Misono Swedish Carbon Steel Chef's Knife (Gyutou), 8.3-inch (210mm) - #112

Misono chef's knife shape, for everyday all-around use. Classic 8" size for easy handling at home or in professional situations. Preferred by many serious home and professional cooks. Top-quality blade and construction in a classic shape -- like a good old German or French professional knife, only better. Super choice for people who want a single all-purpose knife. Being carbon steel, this knife will take and keep a razor sharp edge like no stainless steel knife can. It's rare for someone to start using a carbon steel knife and then to go back to stainless... they're THAT good!

Remember, these are Carbon steel, NOT stainless, so while they can be fantastic performers, the additional care required means they're not for everyone. They WILL stain and take on a patina. Forget about trying to keep them shiny (just like with a carbon steel crepe or omelette pan, or a cast iron skillet), and never leave a carbon steel knife in the sink.

I use a carbon steel knife at home now everyday and I simply leave the knife on my cutting board as I work, and wash and dry it immediately after I'm done, and return it to the wooden knife block on my kitchen counter (I wouldn't suggest storing it on a magnetic strip above a humid sink!). If you leave it wet or soaking until after dinner, you risk having the blade react with the water and any acid from the food and so form damaging red rust and it could even pit. If you take basic precautions like this though, you'll love owning a carbon steel knife like this!

For regular everyday maintenance, we recommend the fine Idahone ceramic honing rod. If used regularly, it can help keep your knife sharp for a quite a while before you need to break out the sharpening stones and do a full proper edge resharpening. If you need an edge guard, this one is the closest fit.

NOTE: FOR RIGHT HAND USE ONLY.

Please note that Misono knives have a very polished edge. It's very sharp out of the box, but not in the way that many people are used to with European and many other Japanese knives: they have very little "bite" as the edge is polished and so not at all "toothy". So if you take the knife out of the box and try to cut a tomato or bell pepper it might glide over the surface and appear to not cut well... this is why "tomato knives" have serrated edges (the ultimate "toothy" edge!). So while they ARE sharp, you need to adjust your cutting style (think slicing more than chopping) and expectations, and of course you can easily adjust the edge as part of a full re-sharpening (do NOT use a gadget!) or as part of your daily routine... I use a Misono UX10 150mm petty knife at home pretty much daily and I love it, but I have indeed over time removed the polish from the edge for the most part so it's a bit more useful as an all-purpose knife and doesn't have the same tendency to slide over veggie skins.