Well, I “repurposed” an old granny parer to open Amazon boxes. The rest of my knives - I (hopefully) keep sharp. I’m world-travelled and over-educated. I avoid getting over-precious, hopefully. All cuisines are fair game.
Sure, a linoleum knife can be repurposed to do callus care, too. But I don’t think that’s what Ray meant.
Hi Meekah,
Brought any knives back from those world travels? Learned any new tricks?
The nakiri given to me in Japan on one of my trips eventually got me thinking a completely new way . . .
Ray
Knives? No. I brought back observations, experiences, exchanges, knowledge.
No advice on repurposing knives. If it’s special to me I would just hang it for posterity or nostalgia. Otherwise if a knife reaches the end of its use it’s evicted.
Agreed!
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Hi RD,
I have a a used knife morgue for the two knives that no longer work for me. One is a flexible blade slicer with a partially burnt plastic handle, and the other is a pseudo chef’s knife with a metal handle and a bent tip. I may use them to test my new diamond sharpening plates.
I have two others, that I’ve repurposed–and still use. The most recent repurpose, though, is a deba that is typically purchased for fish–and I’m using it for many other things.
What is important, and good, IMO, is that I’m growing and improving knife skills in a world culture that presents many new alternatives.
I’m not staying the same.
Ray
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Hi Meekah,
How did those “observations, experiences, exchanges, and knowledge” improve your food prep skills and knife selection, and tweak your cultural awareness enough to try new things in the kitchen?
Ray
I grocery shopped and cooked in home kitchens with residents while there. Starting at least 50 years ago. Tweaked my cultural awareness??
Hi Meekah,
I was once next door to a kitchen shared by graduate students from around the world. From their disagreements, I learned a great deal about how to cook rice–and what varieties to choose.
It changed me.
Not to mention that nakiri in Japan . . .
Ray
Here’s my approach to comparing knives for repurposing or updating:
Review: SHAN ZU GYO 8" Chef’s Knife
Examine and compare the 8” SHAN ZU GYO with quality Japanese and German knives, gather impressions from friends, and make recommendations.
What features to compare?
Profile: The profile of a premium Chef’s blade will be sword like, tapered–back to front, beveled on each side (50/50), with a flat bevel–all the way to the edge. This hard steel blade sandwich will support a cutting angle of 15 or 16 degrees with great edge retention and minimal risk of chipping. 10-12 degrees may chip and require more maintenance; 18-20 degrees may not seem sharp enough.
Hardness: Softer steel edges need frequent honing and regular sharpening. Harder steels hold an edge longer, but chip and need re-sharpening anyway. The best compromise is a sandwich design: soft steels on the outside; a hard protected core that can deliver sharpness without chipping. Premium Chef knives which use sandwich construction have been using a VG 10, and more recently an AUS 10 steel at their core—very hard. Sandwich designs often include a decorative finish called Damascus composed of many layers of contrasting softer steel.
Cutting Angle: A smaller angle is better but harder to maintain—might even lead to chipping. Smaller angles require the strength of harder steels for proper support.
Handle: A premium Chef’s knife will typically support alternative ways of holding the knife, and different movements with the knife. That implies an ergonomic handle flowing through a semi-bolster to the blade, with a touch of curvature or belly at the cutting edge to allow a full range of blade motions: push-pull, chop-chop, and rock and roll.
SHAN ZU GYO specs: Premium Chef Knife profile (most similar to Bob Kramer/Zwilling 8” Meiji ), sculpted oblong G10 handle, Damascus 67 layer, HRC: 60-62, 15 degree cutting angle, 274 gm.
First impressions:
The 8” SHAN ZU GYO Chef’s knife came well packaged in a magnetic clasp box—a joy to look at. Fit and finish superb. Even after looking it over carefully with a magnifying loupe, I could discern no irregularities or faults.
Make comparisons
There are three cutting techniques—each involves holding the knife differently. For comparisons, I chose the best knife from my collection for each purpose*.
- Push/pull (pinch) Miyabi 8” birchwood
- Chop and slice (full grip) Shun 7” Kaji hollow ground Santoku
- Rock and roll (mixed) Wusthof 8” Classic Ikon
*See photograph showing 3 comparison knives with SHAN ZU GYO.
