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Buying a Santoku Cooking Knife? What qualities Should I look for i the knife?
I am going to buy a santoku cooking knife and I am not sure what kind of qualities I should look for in a knife like ( getting a half or full tang blade) or what type of metal? SO I was wondering if anyone knows and good types of santoku knives or specific qualities I should look for like .....type of metal?Length ( I was thinking like 5-7 inches)? Full tang or half tang? Good brands? Or what kinda price, I was hoping to not spend more than 80 dollars! Any Information would be great. or recommended knifes also I was hoping to not have to buy it over the internet.
Santoku knife originated from Japan and literally means a knife of three virtues, although even Japanese can't agree what exactly those 3 virtues are. It's more or less general purpose knife in the kitchen, thus similar if not identical use as with the chefs knife or its Japanese cousin Gyuto.
I said that because a lot of people mistakenly consider Santokus as designated vegetable knives, which they're not. Nakiris and Usubas are.
Here's Nakiris/Usubas if you are curious - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/indexbyst.shtml?Nakiri
http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/indexbyst.shtml?Usuba
Anyway, since you decided on Santoku...
1) Full tang or half tang - Doesn't matter. It is a very common knife myth that full tang knives are better, when in fact that isn't the case in many cases. I have over 30 high end kitchen knives, hand forged customs and semi customs from Japan, NONE has a full tang. Full tang according to the myth provides strength, except famous Japanese Katanas and American Bowie knives were stick tang(or half tang) and those knives could cut through the bone and armor. So, do you need more strength that that in the kitchen?
The reason full tangs are popular (and promoted) is that they're easier to make on the automated machinery.
2) Ignore other 2 marketing myths about good knives must be forged and have a bolster. Global knives are stamped, yet they outperform majority of the western "forged" knives. And that forging is done by machines as well, not by blacksmith by hand...
Bolster as the marketing tells us is to protect your fingers and balance the knife. Only second half is true, fingers are protected by the difference between the height of the handle and blade. On santokus there is enough clearance to prevent your hand from slipping on to the edge.
Length - You will be very hard pressed to find santoku longer than 7" anyway. Too short and i's not gonna be an effective general purpose knife. Although depends on your cutting style and preferences.
Before you decide on steel you need to decide whether you want Japanese or Western knife. These days western makers make a lot of santokus. The main difference is that Japanese have different approach to the knife making in general, and Shuns are under the same category. While Globals are more westernized.
In short, Japanese knives are hard steel, RC above 60-62RC easily, thinner blades. Western knives tend to be softer and thicker. 54-56HRC. 1.5 to 2 times the thickness of the comparable Japanese knife.
Hard Japanese blades have their pros, they can be sharpened to much thinner edges and hold it a lot longer compared to western knives, but the drawback is they're slightly harder to sharpen and they get damaged easier if/when abused. I know more than one person who broke the tip off of their Shun knife after dropping it on the floor or in the sink.
Western knives are the opposite. Softer steel won't break that easy, will bend instead, which IMHO is worse. They can't really hold thin edges, compare 40deg on western knife to 10-15 on top quality Japanese knives...
After that if you go with Japanese next step is to decide stainless or mot. Most people choose stainless, they're easier to take care of and unless you sharpen your knives with really good sharpening stuff you wont' see the benefits of the carbon steel knives anyway.
With western knives stainless is the only choice.
One thing that definitely helps is granton edge (also called "hollow edge"), scalloping along the edge. Reduces drag on sticky ingredients quite substantially.
As for the steel, if you go with western X50CrMoV15 is pretty much the standard steel used my majority of the knifemakers.
So, your best bet would be Forschner 7" santoku. It sells just under 30$, has granton edge and is made of the same X50CrMoV15 steel as Wusthofs and Henckels that cost 50$ or even more. If you like Henckels or Wusthofs better for some reason, it's up to you, but if you go by pure cutting performance and edge holding then you won't find any difference between those.
You can also try Globals, which are westernized Japanese knives. Performing better, but costing more too.
Shuns are somewhere in between. Laminate steel called San-Mai used in them does indeed protect hard core with softer layers, but again, if you drop it or try to chop bones or split lobsters with them you'll damage the edge or break the tip...
Here's all the Santokus I've owned/reviewed - http://zknives.com/knives/kitchen/ktknv/indexbyst.shtml?Santoku
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