So it came in the mail! My first gyuto and its a beaut. Koki did a nice job making sure I got one with a nicely rounded spine and choil. Its not perfect like on my buddy's Konosuke but it the nicest finish I've bought on a spine or choil. As you can see it has the large cosmetic secondary bevel. It is interesting because the hamon line bleeds into this cosmetic finish and disappears underneath the cladding. It is certainly cosmetic but it also begins exactly where the knife begins to taper down to its incredibly thin edge. It looks like the grind was convexed from the shop. When I received it there wasn't really much of an edge on the knife. It was super thin and would cut but I wouldn't call it sharp. Here's where I got giddy.
So I am bad with uploading photos. I will just give you the link to my public mobileme gallery. You can check it out there.
http://gallery.me.com/sllathan#100086
I decided to take the knife to the stones and put a new edge on it. This steel is TOUGH! I mean really tough. I am used to Aogami Super that sharpens up super easily. I can create a burr on any of my moritakas in what feels like a blink of an eye. Not so with this knife. It took 15 minutes of sharpening on my naniwa 400 to begin to run a burr the length of the knife and about 5 minutes more once it finally started to take one. The steel just feels immensely sturdy and like it would hold the edge you put on it for a long long time. I guess time will tell at the kitchen I work at. I finished sharpening and polishing the new edge up to my 5k Naniwa superstone and finishing with a strop on felt and chromium oxide. As you can tell by the scratches I am not the most skilled but I can put a nice edge on a knife at least I think so! When I was done I put a microbevel on the edge and started shaving a sweet potato on the board. Sure it wedges a little but that's cause its got a thick spine and the knife does a lot of the cutting obviously especially at the heel.
Another thing that is awesome is the hamon is far enough back on the blade that there are a good 8-10 flattenings I can get out of this knife before it starts to wear into the cladding. My Moritakas hamons come almost to the edge of the blade making the core steel in them less available for extended years of flattening and resharpening.
This is my first gyuto and I am super impressed.
Here's what is dissapointing.
You can see on the top of the ferrule whoever fixed the tang in the handle used some sort of epoxy or something to seal it off airtight around the tang and ended up letting a lot of the goop dry on the top of the horn. Kinda looks gross, But then again soon enough this thing is gonna have all sorts of dead animals all over it anyway. I wasn't looking for a drawer queen I wanted a bulldozer that would dish out a beating and be able to take one.
Only other thing is that the handle kind of blows but after sharpening this knife I know I paid for amazing quality steel and not a nice handle.
Let me know if the pics don't work. It was just easier to post them there than to set up an account with some picture hosting website. I'm in the middle of a couple heavy assignments for grad school.
Also sorry the pics suck I just used my iPhone and its camera with my crappy skills makes for poo poo pictures.
So I am bad with uploading photos. I will just give you the link to my public mobileme gallery. You can check it out there.
http://gallery.me.com/sllathan#100086
I decided to take the knife to the stones and put a new edge on it. This steel is TOUGH! I mean really tough. I am used to Aogami Super that sharpens up super easily. I can create a burr on any of my moritakas in what feels like a blink of an eye. Not so with this knife. It took 15 minutes of sharpening on my naniwa 400 to begin to run a burr the length of the knife and about 5 minutes more once it finally started to take one. The steel just feels immensely sturdy and like it would hold the edge you put on it for a long long time. I guess time will tell at the kitchen I work at. I finished sharpening and polishing the new edge up to my 5k Naniwa superstone and finishing with a strop on felt and chromium oxide. As you can tell by the scratches I am not the most skilled but I can put a nice edge on a knife at least I think so! When I was done I put a microbevel on the edge and started shaving a sweet potato on the board. Sure it wedges a little but that's cause its got a thick spine and the knife does a lot of the cutting obviously especially at the heel.
Another thing that is awesome is the hamon is far enough back on the blade that there are a good 8-10 flattenings I can get out of this knife before it starts to wear into the cladding. My Moritakas hamons come almost to the edge of the blade making the core steel in them less available for extended years of flattening and resharpening.
This is my first gyuto and I am super impressed.
Here's what is dissapointing.
You can see on the top of the ferrule whoever fixed the tang in the handle used some sort of epoxy or something to seal it off airtight around the tang and ended up letting a lot of the goop dry on the top of the horn. Kinda looks gross, But then again soon enough this thing is gonna have all sorts of dead animals all over it anyway. I wasn't looking for a drawer queen I wanted a bulldozer that would dish out a beating and be able to take one.
Only other thing is that the handle kind of blows but after sharpening this knife I know I paid for amazing quality steel and not a nice handle.
Let me know if the pics don't work. It was just easier to post them there than to set up an account with some picture hosting website. I'm in the middle of a couple heavy assignments for grad school.
Also sorry the pics suck I just used my iPhone and its camera with my crappy skills makes for poo poo pictures.