Hiromoto AS (and others) knife info

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DwarvenChef

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I've been using these knives for years and most of you know. However I have not been following the new trends for a while and was currious if anything new has been going on at Hiromoto :p

On the other forums I have posted long and hard about my experiences with these knives and still enjoy using them. I just don't know how much of the "new" crowd of users and blades stack up with this one time Hot Issue knife. With Dave doing such interesting work with them I would hope they are still a popular knife.

I'm still attracted to the way they do the cladding with a rough edge, sure it's not as crazy as they once where, but they still look fantastic :)

I'd love to see and hear what has been going on the past couple years with the users here and their knives :)
 
I've been using a Hiro AS as my main knife since it came to me which is about 5 months or so.. Can't compare it to anything else except Vics and Henckels and you know where that goes.
Gonna have a Ginga 210 soon and then the hiro will become a prep knife and the Ginga a line knife. Will post about the differences that I feel are present in both.
 
Sold the HC to Dave in a weak moment, but I still love my 240AS - the one that Fish rehandled for me in Nenox style. I also have a 270 with a koa handle that Adam made for me. It's great, but I have to admit that in 270 I reach more often for the Watanabe gyuto. I think I have another 270 somewhere that I wanted to use for my first Western rehandling, but I still haven't attacked that, yet. Oh, and I have a petty that competes - and often looses - against a small Carter funayuki, but that's nothing to be ashamed of.

Stefan
 
I adore my 240 AS, but don't have much to compare it to. Couldn't tell you how it stacks up against any of the currently popular knives, such as the DT ITK or the Konosuke knives. I think Oivind has all of these as well as a Shigefusa and did a comparison test awhile back.
 
http://*****************.com/2011/01/great-gyuto-shoot-out.html

The Hiromoto AS is a great knife. I bought it because DC was so found of it. I actually bought one that I sold to my father-in-law, and ended up buying on of daves rehandles as well.

Its a great knife, however there are better knives out there, but it gives bang for the bucks. To bad the soft cladding is to easy to make marks, but then again its a damn workhorse. Looking like its been through lots of wars and still looks good and able to go through more wars :)

But if you want something better there are knives out there, but they are expensive. Still a Hiro rehandle by dave is a great bargain.
 
I was gifted my first Hiromoto HC, I still think it was Fish that sent it to me :p That was my first Japanese kitchen knife and I was hooked. Getting on the old forums got me connected to local members and we had a great time swaping knives around to get a feel for so many different kinds of knives. Meeting Larren and playing with DT's kitchen knives was something I'll never forget, would love to get to another one of Dave's gathering someday lol.

With all that exposure I still ended up sticking with the Hiromoto in a production knife, they just work for me lol. Unfortunatly I look to custom makers now for anything new. As far as production knives I have not found one that I like in more ways then the Hiromoto's. Handle fit, blade feel, edge retention, the works, this may be because of my first knife fit me so well purely by accident.

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I need to get new pics :p
 
DC: Thanks for making my first japanese gyuto a Hiromoto :) And thanks for being on the forum :)
 
DC, you are the reason why I purchased my Hiromoto AS wa-gyuto years ago. The fit/finish on that handle was actually amazing compared to many 'higher-end' knives I've experienced since then (can't say anything about the western handles). After some thinning, performance vastly improved and edge retention was still really good.

However, I naturally gravitated to thinner, mono-steel knives long ago, and I got rid of the Hiro when simplifying my kit.

Although I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Hiromoto to someone who wanted to try carbon in a small dose, I personally think the JCK Carbonext wins the best-buy trophy nowadays, as I think it beats the Hiro (among many others) in most categories.
 
Although I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Hiromoto to someone who wanted to try carbon in a small dose, I personally think the JCK Carbonext wins the best-buy trophy nowadays, as I think it beats the Hiro (among many others) in most categories.

I have not see or used one yet so I can't make a choice there yet :p But thats another reason I wanted to get a post like this running. What's up and comming in knives today and what are the comparisons that we all can understand. Sure I'm biased tward the H AS knives and tend to compare all the knives I play with to them. And I hope I'm not the only one that tends to do that lol.

One thing I have noticed personally has been that I don't even look at western handled knives much anymore. That may be a reason I have not looked any farther than the Hiromoto lines in production knives. They do everything I want them to do and I'm happy with that.

That brings up another issue, how a particular knive fits and feels in ones hand is purely a personal thing. And that influences the indavidual alot on what knife they settle on... So keep that in mind when looking for new knives to play with (heck play with them all :) )...
 
I wish they still had that cool droplet look to them. I had one of the old style ones and regret selling it. It was kick ass indeed.
 
Nice one :) It was a very early one I first saw that hooked me bad, a 300 suji that was incredably figured. Of all the knives Ken brought over that first night that suji was the most magical to me. I could not get it out of my mind and ended up with the full line of knives within a couple years lol. Today I only have the 3 left, 300 suji, 270 wa suji and 300 wa gyuto. But I will probably get a 240 old style if I ever get the chance lol
 
Right at the bolster. I like the hiromoto AS, but I'd prefer a more blade heavy balance point. I'm Going to try to rehandle mine with a lighter wood.
 
Right at the bolster. I like the hiromoto AS, but I'd prefer a more blade heavy balance point. I'm Going to try to rehandle mine with a lighter wood.

Weak. I like 'em front heavy.

If you've got a drill press and good bits, you can take the time and cheese-hole the handle to drop weight. :2cents:
 
That's probably what I'll end up doing. Now off to find some carbide tipped bits.
 
Blade heavy my be why I prefer traditional handles over western. Malso be why I liked long bladed western knives over the shorter blades due to balance. But each knife does have a place SOMEWHERE lol.
 
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