers (single-bevels are pretty standardized, with the biggest differences being between Sanjo and Sakai makers). Gyuto from different makers can differ considerably in profile, geometry, and grind, all which affect how the knife behaves in use.

Here's a shot of Shigefusa's geometry:



And here's my Heiji:



The Shigefusa has what's sometimes called an S-grind, which is a shallow concave grind from spine to midpoint, transitioning to a shallow convex to the edge. This makes for a good all-around geometry, with a balance between cut initiation, food separation, and sticking. The Heiji has a shallow concave grind from the spine, and then a sharp shinogi line with flat bevels to the edge. Compared the Shigefusa, it should start the cut more eagerly, separate food from the blade more easily, but wedge and crack dense foods that are taller than the bevel. Which behaviour you prefer is dependent upon what you cut. There is no one perfect geometry, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how much you like buying knives).

It's very possible you know all this already, but hopefully it will be helpful to someone.

[Brian]

It's clear to me in the abstract, but not having experienced both I can't say which would be preferred. I know what I would prefer to sharpen (Heiji) but I think I would prefer Shig's geometry in use, but I could be wrong about that....which is probably why you have both, lol.

I generally cut thin slices of vegetables and medium thick slices of meat.

[dmccurtis]

Yeah, unfortunately you can't know if you prefer one or the other without using both. If I had to characterize them, I'd say the Shigefusa gyuto feels like a super-refined chef's knife, whereas the Heiji feels like a double-bevelled single-bevel knife. The Shigefusa is easy to use and does everything well, not excelling at any particular tasks, but also without any major caveats. The Heiji has a definite personality to it. It has the cutting feel of a single-bevel knife, where cuts seem to simply separate from the food, but it can run into some difficulty with tall, dense items (squash, celery root, thick carrots, etc.). That can be mitigated by technique - using the tip of the knife where it's thinner, using a pull stroke. I have a number of gyuto that are similar to the Shigefusa, but I've used nothing else quite like a Heiji, which is why I still own the latter and not the former. If I could own only one gyuto, and had to pick between the two, I might pick the Shigefusa. Unlike the Heiji, it never imposes its personality on the work. But, I like the Heiji's personality.

[Brian]

I don't know if it is correct, but I almost always cut with a pull stroke.

Most of the people I know who are western type chefs tell me not to bother polishing the edge (beyond like 1-3k chosera) but I feel it is because they chop. I pull cut and a razor blade is nice for that. Does the Heiji hang up in medium thick cuts of chicken/beef? If it cuts clean through that then I may actually be better off with the Heiji shape.

Sigh….I'll probably end up with two as well since items like carrots and potatoes are most certainly better cut with the S-type edge.