I want some of those spoons!
My wedding band is a damascus of bloom iron and meteorite.
This is a great thread. Did anyone get their semi-custom randy haas knife yet? I really want one, but would love some feedback from those in the know first. Merry Christmas all.
I did. The handle fit and finish was disappointing. But for the price of a semicustom it was okay.
I got mine. The handle fit and finish was good for my knife, but Lamson Goodnow seems to produce inconsistent results in that area, so I wouldnāt count on it being up to standard.
Overall, I am not sure about the value versus other knives made in Japan. My initial feeling is that I would still go for a Hiromoto, an Ichimonji TKC, or one of the Gesshin lines from Japanese Knife Imports (JKI).
I have an Ichimonji TKC clone sold through Chef Knives to Go (CKTG) and it is probably one of my favorite knives, but I would probably recommend ordering a real Ichimonji directly from Japan. The site looks intimidating, but I know people have purchased directly from them before, and after you add the knife into the shopping cart, there is some English to direct you through the purchase. My problem with the Kikuichi clone through CKTG is that the bolster wasnāt sealed properly and I had rust issues. In the end I got it fixed and rehandled and it looks bad ass now. The site says it is 14,700 yen, about $140, but with shipping, it will amount to more. The TKC is semi-stainless though, so it will get a cloudy patina on it, but nothing like a straight carbon blade.
The Gesshin line is similar to what Randy Haas is doing, but the owner, Jon Broida, does it through Japanese makers. The JKI Gesshin lines get very high marks and are produced exclusively to JKI specs, and the knife will come back with outstanding fit and finish. I would wager that there is no better retailer of knives in the US market than JKI. Both of these are in the $230-250 range.
I donāt mean to chase people away from the Haas knife, but I think the verdict is still out on them IMO.
Below is my Kikuichi TKC clone with crushed Koa handle.
k.
Karring, Thank you for all the information! Learning like wine.
Korin (Japanese Chef Knives, Tableware, Kitchenware and Restaurant Supplies | Korin) is having a sale today - 15% off all knives, 20% off all Sajiuchi knives.
Any opinions on Sajiuchi? They look beautiful in the pictures:
http://korin.com/Knives/Sajiuchi-Kniveshttp://korin.com/Knives/Sajiuchi-Knives
Don, how did you come to learn about this maker? He has some pretty knives.
Iām afraid that I donāt have any experience with this maker, but I love the Korin sale. Iāve used it a couple of times. Btw, the Suisin Inox western at 15% off of $245. Is a good deal too. This is often a recommended stainless knife.
k.
Mr. Itou makes some seriously beautiful knives. Iāve seen a few pop up on the secondary market and always wanted to pull the trigger. Nice pick-up Don.
k.
This thread has to be top 5 coolest of 2013.
Many thx to Karring and all for so much great info and beautiful pics.
Thatās where I bought my Masanobu VG-10 Santoku last year which Iāve been very happy with. The sale ends on 12/31.
Looks like Sajiuchi had some quality control problems with OOB sharpness which might account for the sale:
Interesting Jay. I missed those threads at KKF, but to be honest the OOTB dull edge would worry me less than Mari (from Korin) saying that they were thicker knives that donāt lend well to precision cutting. Having a duller edge out of the box is quite common for Japanese knives, but I can see why Korin would want to avoid knives that need a lot of āloveā before sending on to customers.
That R2 powdered line looks nice though.
k.
Last time we visited Tokyo we went to the street where just about every place there is a knife shopā¦very cool.
Sometimes retailers offer for an additional charge what they refer to as an āinitial western sharpeningā. Does this translate to a 50-50 beveled edge? And if declined, what type of edge would the knife have when it is shipped to the purchaser? Would it be necessary for the owner to have the knife sharpened?
Masamoto Sohonten - Knife Brands | Korin. If I interpret this correctly, just as there are no great wines, only great bottles, it would seem that there are no great lines of knives, just great individual specimens.
I just bought the Suisin knife for my wife. That thing is amazing. Japanese sharpening so not sure what that entails.
The far end that is asymmetrical has already pitted due to some unknown reason with the first four uses. (Most likely it was an edge defect from the initial sharpening I would guess.)
I hired a local sharpener to do some knives for me. I have way too many but this is the best way to do it. He makes house calls and does all the restaurants so he is exceptional. He looked at it and said he could fix it easily. I donāt know what he did but I almost cut my finger off trying to put some oil on there.
These japanese carbon steel knives really hold a very sharp edge! I gotta be more careful in the future. My wife loves this Usuba from Suisin. An amazing knife for cutting vegetables. Goes through tomatoes like they arenāt even there. (I imagine it is like cutting fish with one of those knives specialized for cutting sashimi)
This is what the Korin web site says:
āThe initial sharpening removes the factory edge to enhance the sharpness of the blade. This extra procedure also serves as a future sharpening guideline. Have Korin sharpen your knives for them to ready to use straight out of the box!ā
I interpreted that as sharpening in the West rather than a distinctive method of sharpening but it isnāt really clearly phrased.
My understanding is that you should try to keep the bevel angles the same or close to the same as what the maker put on the knife, so I am a bit unsure what Western sharpening is. My initial guess is that they are trying to put a 50/50 bevel on the knife but maybe this is just what they call their āfinishā sharpening. Regardless, it isnāt that advisable to change the angle of just the edge as the asymmetry is usually ground into the entire blade. I swiped an image from eGullet to show this.
You can see a regular 50/50 on the left which most domestic and European makers put on knives. The image on the right, however, has a typical Japanese asymmetry, and you can see that the asymmetry is ground all the way up to the spine with each side of the blade having a different angle. So if you just change the edge bevel to 50/50, it starts to throw the whole geometry of the blade off. The edge center may then change, and you may also need to remove a fair amount of steel to achieve the 50/50 edge ā and for what? Most likely the blade will pull in one direction when cutting, and you will notice it (and be annoyed with it) when cutting.
Now with all that said, I would probably trust the sharpeners like Korin as much as anyone and trust that they arenāt messing up the blade geometry. Some people who are really into sharpening like to put their own edge on it, but others like to have it professionally for the first time. I usually recommend people to get the finish sharpening when offered through a reputable retailer.
k.
