My new shig

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After many months Kiya sent me my Shig Yo Kitaeji 240 Gyuto.

It is a gorgeous knife.

Independent of how gorgeous it is, it feels amazing, balance is perfect. The yo handle in particularly is mindboggling, seems to part of my hand from the moment I first gripped it.

Now I am wondering what is his magic on yo handles, which after all he doesn't make all that often.... Anyone have any ideas?

Still, with all my delight in this knife, I was surprised to see some micro chipping at the very tip, is this common on OOB shigs?? It will be easy to fix but it seems odd in knife that is otherwise so perfect....

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I've never had a new Shig, but if it's like Heiji, it needs to have a small bevel applied, OOTB.
 
Where did you find it? Shig Kitaeji yo is a bit of a unicorn for me... that square integral bolster is just soo beautiful.
I've seen some microchipping from time to time on my other Shigs; not a big deal as it hasnt had a noticeable effect on cutting. You can live with it, increase the angle just a bit, or add a micro bevel.
 
It's beautiful. Why is the kanji different than the regular shigs?
 
basically Kiya japan sells western style kitaeji shigs under their brand "木屋" (wooden house), but still has the "重房作" (made by shigefusa) engraved at the other side, just smaller.

so, yeah, while it is not easy to get western handled shigs outside japan, you can always order them from Kiya. They are everywhere, either standalone shops or maybe order via their boutiques in up class department stores such as Takashiyama.
 
Yep, The reverse has the Kanji pk mentioned.

As far as people ordering them goes, I mentioned I had a friend who was Japanese talk to Kiya.
But after that I have been corresponding with a nice lady from Kiya whose english skills are OK. I suspect if you are willing to wire them the money in yen (they don't take credit cards), they will order one for you as well :- ).

(PM me if you want her email address. I will ask her if it is OK to share her email address with you and then once she says yes, I'll PM it back to you.)

BUt I still would like to know how he does that magic on his yo handles!
 
Interesting that the belly of the handle is so far forward. Exactly where it should be for a pinch grip, yet nobody seems to put it there.
 
The profile sort of reminds me of a mighty Mac chefs knife my chef used to use. Nice buy!
 
Kiya apparantly hasn't decided if they will accept orders form the US (my order was made from Japan so I lucked out). So they don't want their email addresses made public.

Hopefully they will decide to take american orders and all will be copacetic soon.
 
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