Mikey's addiction

When I moved to Hawai'i from Arizona I sold almost everything I owned. This included what at the time I considered a pretty slick little assortment of Henckel 4 Star and Pro S knives. Sense then I've been using my parents (they're old, I moved out here to help take care of them) crap knives, so I was pretty stoked to get a Henckels Pro S 7" Santoku this last Christmas...


















Now that I had a "decent" knife I got to thinking "I'm gonna be here for awhile, I need to start looking for some decent stuff to cook with", so I headed down to the big city (that would be Kona, population 34,000). I went into the only specialty cookware store I could find and they happened to carry Shuns, in particular the Shun Classic 9 1/2" slicer...





















I saw that and went...ohhhhhhh...shiny...need slicer:drool:
Ok, so now I own a Shun. I get it home, take it out the box...damn! this thing is sharp, much sharper then any other knife I've had. This gets me curious about what else is out there. I start checking out web sites, reading forums (never do that, it's like the old "first one's free kid" thing, except it ain't free), and ordering an Asai AS damascus 180mm nakiri from EE (unfortunately it's still on order). Then I find this on clearance...

Then I find this on B/S/T (thanks Chris for letting me make payments)...

Yoshikane SLD 240 kiritsuke/gyuto
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Ok, the pictures are kicking my butt, lets try that one again...

Yoshikane SLD damascus 240 kiritsuke/gyuyo
View attachment 16514

Three times a charm...

Ok, moving on...Hey, my birthday's coming up, I think I'll buy myself a present...

Masakage Yuki 75mm petty and 130mm ko-bunka (SS clad white #2)

Then, this shows up on B/S/T...damn, I already ordered a couple of knives for my birthday...but it would go so nice with the kiritsuke...

Yoshikane 165mm SLD damascus nakiri

Ok, I'm done buying knives for awhile, hell I still have that Asai on order. I'll just see if there's any new knife porn on the forum, I'm just looking, not gonna buy nothing. Nope, not even that...but it's a great deal...I've been looking for something to cut up ribs and such...I really do need it...

Moritaka 180mm yo-deba in blue #2


So weak..must be strong:help4:

Yup, I'm done now, no more. I'll just look one more time, but I'm not buying anything. I'm like a rock, strong like oak, firm like...hey, is that what I think it is? I've been want one of those forever (or a couple of months, it's hard to remember anymore), and such a good price...

Takeda 120(ish) ko-bunka (I think I'll call it little suke)

Now I know my collection is no where near as impressive as a lot of the others here, but when you consider that on Dec 25th, 2012 it was this...



and as of now it's this...



That ain't too shabby (still got the Asai coming too):viking:

Be well,

Mikey

Nicely done. your trip down the rabbit whole is all too familiar! What a slippery slope

i think you need a cleaver

Great presentation! lol...those Yoshikanes are stunners; put you in the big boy club!

berko said:

i think you need a cleaver

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Is that you...SATAN?:devilburn:

Man, you don't know how bad I wanted to jump on Mike's Takeda. That thing is so huge and barbaric, it's beyond cool!:viking:

Besides, having decided to wade into the refreshing waters of freehand sharpening (I've been using Edge-Pro) I just got my first two stones yesterday, Gesshin 400 and 1200. Yup, this is much safer then buying knives. Heck, can't imagine needing more then four stones total...nope, no chance of this water getting to deep...what's that you say? Natural stones? Hmmmm, sounds interesting....sigh:surrender2:

Nice acquisitions. Those Yoshikanes SLD damascus are stunning.

NO ChoP! said:

Great presentation! lol...those Yoshikanes are stunners; put you in the big boy club!

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Thanks Bro, I just hope no one puts anymore on B/S/T:sofa:

Liking the big handle on the 240 Yoshikane. I love my Yoshi.

Beautiful knives...and acquired quickly. Love the Yoshi's!

I've seen this all before. Shun, the gateway drug.



Nice digs dude!

This is actually the first j-knife I ever bought (not counting the Shun), but it's been on order for a little while (4 months, not that long really compared to some others). It's an Asai AS damascus nakiri from EE. The otb edge was good, but not great, so I put it to the stones (ok,ok...I put it to the edge pro:O) Sunday night and took it for a test drive Monday morning on some corned beef hash (potatoes, onions, green chiles, and of course corned beef) then on a batch of pico de gallo (sweet onions, green onions, garlic, tomatoes, more green chiles). All I can say is...WOW! this thing can cut! I've got some good cutters in my rack (Yoshikane, Takeda, Masakage), but this thing beats them all hands down. I'll write a review later, for right now I'll just say it was well worth the wait.

A quick shoutout to Daniel and Drew at EE. I ordered this knife well before EE became a member of this forum and therefore before they started offering a 10% to members. When Daniel found out that I was a member he gave me the discount retroactively without being asked. Combined with the performance of this nakiri, that tipped the scales in favor of me ordering a 105 petty from the same line (thinking about a 210 Suji in the future too). I'm a sucker for good cust service, gets me every time:doublethumbsup:

Figured it was about time to bring this thread up to date.

Takeda 240 k-tip gyuto


Devin ITK 240 gyuto in AEB-L


Sakai Yusuke 210 suji in stainless (mom's knife)


Shig 240 suji (my knife)

JCK branded Teruyasu-Fujiwara white#1 270 suji


Yoshikane 270 SLD suji


Zakuri sabaki


Takagi Honyaki 240


Konosuke Fujiyama white #1 270 k-tip gyuto and 210 gyuto


Family portrait

And now, some stones



Left to right:
Gesshin 220
Gessin 400
King 800
Gesshin 1200 (love this stone!)
Gesshin Jinzo Aoto
Gesshin 4000
Kitayama 8000

And a set of asano naguras from Maxim via B/S/T


That's it for now, but stay tuned boys and girls, I've got a couple of blades in process that are going to be way cool.


Be well,
Mikey

Oh hell, I forgot the best one...

Stainless damascus paring with oosik handle from Randy (I've named him "Nanuk")


and to end the day, here's a picture of today's sunset from my back lanai (porch or balcony for you mainlanders)


Be well,
Mikey

Nice collection. It's grown quite a bit recently!
I almost bought that oosik paring--very cool knife.
Interesting handle shape on the Takeda k-tip. I assume you made that yourself. Is that your design, or something you saw somewhere else that inspired you? How does it feel in use?

From one Mikey to another, what a great bunch of picks. I don't feel quite so guilty about my own purchases at the moment. You're seem much better thought out and less impulsive. Love the handles and stones too.

Interesting handle shape on the Takeda k-tip. I assume you made that yourself. Is that your design, or something you saw somewhere else that inspired you? How does it feel in use?

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I came up with that because the Takeda's felt kinda cramped to me when using a pinch grip with a standard style handle. It works well for me, but I have small hands.

Be well,
Mikey

Nice collection. I like it that when you reached the bottom of the rabbit hole you started digging.

Off the hook, Mikey, knives & stones are :ubersexy the handles gorgeous.