Yaxell Zen

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The Anti-Chrysler

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I'm not a professional reviewer by any means, so please bear with me. I have been bitten by the knife bug recently, and have greatly increased my collection in very short time.
Last week, I was looking around, and I realized that I didn't have a sujihiki. So after a very short bit of looking around, I bought a Yaxell Zen 255mm Damascus VG-10 suji from NagomiJapan.
I love the look of damascus and hammer finishing.
Paid extra for the expedited shipping and received it today. About $115 shipped.
It was in a nice presentation box, and upon examination, the fit and finish was pretty good. The finish on the blade is a little better than the finish on the handle. In fact the blade itself looks flawless to me. Nice, even grind, good polish, hair-popping sharp. The handle has some very fine sanding scratches, and about a <1/32" gap between the micarta and the bolster that is filled with epoxy. You have to look close to see it.
When you get a new knife, obviously you need to find something to cut. So with that in mind, I grilled up a small pork loin for dinner.
The knife cuts grilled pork loin as well as I could have ever hoped, which it should coming right out of the box. Time will tell on the edge holding, but by the way it sings, it seems pretty hard.
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What I like:
Purdy. In fact, it's beautiful.
Wicked sharp OOTB.
Looks like it's high quality.
Very attractive price.
Good size for slicing.

What I don't like:
The handle has just a touch more girth than I would prefer, but I don't have particularly large hands, so YMMV.
The handle isn't quite as nicely finished as the blade. A niggling qualm on a knife at this price point.


To sum it up, if you're in the market for a tsuchime suminigashi VG-10 suji on a budget, it's hard to go wrong with this one.
 
Thanks!
I know the pics could have been better, it's kinda difficult to get good pics indoors with an inexpensive digital camera.
One other thing I like about this knife is the stamped kanji. It annoys me when a painted kanji starts wearing off.
 

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