Looking for inox or semi-stainless sujihiki

LOCATION
What country are you in?
Canada


KNIFE TYPE
What type of knife are you interested in (e.g., chef’s knife, slicer, boning knife, utility knife, bread knife, paring knife, cleaver)?
Sujihiki

Are you right or left handed?
right

Are you interested in a Western handle (e.g., classic Wusthof handle) or Japanese handle?
Wa handle please! Do not care about shape, will most likely go for a HC handle when I have the funds and he has the time.

What length of knife (blade) are you interested in (in inches or millimeters)?
270mm preferably, I don't find I have to saw at that length with what I'm doing AND I try to keep my kit as small (dimensionally) as is possible without sacrificing functionality

Do you require a stainless knife? (Yes or no)
Yes, inox or semi stainless at the most please.

What is your absolute maximum budget for your knife?
300USD, willing to go a bit higher to meet my requirements as I have a few special comments that are going to rule out just about every wa sujihiki I can find online with the exception of one Yoshikane vg-10 (not totally enthused about the steel but not totally against it) on aframes which looks to be more of a gyutohiki (very tall suji)

KNIFE USE
Do you primarily intend to use this knife at home or a professional environment?
Professional kitchen

What are the main tasks you primarily intend to use the knife for (e.g., slicing vegetables, chopping vegetables, mincing vegetables, slicing meats, cutting down poultry, breaking poultry bones, filleting fish, trimming meats, etc.)? (Please identify as many tasks as you would like.)
Filleting, portioning proteins

What knife, if any, are you replacing?
Currently have a Yoshihiro 1141 aus-8 sujihiki.

Do you have a particular grip that you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for the common types of grips.)
Pinch, hammer

What cutting motions do you primarily use? (Please click on this LINK for types of cutting motions and identify the two or three most common cutting motions, in order of most used to least used.)
... slicing motion ala Zorro!

What improvements do you want from your current knife? If you are not replacing a knife, please identify as many characteristics identified below in parentheses that you would like this knife to have.)
Yoshihiro 1141 aus-8 sujihiki: These dont seem to be available anywhere (even through Yoshihiro in California where I bought the thing) except importing from Japan via eBay (and the auctions are marked private). What I don't like about this knife: edge retention (aus-8 is just ok), the grind is pretty boring but nice and thin at the edge (are sujis supposed to be ground fairly flat on both sides? ie no convexing) but wht I hate most about this knife is it flexes like nobody's business trying to skin pretty much any fish.

What I want from this new knife: Thicker spine (2.5mm+ would be wonderful), less flex. Better edge retention. Maybe a taller blade might be nice, but height's not a make or break.

Better aesthetics (e.g., a certain type of finish; layered/Damascus or other pattern of steel; different handle color/pattern/shape/wood; better scratch resistance; better stain resistance)?
Could care less. I tend to prefer more understated knives.

Comfort (e.g., lighter/heavier knife; better handle material; better handle shape; rounded spine/choil of the knife; improved balance)?
I don't think I'm going to be picky in this regard. I can buy sandpaper and fix the spine and choil. I don't think my requirements will yield very many suitable knives and so the decision won't come down to such minutiae.

Ease of Use (e.g., ability to use the knife right out of the box; smoother rock chopping, push cutting, or slicing motion; less wedging; better food release; less reactivity with food; easier to sharpen)?
Don't care about ootb characteristics, again, my options are going to be limited and I can probably fix most finish issues myself with a little elbow grease. Also keep in mind, the knife will get rehandled sooner rather than later so a crap handle isn't anything to worry about.

Edge Retention (i.e., length of time you want the edge to last without sharpening)?
Would prefer better than average.

KNIFE MAINTENANCE
Do you use a bamboo, wood, rubber, or synthetic cutting board? (Yes or no.)
synthetic, not by choice. We use black (rubber?) cutting boards to do fab on, but I believe I have read that hi-soft and rubber are really more suited to carbon than stainless (anyone care to weigh in?)

Do you sharpen your own knives? (Yes or no.)
All the time.

SPECIAL REQUESTS/COMMENTS

• Thicker spine (2.5mm+)
• Little to no flex
• Wa handle
• Stainless only
• 270mm
• does not like gaudy knives

Thanks folks, hoping some of you will have some suggestions for me as I think I'm kinda SOL here without compromising on the spine thickness. :knife:

Also to any of you who would send me a private message trying to sell a knife to me please note that, as ever, this is a future purchase for me to start thinking about. I've not got 400 dollars CAD burning a hole in my pocket at the moment.

Thanks for your time!

If the Yoshikane SLD sujihikis are ground like my V2, you should have no flexing problem with these.
I've only seen the semi-stainless ones in hammer finish or kurouchi damascus, but perhaps they can be found in kasumi as well.
My kasumi V2 has a strong convex grind and no flex.

I'm not sure where they can be found in stock at the moment, though.

I guess I should point out that the hammer finish would be fine and the kurouchi (as long as it's not reactive). I thought the yoshikane SLD/SKD was another option once it's back in stock but I can't seem to find any darned measurements for the spine on these knives. As you can see my options are fairly limited so I won't rule out any damascus knives I'd just prefer something that doesn't scream "steal me I'm expensive" because I'd like to work abroad soon, or might be going to school.