Quick Guide: Glestain Knives and How to Buy at Low Prices
I would like to introduce Glestain knives, which, along with Misono, are the favorite among professional chefs in Japan.
Table of Contents
Overview of Glestain
Glestain is a knife brand manufactured and sold by HOMMA SCIENCE CO. LTD in Niigata, Japan. It was founded in 1971, which is a relatively short history for a Japanese knife brand.
Glestain is not a major brand of kitchen knives for home use, but it has an established reputation among professional chefs. Today, it is as popular as Misono as a Western-style knife (there are two types of Japanese kitchen knives: Japanese knives used by traditional Japanese cooks and Western-style knives used by Western cooks).
Glestain knives are sometimes sold in Japanese department stores as kitchen knives for home use.
Features of Glestain knives
Glestain knives are made of stainless steel, the hardest of the Aichi Steel, and further processed to make them as hard as Japanese swords.
The main features of Glestain knives are sharpness, durability, and dimples.
Glestain knives are made of high-hardness stainless steel and are known for their long-lasting sharpness. The frequency of sharpening knives is only about 1/14 of that of steel knives. If you are using Glestain knives for home use, you only need to sharpen your knives approximately once a year.
Another feature, dimples, makes it easier for food to leave the knife.
Types of Glestain knives
Glestain knives come in a variety of types.
Please refer to this page (Glestain Official Sales Site) for details, but it is in Japanese only and requires the use of a translation tool.
The main points are explained below.
T-type and W-type: The T-type has dimples, while the W-type does not. The T-type is functional and popular, but some people do not like the look of dimples.
Right and left hand: Glestain knives are available in right and left hand versions, as the blade is sharpened mainly on one side. The left hand version is a special version and is more expensive.
How to sharpen Glestain knives
Glestain knives can be sharpened either with a ceramic rod sharpener or with a whetstone. The manufacturer describes it as follows:
First, medium sharpen the grinding stone with #1000 to #2000. Finishing with #4000 or higher is even better.
The method of sharpening is double-sided sharpening. The front side (dimpled side) is sharpened 70% and the back side is sharpened 30% in a width of 5 to 7 mm from the cutting edge. (The ratio of the front and back sides can be adjusted to your preference, but be careful not to sharpen the back side too much, as it will make the blade harder to use).
For the final touch, lightly sharpen the blade at 25 degrees on the front side and 20 degrees on the back side.
Popular Glestain knives products
The most popular Glestain knives are petty knives, chef’s knives, and santoku knives.
The 14cm (5.5in) petty knife is well known for its all-around usefulness.
Santoku knives are most popular in Japan as more versatile knives, and of course, chef’s knives are also popular. A 19cm (7.5in) chef’s knife is recommended for Japanese people because of their small size, but the 21cm (8.2in) size may suit you.
How to buy Glestain knives at low prices
Some Glestain knives are available on Amazon.com. However, you may be able to purchase them at Amazon.co.jp for a much lower price. Amazon.co.jp charges for shipping and takes longer to deliver, but the yen (Japanese currency) has been weak recently, so they are low priced.
Amazon.co.jp allows you to shop in English, which is surprisingly easy. You may be able to purchase all-metal type knives that are not sold on Amazon.com.
Click on the following link to check out Glestain knives for sale on Amazon.co.jp.
Find Glestain Knives on Amazon.co.jp
Note: Glestain may be spelled “guresuten”, no problem.
See also: Ultimate Guide to Buying Authentic Japanese Knives
