I got a PM asking about the Kurosaki Megumi Nakiri and the Toyama Noborikoi 210 Nakiri. When I had finished writing my response, I realized this could as well be posted in the review section, so here you go: two short reviews.
About me
Home cook. Prefer pull cuts. Have purchased a lot of knives the last two years and feel I never get enough time with each and one of them. This means that when I write a review, it's a lot of first impressions and a bit shallow.
Kurosaki Megumi Nakiri 165
Edge length: Approx 155 mm
Blade height at the heel: 58 mm
Weight: 170 grams
When I for the first time picked up the Megumi nakiri, I thought: this feels heavy. Well, it's very blade heavy anyway, since this is a rather tall nakiri. This felt a bit unusal in the beginning for such a short blade length, but I quickly adjusted to it. Of course, this gives it a bit more power when going through veggies.
The grind feels kind of low and it makes the knife a bit wedgy when cutting carrots. For example, my Wakui nakiri is exceptional with carrots and much better at this than the Megumi. On the other hand, the Megumi has much better food release. It's real fun to use with potatoes, no problems with wedging there.
The OOTB sharpness was ok, but it really benefits from a "real" sharpening. I have three knives from Kurosaki's own brand and they are all like this. Sharpening the VG10 steel was not any problem, I could get it very sharp, but maybe not as super screaming sharp as my carbon steels. Not as nice to sharpen as carbon steel, but not at all unpleasant. Also, when sharpening it on the stones I pretty much used my "muscle memory angle" and it resulted in a rather large primary edge bevel, which confirms that the blade is not super thin behind the edge.
Bear in mind, this is no wedge monster. As I said, it wedges slightly with carrots, but it manages to do the job. No problems with potatoes. I have other real wedge monster knives that are practically useless with carrots and not that fun to use around potatoes either. This is not the case with the Megumi.
Strengths: Tall & blade heavy (if you like this). Good food release and grind. Real pretty and great f&f. Nice cherry wood handle. Seems like a good VG10 heat treat as well.
Weaknesses: Not super thin behind the edge and can wedge a bit in carrots.
Toyama Noborikoi Nakiri 210
Edge length: Approx 200 mm
Blade height at the heel: 64 mm
Weight: 271 grams
This is a very special kind of beast. As with the Megumi, it felt really heavy in the beginning, this knife even more so. Well, that's because it really is heavy, but also blade heavy. The rectangular shape and not much distal taper along the spine ends up with a large amount of steel.
With such a tall and heavy blade, it feels really powerful when chopping through stuff. It has a very nice, thin edge, so there's no wedging. Being so tall along with a nice convex grind, it simply destroys the stuff I usually use my kitchen knives for. I haven't really cut something very, very big with it yet, but it's great to use when chopping big piles of stuff.
The thin edge seems to hold up nicely, despite all the weight put upon it on the board. I have three Toyama Noborikoi knives and they have all come with very good edges OOTB. Maybe some small amount of microchipping, so I've touched them up on high grit stone to get rid of that.
I have no chinese cleaver (chuka-bocho), but I don't think this is like a small cleaver. It's too heavy for that. It's more like a scaled up, heavy nakiri. Still, it's well balanced. When doing lateral cuts on onions, I just have to move the pinch grips a bit forward the blade to make it feel less heavy. But I wouldn't call this blade very nimble for obvious reasons.
The d-shaped ho-wood handle is rather big and reminds me of Shigefusa handles. Very nice handle if you like the type. Fit & finish is very good, but not as good as the Megumi. The choil could use some slight rounding off.
One important note is that the blade is rather reactive with its iron cladding. We're talking Shigefusa-grade reactiveness here. I like patina so I don't mind.
Strengths: Tall, long & blade heavy (if you like this). Great, tall convex grind with an almost zero-like edge. Nice f&f.
Weaknesses: Rather reactive iron cladding.
Photos
Here are some photos, both old & new.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxEKq9uJ-aX7UUkzcFBOMEVPdmM&usp=sharing
First, I took a profile shot and also included a more "normal" Shiro Kamo Nakiri for reference. I also took a picture of my own sharpened Megumi edge. As you can see, it got quite big. The Toyama Noborikoi has a more invisible "hairline" primary edge. Sorry for the crappy pic of that.
