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I love this thread. Please keep posting photos and observations so I have more ideas what to eat and drink next time I go to japan!

The Watanabe 180 mm gyuto I have is fairly narrow, certainly not as wide as a santoku or Bunka. It might not give you the knuckle clearance you want. Shinichi can custom make knives to your specs although he makes knives within parameters that make sense to him. The main differences between...

Thats a great first knife. It will last you years. What kind of handle did you get? Watanabe can make you a custom knife of any length. At 6” (150 mm), usually those are petties rather than chefs knives- same general shape. You could also get a bunka at 6”.

Welcome! Where in Spain are you from?

Welcome kou, Please consider joining as a sponsor so you can participate freely. I’m sure the exposure and feedback you get from this forum would be more than worth it. Been to the store many times over the years. Glad to see you join.

Cold steel produces a lot of cheap mall blades (swords, machetes, etc) but I thought the original CS tantos go back to the eighties with the advertisements that you could put it through a car door and still shave the hair on your arm. Were they copying someone back then?

The tanto looks like a cold steel knife with the kraton handle- or a knock off. The finish looks a little rough.

Retailers add value- they bring new and vetted product to various cities and countries. They bring product that the average consumer can’t access. They pay taxes and they are bound by business laws and regulations. They do mark up, but if they charge too high, they can be undercut by...

I support Dave in this- flippers increase price and scarcity- whether this is a hobby or one’s livelihood, it makes knife buying more difficult and expensive for the rest of us.

165 mm is fine for home cooking. Great for cutting up carrots, potatoes, celery, peppers, onions, etc. I would use the 210 (or longer) gyuto for larger heads of cabbages or lettuce. Longer nakiris are nice if you are cutting large quantities of produce or if you have a general preference for...

The kotetsu is listed at around 300 grams. A nakiri is usually around 140-150 grams and a vegetable cleaver at 400-500 grams. A nakiri is great for slicing and is nimble in the hand. A cleaver has some weight behind the cut and is great for chopping. The kotetsu falls in between- the...

I’ve had many customs made by Shinichi including nakiris and bunkas. If you go custom, Watanabe can make a knife to your exact specifications (height). That said, the knife has to fit within a design type and make sense. Some bunkas are squarish and others tapered toward the front...

I have a couple black cherry boardsmith boards, from the original maker. They have a nice feel, probably the softer feel you like. I did take the feet off. What kind of cleaver are you using? Do you ever oil or wax your boards? Watering the boards would seem not to last that long.

If you are using a sharp cleaver, I would suggest an end grain board. I use a lot of different boards including hinoki. I think a cleaver would chew up a soft wood board like hinoki pretty quick. If you use hinoki, get a thicker one.

The third knife is different. He is experimenting with creating Damascus from wire rope. He told me about it when I visited a year ago.

This is a 150 mm Watanabe bunka compared to a 150 wat nakiri. With a bunka, the tip is functional. The angle of the edge relative to the handle comes up more on the Bunka. I asked shinichi to put just the slightest curve to the belly, as I preferred a flatter edge also. I copied a picture of...

There are different possibilities here. The first could be that shinichi is a young master smith who learned from Toyama, that they have a cooperative agreement, that Toyama made statements thinking they were confidential, and there is a misunderstanding here. The second could be that...

Jon, I appreciate the comment. Particularly not disclosing what people may not want out there. There seems to be a lot of cooperative work going on between companies large and small.

Reading through my emails again, I had linked shinichi to one of these discussions and he was explaining the relationship. Shinichi is a young master (around 48) and Toyama is of an earlier generation. I think before implying that one master makes another’s knives, it would be better to know...

Shinichi told me that Toyama was his master and also spoke of others he learned from. Toyama is a common name in that region. I assumed this was the same Toyama given the similarities of their style.