Yusuke Sakai--Extra Thick, Extra hard 240 Gyuto

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I was poking around ebay and came up on this listing. I have no affiliation with this seller and have never bought anything from him nor am I promoting him. I just know that many people on this forum love Yusukes and the swedish stainless, 2.8 spine and flat profile gyutos are very very rare. i know cause I waited seven months. For what its worth:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sakai-Yusuk...ultDomain_0&hash=item3a83310dd0#ht_4708wt_861
 
I don't like that he describes this as a 'both hands' knife. I don't know of a Sakai Yusuke that doesn't have an asymmetric grind.
 
thats because this seller probably doesn't know much about knives regarding asymmetry. The four Yusuke's I have are not that asymectric anyway and he's correct, they are designed for both hands. I use and edge pro to sharpen them and I sharpen them at the same angle around 11 degrees
 
I knew it wouldn't be long before you posted some comment labor.

Why do you think it isn't the flatter profile? Doubt you can tell by looking at it the photo. I can hardly tell when eyeball my two Yusuke 240 side by side.
 
I would appreciate a choil shot of a Yusuke gyuto. The eBay choil shots put up by Keiichi appear asymmetric to me. The easiest way is to stick a ruler right up against the blade and see if there is curvature away from the ruler.

My Masamoto SW is almost perfectly flat on one side.
 
BK, They're not that asymmetric at all believe me. I've got the 240 in flat-hard swedish steel, 240 in W#2, 210 in flat-hard swedish steel and a 300 suij in hard swedish steel. like i said, I use the Edge Pro and don't change the angle when sharpening. There is some asymmetry there but its minor maybe 45/55
 
I knew it wouldn't be long before you posted some comment labor.

Why do you think it isn't the flatter profile? Doubt you can tell by looking at it the photo. I can hardly tell when eyeball my two Yusuke 240 side by side.

I don't think it's the flat profile because its not flat lol. Pretty obvious. Look at the photos under the description. More curves than Christina Hendricks.
 
BK, They're not that asymmetric at all believe me. I've got the 240 in flat-hard swedish steel, 240 in W#2, 210 in flat-hard swedish steel and a 300 suij in hard swedish steel. like i said, I use the Edge Pro and don't change the angle when sharpening. There is some asymmetry there but its minor maybe 45/55

The bevels can be the same angle, doesn't mean the blade faces are symmetric as well.
 
Thanks Johnny, Good point. But since the blade faces are the same thickness on each side when compairing them to the choil (least in the Yusukes I have), would one not assume that they are symmectric?

Labor, I'm not with ya bud. As said, I can barely tell the difference between the regular profile and the new-flatter profile with my knives side by side, handle to handle.

Moreover, why would Yusuke make an extra thick, extra hard gyuto in a regular profile, when they know the flatter profile is very sought after?
 
i have no idea why yusuke does anything they do. profile aside, the tip on the flatter profiles is more spear like or pointy, which this one just isnt. look, im not dissing the knife im sure its fantastic. but i really dont think its the flatter profile. i could be wrong....but if it was indeed the flatter profile wouldnt the seller mention it?
 
The view from the choil only gives you a glimpse at the grind and does not tell the whole story. Most japanese knives are asymmetrical. And the differences between a convexed right side and a slight convexed or mostly flat then convexed left side can be pretty small to the naked eye, but not in use.

*EDIT* fixed typo, symmetric to asymmetrical.
 
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The "extra thick, extra hard" made me chuckle

My girlfriend walked behind my chair and glanced at the screen when I had this message displayed. She just kept walking and said..."Works for me."
 
The description says ichii handle. The pictures are not of the actual knife for sale. On the other hand the seller copied the exact description from the bluewayjapan posting, so my bet would be that this is indeed one of the thicker, flatter ones.

You could always ask keiichi who he sold them to... There were only 3 in the recent batch he sold.
 
This ebay listing looks to be Ho wood, based on the image. Not iichi, per the description. I'd be suspicious of this listing.

Regarding regular vs. flatter profile, this is interesting. I wonder if the SS flatter gyutos aren't actually flatter. The white flatter profile is noticeably different than the regular profile. I reached out to Keiichi-San.
 
If you go to the sellers store it's obvious that he is not a regular knife retailer. My guess is pawn shop. I'd pass on this one.:stinker:
 
The view from the choil only gives you a glimpse at the grind and does not tell the whole story. Most japanese knives are symmetric. And the differences between a convexed right side and a slight convexed or mostly flat then convexed left side can be pretty small to the naked eye, but not in use.

True Johnny I usually read the choil can tell even slight difference.Most all Japan Gyuto are Assem.That said I have the Yusuke special thin white steel it is the most even on both sides of any high end Gyuto I have seen.Maybe because it is so thin.I can see Mucho's point of view if any of his are like mine.
 
Johnny, So I scrutinised my Yusukes further and your're absolutely correct, I see the difference from right to left blade face. Eventhough they're really thin knives, 240 1.6 spine at handle, I can see that the right side of the knife is thicker than the left side (edge facing down).
 
Johnny, So I scrutinised my Yusukes further and your're absolutely correct, I see the difference from right to left blade face. Eventhough they're really thin knives, 240 1.6 spine at handle, I can see that the right side of the knife is thicker than the left side (edge facing down).

The easiest way to judge is to stick a ruler right against the blade face. On the left side, the blade will stick flush with the ruler. On the right side, the blade convexity will curve away from the ruler. This is very difficult to tell with the naked eye when the blade is thin.
 
I thought they were all in SS. Mine is. I don't recall seeing them in carbon as the description of extra hard related to SS which was otherwise usually less than 61hrc.

Cheers

J
 
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