Why do you love your Shig?

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dannynyc

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I've never tried a Shigefusa gyuto but these knives clearly have a devoted following here. Trolling around the site, I've clearly seen the love, but haven't been able to get a handle (no pun intended) on what it's about.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?
 
1. Painstaking attention to detail in fit and finish.
2. Beautiful grinds. In years of following his stuff, I've heard only 1 report of an overgrind.
3. He's the best polisher in the business--especially on single bevels. If you ever get a chance to fondle one of his yanagibas or mukimonos, you'll be hooked.
4. His knives are great cutters.

I wish he worked in stainless, but you can't have everything.
 
the steel and edge retention is amazing. and what the heck is it?!??!?!! i think thats part of the fun that it is a mystery. the only shig i own is a KU finish so i dont know about his polishing but from pics they just look amazing. I have also heard that his yanagis are slightly thinner than most and that makes me want one so much more badly than i did in the beginning.

shigefusa is just badass. its like get a lamborghini or something, it just looks cool and performs like a super knife!
 
Honestly, I don't think that you could make a quantitative argument as to why they are that much more special than many other knives in the same price range. They have virtues and trade offs just like any other knife, but for some people (myself included), the whole is more than just the sum of the parts / specs. It's unquestionably an excellent tool from a functional perspective, but it's the intangibles and the things that really don't have much to do with function that I think make them so special to some people.

When you enter into the shig price range for any knife, emotion and warm, tingly, intangible feelings start to play more of a part in the decision making process than any practical reason.

Some knives just have an "x" factor, just like you hear car reviews talk about soul and passion when explaining their love for a car that's really nothing unique on paper, I think the same applies to knives.

I think that "art" is an easy thing to understand because it has nothing to do with utility, or function and everything to do with emotion and experience.
"Tools" are also easy to understand because they are defined by their function and utility.

Where things get tricky is when we start to mix our tools with our art. The dialectic of reason and emotion is difficult thing to get your head around and articulate well.

For me, the beauty in shig is that it's perfect and flawless in a way that's still distinctly organic, and human. When really analyzing the components there's nothing that's radically different from many other makers, yet they are still unmistakable and distinctive. The feel in-hand and then feed back on stones or when gliding though product is also just somehow "special"; it just feels really nice.
 
It has something special that's hard to explain on top of being a great cutter and great edge retention. My sous chef who is recently getting into jknives the last few months and looks at all my stuff. He imidiately was drawn to the shig and Marko gyutos for the way they felt in hand, looked and the X factor. First he picked out the shig as his favorite and I let him use it. A few weeks later the Marko and he said this reminds me of the shig. That's coming from someone in the business but not yet one of us. It just has "it"
 
easy as hell to sharpen (feels awesome on stones) and takes the most keen edge. let mine go as i didn't feel it was durable enough for workhorse duties. it's a finesse knife and i cant afford to keep luxuries like that.
 
I think that they are just the ultimate tools. Beautiful and functional. I have 7 of his knives from muki to debas x3, custom wa handle honesuki maru to gyuto and yanagiba all in kitaeji and I don't think I will ever need any other knives. I use them day in and out in the pro kitchen, that is what they are for.
 
If they did a san mai in SS in would be END GAME!!!!
 
I think that back when they became the "it"knife, obtaining one was no easy task. Some waited over a year. Reminiscent of the KD. Now it's a bit easier with Maxim, but still definitely limited. Maybe once cktg has an infinite stock, the mystique will wither...
 
I have a few pieces that I can't really explain what it is about them exactly, but I love, and reach for without thinking. I won't say which knives so I don't start anything, but they all have similar traits. They are:

Understated
Have impeccable craftsmanship
Intelligently designed
Tall
Hefty
Thin
Unassuming
Calvin Klein
 
Love this thread, as Shige is probably one knife that I studied in depth, and tried to understand the reasoning behind every step in the process (some on a theoretical level, of course)

It's also one maker I have a lot of respect for - level of worksmakship, attention to detail, consistency. I haven't come across many J. makers (in fact very few) who painstakingly shape and taper the tang (invisible part of the knife) even though it results in a clean handle installation. Things like that speak volumes to me.

Steel is a simple carbon steel probably from Uddeholm. Holds a good edge but the steel has no alloys that would contribute to great edge holding, though on the other hand, the knife sharpens very easily to a screaming sharp.

A transition between the tang and the spine is very nice (forged and filed/scraped by hand), geometry is great, weight would put it in mid-heavy or medium knives, depending which Shige you get. Early ones were heavier and thicker in geometry.

Very thin at the edge, planes brought down to zero on most knives I have seen. Very easy to initiate a cut and food separation is superb, especially on thin knives. Easy to thin down the road.

Finish is very good on kasumi and great on kitaeji knives. Some of the nicest hand carved kanji I have seen.

In all, this knife does look and feel like a quality hand-made knife. In other words, it need no "help" to sell.

Reactivity, microchipping, and easy to bend (on thin knives) are the things that make it a less than perfect knife, but folks find these a manageable trade-off compared to other things the knife offers.
 
Good post, Marko. i agree 100% that the edge retention is average/good. This is even from a home user...however, thy're special, and that's all that matters.

I will say that Marko's is in the category I mentioned in my previous post. That is all....
 
The only Japanese maker that I've owned more than one of their knives (3 Shigs). To me the best combination of cutting ease, release, sharpness. I care little about reactivity but ime it is not much different than other carbon I like. Of those I've used, the only ho wood handle worth keeping.
 
