Posted By:
Rodney N -
verified customer3 people found this review helpful
Tojiro 270mm gyuto? First some figures.Blade length: ? along edge 270mm/10.6?? heel to tip 265mm/10.4?Blade thickness:? at heel: 2.2mm/.08?? mid point: 2mm/.07?? 2cm from point: 1mm/.04Blade width at heel: 51mm/2?Handle Dimentions: ? length from front of handle bolster: 13cm/5.1?? width: 18mm/.71?? height at center rivet: 28mm/1.1Weight: 311g that's 11oz? This was a surprise since the 10? Henckels (French pattern blade) I have been using for the past 19 years weighs 277g or 9.8oz More on weight and dynamic balance later. Just picking them up they feel about the same.Balance point: Right between the rear edge of the heel and the etched in ?DP? so when held in a traditional pinch grip, the weight sits square in the center of your hand? The 10? Henckels is more blade heavy. The Tojiro blade floats ever so slightly as you hold it waiting for your direction.Fit and Finish:Pretty good. Again they are spending their efforts on the blade. You can get a Masamoto with the same basic blade and perhaps a slicker grip, but the 270mm VG series gyuto will set you back over $200. I got this plus a 120mm petty for about $180Handling and Cutting impressions:I received the knife in 2 days just as was expected. (Great service) I was pretty sold on getting a 240mm but they were temporarily sold out and started looking seriously at the 270. I thought ?What's a couple cm in length?? Well it is a big knife. One of my first jobs out of high school was as a breakfast cook at a university dorm. Our kitchen was stocked with a couple of those white handled 10-11? Mundial chef knives. I thought my shiny new 10? Henckels was a svelt race car compared to those things? I thought ?Hey I can handle a full sized knife,? so I ordered the 270mm. It's a big knife? I said that already? Seriously though it is thin and feels good in the hand especially when you get it going. Though it is not super quick it will not leave you with the sensation of wielding a fire poker. Think of it like a sports car with manual (non-power) steering. Feels a bit heavy in the parking lot, but once you get it going, it comes to life. I figured it would do big stuff great, so I did some smaller work with it to see how it would perform for an every day kind of slice and dice job.Brunoise an Onion: It did fine. It wedged far less than my old German. Slightly better than my Chinese cleaver too. Not as well as one of those sub 2mm thin Gyutos but hey, If you have 3-4 hundred dollars you can have what ever you want. It is only a little sticky for the horizontal cuts but that's also where you are applying a little pressure to the top of the onion. It did quite well over all.Julienne a Carrot: Great, very little wedging. Again it didn't slide through the carrot like tofu but it made thin accurate sticks and was easier to control for this task than a cleaver and didn't wedge like a German Kochsmesser. Also, the longer length gives your axis of rotation a longer arc, so you don't end up with tapered carrot sticks even if you keep the tip of the knife on the board. Julienne a small chili pepper: Silly easyRipe cherry tomato slicing: It did fine but struggled more here than at other tasks, though to be fair, this has been with the factory edge which is quite good oob. I'll take it to the stones after a couple weeks to see how sharp it can get. I'll likely leave the factory bevels alone and just polish the existing edge.Handling: Here is where it does well and seems smaller than it is. As I mentioned above, because the balance point is right at the hand, it is very predictable and goes where you point it. It isn't nose heavy but carries some width toward the tip (the spine slopes down to the edge rather suddenly) giving you that flat minimal rocker blade profile if a French Chef knife with more bade width down the length? good for scooping stuff off the board. It is almost the reverse profile of a German blade. If you cut your teeth on a big knife and like the solid feel of some steel in your hand this is your knife. It has a stiff substantial blade, pretty quick handling and good balanced. You can also sleep well at night knowing that it will never be too small for anything (in the kitchen) Was this rating helpful to you?
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