Ashi Ginga vs Takayuki Grand Chef

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jbou2

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Hi everybody,
Those two knives are calling on me (in 240 mm).
They are simple (not bling damascus or hammered steel) and seem to have good geometry.

I think Takayuki is AEB L steel soft hardened at 58 (BDL says it is a bit soft).
Ginga is Swedish steel (13c27?), not too bad.

Both are great knives but do you have any preference and why?

Thanks
 
I could add Yoshihiro ice hardened Molybdenum (HRC 60?) which seems to be very similar to above mentioned knives, maybe cheaper.
 
Hello,

I'd definately prefer the Ashi Ginga. Has IMHO a slightly better geometry, F&F is also better.

Can't really compare edge retention and so on (since I don't own the knives, just tested a few Ashis and one Grand Chef Wa) but both is at least decent with the Ashi.

Are you talking about Wa- or Yo-handle? Yo-handled Grand Chef has (as far as I know) a thicker geometry than the Wa one.

Kono can also be compared.

Regards, Iggy
 
Hi !

Go for Ashi! Geometry is top in class for lasers (i got 5 Ashis).. better than normal range Konosukes and cheaper.
Molybdenum cant compare to those.
Choose the 59Hrc ones.. there is no difference between the 59 and 61 Hrc Version (the harder ones are less robust but no one could tell a difference in sharpness if you compare them)

Sad thing is that you cant order from Ashi directly any more..
 
from what i heard is Ashi the way to go, its also on top of my list but can´t find a good deal since you can´t order directly
 
OK thanks for tout answers, so Ashi is by far n°1!
I think I will go for a Ashi ginga !
 
hiho!

Sakai Yusuke is no ashi rebrand.. Ashi makes only their knifes (i had lot of mails with my friend mitsuaki takada from ashi and they are just a small company)
But actually its saeki and everyone works together and knows each other.

The swiss source has very good prices if you order in the EU .. other source is BLueway japan on the bay .. they got a lot of Ashis lately.
Gave my Ashis some touchup today on a Ohira.. they are awesome


ohh well soo i made a lil ashi video with also a dalman and a kotetsu bunka:
[video=youtube;EyWlkQs3E0U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyWlkQs3E0U[/video]



and if you can stand german gibberish than a dalman and ashi comparison by my friend kup
[video=youtube;Aoth6wofJRs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoth6wofJRs[/video]


and some pictures (the one on the left is a shiro kamo kenyo)
http://imgur.com/a/hQ8sT
 
Is Kohetsu HAP40 better than Ashi?
HAP40 seems to be a very hard steel, so maybe not so easy to sharpen compared to ashi's swedish steel.
 
Hiho!

Well i am not native speaking english , so its not so easy to talk as fast as usual (well its much faster normally muahaah, gatling speed)

@jbou2
also an option is the akifusa oriental pm with srs-15 steel.. i forgot to show it in the video
well you don't buy an ashi just because of the steel.. they are exceptional good cutters with a very good geometrie..and the stainless ones are fire and forget.. so no special care needed and very easy to use and sharpen steel.

the kohetsu looks interesting by the way !..very interesting!!! ;) since i am from the eu its not so interesting for me ;( .. cleancut is my favorite source, or japanmessershop.de or also got my kotetsus from the Cutting Edge Knives.
Japanese direct imports are uncool because of the yen of doom.. but i would still go for jck and kokis awesome stuff.

well one nice feature about the ashis is that the edge will flip over but never really break or something else.. i had a heart attack moment when i gave my father my 210mm ashi petty in his hands (well he was in gastro for 45years) and he smashed it into the board and turned it to the sides when cutting something.. well the blade was f*ed but only the edge was flipped over and with not much action on a JNS1000 it was good again.

so its not as super hardcore hard as hap40 (well i havent tried it before) but pretty easy to care and sharpening is super fast on them.

haahha@charon! i saw em on the knucklehead video section.. and you always wonder why there's no gore in the videos.
i try to put polka music on my stuff as it fits good to my fast talking (ehhm actually no reason for it it just sounds more badass ;)) )

Well i can do more videos in the future.. got many exotic knifes and can compare them.
and i guess i have to show them of here :spiteful:

seeya , daniel
 
@Krassi,
Thanks for your advice! Im in EU too, so I will check the swiss source for ashi! I already had a look on on japanmessershop.de a few weeks ago but i was not yet decided on the knife model.
Cleancut? cleancut.se?
 
hiho!

jep! the one and only cleancut.se ;)
-they have the akifusa oriental pm, a wide range of wakui, hinoura, yoshikane, the cheapest shiro kamos and other very nice stuff for very good prices .. for EU its without tax , you have to mail em and get a 200 kronen ups link for international shipping.

-japanmessershop.de from mr horie has some very high quality versions of knifes.. i once talked with him more than half an hour and he has very good knowledge of all other european sellers and knifes and especially jnats in general.
some stuff is lets call it older stock and some knifes are very unique that he has.. he also got very good jnats for awesome prices (i got a super unique maruyama from him for a super price and he has more stones for sale then he has listed on his site)

-the swiss source has prices for ashi but remember Switzerland is not EU and you get customs stuff on top!
They also got some pretty unique shiro kamo knifes.

ok since i am from germany i know a lot about the eu knife sellers (there are really not many of them) and i was so crazy that i checked them all in rotation for nearly a year when my knife addiction was at level "i need 2 knifes per month " ;)
with 5 Ashis i was kind of the "Ashi advisor" in german forum and had infos directly from mitsuaki ;) .. (also very cool pictures, because i send him lots of pictures of cologne and he send me nice pictures of saeki .. and after a while i had the nickname "crazy daniel" ;)) )

also one thing about my ashis:
They are super light! my 210mm Gyuto is at 109 gramm and my big 260mm Kiritsuke is at 169 gramm.
Thats insanly light (ok both with ho wood handles)

well with ashi you cant go wrong and it was the favorite laser in germany until they stopped the direct orders and the yen rate dropped so crazy.
the stainless version has really easy maintenance and is very sharp out of the box.
ok i don't know how it compares to hap40 lasers, but if you order from the swiss guys its around 195 euros including shipping, but you must put your customs rate on top .. i also don't know where you are from but for germany it would be a whopping 19% + around 9%

seeya, daniel!
 
Finally I went with 240 Ashi ginga stainless from BWJapan. It should arrive next week!
 
Thanks all of you guys for advice and good European addresses, I keep them in mind.
 
Btw if you're interested in the future to check out the Kohetsu HAP40, you can get it in Europe too from a few places.
I've said this before, but I have one that's bought from somewhere that was a very bad idea with bad customer service and I paid for that bad idea with an expensive knife with lots of issues and no support from the vendor. After I put in a lot of work it's shaping up to be a decent performer. It could be I just got a Monday version, but that doesn't take away the bad customer service experience.

Cleancut has it rebranded as CoSay HAP40. They have it only with western handles and it has a hammered finish but otherwise it's the same knife. I've too used this place a couple of times and everything works like a charm with them.


With these two vendors I have no experience with:

Japanische-kochmesser has it rebranded as Kohsey HAP40 with only wa handles.

japanmessen has it rebranded as CoSay Kohetsu HAP40 with wa and yo handles.
 
Today I received the Ashi ginga and cut a few vegetables. Geometry and balance seems great!
 
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