Unshu Yukimitsu - any experiences?

Found no mention of that maker (available via knifejapan.com) in the archives... does nobody here have one of these, or did nobody find it worth reviewing/recommending?

I see this is an old post, and I forget how I stumbled across the post or the knife, but I just got one of these a few days ago. Picked up this 205mm gyuto http://knifejapan.com/unshu-yukimitsu-hamono-gyuto-205mm/ with a hiba wood handle; I’m a sucker for unusual shapes, sizes, and materials, just have to try ‘em out. It has a very flat edge profile until about 1.75” from the tip and then a significant belly curve; it’s actually a very close profile match to the Munetoshi butcher minus about 1/3” of the Munetoshi tip and plus about 1.75” of flat at the heel end. I just unloaded a knife about this length and height; that plus the weird profile made me think this one might be a catch and release, but it turned out to be surprisingly comfortable and not feel too short at all. I’ve taken to using much longer knives on the line but something about this one just clicked, I don’t know if it’s just the profile or the balance or what.

A few notable things: although it’s white #1 steel, it retained sharpness after a double shift (though not a very prep heavy day) better than almost anything I have, I was pretty amazed. I’ll post again to confirm or correct on edge retention but it doesn’t even seem to need any attention after all day on the plastic boards. The wide bevels were not hollow ground OOTB; I don’t know enough to determine whether they’re a proper hamaguri grind or just convex ground on a belt or something but doing double sided hamaguri on it seemed pretty well in line with the initial geometry - not a lot of metal to remove to sharpen to the edge and microbevel, and the closest OOTB geometry to that endpoint (no secondary bevel) of any of my wide bevel knives.

No disappointments, some pleasant surprises, definitely was worth getting and is worth keeping at least for a while.

W#1 seems to be very capable of far better edge retention than "average" W#2 (Goko is another example - quite resilient)... maybe they left it as hard as possible (which seems to be 64-65HRC for W#1), giving you an edge that either stays unharmed by an impact or microchips into microscopic serrations instead of rolling?

More speculation:

On the tanebocho sister site, you find:

"Our black-forged knives, tanebasami scissors and some knives in our high-grade range are manufactured from Shirogami ichi-go (white#1). These may have a rating of up to 65~66 HRC, which is in the high range. However, they are easy to sharpen at home."

Given that this maker seems to share the odd preference for W#1 with whoever is behind the Ikenami brand, maybe they also share their technique?

That could very well be - an uncommon heat treatment, like Munetoshi white 2. I’ll have to compare to other white 1 blades, guess I never really paid attention.

I got a yanagiba recently from them. The blade face isn't concave like some, which is good. Steel feels a little bit softer than fujiwara teruyasu's maboroshi no meito line, but still on the hard side. In sharpening it's not as crisp or easy, its a little more tough feeling on the soft iron, but I haven't sharpened away the initial layer yet. Steel gives better feedback in my opinion though in sharpening, and feels more bitey.

Not too related, but how would you the compare the unshu yukimitsu to Tanaka's white 1 or 2?

I haven’t used a Tanaka in white yet but I’ve used a bunch more knives than I had then. Still say the steel is in the upper decile for white and now I’ve decided that k-tips aren’t really my thing. Had a good run with this knife though - fell in and out of love with it a few times.

Looked them up since it was praised highly in the new knife-thread. Kinda off-topic, but the description of their knives on knivesjapan is hilarious:

Stay cool. That's our philosophy. Don't go overboard with product descriptions. Don't gush. It's just a knife.

In that spirit, the Unshu Yukimitsu Hamono migaki (polished) gyuto is very nice. You will like it. It cuts food very nicely. It has a nice appearance. The length of the blade is appropriate for the efficient preparation of various meals. We like the man who made it. He is a nice man.

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