On my end, just played around with the shig at home a little. Fit and finish, as well as knife balance were amazing. Panda did some really nice things with the patina and acid etching. The edge wasn't 100% when I got it, and i'm not comfortable sharpening knives of this value when the don't belong to me, so it just got some light work and that was it.
Also, I guess I'm not sure what a "kasumi" is., but the knife was short compared to what I expected, which was a taller gyuto. It was also a little thicker on the spine than I had pictued. Maybe that'd due to the fact that is is a kasumi? I was skeptical on the large D shaped handles that I'd seen in shig photos, but I warmed up to it. quite well.
Overall a great blade, would love to see it in action an a cutter when it's at potential. Also, Panda, was that a custom saya or did it come with the knife? Either way it's an awesome fit for the blade. I've only had only other knife that came with it's own saya, and the fit of this one was leaps and bounds better.
It's off to Labor of Love for the tome being, and I'll be interested to hear his takes on a knife and how they compared to mine, since I recently handled it. I know he's an experienced sharpener and will want to touch up the edege a bit.
Thanks to Panda for taking part, I love the trust, as well as knowledge and knife bank we have in this community.