Yaxell Gou Chef's Knife

As a present I got a Yaxell Zen Slicer 10 inches, as a sushi knife, that is 37 layers of Damascus steel and it was an unbelievable knife; the best knife I ever used. So, I got interested in the Ran and Gou knives and I realized how amazing these knives are. So I went a bit crazy and bought the expensive Gou 8 inch chef knife. First of all, it looks amazing. Literally, a work of art. Like the Mona Lisa of knives. The first thing I cut with it were hard carrots. I thought that the carrots were spoiled because the knife cut them so smoothly that I had to check the carrots again and again to make sure they were hard. This knife is unbelievable. And with all due respect to Shun, Global and all the rest, as a chef I have worked with all of them, this one is a million times better. Second, the handle has an amazing grip, visually, sharpness, it is the perfect knife for me. So I am advising you all to put a bit more money and you will get the best knife ever. By the way, my list of knives has increased right now, so I will probably purchase the 5" utility knife and the 6.5" santoku knife Ran or Gou, depending on my budget. Whoever owns these knives, please write reviews for the other consumers. There is not enough reviews for these knives.

I bought this after considerable Internet 'due diligence' and could not be more pleased. It is an expensive knife. For the money you get (1) a beautiful, very sharp, finely finished knife and handle; (2) SG2 (powder metallurgy) core (HRC 64) with 101 layers of Damascus stainless cladding (for flexibility / durability); (3) a canvas-micata handle (the best handle as it tends to get grippier in wet hands). Other reviews have described it as 'scary sharp' out of the box and I have to say that this is accurate be careful if you have never owned a top notch knife as it slices through anything with surprising ease. It will get dull after a week of use, so you have to maintain it if you like 'scary sharp'.

There are basically two standard material choices for high-end Japanese cutlery blades: VG10 (high carbon steel) and SG2 (powder metallurgy machining steel); both have similar composition (w/~1.5%carbon, ~16% Chromium, ~.5% Silicon & Manganese, ~2.5% Vanadium, 3.5% Molybdenum). I know there are many more steels, including the softer stainless steels used in Wustof and other German style knives but I think SG,VG and 440 steel seems to cover 90% of the knives you see in Sur la Table, or Williams-Sonoma. 'SG' and 'VG' are marketing names, for 'Super Good' and 'Very Good'; there are other cutlery steels, but the mass market chef's knives use these two. SG2 (63 HRC) is a proprietary product of Takefu Special Steel, but everyone is using the name for powder metallurgy cores, versus the softer (HRC 60) VG-10 (which is also a Takefu name) versus the 440C (55+ HRC) of Wustoff and other German knives. The hard steel allows the 15 degree edge, versus traditional 22 degree, without wearing too quickly. Takefu makes the stainless clad SG2 or VG10 blanks for many Japanese knife manufacturers -the decoration and sharpening are by the individual companies like Yaxell. I went through the various Williams Sonoma and Sur la Table knives (mainly the ones with big US distribution, like Shun, Miyabiy (Henckel), Global and Tojiro). Out of all of these I thought Yaxell was best; Tojiro (for VG10) was alright as well, but the Yaxells look nicer. Shun is way overpriced. It seems you have to pay almost $400 for the SG2 counterpart to this, and there are many complaints that Shun is not watching after quality, especially at the lower end (Classic). BTW, I haven't noticed this and complaints mainly seem to come from chefs who are used to the traditional heavy 440C stainless knives from, say, Wustof. Wustof's knives are heavy, durable and less brittle -good for cracking bones. The edge is sharpened at ~45 degrees, vs. 25 degress, and also wears more quickly due to the softer metal. The VG10/SG2 knives hold a very sharp edge well, but are brittle and best for vegetables, fish and so forth. The Germans and Japanese invoke differing design philosophies in knives.

Buy a Victorinox 47302 Cutlery BladeSafe for 6-Inch to 8-Inch Knife Blades and some of Global's (15 degree) MinoSharp Sharpening Guides 2-Piece Set with a Japanese waterstone or Arkansas stone to maintain sharpness and appearance.

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Merely to give this review some credit i will say that i am a professional saute cook at a Michelin star restaurant in the bay area... This knife is beautiful as you have read about in the other reviews but besides that edge retention is amazing(i guess that goes without saying with SG2 steel), and a HRC of 63-64. When you get the knife it feels amazing in your hand, if i held the knife at the actual handle it feels amazing even with my pinch grip it feels like butter in your hand. The balance of the knife is about an half inch in front of the bolster(which i dont mind at all). As far as worrying about the blade chipping i havent had a problem yet, we have a halibut for two at our work which sometimes requires me to break it down into single portions and when i did so the blade wasn't phased by the bones, would i go after any tougher bones yes but with caution i don't really feel like stoning my blade down to much to get rid of a chip. Spend the money get the quality and you will b extremely happy guaranteed.

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Having bought Yaxell RAN boning knife and being totally satisfied with its performance, I've decided to upgrade our main kitchen knife to Yaxell Gou 6.5-inch santoku. It turned out to be the most exciting piece of cutlery we've ever owned. Nicely designed, the knife has a beautiful blade and a very comfortable riveted handle, which is easy to clean. It is a versatile knife, working equally good on vegetables, meat or fish. Extremely sharp, it managed to retain the edge for quite some time. It passed our ultimate sharpness test by being able to score bread dough instead of a lame. I use the 1000/3000 Yaxell whetstone for sharpening.

Update: I have bought a 3.5-inch Gou paring knife as well. Razor-sharp, well-balanced and beautiful, as the rest of my Yaxell knives.

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