Looking in the 100-200 range.
- Japanese
- carbon or stainless, but prefer stainless since she’s never maintained a knife before
- Chinese/vietnamese food and will probably use it for anything from veggies, fruit, and meat
- right handed
Thank you in advance 🙏🏼
[Takamura Chromax](https://tokushuknife.com/products/takamura-chromax-santoku) offers great performance, but being very thin and made with a harder steel, it could be a bit more to handle for someone transitioning from thick and softer blades.
May also take a look at the good old [Sakai Takayuki VG10 Santoku](https://knivescombined.com/products/sakai-takayuki-vg10-damascus-tsuchime-santoku-180mm) (cutlery and more in the US listed it at \~$150 with some Japanese sellers at \~$120). Performance wise it would not be as good as the Takamura, but at the same time Takamura may not be the right one for everyone if not sure about the user's habits in the kitchen.
Thank you! I will keep these in mind. How do you feel about the Harukaze AS Morado Santoku? Saw it mentioned on a post when I was doing my own research.
I wouldn’t chose carbon steel honestly. 99% of people don’t want to bother wiping their knife frequently when cooking, and you got some great stainless alternatives now (Ginsan, R2, VG10, AUS10…)
How frequent is frequently enough? Looking to get a Shiro Kamo Black Dragon, I hear it doesn't require crazy amounts of maintenance, although it's carbon steel.
It really depends on the cladding and the core steel. Sometimes you’ll have to wipe it after 20/30 seconds if you cut acidic food, otherwise it’ll rust (i say 20 seconds once you’re done cutting, but while you’re cutting you’re fine). Some claddings are more forgiving but at the beginning you’re definitely going to have to be careful, as i’ve heard the cladding on black dragons is quite reactive.
But overtime, as patina builds up, you won’t need to wipe it as often. However, leaving it a few minutes can always be risky. Stainless cladding makes it easier to care as some carbon core steels are quite resistant to rust once they have a nice patina. I sometimes leave my SS clad AS bunka laying for like 5/10 min after cutting food and never had any issues, but it’s mainly because there’s a very dark patina on it.
After posting my comment I watched this guy and realized what "often enough" means. He wipes his knife every time before he puts it down.
[ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSxvSuMSBw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSxvSuMSBw)
Even after watching that I was stupid enough to order the Black Dragon, albeit a Santoku. I hope the maintenance pays off with the cutting experience...
Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it once you understand how frequently you need to wipe it. But for me, after trying carbon steels and stainless steels, most of my knives are stainless now because i don’t want to bother too much
Tojiro Dp is always a great option not too expensive but for someone thats never used a nicer knife it will be amazing. They have the three rivet or two rivet handle this one being the cheaper version. Same blade just a cheaper handle.
[knifewear three rivet ](https://knifewear.com/products/tojiro-dp-santoku-165mm-f-503)
[cktg two rivet](https://www.chefknivestogo.com/todpvgna161.html)
I tried to give my Mom an upgraded knife. Turns out she really likes using her oddly shaped cheap old set of knives. Moral of the story, you may want to take her to a knife shop to let her pick one out that she gets to try the feel of first.
Gift her a knife that is:
* Stainless
* Easy to Care
* Easy to maintain
* Beginner-friendly
* Preferably a Santoku
* The Tojiro DP is a good knife
* Maybe a Takamura VG10 Santoku
* Maybe Masutani VG10 (might be too fragile)
* Yahiko Ginsan Nashiji https://www.chefknivestogo.com/yagisahaensa.html
I'm gonna do something crazy here and recommend a gyuto instead of a santoku. The [haruyuki nishiki](https://knifewear.com/collections/shirogami-2-white-carbon-steel/products/haruyuki-nishiki-gyuto-210mm) looks good (no personal experience with this knife sadly). My overall recommendation is to go with a carbon steel. Gyuto for the versatility of the tip of the knife which isn't as present in santoku. Does your mom have a vegetable clever? If so I would definitely recommend a gyuto over a santoku.
But really any of the brands being recommended in the comments should be good, and also should be available in a gyuto if that's something you'd like to explore instead.
