I guess what it is that confuses me is why wouldn’t the knife maker put the desired sharpened edge on the blade so that it is ready to be usd by the consumer without having to be altered by the retailer. Whether the so called western sharpening or the uraoshi, which I understand to be the back side of an asymmetrical blade, why would it be desirable for this to be initially done by anyone other than the knife maker?
Some more info from the Korin site:
" With the purchase of a new knife at Korin, you will have the option to have our resident knife master remove the factory edge to enhance the sharpness of the blade. This extra procedure will also serve as a future sharpening guideline for those interested in learning how to use whetstones. This service would be done free of charge before we ship to you.
One of Korin’s resident knife sharpeners will masterfully use 4 different whetstones (#300, #1000, #3000, #8000) to remove the factory edge. Have Korin sharpen your knives for them to ready to use straight out of the box!"
Kappabashi-Dori in Asakusa. I went there to find those little ceramic containers the Izakayas use for shichimi and a sharkskin wasabi grater (can’t get wasabi here but it’s great for ginger and garlic).
Korin provides this service to its customers. But if one buys a Japanese knife from another retailer, whether it be western styled or traditional, is it to be assumed that it will not be ready to use optimally out of the box, such as not having been given an uraoshi sharpening? And to complicate things a little further, at what edge is a uraoshi sharpening advisable: 60-40, 70-30, or 80-20? Shouldn’t the knife maker be the one to decide and do this?
I was looking for a sashimi knife. Any of the styles you’d recommend ? How are the Masamoto’s ?
All I remember is that its just near the other street where the shops sell and make all those plastic food displays that the Japanese restaurants always have in their front display windows (and by street, I mean every single shop down a long road, hundreds of them!). ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
I personally would go for a lower priced slicer/yanagi in this case. Great yanagibas can cost a lot, but very good serviceable ones don’t cost that much, and you might find that you use them less than you think. If you use it more, then invest in a better one.
They are also single beveled so it helps to have a knife you don’t care too much about (to mess up) with sharpening since single bevels call for a slightly different technique.
I hava a Yoshihiro yanagi from JKI, but I don’t think they carry that brand any more, but they do have other in-house brands (Gesshin) that are probably more than sufficient if not better. You can get a Yoshihiro on eBay for pretty cheap, but the fit and finish and attention to detail might not be as good as at JKI.
And if it sounds as if I am a shill for Japanese Knife Imports, I am not. I have used almost every knife retailer, and I simply find that Jon at JKI gives the most honest feedback and advice on knives, stones, and sharpening accessories. He has more than once talked me into buying a lower priced item.
Below is a picture of my Yoshihiro Yanagi 270mm with Stefan Keller handle I have not yet put on.
k.
Edit: Regarding OP: Masamoto is an excellent maker, and I would probably take a chance on any of their knives.
Karring: your knife knowledge is insane and I am glad I started this thread. Is there a book to read to start learning?
Alan: Did your knife receive an uraoshi sharpening before being sent to you? If not, do you intend to have it done to maximize performance?
That’s a nice, free (??) service that Korin offers. Cool.
It is also good to spend $50 or so on a 1000/4000 combo grit stone from Amazon and learn to do it.
I also have a 8000, but I personally think it’s completely overkill for normal usage. Using the waterstones is very simple but requires some practice. I scraped up my old Forschner knife figuring out what method works for me, before I tried it on my more expensive knives. I don’t get too crazy with a matches or binderclip to help keep my angle steady, but the key is keeping your wrist firm/steady so the angle stays constant as needed.
Also, diamond or ceramic honing steels remove some metal so that “perfect edge” you just paid someone to put on or you did yourself gets changed slightly with every swipe. I use my ceramic honing steel very sparingly and lightly. There is absolutely no need to get swiping crazy like you see the chefs on TV do. I typically only use a steel if I see some dull spots on the edge.
It’s optional but free with the purchase of a new knife. When you sharpen your knives with asymmetrical edges, do you sharpen the back side of the blade? If so, what is it that needs to be done since it is essentially a one-sided blade?
Yes, but i use very little angle. I try to match the edge angle that was on there originally, which is we are supposed to do unless one wants to change the edge angle.
Anything like this: Shop All Knives | Korin
No.
It almost looks like he’s putting a bevel or at least a extreme long edge on the flat side. Or he’s claiming that he is going to make the flat side “really flat”. I’d have to measure my blades with my micrometer to verify his statement that all single bevel blades are “concave”. Haven’t felt the need to do that yet.