I agree with Marko's post - very well said, and more than I know. It's not the perfect knife, but my 240 gyuto is the one I reach for the most because it's the best feeling knife to me to use. Shape, balance, weight, size, profile, grind, etc. all come together to be an amazing tool to use.

I've found edge retention to be fair-poor. Actually quite disappointed at how quickly the edge degrades, and I have been doing any outside work with it, just home use. Strops up nicely, but looses that initial keenness quickly. even though it's not the sharpest knife in my block, it's still the first one I reach for.

I love the D shaped handle, and it was lovely when it was new. Sanded to a very fine grit. But as soon as I used it and it got wet, the gain raised and it's not the same - almost has a rough texture. The ho wood almost feels a bit soft. As far handles go, my Yusukes have the nicest ho wood that I used used by far.
 
Marko summed up the tangibles very well. I must agree that the transition from spine to tang / the area where the steel meets the handle is on of my favorite parts and, is perhaps the most beautiful example of that section of any wa-handled knife that I've seen.
It's a great example of something that takes extra time and skill to execute, doesn't make a huge difference in performance (just a tad towards balance and rigidity maybe), but makes a huge impression on the user when they have it in hand.
 
Marko summed up the tangibles very well. I must agree that the transition from spine to tang / the area where the steel meets the handle is on of my favorite parts and, is perhaps the most beautiful example of that section of any wa-handled knife that I've seen.
It's a great example of something that takes extra time and skill to execute, doesn't make a huge difference in performance (just a tad towards balance and rigidity maybe), but makes a huge impression on the user when they have it in hand.

+1,000,000 ;)
 
(...) food separation is superb, especially on thin knives. Easy to thin down the road.

Finish is very good on kasumi and great on kitaeji knives.
marko, or any other experienced shig-owner/User: does food separation differ from kasumi to kitaeji finish? I would guess food separation is "better" on kasumi finished blades?!
 
The onlu benifit that I've heard mentioned is that kitaeji is stronger and less likely to warp on single bevels like yanagi, allows him to make single bevels thinner and that the finish is even heigher.
I own both, and i cant say that i noticed a difference in food release as that kitaeji is very smooth and lightly etched (i actually think that the contrast comes form the polishing stones, not an etchant).
But there is a difference in magic aura.
 
marko, or any other experienced shig-owner/User: does food separation differ from kasumi to kitaeji finish? I would guess food separation is "better" on kasumi finished blades?!

No, finish has no effect on food separation on the Shige, it's all in geometry of the knife - height, distal taper and thickness above the edge. Better finish will make a carbon knife more resistant to rusting - the finer the finishing scratches, the slower the rust formation.

Stainless would a completely different animal to forge, heat treat and finish by hand. And Shigefusa really doesn't need to produce stainless knives - their order list is probably months long. So, don't hold your breath.

M
 
Calvin Klein? Ah I geddit! It's because nuthin' comes between you and your . . . . .
 
I have a lot of knives now and besides its awesome cutting ability, my yo shig handle is just somehow "right" - when I use it I feel the knife is truly an extension of my hand and none of my other yo handles have that magic feel.

My wa shig is nice and cuts equally well of course, but, at least for me, not quite that feeling of perfection in my hand...
 
I don't know enough about knives to articulate what makes the Shig spectacular. I was curious and finally snagged a lightly used 210mm a few months ago. I'm a long time laser fan, but this is no laser. And the 210 is not my preferred length, but it's stayed on top as my favorite go to knife despite the length disadvantage. Others, especially Marko, have given great specifics in more tech detail than I could. I'll just say I kind of play with knives, looking for "the perfect" fit for me. Hearing so much about Shigs, I was skeptical but finally went for one. And the hype was proved out. There's nothing wrong with it--you have to know me to understand I always find something wrong, so this is highest praise--and everything was thought about and works as planned. It's pretty much poetry in hand.
 
I own 5 shings and love them all - especially after getting to know them. I use them almost daily. I agree with everything said before and would add, that as a professional maker of objects myself (furniture) I appreciate the integrity and clarity of intention that you can just feel in his knives from the moment you pick them up. There is a rightness to them. I also appreciate that the weight, handles and balance seem to work well with larger hands like mine well. There is a very "solid" feel to them in use that makes them feel more like a part of my hand than most knives, and I have found less inclination to make changes to the Shingefusa knives to suit my own taste. I find that in time the logic of these knives comes thru even if I am not 100% sure at the start. The knives also need less setup than most knives and the hand sharpening they come with is a useful indicator of what sharpening bevels work best with the steel (not true with many knives)
 
my shig was one of my first knives that really felt like a high end cutter, effortlessly cutting whatever laid in its path
 
knives also need less setup than most knives and the hand sharpening they come with is a useful indicator of what sharpening bevels work best with the steel (not true with many knives)

You make an interesting point there. Many makers hold back a bit with the awareness that their knives may fall into the hands of a less than careful or experienced used. They may back off a few points on RHC or raise the angle on the edge a few deg from the limit or they make compromises in material like a less reactive cladding, just to protect their knives and reputation from potential damage by users who dont understand them.

Shig is one of the makers that just makes what they feel is optimal / best fits their vision without hedging or concern for the lowest common denominator or users.
The knives are tools that show an assumption/ expectation of competence in the user.
No warning labels or idiot proofing.
 
I was one post away from getting a shig, but didn't. got a Kato Workhorse instead. Next paycheck....next paycheck....
 
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