Knife porn thread

Their shop on Gloucester Road is much nicer I think. More airy and less intimidating.

Gloucester Road

Cheers. Good to know.

I need a little paring knife. Something fancy. Any ideas?

Will Ferraby fancy?

FYI I picked up a decent Deba2and Santoku in TK Maxx for €40.

Stainless blades rather than carbon but not half bad for the money. Some nice enough knives at super cheap prices there if you've got one with a good home section near you!

Kai akane three layer santokus were £25 at TK maxx, look alright for the money.

I'm looking for a nice pruning knife any recommendations

I got a couple of these for gardening duties:
http://sheffieldknives.co.uk/acatalog/3--inch-Pruning-Knife--Rosewood-Handle--191.html

perfectly OK, not porn though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfo30EDYCEw

Thought I'd post for anybody who is in a similar position to me. I was after a niceish knife, after getting a bit fed up of using an old battered robert welch chefs. I decided on a Japanese knife and thought I might enjoy learning all the maintenance that comes with it.

In the end I settled on a tojiro vg10 9' chefs off knivesforchefs.co.uk which seemed like the best value I could find and got a ice bear/king combo whetstone off axeminster. For a beginner like me both were great, the knife came out the box super duper slicey and the stones have been perfect for what I need.

Learning to sharpen was a bit daunting at first but there's a shed load of advice out there so wasn't as much of a problem as I thought. Friends and family have kitchen loads of blunt knives too which is ideal ground to practice on. All in all, both have made cooking much more fun, so if you're not sure have a go. Not a huge investment and really worth it.

Great advice!

In japan, bought a knife in Kyoto :) went to two shops 1st one was called Shigeharu, great shop apparently the longest running blade smith in the town with a long history, unfortunately the owner wasnt there and the partner was reluctant to serve us and more interested in eating eggs and chatting to her friend still a great shop, think it was just my timing on the visit and my lack of Japanese language skill that hindered the process. would still recommend a visit to someone, 2nd shop Hayakawa Hamonoten, another great little shop, owner very friendly with his help and patience he helped me pick a knife in my budget and skill range, went for a santoku with carbon sandwiched in stainless, and the wife bought a usuba.

The owner was really nice patient and helpful advising on handle type for my hand and alao asking if I was a home cook \ chef. It was great my inability to speak Japanese didn't cause any problems.

Sharpening

Engraving, he asked us if we wanted my name on it but all I wanted the date he looked quite puzzeled with this as I guess most of the visitors get there name. But he was happy to do it.

The knife. Not fancy but felt great in the hand.

Great stuff!

Awesome. May I ask what you paid?

santoku worked out at about 50quid the usuba was slightly more about 60, if you have the budget you can go further up the scale. For the price I'm really happy with them.

Nice work Rich - Love my knife from Shigeharu, shame he wasn't there! Still you had a good experience in the other place

Wow, I was expecting something around 200quids. Japan may be worth a visit after all

Yeah I was a bit gutted he wasn't there, Shigeharu is real neighborhood gem of a shop.
but the second shop was cool, he was showing me other knives he made one sword like thing I think was for cutting big fish and a mean looking one that was again I think for dividing up beef carcasses. Mix between massive Chinese cleaver and chefs knives with really hard tough steel to cope with bones.

For everything Japan its well worth a visit, food, clothing, knives, amazing people beautiful countryside and great city's, so far Osaka has been one of my favorites. Kyoto is beautiful and the crafts and trades here are amazing. I'm falling for the place.

Osaka was banging, loved that city. Defs go to Japan.

So cool !!! Thanks

yes one of my favourites :)

How much is a really fancy hand made chefs knife these days?

I don't want one, I just saw the prices from a particular seller and was surprised so wanted some figures to compare it to.

Handmade. On BBC4 right now. No music or narration. Just a man making a knife. Beautiful.

"Metal. Filmed in an industrial forge lit only by the welding torch and burning metal, this programme examines the process involved in the crafting of a steel knife. Bladesmith Owen Bush uses a variety of techniques, both ancient and modern, and takes his time over the complex skill of shaping and blending the steel into a knife."

Worth a watch on the iPlayer later if you missed it.

Bit o' spam: my Tsubaya paring knife is looking for a new home.