Travel Knife

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yummycrackers
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Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

All of the talk about the Tojiro carbon steel knives has made me wonder: what do people consider to be the best travel knife? As a graduate student who often has to go abroad for research purposes (during more travel-friendly times, that is), I often wonder what the best solution would be for a knife that has to go into checked luggage (and hence might go missing or even be damaged), be versatile, and not break the budget. The other issue is sharpening, since I usually leave my stones at home (luggage weight limits being what they are), which means either having someone else sharpen it (usually quite crudely on a grinding wheel) or just honing it if I can find a rod. Here are the options that I've considered:

1) Use an old Victorinox Fibrox. Pros: cheap, durable, can be honed with a steel. Cons: loses its edge quickly, doesn't have the performance of other knives.
2) Bring my normal knife (Kamo AS Gyuto). Pros: performs very well, good edge retention. Cons: somewhat fragile, expensive if damaged/lost, might be complicated to sharpen unless I bring stones or find a good knife sharpener.
3) Invest in a budget knife like the Tojiro Shirogami mentioned earlier or a Tojiro DP/Richmond Artifex. Might be a good compromise between the two, though it still doesn't solve the sharpening dilemma.

Would greatly appreciate everyone's thoughts. What sorts of knives do you travel with? Do you bring strops/stones with you?
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by d_rap »

It's not what you want for everyday bench Stone sharpening but you can maintain any knife with a couple of very small stones, Edge Pro size or smaller, with some care. Even just a 1K in a pinch. Strop on denim, newspaper, cardboard, etc.

And me, if I'm going away for awhile I'm going to bring a good knife, carefully, securely wrapped.

Laws vary as I'm sure you know but other than that why compromise? For most of us these are users. I travel with a number of things that are worth a couple of hundred bucks.

Hard camping, very rough environment may be a bit of a different story.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by taz575 »

You can maintain a knife for a long time with just a strop and some compounds. Get some leather belt strap from amazon and some compounds. Just put the compounds on the belt and lay it on a counter or table (any flat surface) and strop away. Light weight and easy to pack!
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

Thank you, all, for the suggestions. I've already got a strop, though it may be a bit bigger than I'd like for travel. A small stone is definitely a good idea—thanks, David.
Another concern I had was the possibility of chipping. Since I'd be using the knife for everything, including squash and tougher root vegetables, that might be a risk, and without any coarser stones or professional knife sharpeners in the vicinity, chips might be quite difficult to deal with.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by XexoX »

yummycrackers wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:59 amAnother concern I had was the possibility of chipping. Since I'd be using the knife for everything, including squash and tougher root vegetables, that might be a risk, and without any coarser stones or professional knife sharpeners in the vicinity, chips might be quite difficult to deal with.
Would it be possible to take two knives? A beater for squash and such, and the "better" knife for everything else.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

XexoX wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:01 am
yummycrackers wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 9:59 amAnother concern I had was the possibility of chipping. Since I'd be using the knife for everything, including squash and tougher root vegetables, that might be a risk, and without any coarser stones or professional knife sharpeners in the vicinity, chips might be quite difficult to deal with.
Would it be possible to take two knives? A beater for squash and such, and the "better" knife for everything else.
I've thought about it, and in fact that's why until now I've been using the fibrox. Might be a good idea, since at least knives don't weigh much or take up much space.

As far as packing goes, do people generally prefer a wooden saya or the box that the knife originally came in?
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by taz575 »

The Tojiro Shirogami Kasumi are fairly thin behind the edge, thinner than the DP series from what I remember. It reminds me a lot of my Tanaka R2 damascus grind and thinness.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by cliff »

I travel with a Misono Dragon or a Kanehide TK, an Ashi Ginga 210 stainless petty, and a paring knife. If I'm gone for awhile, I bring a Shapton Glass 2K and 6K in a Pro box, and a strop.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by d_rap »

On the beater question pretty much any country in the world you can get a very functional beater knife for the equivalent of a few dollars.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by gladius »

The Tojiro DP VG10 Santoku 170mm would be a great travel knife... that and a Shapton Pro 1000x and you're set.
Last edited by gladius on Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by XexoX »

So, you are a grad student who travels, in less trying times that is, are you cooking for just yourself? Friends, family, enemies? Are you giving cooking demos? Displaying amazing knife skills? How long are these trips?

If you are cooking for just yourself, you can plan what you may need in knives, and take them with you. You can also plan your meals to what knives you have brought with you. If you are at friends, surely they have some knives that you could use for the less delicate work. If you are traveling for a few days, that is different than traveling for a month. Since you are cooking, you must have access to a kitchen, there aren't some beater knives there to butcher your squash with?