One has to be wary of Japanese marketing “ojisan master” snake oil… a lot of things Japanese artisans do from tradition, secrets handed down from master to master, can have absolutely no discernible effect on the finished product.
For example, a sushi chef might tell his apprentice to wash the rice 20 times for perfect rice. wtf. If we put three bowls of cooked rice that were washed 10, 15, and 20 times respectively, and had him taste blind, I would lay 100:1 odds he could not tell with 95% accuracy.
Alan,
Chad Ward from eGullet did a tutorial and then later a book called, An Edge in the Kitchen. I have it and read it, and it is good BUT it is somewhat OBE at this point. KnifeForums, which he lauds blew up with commercial and personality disorders, plus the landscape of knife retail has changed amazingly since then. This is not to say that it isn’t a good resource – it is, and I just looked up a chapter the other week, but it does have some faults and is getting dated. Plus there are many other YouTube channels that describe half of his book much better than he can do in a book format. That’s just the way it is – eMedia.
Btw, one of the knives that Chad used in that book just popped up for sale a couple of weeks ago and sold for a crazy low price of $260-- and it was a Hattori just to make this thread more relevant. Not only was it in Chad’s book, it had a Fish handle. Fish was a forum member at KnifeForums who was one of the first custom/artisan handle makers, and he died a few years back. His knives are now much more collectible, but more than that, people trade his knives around to use and he is a legend. It is hard to describe it in any other way. I have a couple Fish-handled knives and may not ever let them go.
So with that said, I think that if you want a book I would go with Chad Ward’s: An Edge in the Kitchen. After that, there are three videos that are helpful for sharpening (1) Dave Martell from Japanese Knife Sharpening (2) Murray Carter from his site and (3) the one from Korin.
Dave is more technique driven as he is a professional sharpener. Murray Carter’s video is good – and long (he is a knife maker). He does give you that confidence to just go at sharpening without over thinking too much about it though, and that is good. And Korin has some technique stuff that is interesting. I found how they handle tip sharpening and single bevels better than others.
But again, JKI videos on YouTube are probably just as good these days, if not better (and free). There are also others too. Rick Theory is just one (of many) that I will link to here. He shows how to progress from stones, feel a burr, and deburr (with rock-hard felt and stropping). It might not be the best example of sharpening a typical knife, but it is gives a good idea of ‘things to think about’. Raising a burr, and debarring are a good chunk of sharpening.
The second video is one from Saltydog. He is also sort of a legend in the knife community. His videos are pure knife porn along with technique (cutting usually). Both of the chefs linked below are pro chefs and love knives 
Anyhow, these are just a couple examples. I learn most from the forums and videos.
k.
Just to add another layer to this conversation. The term damascus is something commonly used for forge-welded steel that is then folded and pounded into very ‘pretty’ layers. Don’t get me wrong, there is some amazing forge-welded steel knives out there and I have many.
True damascus steel, however, or ‘wootz’ steel was a lost art for several hundreds of years and only rediscovered again in the US in the 1990s. Al Pendray whose family shod the horse shoes for most of the triple crown winners in the last century was one of the driving forces behind it too – and he makes knives.
Here is an interesting article about it Scientific American.
http://projects.olin.edu/revere/Cool%20links/damascus%20sci%20amer%20jan%202001.pdf
Anyhow, I have two true wootz damascus knives from Pendray and Furrer (out of MI) and multiple forge-welded knives. Wootz is actually an inferior steel for the kitchen, but I like it for hunter and charcuterie knives. It does best slicing meat 
Picuture below is of a Devin Thomas 150 Petty forge-weldged damascus steel knife and an Al Pendray Wootz steel damascus hunter. You can see the pattern difference.
k.
Sorry for so many late responses, but I have been neglecting wine for family these days
And CWun is way too correct. I gave a good laugh when I saw he started on Forschners. I basically did the same thing, but I also bought a couple of cheapies from Japanese Wood Worker to practice on.
I’d also second his ‘steel logic’. Don’t use them unless you have to and never the way they show on TV. Take 5 minutes and look it up on YouTube. Plant the steel in a rag vertically and LIGHTLY draw the blade down on both sides at a good angle.
I have a borsilicate and ceramic honig steel and I use them about once per month. Stropping on a 1200 grit J-stone is going to do much better though.
k.
hate to see this thread disappear…bump
I really didn’t need another knife…but…Got my semi-custom paring knife from Delbert Ealy today. Carbon damascus with black ash burl handle.
Very nice Cary. That is really beautiful.