Hammered gyuto: Yoshikane SKD or?

Want to try hammered finish. I like the look and profile of the Yoshikane. Also like the stainless aspect since I don't have any stainless gyutos. Can I do similar profile with hammered finish but even thinner behind the edge than this? ~$200 price point.

I dunno about the profile but masakage koishi are thin behind the edge,stainless clad and hammer finished. Not sure if it matches yr price point-although knife wear is having a sale soon???or right now.

Get the Yoshi.

FWIW, I like my Yoshi SKD tsuchime a lot. Nice food release (probably more to do with the grind than the finish, but who knows), easy to sharpen & gets pretty sharp. Reasonably thin behind the edge but I use it as a workhorse. It's certainly not a Laser. It looks cool- probably one of my coolest looking blades.

It's difficult to pick apart which steel is in the core of some of the Yoshi knives. I think that the SKD is SKD-12, which is semi-stainless with a Cr of around 6%, while SLD (similar to SKD-11, I think) is more stain resistant with a Cr of about 12% (but still semi-stainless). The stainless cladding on mine actually has a dark patina over my pinch grip, funnily enough.

Can't comment on other options.

in my mind the masakage is like a mass produced knife- I know they're actually free forged. not that I've owned either but I'd tend toward the yoshi just for that reason.

jussayin.

The Yoshi has basically a zero-ground flat wide bevel design (I have the 165 Hakata). It has incredible edge holding, but you should apply some micro-bevel to keep micro-chipping in check (in particular if you like to chop). I happen to have a small 130 Masakage Koishi ko-bunka which has a similar grind (but the cladding of the Koishi behaves strangely on stones - very 'gummy'). Both of them will wedge in stuff like carrots a bit, both are very good. The Yoshi will have a little more heft I guess (check out the weights though). My Yoshi had basically no low or high spots, the Koishi was very good too.

SKD steel is basically A2, SLD is D2. I prefer the SKD - easier to sharpen and closer to feel and behaviour to carbon steel, also a bit finer grained than SLD(D2). Plus the SKD will take a nice smooth patina over time that just looks cool agains the stainless cladding

Timthebeaver said:

Get the Yoshi.

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spoiledbroth said:

in my mind the masakage is like a mass produced knife- I know they're actually free forged. not that I've owned either but I'd tend toward the yoshi just for that reason.

jussayin.

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Yes, after owning both I would def recommend yoshikane. That koishi is the only other thing I could think of off the top of my head that fits your description.

Edit

Mine is microbeveled

Lot of great info here, thanks, all. Matus, I found your review of Kochi vs Yoshikane vs Carter. I've read good things about the SKD kasumi. Are there performance differences between the kasumi and hammered?

brianh said:

Are there performance differences between the kasumi and hammered?

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I would also like to know this.

So can anyone compare the Yoshikane SKD vs Takumura's Chromax, performance wise? Without assuming anything, from what can be found about the alloy contents you'd expect similarities...

While googling hammered Yoshikane, I found this. It's a miracle he didn't slice off a finger.

[video]https://youtu.be/32TRNnvu95c[/video]

brianh said:

Lot of great info here, thanks, all. Matus, I found your review of Kochi vs Yoshikane vs Carter. I've read good things about the SKD kasumi. Are there performance differences between the kasumi and hammered?

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I looked at that very closely a few months back. I haven't used either, but read everything I could find on both. The Kasumi version (which is the JNS Zensho SKD) isn't available anymore and I believe there was a very limited availability for them. They NEVER seem to become available on BST either. The consensus appears to be that the Kasumi has better cutting performance with some margin, but it's probably next to impossible to find one.

What I've come to believe is that the closest you can get to the Yoshikane Kasumi could be the Gengetsu, Wakui Hairline/Kasumi and Itinomonn Kasumi StainLess (in that order). Itinomonn being the one with most differences in profile and grind. It has a convex grind opposed to the S-grind on Gengetsu and Wakui. The Itinomonn also has the least blade hight of the group and the pointiest tip. The Yoshikane hammered of course is very different from these with the wide bevel grind.

I have the Itinomonn StainLess Kasumi and the Wakui Hairline which are both great. Itinomonn has a little better food release and and thinner tip, the Wakui cuts just slightly more effortlesly. The performance diffrence is very small though IMO. What I've understood is that the Gengetsu just might combine those qualities.

The comments about Yoshikane Kasumi, hammered and Gengetsu are just gathered information and only second hand knowledge so it should be taken with a grain of salt. Just thought I'd share what I found out. Others with first hand experience of those blades feel free to correct where my assumptions are of. I too will be all ears as I'm still very interested in the topic..

@Java my Itinomonn Kasumi V2 and Gengetsu SS feel almost exactly the same when I pinch the blade between my fingers and feel from spine to edge

foody518 said:

@Java my Itinomonn Kasumi V2 and Gengetsu SS feel almost exactly the same when I pinch the blade between my fingers and feel from spine to edge

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Could be the difference between Itinomonn StainLess vs V2. (Although Maxim said Stainless would be thinner behind the edge?:scratchhead: Maybe they vary with different iterations of the knives. Who knows?) I don't have the Gengetsu so hard to make too serious claims, but I'm going by the several choil shots that's popping up here and there. They look very similar (S-grind) than my Wakui. The StainLess Itinomonn is thin behind the edge too but is more convex and thickens noticeably quicker than the Wakui.

Do the choils look similar compared to each other on your knives?

Did not mean to highjack the thread. I'm just as interested in hearing more about the Yoshi SKD hammered as the OP is!

I don't care for the looks of a hammered finish so I've not tried the current Yoshi SKD offerings. Love the "Zensho" version. I've compared the Zensho, the Gengetsu and the Itinomonn SS and the Itinomonn was a no frills cutter that got things done. The Zensho and Gengetsu were more comparable and more wow.

brian i havent tried any of the options being discussed here, but they all seem similar. i say pick the one you like the profile of best and start from there.