Santoku Knives in Pattaya

[NewGuy]

Has anyone seen this type of knife here? Has anyone used one?

 

A good link:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/article-what-knives-do-i-really-need-in-the-kitchen/

[CharlieH]

Never heard of it, a pic might help others ?

 

Lazada have them........

 

https://s.lazada.co.th/s.gkfw

[NewGuy]

Thanks. I’ve ordered whatever from Lazada but need to be reminded they exist. Here’s a link with more choices: https://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Santoku+knife&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4m.searchlist.search.go.6ac924da2LmX6p

 

I’d like to hold one before ordering.

 

If it’s cheap but lasts a few years I can live with that.

[Tagaa]

Yes , I've seen one & yes, I've used one.

 

Is there a deeper question residing within? Is so, you need to articulate it.

 

About your last comment " If it’s cheap but lasts a few years I can live with that" I heartily disagree. Cheap items, especially knives, are just a waste of money. They will never be able to be sharpened to a high standard & if you get anything resembling sharp, it won't last long.

 

About 22 years ago I purchased a set of Henkels chefs knives. I use the slicing, pairing & chopping knives and honing steel almost every day. I also use the other blades & cleaver, just not as much. They are as good today as they were when I bought them. As an aside, I have specifically left them to someone in my will & I imagine they will be passed down yet again, the caveat being that they are taken care of.

[giddyup]

51 minutes ago, Tagaa said:

 I have specifically left them to someone in my will & I imagine they will be passed down yet again, the caveat being that they are taken care of.

And how do you enforce that from the grave?

[NewGuy]

Thanks Tagaa.

 

i know my ‘cheap is okay’ was dumb, happens sometimes.

 

My secret questions are, ‘did you like it’, ‘what size was right for you’, ‘can you recommend a brand’ ??? And, always, does Pattaya have a shop with that type of knife?

 

Oh, and I’ve got a Heinkel too, but my wife hates it, so it’s damned cleavers, and not the Chinese one I brought over either.

[Tagaa]

On 11/19/2018 at 3:16 PM, NewGuy said:

 

Oh, and I’ve got a Heinkel too,

Just a small point of clarification...a Heinkel is a company that made mostly bomber aircraft for Germany in WWII.

 

A Henkels is a knife manufacturer. 

 

I kill myself sometimes....

 

The Henkels chopping, or chef knife, comes in three different sizes, IIRC. I use the big one. It has a curved blade that lets you rock the knife when chopping. The way that most people chop, by picking up the entire knife & wacking it up & down on a cutting board is incorrect usage & also hard on the knife. The correct way to chop is to rock the blade up & down, using the point and forward portion of the blade as the fulcrum. Note the blade never leaves the cutting surface.

 

I also use it to slice small things like olives or mushrooms. I choke up on the knife by wrapping my middle, third & pinky fingers around the handle & placing my thumb & index finger on the blade for more precise control.

 

This being said, I really see no reason to buy yet another knife that is used for the same purposes.

 

Something I have noticed is Thai's like to use cleavers to chop vegetables. I'll never understand that in a million years.

[NewGuy]

Since there have been few comments about the queried knives, here’s what I’ve learned from reading Santoku reviews.

 

They are absolutely the sharpest and dangerous unless you’re paying attention and have steady hands. Many come with a sheath for storage, and it’s essential.

 

The favourite seems to be 7” or 180mm size.

 

Technique is important; here have been lots of comments about their brittleness. Broken, snapped blades aren’t rare when used around hard things such as avocado pits.

 

Also warnings about not using torque; turn them just so and chunks of blade will be on your cutting board.

 

Lazada doesn’t carry any brands that amazon.com does. At least when I last looked.

 

I haven’t found out anything about the flat-on-each-side ones versus those sharp (haha) looking ones with a series of cups on one side. And I just don’t care.

 

 

[Tagaa]

As I said previously...I see no reason to buy one.

[myjawe]

hello, anybody knows if a knife sold for around 300 thb at Makro will be good enough ?

 

The link found on this page shows 350 thb knife, but is it really better than a Makro knife ?

 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/rhino-brand-7-santoku-knife-no7924-i126084321-s132389376.html

 

thank you.

[Fat Prophet]

On ‎11‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 2:21 PM, Tagaa said:

Yes , I've seen one & yes, I've used one.

 

Is there a deeper question residing within? Is so, you need to articulate it.