There are many variables to consider and so many unknowns, the advice given in the posts above, is most likely the best that can be provided.

Best of luck. Hope you are going about your travels and research sooner than later.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

gladius wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:17 pm The Tojiro DP VG10 Santoku 170mm would be a great travel knife... that and a Shapton Pro 1000x and you're set.
That was actually one of the knives that got me thinking about this question. Seems like a good compromise.
XexoX wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:15 pm So, you are a grad student who travels, in less trying times that is, are you cooking for just yourself? Friends, family, enemies? Are you giving cooking demos? Displaying amazing knife skills? How long are these trips?

If you are cooking for just yourself, you can plan what you may need in knives, and take them with you. You can also plan your meals to what knives you have brought with you. If you are at friends, surely they have some knives that you could use for the less delicate work. If you are traveling for a few days, that is different than traveling for a month. Since you are cooking, you must have access to a kitchen, there aren't some beater knives there to butcher your squash with?

There are many variables to consider and so many unknowns, the advice given in the posts above, is most likely the best that can be provided.

Best of luck. Hope you are going about your travels and research sooner than later.
Mostly cooking for myself on a daily basis as well as visiting family/friends. Not too many cooking demos to speak of, though neighbours' cats have been known to stop by for a cooking lesson and a piece of ham.
The trips themselves are usually quite long (3+ months), since they often coincide with academic semesters. I tend to rent furnished apartments, which do have knives, though it's hard to overstate just how bad these can be (once had to make due with only using a bread knife for a month). Travelling with one suitcase does unfortunately mean that space and weight are rather limited, hence why I've never brought stones with me.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by XexoX »

Maybe get a couple of these for sharpening those knives you find in the places you rent. Maybe not for use on your really good knives, but for what you find. Have you looked at the Daovua Leaf Spring Steel Knives to take with you?
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

taz575 wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 11:22 am The Tojiro Shirogami Kasumi are fairly thin behind the edge, thinner than the DP series from what I remember. It reminds me a lot of my Tanaka R2 damascus grind and thinness.
Worth a try, then? Or do you mean that they might be a bit fragile given the application?
XexoX wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:52 pm Maybe get a couple of these for sharpening those knives you find in the places you rent. Maybe not for use on your really good knives, but for what you find. Have you looked at the Daovua Leaf Spring Steel Knives to take with you?
One thing that I've found is that basic sharpening on a grinding wheel is quite cheap (at least in Italy, for example), so that's always an option for the beater knives.

The Daovua knives certainly look intriguing. Would you recommend them over the Tojiros?
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by XexoX »

yummycrackers wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 5:02 pm... The Daovua knives certainly look intriguing. Would you recommend them over the Tojiros?
Haven't taken the time to try out my Tojiros yet. The blade comes straight down next to the handle with the Tojiros, not sure I like that with a pinch grip. I like the rusticness of the Daovua knives, the handle on mine is actually good. Taller than I'm used to, but not a negative in my book. The Daovua are a carbon monosteel blade compared to the san mai blades of the Tojiros. If that matters to you.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by taz575 »

The Tojiro are great knives, but you mentioned a concern about repairing chips. They are White #2, so they are fairly tough. No issues with mine, but something to mention. Most inexpensive knives are fatter, these I would consider lasers.

What about getting smaller stones like stuff made for Edge Pro? Shouldn't take up too much space in a bag. Get a 220 for chips, 1000 and 3000.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

taz575 wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 8:29 am The Tojiro are great knives, but you mentioned a concern about repairing chips. They are White #2, so they are fairly tough. No issues with mine, but something to mention. Most inexpensive knives are fatter, these I would consider lasers.

What about getting smaller stones like stuff made for Edge Pro? Shouldn't take up too much space in a bag. Get a 220 for chips, 1000 and 3000.
Good to know, thank you, especially since a thinner knife would definitely be preferable.

The small Edge Pro stones certainly sound like a good idea. I just didn't realise they'd be usable on their own.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by d_rap »

yummycrackers wrote: Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:56 am The small Edge Pro stones certainly sound like a good idea. I just didn't realise they'd be usable on their own.
Yeah you just need to be able to keep them from moving, lay them out flat like a bench stone. A block of wood for example and something non stick or grippy on top of it works. There's a bit of a learning curve but it's just like using a larger stone with less real estate.

There are also handheld options but laying it flat is the easiest.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by taz575 »

Get some of the non slip stuff they make for drawers so stuff inside the drawer doesn't slide around.
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Re: Travel Knife

Post by yummycrackers »

Thanks for the suggestions. A small stone or two definitely sounds feasible.

Any thoughts on the saya/box dilemma? The knife's original box would take up more space, but a saya wouldn't do much for the handle and where the blade attaches to it.
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