I’ve been surfing various Japanese knife retailers for a while, looking for some hand made upgrades for my Shuns - http://www.japanwoodworker.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; being one of them. Lauren and I were in the neighborhood yesterday so we decided to drive over to Alameda and visit the store.
Oh boy! This place is trouble! They primarily focus on traditional Japanese woodworking tools, but there is a large alcove in the back of the store for kitchen knives and accessories. They have pretty much every knife that you see on their website there for fondling and the guys were really cool about about showing me things and giving reccos.
I was looking to pick-up a few wet stones to learn how to sharpen on, the selection here is mind boggling - everything from cheap sythetic combo stones to stupid expensive natural stones. They quickly pointed me to a starter set of sharpening/finishing stones along with a flattening stone - all for less than $100.
I was also looking for a cheapo knife to learn the sharpening process with and I picked-up one of these for $35:
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?pf_id=05.100.16&s=JapanWoodworker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Despite the price and lack of polish - these things are the real deal. Out of the box it puts my Shuns to shame! I’m sure it won’t hold and edge as long, but that is the point - I want to learn to sharpen it. If I was starting over again and looking for an inexpensive set of knives, I would go with a full set of these bar-none.
Knife geeks - any thoughts on these: http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=05.003.270&dept_id=22991" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They seem to be the sweet spot for me - felt very nice in the hand, nice weight and price that I can live with. The Yoshikane knives with the hammered finish seem to get all of the attention on knife forums, but I wasn’t a fan of the ‘pretty’ finish and the different handles. The Tagane series knives speak to me…