Gyuto v.s. Chefs Knife - Which Should You Buy?

Gyuto v.s. Chefs Knife - Which Should You Buy?

Both gyutos and chefs knives are very common in home and professional kitchens, but which knife is better? In this video, Nathan shows you the comparison between a Japanese gyuto and a German chef's knife, the similarities, and the differences! Stay tuned to find your ultimate multipurpose kitchen knife.

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0:00 Intro
0:36 Main Differences: Steel & Production
3:50 Cutting Comparison on Tomatoes Potatoes
7:08 Comparing Blade Thickness
9:50 Differences in Shape & Edge Profile
13:14 Balance, Weight & Handles
15:32 Which One do YOU Need?
17:05 Bloopers

[mimamo]

There are thousands of Youtube videos asking the the same question over and over again: German or Japanese knives? And the simple answer is: Get one of each.

[chasetoncain]

these are super cool! i’m a knife maker and have been making a lot of kitchen knives lately and it’s really fun and interesting to see where preferences lie and what a wider audience looks for in their tools. my personal style tends to blend aspects of western and japanese knives, nearly as hard as japanese knives, more of a flat edge, really thin but with a full height bevel and i bounce between western and japanese handle styles. thanks for the videos!

[jimcraig]

It's not often one sees see a subject matter presenter who is as qualified and can articulate that information. I'm really impressed. Keep up your good work. Jim

[mannmanuel]

Thinking about the rocking motion you do on a German chefs knife: in germany this is called Wiegeschnitt, it's used to finely chop herbs. You wouldnt use that technique for a cabbage. The rocking motion keeping the blade on the board actually gives you more control about the blade.
I personally have a Zwilling Chefs knife which is very thin (the spine actually is thinner than the one from my Gyuto, but the most important thing about sharpness is the sharpening angle. Usually, Japanese knifes are sharpened at a shallower angle, making the knives sharper, but more fragile

[damani]

id have to disagree about which knife to buy specifically for working in a restaurant. I use my japanese knives often during prep, which is about 2 max 3 hours, during service i exclusively use my western knives. it gets a bit crazy and i need something i can toss about, use fast and can wipe or clean later. also my colleagues can grab it and i dont mind.
Depends where you work of course but in my experience its like that.

[jeannaimarre]

This vid is so comprehensive, it may even get me into cooking, while I'm more of a drinks guy. Well done!

[michaelgaziotis]

Personally, I get more utility out of a Chef's knife than a Gyuto, so the latter can't replace the former. The softer and thicker steel means I can push through small bones (fish or chicken) with the heel safely. Also, the blade edge curving up to the spine (as opposed to the spine curving down to the edge with the gyuto) means you have the sturdiness of the spine behind your tip, if you want to thrust it into some hard shellfish for example. These are types of work that the Gyuto simply isn't suited for, you would damage your blade trying it.

Don't get me wrong, slicing and dicing through veg and boneless meet is vastly better on a thin, carbon steel Japanese knife. But for those tasks a flatter blade profile works better. So something like a Bunka or K-tip Gyuto is a better companion to your Chef's knife.

[teocalma]

You compare Japanese handmade knife with European mass production knife. Should compare japanese handmade with European handmade.

[Master...deBater]

You might want to do a comparison between the Gyuto and the vintage French Sabatier knives. The Gyuto is actually based off a particular Sabatier used to slice beef...hence the Japanese name Wagyu-to...or "beef knife". These early French knives have tremendous distal taper. They are very thick at the handle thinning down to an absolute laser for most of their length! Like the Wagyuto, they also have a flat blade with very little belly...unlike most German knives. The Japanese were so impressed by these early French blades that they essentially copied the form and made them out much harder steels. Anyway...just thought you might like to know.

[markir]

I'm not sure 1000 grit is the best to show off either knife! I usually use that grit as the *initial* grit level for a blunt but undamaged edge. For budget knives with German steels I'll stop at 3000. Most Japanese knives will only be starting to show their best at this grit level. Aside, I'm not trying to disrespect good German knives - (e.g Wusthof, Messermeister etc) they will handle higher grit (6000 or 8000) fine - tho you may find that the stone choice might influence the result ( I've found this to a lesser extent with some of my Japanese knives too).

[MichaelSmith-onig]

I crush garlic cloves with the palm of my hand and I lean into it. I don't unterstand the need to slam on the garlic let alone the knife.

[TheNazradin]

The cutting profiles are different. But both japanese and western knifes can be sharpened to whittle a strand of hair. Saying one is sharper for any knife you use in your kitchen is just wrong.

[donpenney]

Knife balance is probably more important if you're going to be throwing your knives at someone? I wouldn't use my Knifewear knives for that, though, in case it chips the blade

[parrisbates]

As a owner of a 6 inch chef knife, yours look more like a 8 inch to me.

[matthewphelps]

If you aren't well versed in metallurgy just leave it out of the video. Both Japanese and German knives can be made with h.c. steel both are capable of being heat treated to desired hrc... the hardness of the steel has absolutely nothing to do with how a smith can shape the knife all steel is softer when it's hot and has to be proper heat treated to be hard... trying to keep this short and sweet but you have soo much misinformation in this video...

[DavidNordlund]

Whats up with the cleaver hidden in one frame after the mushrooms? Inspired by David Fincher? 😂😂😂😂

[eBirdy]

Nathan: Which one do you need?

Me: All of them

[Bossanovawitcha]

the new global x is an amazing hybrid if you can’t afford both

[_Alfa.Bravo_]

Zwilling Pro Series made in Germany. That brand exists since 1471

[hp]

It comes down to this:
It's pretty easy. Japanese Knives are good for tomatos, sashimi and youtube.
German Knives are pretty much better in every other situation in real life.
A German Knive can be razersharp without big problems, and can be sharpened easily by every idiot.
So, Youtubers, save the 1000 USD up you will spend on japanese knifes and the years to then come back to the one and only, german knife, which you will love because you can do pretty much everything with it.