difference nakaya heiji and gesshin heiji

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menno

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i want to order a heiji direct from nakaya heiji. what makes the gesshin heiji much more expensive than the nakaya heiji.
 
First, there is a middleman, and Jon's got to make a living. Second, according to Gesshin owners, Jon is meticulous about quality control so there is less of a guess factor as to whether you're getting a good specimen.
 
Yea John has it tweaked to his personal specs I believe
 
Is iT a good idea to let nakaya heiji make the knife to my own specs. For example make the knife a bit thinner. is there someone who Has a heiji gyuto direct from nakaya heiji and what did he found of the knife?
 
menno said:
Is iT a good idea to let nakaya heiji make the knife to my own specs. For example make the knife a bit thinner. is there someone who Has a heiji gyuto direct from nakaya heiji and what did he found of the knife?
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i spoke with a few people who have gotten them direct from heiji with some customization(thinner geometry) and they were extremely pleased with the results. i'm sure jon has really gotten down his customization,... and all accounts are that the Gesshin line is very impressive and worth the pricetag. but if you do decided to go direct through heiji i doubt you would be disappointed with the end result. your still talking about the same materials and maker with a fantastic reputation.
 
icanhaschzbrgr said:
Not a long time ago Yamabushi got his Heiji knives . Might be interesting to you
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Yamabushi was also quite pleased with the knives he got. He didn't request any customisation, though.

On a side note, you can't really directly contact many makers in Japan through a semi-English website, but Heiji is one of them. Cool that Heiji does this and would be great to see more of it.
 
Do you think it's a great idea to ask nakaya heiji to make the knife approximately 2 mm thin OR is it to thin for the knife?
 
icanhaschzbrgr said:
What's wrong with that? My Konosuke 240mm is 2.1mm at the thickest point and cuts very nicely
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Heiji is not konosuke though. What makes heijis great is the steel, heat treat and grind. With a 2mm spine theres not really anything he can do grind wise. Just grab a tanaka damascus if you want a carbon laser. Or check out carters. It just doesnt make a lot of sense to request that sort of thing from heiji, rather you should go to maker who is known for making great thin knives.
 
Oke
I'll just send him a mail and say to him and ask if he can make it a little bit thinner but not too thin just what he thinks is the best for the knife.
Thanks for all the info
 
menno said:
Oke
I'll just send him a mail and say to him and ask if he can make it a little bit thinner but not too thin just what he thinks is the best for the knife.
Thanks for all the info
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Ive asked him about that before. He will make a thinner knife for you. If you end up purchasing a knife please share pictures of it with us.
 
I got Heiji Santoku in SS from him directly and find it to be on a thick spectrum. Pretty much impossible to cut onions with ease for example. In addition I am not to fond of the steel, does not seem to hold edge to well. Latter could be as well my sharpening mistakes.
 
If you are in the US probably should opt for Jon's offering. I doubt you'd save much from buying direct with saya, shipping, and
payment fee being added on top.

If you are out side the US like me, that's quite a different story. I have bought three directly, and been very pleased with them.
 
labor of love said:
Dont ask him that.
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Why? He was perfectly happy to make me a 270mm that was 2mm at the shinogi, when I inquired last month, I just ran out of money due to some unexpected expenses and ended up not being able to. I think it would have cut great. Admittedly, it would have been thicker than 2mm at the spine.
 
schanop said:
If you are in the US probably should opt for Jon's offering. I doubt you'd save much from buying direct with saya, shipping, and
payment fee being added on top.

If you are out side the US like me, that's quite a different story. I have bought three directly, and been very pleased with them.
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im not sure what the price differences are with all the knives, but a 240mm semi stainless gyuto heiji w/ burnt chestnut handle he quoted me approx. $257 USD including shipping to the US. $500 for the gesshin 240mm. so there is some savings. that quote did not include a saya, im not sure what that would go for
 
Make sure take into account the cost of adding a saya, upgraded burnt chestnut octagon handle, shipping, etc.
 
Forgive my yen vs USD ignorance, master. A year or two ago when I first looked at my options, it wasn't that much of a difference
from US perspective. I do recall EdipisReks saying something along the same line not so long ago though.
 
EdipisReks said:
Why? He was perfectly happy to make me a 270mm that was 2mm at the shinogi, when I inquired last month, I just ran out of money due to some unexpected expenses and ended up not being able to. I think it would have cut great. Admittedly, it would have been thicker than 2mm at the spine.
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He wants to ask heiji to make a knife with a 2mm spine though. Edipis, you talk about how much you love the shoulders on your heijis all the time, right? Am i missing something here? It just seems to me all the great stuff heiji is known for would be lost with a blade that has a spine thats only 2mm thick. Please correct me if im wrong.
 
schanop said:
Forgive my yen vs USD ignorance, master. A year or two ago when I first looked at my options, it wasn't that much of a difference
from US perspective. I do recall EdipisReks saying something along the same line not so long ago though.
Click to expand...

Heiji quoted me a couple weeks ago... not sure if his prices have come down or not? but here where his exact numbers in YEN:

Gyuto semi-stainless 240mmis 23100JPY
Shipping fee to USA is 1860JPY.
Paypal fee is 1270JPY.
total is 26230JPY.

also to be factored in is the 4 month wait Heiji estimates on the knife, although JKI doesnt have any in stock and wasnt sure on restock when i asked.
 
The totalprice of the 240 mm gyuto pro with burnt chestnut handle + shipping + saya was €320
 
I forgot to mention it's the iwasaki special sweden carbon steel.
 
Let's say if saya were about 4800 yen, payment fee, 5% payment fee, and USD vs yen at 75-80 yen, then we were looking at around 400USD.
 
I have ordered direct from Heiji and owned a Gesshin Heiji, the knife I bought direct wasn't mounted straight in the handle, had a slightly overground heel, and the polish was on the "rough" side, the gesshin had none of those issues, + the spine and choil were eased. performance was identical.
 
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