Ittetsu Kurouchi 240mm

Ittesu Knives are hand forged by blacksmith Tadayoshi Kajiwara in Echizen city, Japan. These knives have some of the best out of the box edges we have come across so far and offer an excellent value. This 240mm Gyuto has a core steel of Shirogami or White # 1 steel cladded in soft iron. This knife will be fully reactive so care must be taken to avoid Rust but the edge retention and ability to be razor sharp are worth the extra effort. The handle is a single piece of waterproof Walnut wood. 

The Gyuto or Chef Knife is considered by many to be the most important and diverse knife of all. This jack of all trades style knife can be used for all kinds of tasks including boneless meat or fish butchery, vegetable prep, cutting and slicing herbs, as a line knife and much more. Typically ranging in size from 180mm to 300mm the blade shape can vary from maker to maker but typically they will be somewhat flat towards the rear of the knife working up to a "belly" making it suitable for rocking or push cutting. If you can only have one knife this would be a top contender.