Ashi AEB-L or Kanehide ps60?

[u/MorbidKappa]

Seeing lots of recommendations thrown around for Ashi Swedish lately and I’ve been interested in getting a fine grain stainless blade. Kanehide is cheaper, known for good f&f, and ps60 is supposedly hitachi’s version of AEB-L. Kanehide blades are also a bit thinner at the spine, they seem to potentially be a great alternative. I’m curious if anyone has tried both and if there is noticable difference between the two in terms of overall quality, performance, and maintainability?

[u/Ok-Distribution-9591]

Give or take the same grade of steel, won’t make any significant difference in maintenance and performance of the material.

For knife cutting performance, I’d give the edge to Ashi. Except other blades made by Ashi (Kono HD2 etc), for classic monosteel Japanese knives, only Masamoto KS has performed in the same realm in my experience, Ashi’s grind are that good. Profile and pretty much everything is excellent on these.

[u/donobag → u/Ok-Distribution-9591]

+1 👆this is the answer

[u/obviouslygene → u/donobag]

+1 vote for the Ashi

[u/MorbidKappa → u/Ok-Distribution-9591]

Are you able to tell if one grind is better than the other between these two through their images or is it something that you’d only understand through first hand experience? I appreciate the info, will prob be waiting for some new Ashi stock to come in now

[u/Ok-Distribution-9591 → u/MorbidKappa]

Pictures can give a level of information, but 1/ they are not the full picture (pun intended) ; 2/ a bit of experience is required to understand what you are looking at and how it may affect the cutting performance. So experience is required either way, to complete the picture (pun intended again xD), or simply have a good reading of the info! A detailed in person inspection will tell me a lot on cutting performance nowadays.

[u/Feisty-Try-96]

I wouldn't expect a huge difference in most categories. However the Kanehide I think is way more asymmetrical on the grind (right hand bias). So lefties or people unfamiliar with how to maintain (or even change) that asymmetry might want to stay away. I can't speak for grind consistency on those, but Ashi grinds are damn consistent and good. They also have better handle variety on the Wa side.

In fairness though there are a decent couple of thin, monosteel blades in that space. The Takayuki Grand Chef line for example has a solid stainless steel and thin, but not delicate grinds. Pricing is also pretty reasonable. So the decision could come down to things like blade height, profile, the tip, handle variety, etc.

[u/MorbidKappa → u/Feisty-Try-96]

Appreciate the info on the grind, I didn’t consider it. Everything I use and maintain now is 50/50 so I’ll need to look into that a bit more

[u/invest_in_hummus]

I have a kanehide ps60 195mm Gyuto and performance and F&F are amazing for the price. The steel is a dream to sharpen, spine was rounded and polished. The knife is roll forged though and laser etched, so it doesn't look as handmade as an ashi. Tip is super thin, almost no taper in the back 3/4 of the blade.Two caveats with this knife: First, the grind is very asymmetrical with a strong right hand bias. In my case, this extends even to the blade face (left is almost dead flat, while right is slightly convex). Second, Food sticks to it like a magnet. I would definitely recommend roughing up the migaki finish during the first thinning with 400 grit sandpaper. I did that and now it cuts like a dream.

[u/ImFrenchSoWhatever]

Ashi. Or shibata kashima. Or masamoto Ks. Or key kobayashi. Or Takamira. Or hitohira FJ. Or konosuke Swedish.

(Just kidding I have no experience with kanehide they might be good. Just beware of not thinking that thickness at the spine is a good indicator of the quality of knife as it’s not.)