Konosuke-Sakai Vintage Carbon Steel (Togo Reigo) Current full line up

Just to officially let everyone know about knives that we have had in the works for over 3 years
Konosuke-Sakai Vintage Carbon Steel (Togo Reigo) 240mm- 210mm gyuto, ebony and kurogaki khii octagon handle( over 200 year old quince wood)
240mm Kiritsuke and Mukimono
these are limited in stock as we only have enough steel to make 30 more knives buy the Fujiyama blacksmith and Sharpener
very unique steel and in the words of the Fujiyama sharpener 'sharpness like white#1 and more edge holding ability than blue super"
we also have coming Yanagiba and petty in different sizes.

Amazing! I love the Togo Reigo Kiritsuke I have. I wish I could check the rest of these knives out.

Any link to them? Can't find them in the store

Hi the knives will be op next week

That look great.

lus1: :goodpost: :ubersexy: :bliss: AMAZING looking knives!

Wow, very cool.

I have very little knowledge of Togo Reigo; I'm very curious why kanji on the blade wrote "old Sweden carbon steel" ?? please educat me....

Its a very interesting story i had been looking for Vintage knives for a customer with kosuke from konosuke-Sakai, we were talking with the Fujiyama blacksmith about this when he said he has vintage steel that he could make knives from, This made me ask many questions what steel it was how old it was etc..
it turns out his father bought the steel many years ago but didnt keep records of it, and all he knew was that it closest resembled Togo Reigo when forging sharpening and using the steel this was also confirmed buy the Fujiyama sharpener and testes we did with a sample of the steel in labs
because we dont have papers to certify the steel prices are the same as Augami super and the kanji is meant to represent vintage sweedish iron sands as the steel is from the 1940s

Togo reigo was made by Andrews in Sheffield, UK which was why this piqued my interest. Shame the kanji didn't say old Sheffield steel

yes that would be cool

Do we know when next week these will be up as well as price points?

What's the heel height in these stunning knives?

There is currently a 240 posted (for $820) and another 240 (for $660) has already sold. These look like great knives, but that's out of my range . . . would love to hear from users at some point.

I have been using a Togo Reigo Kiritsuke for about 6 months now, and just got a Yanagiba in the same steel. It is definitely quite unique.

Edge holding is good, very good actually. So far the only thing I have used that is a little better is Takeda's AS. (Konosuke Blue super, blue #1, white#1, White#2, SLD, HD2, honyaki white#2 i found to be inferior for edge holding)

This steel is also relatively unreactive, just like Blue Super. It is absolutely a carbon steel, definitely not semi-stainless, but not like the white steels for oxidizing.

The most interesting thing for me about Togo Reigo is how easily it is to sharpen. When I first touched up my Kiritsuke I was put off. The steel felt soft and seemed to sharpen way too quickly, much like a Global knife. I was really happy with it after using it and finding out that the edge retention did not in fact suck.

I'm not sure how a steel can be both so easy to sharpen and have great edge holding. My guess would be high hardness, good toughness, but low wear resistance. That is just a guess though, I'm not a metallurgist

There have only been a few other knives made in this steel, but if anyone in the forum has any notes on this steel (maybe some woodworkers) please share!

Not exactly on topic, but I have never found Globals to sharpen nearly as readily (easily) as any carbon knife.

Judging from other forums about woodworking tools this is a very nice steel though.

jklip13 said:

I have been using a Togo Reigo Kiritsuke for about 6 months now, and just got a Yanagiba in the same steel. It is definitely quite unique.

Edge holding is good, very good actually. So far the only thing I have used that is a little better is Takeda's AS. (Konosuke Blue super, blue #1, white#1, White#2, SLD, HD2, honyaki white#2 i found to be inferior for edge holding)

This steel is also relatively unreactive, just like Blue Super. It is absolutely a carbon steel, definitely not semi-stainless, but not like the white steels for oxidizing.

The most interesting thing for me about Togo Reigo is how easily it is to sharpen. When I first touched up my Kiritsuke I was put off. The steel felt soft and seemed to sharpen way too quickly, much like a Global knife. I was really happy with it after using it and finding out that the edge retention did not in fact suck.

I'm not sure how a steel can be both so easy to sharpen and have great edge holding. My guess would be high hardness, good toughness, but low wear resistance. That is just a guess though, I'm not a metallurgist

There have only been a few other knives made in this steel, but if anyone in the forum has any notes on this steel (maybe some woodworkers) please share!

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Just pulled the trigger on one of the 240s. Have a couple Kono Honyaki's and a bunch of Kono Fujiyama W#1 gyutos which have a similar character on the stones as you described here. Very excited to check this knife out

Which one did you pull the trigger on? Let me guess, the blonde handle one on the left (also first gyuto after clicking on shop on their site)?
I've been eye balling that and waiting to hear back on the heel height before moving fwd. And I have YET to hear back.
Sigh...