Procedures: For each comparison, knives were placed side by side and compared
for profile and handle, with measures of hardness, cutting angle, and weight.
For each cutting technique task, first the chosen personal knife was used; then the SHAN ZU GYO (adapting and adjusting SHAN ZU GYO technique from task to task. Three categories of vegetable material: roots, garnishes, and softer vegetables. One category of soft beef (for beef stroganoff)
Results:
-
Examine: The Miyabi 8” birchwood has a classic Japanese gyuto profile, oblong wood handle, Damascus 101 layer, HRC: 63, 12 degree cutting angle, weight 171 gm.
Biggest Difference: cutting angle, weight
Practice: using push/pull, the Miyabi was smoother on all but the hardest roots (rutabaga) , squash, or melons -
Examine: The Shun Kaji Hollow ground 7” is a true Santoku profile, contoured Pakkawood handle, Damascus 65 layer, HRC: 63, 16 degree cutting angle, wt 232 gm
Biggest Difference: length,
Practice: Using a chopping, slicing, and modified chopping protocol, the Shun Kaji Santoku and the SHAN ZU GYO Chef’s knife were about the same on most tasks
- Examine: The Wusthof Classic Ikon 8” is a classic Chef’s Knife with moderate belly, no Damascus, German Steel, HRC: 58, 14 degree cutting angle, weight 255 gm
Biggest Difference: no Damascus, hardness
Practice: Using a rolling motion, the Wusthof Chef’s knife and the Shan Zu GYO were about the same on all tasks
Results Summary: Across all cutting techniques and tasks, the Miyabi Birchwood was extremely effective unless it encountered dense materials; the Shun Santoku was almost as effective as the Miyabi Birchwood on most tasks, but more effective with dense materials; the Wusthof Classic Ikon was comparable to the Shun Santoku on most tasks, but better with rolling motion (rock and roll).
Performance differences between any of the three comparison knives and the Shan Zu GYO were hard to discern, but differences in “feel” were clear. Although the Shan Zu is only slightly longer than 8”, it felt much bigger—almost like a 9” knife. It’s width in the first 5 or 6 inches is more comparable to a Nakiri or Santoku than a Chef’s knife, and it feels “substantial.” It’s weight gives the user a sense of confidence that definitely helps with denser materials. It’s balance point, ergonomic handle, and semi bolster allow the hand to change grips almost effortlessly.
Reviewer Personal Choice
I’m left handed, with a medium to large sized hand. I prefer a molded ergonomic handle without the protruding tail: the GYO handle is perfect for me. I can effortlessly move up across the semi bolster with my pinch grip. The wide base of the blade is even broader than my Nakiri or my Santoku, allowing better than expected SHAN ZU performance with vegetables. The kiritsuke tip allows for finer detail work. The felt weight is not excessive. The design and overall appearance is distinctive, with a very geometric semi-matte Damascus design over a polished mirror background. This knife fits my own Chef knife style very well.
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Ray, it is cool for you to have delved so deeply into this and enjoyed it so much, but, and I speak only for myself, this in depth analysis is beyond my scope. The knives I have bought over the years have clear intended purposes, but they all also the general ability to cut most any food. The notion of repurposing as I embracing it, is “I have a six inch petty in my hand. I used it to cut an avocado. Since it is already in my hand, shall I also use it to slice bread for toast?” Invariably the answer is “no,” and I clean it and grab the bread knife. However, if I sliced the avocado with a ten inch chef and the loaf is dense, I may stick with it. A true and total repurposing, like turning my chef knife into my boning knife or bread knife just isn’t going to happen. Each knife is inherently suited to the tasks for which is known. That said, I am a fan of the three knives approach: large chef, small parer, and bread knives. Please don’t tell the other knives.
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Hi Vecchiouomo,
I agree. Many times, I grab a knife for a task on a whim.
Problem is, culture gets in the way. I clearly remember my first hunting knife, and vaguely remember using some version of an Old Hickory butcher knife in the kitchen–more and more adapted to broader and broader tasks. Didn’t think that much about sharpening–it was cheap to replace–so I always had one around.
