Shimatani Yanagiba

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KarelBortlik

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Hello,

I am ordering a Yanagi Deba Shimatani from Metalmaster and I would like to ask if anyone has a knife from Shimatani experience.

I apologize in advance for the bad English translation does Google. : O

Thank you!
 
Hi there! Welcome!

I used to have a Shimatani yanagiba. It was my second one ever, and my first one at "proper" length ... my very first one was 210mm :)

I enjoyed using it. I did not have the experience at the time to tell if there were any issues with the quality of the knife, but I did enjoy using it. However, I was so inexperienced with yanagiba at the time that I ruined it when I was sharpening it. The way I did that it could have been any yanagiba and I'd have ruined it - so what happened there was not specific to the fact that it was a Shimatani.

I think you'll enjoy your knife/knives from Shimatani :)
 
Thank you for your feedback!

It was between Tanaka vs Shimatani, but in the end I chose Shimatani also due to favorable price and because I like the handle of Rosewood more. At home I have knives from Morikatas with these handles.


Hi there! Welcome!

I used to have a Shimatani yanagiba. It was my second one ever, and my first one at "proper" length ... my very first one was 210mm :)

I enjoyed using it. I did not have the experience at the time to tell if there were any issues with the quality of the knife, but I did enjoy using it. However, I was so inexperienced with yanagiba at the time that I ruined it when I was sharpening it. The way I did that it could have been any yanagiba and I'd have ruined it - so what happened there was not specific to the fact that it was a Shimatani.

I think you'll enjoy your knife/knives from Shimatani :)
 
I also heard that Tanaka knives are not forge-welded, while Shimatani is.
 
I have a shimatani blue 2 165mm nakiri, this sharpens pretty damn well and is a very thin blade. The handle is rosewood and the ferurle is actually another type of wood, which started splitting early on but hasn't affected the usage of the knife. I don't use it that much anymore as I prefer length for most jobs. The steel is great though, it was around $90 a few years ago from metalmaster.

The second one I got from another ebay dealer, a white 2 kurouchi 180mm deba. Has a plastic ferrule but man does this thing sharpen easily. I have a masamoto ks 240 gyuto which is also white 2, that doesn't sharpen as well as this one. Great forged steel I must say.

Overall, cheap handles, fit and finish issues but the two steels have def punched above it's price point. Sharpens super easily.
 
I own a Shimatani yangiba in Aogami Super with rosewood octagonal handle. The knife is straight, the blade road is flat, and I have no issues with fit and finish. I consider the knife a great value and recommend it.

Be aware that your knife will come with a protective lacquer on the blade. If you are using this knife only for slicing fish I suppose the lacquer could stay on until the first sharpening. If you use the knife for slicing proteins with a crust, such as a rib roast, the crust will penetrate the lacquer and water will get under it, causing patina and/or rust. You will then have to remove the lacquer anyway.

Probably the best first step is to remove the lacquer using acetone. Then highly polish the flat of the blade above the shinogi to reduce reactivity. You may wish to also polish the urasuki, but I'm not sure if that would create sticking problems. There are smarter people than me out there who can help you with that.

Cheers,

Rick
 
Thank you very much for your advice and response. It calmed me enough. Above Aogami super Yanagi I also thought, but this steel I have, and I wanted to try the classic Aogami.

So perhaps the knife in the right, I wanted to send pictures of knives that would send from Takeshi (Metalmaster), but did not send me anything ... :)

Yet little next question, does anyone know how to remove the blade from Kurouchi?

Thank you for your response.

Karel
 
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