You are correct indeed sir! I probably would've gone the ebony route as I'm not a huge fan of paying for handles unless I'm having one made, but the ebony was OOS (though if the pictures are indicative of the length, perhaps the persimmon handled knife is slightly longer). I'll be interested to see how the blade sharpens vs. the Fujiyama W#1 which is just absurd on the stones.
In terms of height, I;d expect the knife to be pretty close to the other Fujiyamas as Konosuke seems to have pretty tight product control/variance tolerance, so for a 235ish blade, probably ~49-51mm at the heel.

Good score! The Fujiyama blue #1 240 I had was 51mm on the heel. I miss that knife. I wanted that 240. You definitely have to tell me how it performs, in every aspect!

Thanks for saving me from temptation! I don't know how many times I looked at that thing since I saw the original post. Review is definitely in order!

marc4pt0 said:

Good score! The Fujiyama blue #1 240 I had was 51mm on the heel. I miss that knife. I wanted that 240. You definitely have to tell me how it performs, in every aspect!

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Very nice! What parted you from that blade? If I ever see a non-KU 240mm B1 I'd be all over it.
I'll be sure to post a detailed first look and follow up impressions of the knife over here without a doubt. I'll do my best to place the knife in the context of my other Fujiyamas.

I was in sell mode. Now I call it regret mode. It didn't go too far though. Someone dear to me has it, and it's making beautiful food. I might have to pay him and the knife a visit soon.
I'm kind of mad that the website doesn't show the knife sold yet. Makes me think there's still a chance... Very taunting

While I haven't received the knife yet and can't update there, I did want to say what a pleasure the purchasing experience was with Tosho. Both Olivia and Ivan were great. Ivan is a wealth of information and Olivia was fantastic trouble shooting some fulfillment issues. Look forward to future purchases.

The knife arrived this evening. Wow... What a phenomenally executed piece of craftsmanship. There are a number of things worth noting about this knife (aside from the handle) that step up the level of F&F on this blade, even vs. other Konosuke Fujiyamas. Here's what I wrote elsewhere along with some pics:

















So, the accompanying Kono saya was an unexpected surprise. Very nice touch as was the note included in the Kono box. The handle, while octagonal, and thus not my preferred shape, is still a thing of simplistic beauty that is both rustic and refined at once. Very, very well done and complementary to the blade. The install was done with machi, though very minimal. The Shinogi line on the knife is not just for aesthetics as there is a slight shoulder and it does denote final grind. Indeed, as with every Fujiyama I own, there is asymmetry to the grind, though it doesn't appear to be as pronounced on this knife as it does on say, my Damascus 240. What is cool however is that, given the difference in finish is not purely aesthetic, one can see the asymmetry based on the height difference of the grind on each side. Very well executed. As to be expected, the knife is very, very thin behind the edge. The balance point is actually slightly more forward than most of my other Fujiyamas, residing right behind the "S" on the left face (which I assume stands for Swedish), just on pinch grip. The F&F is utterly spectacular. The finish of the spine is a bit different than what I am used to but no less impressive. Instead of the full rounding I have come to expect, it is actually done like half of a hexagon. Like most Fujiyamas, the edge is not screaming sharp and could use a tune. The edge bevel is zero ground on the left face and has a very small bevel on the right.
Now for some stats: Longer than usual at 236mm
50mm height above the heel
3mm width above the heel

The edge profile actually has a longer flat than I expected which I tried to illustrate above. Probably about 40% of the back half is flat transitioning into a pretty decent belly towards the tip which provides impressive clearance for those who like rocking.

That's all for now

And there it is. Beautiful score!

Looks like they are all sold out on the website. Would of been a fun knife to try but out of my price range too.

Here are my thoughts post-sharpening:
So, I sharpened up the Togo Reigo this evening, and it certainly lived up to the Fujiyama sharpener's assessment. It's not quite as buttery on the stones as W1, but better than my Honyaki B2 or W2, and maybe slightly behind an HD2. I put a 16 deg. per edge bevel on the knife, starting with a Shapton Pro 1.5K (should tell you something when a new edge angle can be applied with a 1.5K stone in about 10 mins on the EP) and progressed to a Meara which I also used to strop. The edge quality is outstanding and on par with the W1. Pretty damn crazy for a steel that is taken to 65-66 HRC...
Don't have a ton of produce on hand, but put it through a couple Anaheim peppers, apples and scallions. Stunning performer. The grind is thicker than my other Fujiyamas, but I did not notice that one bit. Falls through with almost no effort. This is yet again and example of a knife you fall in love with as soon as you pick it up, then just blows you away on the stones and on the board from the Fujiyama smith and sharpener. Feel very lucky to have scored this knife.

Seriously, hats off to the folks at Tosho and Konosuke for making this knife a reality. Great offering.

Frickin gorgeous knife!!! GREAT SCORE. Keep us posted on the experience.

Love that handle! Wish they would answer my emails. Did you call or email them Chip?