The first jolt to my thinking came with the nakiri given to me in Japan–but I brushed it off–almost gave it away.
until
I accidentally tried it out on vegetables. It immediately replaced my butcher knife for everything–and I unknowingly misused it. I finally decided to specialize it for vegetables and restrict my butcher knife to protein.
except
I mostly didn’t need any knife for protein.
so
When I decided to educate myself into a cooking hobby, I convinced myself I needed an all purpose knife that my butcher knife had never been and nakiri couldn’t be–and bought a Wusthof Classic Ikon Chef Knife. My nakiri and butcher knife were now repurposed as specialized support knives–lest they be retired, or sent to my morgue.
And so it goes. Culture keeps changing the perceived needs.
New purchases are mostly to fill perceived gaps–like a sandwich knife for sandwiches, or a bread knife for bread.
Sometimes they are brought in to challenge established knives–and knock them from their pedestal.
and those challengers these days can come from anywhere on the globe.
In my 2022 batterie, the Japanese (and now even the Chinese) have been winning those challenges.
Ray
Clearly using a nakiri for cutting vegetables is its highest and best use, but I have found you can do almost any kitchen task, even slicing proteins, with a sharp nakiri. I have also found since giving my Japanese knives to my brother in law that I really do not miss them. The old French chef’s knife can push cut vegetables or peel mangos just as well as the nakiri could. Sure, it lacks the cultural connection of Japanese knife for Japanese dish. But as a practical matter, it works extremely well. In repurposing a knife as you describe it, like using a deba as a chef’s knife, you must, given your cultural attunement, feel some qualms using it for things it was not designed to do, being a product of a culture of highly specialized knives, similar to the French and their highly specialized pans.
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My nakiri took over in my kitchen for quite awhile–became my de facto Chef Knife–until I got “educated” by my Japanese collaborator enough to get us both all purpose Chef’s knives: a Wusthof Classic Ikon for me–and a Shun Classic for him.
I saw the heavy duty Wusthof base as a near cleaver for bones, the middle for rock chopping, and the tapered tip for delicate slicing. The Classic Ikon was everything I could imagine a Chef’s knife to be. But I’d already been using the nakiri for at least a decade as an “everything” knife, and it’s light weight and sharpness kept it a “go to” over the Wusthof for veggies: push cutting with the nakiri made the rock chopping Wusthof feel even more heavy and clumsy than it was.
Your old French Chef’s knife may push cut vegetables as well as a nakiri, and your workouts at the gym may make the 100 gm weight difference negligible to you, but even my push cutting Japanese collaborator reverted to rock chopping with my Wusthof–when we weren’t sharpening and honing it.
My Seki Magoroku nakiri was pushed into retirement recently by a XinZuo Zhen small cleaver that was sharper and wider–even allowing me to chop as well as push cut.
My new Seki Magoroku deba had already been repurposed in Japan perfectly for the changed American butchering slot that has driven my Sir Lawrence into retirement–and an American manufacturer is even making and marketing one here:
But
I still resurrect Sir Lawrence to slice Kroger English muffins and decapitate a soft boiled egg.
Ray
I split home made English muffins with a fork and top my soft boiled egg with the same table knife I use to butter the muffin.
PS a typical 180 nakiri weighs about 8.3 oz. A K-Sab 10" carbon chef weighs 8.28! I was surprised.
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I’m a specialist, Vecchiouomo,
I use a fork on my Thomas English muffins, but I need my Sir Lawrence for Kroger.
My SM nakiri weighs about 140 gm, less than 5 oz.–about 100 gm less than your K-Sab.
My complements to your “iron wrist” athletic coach.
Ray
Kroger muffins sound daunting! BTW my Sab is not a K Sab. It is a Jeune from the 1960s.
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Hi Vecchiouomo,
The only European Chef’s knife that I’ve ever used is a Wusthof Classic Ikon–chosen in part because they had upgraded the handle to eliminate that outdated “bump” on the end to allow free movement without adding a bulge–and a grudging half bolster. That satisfied the “ergonomic” me.
I would never have purchased the Wusthof Classic–or any knife with that protruding bump on the end–or a full bolster. I don’t know exactly why. Buying a kitchen knife is always personal and subjective.
I later purchased a Wusthof “Precision” paring knife that had a modern half bolster where one could slide right onto the blade: that apparently went too far–even here in the USA where it was first introduced.
It was discontinued.
I bought three of them on closeout.
Ray
The hint is not being taken. It won’t stop.
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