echerub
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2011
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I picked up this Kaneshige 175mm nakiri w/ blue 2 hagane, damascus cladding and yew octagonal handle to just give it a try. However, it turns out this knife is really better suited for lefties, and I'm not a lefty! This, however, is a good thing for those of you who are lefties 
It's got great distal taper from ferrule to "tip", a nice tall profile, and it's thin behind the edge. I used it in my home kitchen for a week and sharpened it up once. The cladding is not stainless steel, but it's very much on the non-reactive side of things. The blue 2 hagane in this one kicks up a burr really easily, and it's a toothy steel. The edge is much flatter than many other nakiri and is very usuba-like in that respect. But there's the other thing that makes this usuba-like. I hope that my choil shot shows it, but the asymmetry makes this almost a "usuba-inspired" knife for lefties.
Ivan at Tosho picked up a whole batch of knives from a young craftsman over in Sakai who is making kitchen knives from start to finish all by himself. So he does the forging, sharpening, and handles himself. I wanted to give it a try out of curiosity and then went through practically the whole box of them to choose the one that I thought was best. This one has the best distal taper of the whole batch and also felt best in my hand.
Almost brand-new, a smidge of sharpening marks just above the bevel near the tip, but the cladding itself is pristine.
Asking CDN$165 all-in for Canadians, and US$165 all-in for those in the US. Other international, we can discuss
The patina you see in the cladding is actually emphasized in the photo and less obvious in person.
The dark patch is just a flat part of the choil that reflected no light for this image.
It's got great distal taper from ferrule to "tip", a nice tall profile, and it's thin behind the edge. I used it in my home kitchen for a week and sharpened it up once. The cladding is not stainless steel, but it's very much on the non-reactive side of things. The blue 2 hagane in this one kicks up a burr really easily, and it's a toothy steel. The edge is much flatter than many other nakiri and is very usuba-like in that respect. But there's the other thing that makes this usuba-like. I hope that my choil shot shows it, but the asymmetry makes this almost a "usuba-inspired" knife for lefties.
Ivan at Tosho picked up a whole batch of knives from a young craftsman over in Sakai who is making kitchen knives from start to finish all by himself. So he does the forging, sharpening, and handles himself. I wanted to give it a try out of curiosity and then went through practically the whole box of them to choose the one that I thought was best. This one has the best distal taper of the whole batch and also felt best in my hand.
Almost brand-new, a smidge of sharpening marks just above the bevel near the tip, but the cladding itself is pristine.
Asking CDN$165 all-in for Canadians, and US$165 all-in for those in the US. Other international, we can discuss
The patina you see in the cladding is actually emphasized in the photo and less obvious in person.
The dark patch is just a flat part of the choil that reflected no light for this image.
