If any of you wonder how do I find the time to post 3 review in one day - well - I have been working on these for some time and today my sprained ankle gave me one day to finish them 
Anyhow - another short review - this time I decided to have a look at the small side of my kitchen knives - Kato 80mm kasumi petty and Yoshikane Kasumi 80mm petty. I got both from Maksim, but had the Yoshi for about a year while I got the Kato rather recently.
Owning the little Yoshikane I not only found to be useful for certain tasks, it also is an excellent blade - very (and I mean very) easy to sharpen, the edge holding is excellent (plus knife this small does not see that much use). So you may ask why on earth did I also buy the Kato. Well - simple. After having 240mm workhorse on loan I realised that as great and special that knife is - it is not for me and the little petty looked like it a nice way to have one on my knife rack.
Top - Yoshi, Bottom - Kato (for the new members )
Accidentally - both knives have burned chestnut handle - the Yoshi octagonal and the Kato D shaped. So at the same time I could compare how different hande shapes on similar knives feel in hands (both are really nice, btw).
But onto the knives. The blade have nearly identical length and height. The Yoshi has a little more belly towards the tip what actually is an advantage when you use it on cutting board, since with blade this short you alway hold the knife under certain angle with the tip pointing towards the board and that little belly makes it easy not to 'stab' the cutting board accidentally. Both blade are also quite stiff - the Yoshi to my surprise actually feels stiffer towards the tip. The youth is ever slightly thinned behind the edge, but both are really thin.
Distal taper - Top - Yoshi, Bottom - Kato
Left - Yoshi, Right - Kato
When taking these guys to stones - I start on Gesshin 2000 (anything coarser would be total overkill for edges this fine). The Yoshi can raise burr on both sides in about a minute - the Kato not much longer. On Gesshin 6000 the Yoshi was still quite fast, but the Kato took longer. Both got screaming sharp. And since just finished making my 'composite Hakka' (2 small Hakka stones glued together - I'll post more about that one later) and gave them a try and the final edge was out of this world. Shaved like a razor, but surprisingly did not want to bite to tomatoes as nicely as after 6000 stone - maybe too smooth for that I guess, or my skills with natural stones need improvement (they really do, actually - I am a complete beginner in that regard)
And the little Kato next to 240 Dragon Workhorse
Summary:
In actually use there really isn't the difference between them + Yoshi has the advantage of being semi-stainless core with stainless cladding. So it should be a clear winner, right? Well - it did feel like that, but now the kato started to gain some lovely patina and I am not quite so sure which one to keep
I know many ask the question whether a blade this small is of any use - I find that it is - in particular when you need to do some precise tip work, or where a long blade could get in the way. It is not going to be your most used knife, but I find it really nice to have.
Anyhow - another short review - this time I decided to have a look at the small side of my kitchen knives - Kato 80mm kasumi petty and Yoshikane Kasumi 80mm petty. I got both from Maksim, but had the Yoshi for about a year while I got the Kato rather recently.
Owning the little Yoshikane I not only found to be useful for certain tasks, it also is an excellent blade - very (and I mean very) easy to sharpen, the edge holding is excellent (plus knife this small does not see that much use). So you may ask why on earth did I also buy the Kato. Well - simple. After having 240mm workhorse on loan I realised that as great and special that knife is - it is not for me and the little petty looked like it a nice way to have one on my knife rack.
Top - Yoshi, Bottom - Kato (for the new members
)
Accidentally - both knives have burned chestnut handle - the Yoshi octagonal and the Kato D shaped. So at the same time I could compare how different hande shapes on similar knives feel in hands (both are really nice, btw).
But onto the knives. The blade have nearly identical length and height. The Yoshi has a little more belly towards the tip what actually is an advantage when you use it on cutting board, since with blade this short you alway hold the knife under certain angle with the tip pointing towards the board and that little belly makes it easy not to 'stab' the cutting board accidentally. Both blade are also quite stiff - the Yoshi to my surprise actually feels stiffer towards the tip. The youth is ever slightly thinned behind the edge, but both are really thin.
Distal taper - Top - Yoshi, Bottom - Kato
Left - Yoshi, Right - Kato
When taking these guys to stones - I start on Gesshin 2000 (anything coarser would be total overkill for edges this fine). The Yoshi can raise burr on both sides in about a minute - the Kato not much longer. On Gesshin 6000 the Yoshi was still quite fast, but the Kato took longer. Both got screaming sharp. And since just finished making my 'composite Hakka' (2 small Hakka stones glued together - I'll post more about that one later) and gave them a try and the final edge was out of this world. Shaved like a razor, but surprisingly did not want to bite to tomatoes as nicely as after 6000 stone - maybe too smooth for that I guess, or my skills with natural stones need improvement (they really do, actually - I am a complete beginner in that regard)
And the little Kato next to 240 Dragon Workhorse
Summary:
In actually use there really isn't the difference between them + Yoshi has the advantage of being semi-stainless core with stainless cladding. So it should be a clear winner, right? Well - it did feel like that, but now the kato started to gain some lovely patina and I am not quite so sure which one to keep
I know many ask the question whether a blade this small is of any use - I find that it is - in particular when you need to do some precise tip work, or where a long blade could get in the way. It is not going to be your most used knife, but I find it really nice to have.