About me
Home cook. Prefer pull cuts. Have purchased a lot of knives the last two years and feel I never get enough time with each and one of them. This means that when I write a review, it's a lot of first impressions and a bit shallow.
Kurosaki Megumi Nakiri 165
Edge length: Approx 155 mm
Blade height at the heel: 58 mm
Weight: 170 grams
When I for the first time picked up the Megumi nakiri, I thought: this feels heavy. Well, it's very blade heavy anyway, since this is a rather tall nakiri. This felt a bit unusal in the beginning for such a short blade length, but I quickly adjusted to it. Of course, this gives it a bit more power when going through veggies.
The grind feels kind of low and it makes the knife a bit wedgy when cutting carrots. For example, my Wakui nakiri is exceptional with carrots and much better at this than the Megumi. On the other hand, the Megumi has much better food release. It's real fun to use with potatoes, no problems with wedging there.
The OOTB sharpness was ok, but it really benefits from a "real" sharpening. I have three knives from Kurosaki's own brand and they are all like this. Sharpening the VG10 steel was not any problem, I could get it very sharp, but maybe not as super screaming sharp as my carbon steels. Not as nice to sharpen as carbon steel, but not at all unpleasant. Also, when sharpening it on the stones I pretty much used my "muscle memory angle" and it resulted in a rather large primary edge bevel, which confirms that the blade is not super thin behind the edge.
Bear in mind, this is no wedge monster. As I said, it wedges slightly with carrots, but it manages to do the job. No problems with potatoes. I have other real wedge monster knives that are practically useless with carrots and not that fun to use around potatoes either. This is not the case with the Megumi.
Strengths: Tall & blade heavy (if you like this). Good food release and grind. Real pretty and great f&f. Nice cherry wood handle. Seems like a good VG10 heat treat as well.
Weaknesses: Not super thin behind the edge and can wedge a bit in carrots.
Toyama Noborikoi Nakiri 210
Edge length: Approx 200 mm
Blade height at the heel: 64 mm
Weight: 271 grams
This is a very special kind of beast. As with the Megumi, it felt really heavy in the beginning, this knife even more so. Well, that's because it really is heavy, but also blade heavy. The rectangular shape and not much distal taper along the spine ends up with a large amount of steel.
With such a tall and heavy blade, it feels really powerful when chopping through stuff. It has a very nice, thin edge, so there's no wedging. Being so tall along with a nice convex grind, it simply destroys the stuff I usually use my kitchen knives for. I haven't really cut something very, very big with it yet, but it's great to use when chopping big piles of stuff.
The thin edge seems to hold up nicely, despite all the weight put upon it on the board. I have three Toyama Noborikoi knives and they have all come with very good edges OOTB. Maybe some small amount of microchipping, so I've touched them up on high grit stone to get rid of that.
I have no chinese cleaver (chuka-bocho), but I don't think this is like a small cleaver. It's too heavy for that. It's more like a scaled up, heavy nakiri. Still, it's well balanced. When doing lateral cuts on onions, I just have to move the pinch grips a bit forward the blade to make it feel less heavy. But I wouldn't call this blade very nimble for obvious reasons.
The d-shaped ho-wood handle is rather big and reminds me of Shigefusa handles. Very nice handle if you like the type. Fit & finish is very good, but not as good as the Megumi. The choil could use some slight rounding off.
One important note is that the blade is rather reactive with its iron cladding. We're talking Shigefusa-grade reactiveness here. I like patina so I don't mind.
Strengths: Tall, long & blade heavy (if you like this). Great, tall convex grind with an almost zero-like edge. Nice f&f.
Weaknesses: Rather reactive iron cladding.
Photos
Here are some photos, both old & new.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BxEKq9uJ-aX7UUkzcFBOMEVPdmM&usp=sharing
First, I took a profile shot and also included a more "normal" Shiro Kamo Nakiri for reference. I also took a picture of my own sharpened Megumi edge. As you can see, it got quite big. The Toyama Noborikoi has a more invisible "hairline" primary edge. Sorry for the crappy pic of that.