 

About your last comment " If it’s cheap but lasts a few years I can live with that" I heartily disagree. Cheap items, especially knives, are just a waste of money. They will never be able to be sharpened to a high standard & if you get anything resembling sharp, it won't last long.

 

About 22 years ago I purchased a set of Henkels chefs knives. I use the slicing, pairing & chopping knives and honing steel almost every day. I also use the other blades & cleaver, just not as much. They are as good today as they were when I bought them. As an aside, I have specifically left them to someone in my will & I imagine they will be passed down yet again, the caveat being that they are taken care of.

Henckels knives were excellent 25+ years ago, but they are "just ok" today and very poor value -- I wouldn't buy one today. Wusthoff are generally better. I have several 25+ year old Sabatier knives, which I love, but I wouldn't buy a new one today. And price is not, as far as kitchen knives are concerned, a good indication of quality and/or value -- German knives are 3+ x as expensive because German labour is 5+ x as expensive. Victorinox knives are given the highest marks by professional chefs and are dirt cheap, single knives starting at less than $25.00 on Amazon. Mercer is another great knife manufacturer offering very affordable knives, but they are a US company and getting the knives to Thailand will cost as much as the knives themselves (I recently purchased a set of Mercer knives, wonderful quality, for $165, and paid $100 more to have them sent to Thailand -- not a good idea).

 

Today, most people are focused on Japanese (or Chinese) knives because of higher quality and better design (not as heavy as the German knives and incredibly sharp). But Japanese knives are made with a harder and more brittle steel and thinner blades, so they chip more easily and cannot be used to cut bone, etc. -- so for that purpose the German knives, with fatter and less brittle blades, are better. The best place to buy knives is on ebay, where the selection is great and the prices are very good. Many of the Japanese and Chinese manufactures have sites and offer free delivery to Thailand.  One of the best Japanese knife manufactures is Shun, which makes marvelous and expensive knives -- $150 to $250 for a single knife.

 

A Japanese knife manufacture that has traditionally limited itself to the domestic market is Yaxell, and has just started shipping knives outside Japan. They list knives for sale on ebay. They are of the same quality as Shun, but significantly cheaper. The Ran is their top line, Super Gou and Gou next and Yo-U following, but they are all exceptionally good and not cheap -- a single knife ranging from about $90 to $250. I recently purchased a Yaxell Gou 8" Chef's knife on ebay for $139, and it is an amazing knife, better than anything coming from Germany. A Yaxell 7" Yo-U Santoku knife can be had for just under $90 (including shipping to Thailand) -- a bargain.

 

But, if $100 is not cheap enough, there are Chinese alternatives, made with Japanese steel to Japanese specification for under $50 ("cheap"). They are razor sharp, excellent quality and beautiful -- Sunnecko is among the best of the Chinese knife manufacturers. I recently purchased 3 Sunnecko 7" Santuko knives as gifts and they are amazingly good for the price. They are on par with the Yaxell knives at a fraction of the price. You can get them with/or without the dimples -- most reviewers say that the dimples add nothing useful, but are not harmful. You should look at and consider the Gyuto knife design -- the Japanese "chef's knife", which is becoming the most popular design among Japanese knives. The Sunnecko knives really are excellent and exceptional value, so long as you don't use them to "whack" at a bone-in roast. 

 

And, if you do get a good Santuko or Gyuto knife, you will also need a 1000/3000 whetstone and a ceramic steel/sharpening rod to keep it sharp. Good luck!

[Sandy Freckle]

I was given some Global knives..., do they rate ? 

[Fat Prophet]

5 hours ago, Sandy Freckle said:

I was given some Global knives..., do they rate ? 

Global knives generally "rate" very highly. Their design is a bit unusual (all metal handle), but their quality is often ranked in the group of the well regarded Japanese knives, such as Shun, Masamoto and Yaxell. Global claims that their knives are made by hand,  but actually Global knives are stamped out of sheets of steel (knife snobs insist on hand forged blades). The knives, while they look like they are one piece, are actually made from 3 pieces -- the blade and then each side of the handle. The pieces are then all welded together by hand, and then the handle is filled with sand in order to perfectly balance the knife. Global knives have a strong loyalty among the best chefs as a high quality knife. The late chef Anthony Bourdain of "Parts Unknown" once said: “Most of the professionals I know have for years been retiring their Wusthofs and replacing them with the lightweight, easy-to-sharpen and relatively inexpensive vanadium steel Global knives, a very good Japanese product which has – in addition to its many other fine qualities – the added attraction of looking really cool.” Enjoy your Global knives!