German v Japanese knives

[zakelwe]

I had a set of 5 Global knives but I found that as a big bloke they are too lightweight in use and the blade has not got enough curve point to choil for when you want to chop with the point on the chopping block. I've now got a Wusthoff knife and I have to say it is far less girly/Jamie in it's use. It doesn't sharpen up quite as much but feels a lot better to use and is "natural".

So I am moving over to German knives now from Japanese. Nissan GT-R to AMG C63 so to speak.

For people who have tried both what do you think?

Regards

Andy

[Roger645]

I have a complete mixture of knives, I have a global vegetable knife which is fantastic, a wusthof filleting knife which feels really nice in the hand and loads of others. Matching sets look nice but I buy individual knives in the sales usually, to me they are just tools so not too worried about them being the same make.

[Coq au Vin]

I have one German knife (8" Henckles), with the rest being Japanese. The German is there purely to hack though chicken bones etc. For every other task, the Japanese ones are much better.

The thing with the Japanese knives is that because they are lighter and better balanced, you can comfortably use a longer blade than a German of the same (or greater) weight.

Globals aren't really a good representation of Japanese knives - most of their other brands (Hattori, Misono etc) are more conventional in their shape and design.

Edited by Coq au Vin on Friday 17th April 22:08

[Mobile Chicane]

Sounds w**k, but I'm sure that most people gravitate through trial and error to knives which best suit their 'chopping style'.

I know I have, to Globals.

However there's no beating a proper Geflügel Shere when it comes to spatchcocking / jointing any kind of 'bird'.

[Roger645]

I Just chopped up 24 chicken carcasses for stock, Can't beat a good cleaver for that job, good old Richardson of Sheffield was the weapon of choice about a tenner I think it was in the sales.

[grumbledoak]

It is each to their own, I think. I've tried quite a few, but my current favourite is a monster 27cm Hiromoto HC (I wasn't intending to buy one that big, but fate seemed to misclick me!). It sharpens very easily, and is so natural in the (my) hand that I use it even where a smaller knife 'should' be the weapon of choice.

Trial and error dude; there are good products from both countries.

[Coq au Vin]

grumbledoak said:

my current favourite is a monster 27cm Hiromoto HC (I wasn't intending to buy one that big, but fate seemed to misclick me!).

This is what I was talking about above. A german 27cm knife would be quite heavy and unweildy for most people, but a Japanese one of the same length is just fine.

The Hiromoto HC is a cracking knife too - I have a 240mm one... Just a shame that JCK have stopped selling that line