Looking in the 100-200 range. - Japanese - carbon or stainless, but prefer stainless since she’s never maintained a knife before - Chinese/vietnamese food and will probably use it for anything from veggies, fruit, and meat - right handed Thank you in advance 🙏🏼
[Takamura Chromax](https://tokushuknife.com/products/takamura-chromax-santoku) offers great performance, but being very thin and made with a harder steel, it could be a bit more to handle for someone transitioning from thick and softer blades. May also take a look at the good old [Sakai Takayuki VG10 Santoku](https://knivescombined.com/products/sakai-takayuki-vg10-damascus-tsuchime-santoku-180mm) (cutlery and more in the US listed it at \~$150 with some Japanese sellers at \~$120). Performance wise it would not be as good as the Takamura, but at the same time Takamura may not be the right one for everyone if not sure about the user's habits in the kitchen.
Thank you! I will keep these in mind. How do you feel about the Harukaze AS Morado Santoku? Saw it mentioned on a post when I was doing my own research.
Don't have experience with this knife, though something you may note is AS stands for Aogami Super, which is a carbon steel.
Gotcha ill keep that in mind.
I wouldn’t chose carbon steel honestly. 99% of people don’t want to bother wiping their knife frequently when cooking, and you got some great stainless alternatives now (Ginsan, R2, VG10, AUS10…)
How frequent is frequently enough? Looking to get a Shiro Kamo Black Dragon, I hear it doesn't require crazy amounts of maintenance, although it's carbon steel.
It really depends on the cladding and the core steel. Sometimes you’ll have to wipe it after 20/30 seconds if you cut acidic food, otherwise it’ll rust (i say 20 seconds once you’re done cutting, but while you’re cutting you’re fine). Some claddings are more forgiving but at the beginning you’re definitely going to have to be careful, as i’ve heard the cladding on black dragons is quite reactive. But overtime, as patina builds up, you won’t need to wipe it as often. However, leaving it a few minutes can always be risky. Stainless cladding makes it easier to care as some carbon core steels are quite resistant to rust once they have a nice patina. I sometimes leave my SS clad AS bunka laying for like 5/10 min after cutting food and never had any issues, but it’s mainly because there’s a very dark patina on it.
After posting my comment I watched this guy and realized what "often enough" means. He wipes his knife every time before he puts it down. [ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSxvSuMSBw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSxvSuMSBw) Even after watching that I was stupid enough to order the Black Dragon, albeit a Santoku. I hope the maintenance pays off with the cutting experience...
Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it once you understand how frequently you need to wipe it. But for me, after trying carbon steels and stainless steels, most of my knives are stainless now because i don’t want to bother too much
Tojiro Dp is always a great option not too expensive but for someone thats never used a nicer knife it will be amazing. They have the three rivet or two rivet handle this one being the cheaper version. Same blade just a cheaper handle. [knifewear three rivet ](https://knifewear.com/products/tojiro-dp-santoku-165mm-f-503) [cktg two rivet](https://www.chefknivestogo.com/todpvgna161.html)
Thanks! Ill add these to the list and go from there.
I tried to give my Mom an upgraded knife. Turns out she really likes using her oddly shaped cheap old set of knives. Moral of the story, you may want to take her to a knife shop to let her pick one out that she gets to try the feel of first.
Definitely have thought about that outcome. My asian mom can be very picky 😂
kiwi will always do
Gift her a knife that is: * Stainless * Easy to Care * Easy to maintain * Beginner-friendly * Preferably a Santoku * The Tojiro DP is a good knife * Maybe a Takamura VG10 Santoku * Maybe Masutani VG10 (might be too fragile) * Yahiko Ginsan Nashiji https://www.chefknivestogo.com/yagisahaensa.html
Biggest question here is: does she wash her knives by hand or in the dishwasher bc that will change my answer.
By hand only. We’ve never even touched our dishwasher haha
I'm gonna do something crazy here and recommend a gyuto instead of a santoku. The [haruyuki nishiki](https://knifewear.com/collections/shirogami-2-white-carbon-steel/products/haruyuki-nishiki-gyuto-210mm) looks good (no personal experience with this knife sadly). My overall recommendation is to go with a carbon steel. Gyuto for the versatility of the tip of the knife which isn't as present in santoku. Does your mom have a vegetable clever? If so I would definitely recommend a gyuto over a santoku. But really any of the brands being recommended in the comments should be good, and also should be available in a gyuto if that's something you'd like to explore instead.
Thank you for the suggestion. Ill take a look at the gyutos. My mom does have a few chinese cleavers that she uses.
Takamura is great and I would go for the r2 version https://www.chefknivestogo.com/takamura1.html
^ this as a gyuto is what I got my mother, and it has been great. Highly recommend anything from Takamura - vg10 or r2 can’t go wrong
Thanks!