$1300 project knife

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YG420

YG420

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Id like to share a little rehab I did to my 300 Kato yanagiba that Ive been working on here and there.

Ive had this knife for some time, bought it new, but always knew it was off. The edge was wavy, the knife was bent in multiple places, the ura was uneven, and the heel of the knife didnt touch the stones.

After working on it by reprofiling and sharpening, I decided to take it to Jon and have him fix the bends and polish it up a bit, and Jon made it a million times better! I didnt ask him to fix the ura because I forgot to, so I said eff it and decided to tackle it myself.

I did some reading and decided against Uradashi cuz im chicken lol. So I bought some conical whetstones that woodworkers use and went to town. It took me a few days and a bunch of patience, but I think it came out pretty good. Even though a small part of the heel still doesnt touch the stones, this knife cuts like a mug now.

Before:

EEB4FC23-17EA-4E23-9897-8B11CDDB7DC5_zps6boyywph.jpg

4EDF8661-6E38-4FA5-AD89-EAC74236615F_zpslkcbstzg.jpg

E4295851-7C34-4820-8CE1-678F1DD43916_zpslrmv8wrr.jpg

After:

DD5254A9-C3C5-4F9E-9680-964EEF013217_zpsnlfgjook.jpg

25522DCD-2911-489A-8D75-D7F46EC5669B_zpslrz582hk.jpg
 
Wow, I would like to know which dealer sold THAT. Pretty criminal if you ask me. One would expect some quality control for a knife in that price category, though the most obvious question is why it ever left the workshop? I know that ni-mai knives sometimes dvelop a bend over time, though I would doubt that that was the origin of the problem here.

On the other hand - you did a great work on the ura! :)
 
Thanks for the kind words matus!

Fwiw, the before pic is after me grinding down on the backside with a course stone. When the knife was new, the ura was quite thin, but a bit uneven, and it didnt perform right. It was hard for me to pinpoint exactly what was off about it since the problems werent very obvious by just glancing at it, (except for the bends), but when I decided to grind away at it, thats when i found it was worse than I thought and you can see the problems much more clearly.

I dont wana turn this into a vendor bash, just wanted to throw this out there as reference since i couldnt find much info on how to attack the ura side. 🙂✌️
 
Great work!
But I agree with Matus: at this price point, 1300$!!!, perfection is expected.
 
zetieum said:
But I agree with Matus: at this price point, 1300$!!!, perfection is expected.
Click to expand...

Nice job, and sorry to see you have to put in all that extra work :(

At $1,300 why would not just pay return postage? (Not being snarky, serious question.)

I don't understand the economics in time or money
in taking a defective sample of a serious tool I need to use.
 
i made a point in another thread, but its kind of relevant here as well... what many of you see as mistakes, the craftsmen making the knife consider to be well within the range of what they think is good work
 
Thanks for the props guys!

And yea, I was pretty bummed after spending that much and when I started to notice things, but like what Jon said, Im sure Kato-san was satisfied with it and wasnt trying to pull a fast one. The knife had it kinks and quirks, but I thought they were minor at first and chalked it up to being a handmade knife, since none are absolute perfect.

As far as returning the knife, I didnt know the extent of the issues until much later after the purchase date and after multiple uses and sharpenings, so I didnt want to make a stink about it. I used to sell hard to get sneakers on ebay, and Ive been burned by buyers that would purchase the shoes, wear them for months on end, and then file a bogus complaint. Ebay and paypal would freeze my accounts until the issue was resolved, usually for at least a month. Even though I was never found at fault, it was still stressful and made me rethink selling on ebay. I have had nothing but positive experiences with this vendor, and have bought many items from them and will continue to do so if they have something I want, so i dont have any ill will towards them. Im just thankful that I was able to get the knife to perform great and learned alot about the ura side and its maintenance in the process.
 
There is a sunny side on every streets and your are wise to walk on it. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[video=youtube;Nn3soYbSpS4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn3soYbSpS4[/video]


YG420 said:
Thanks for the props guys!

And yea, I was pretty bummed after spending that much and when I started to notice things, but like what Jon said, Im sure Kato-san was satisfied with it and wasnt trying to pull a fast one. The knife had it kinks and quirks, but I thought they were minor at first and chalked it up to being a handmade knife, since none are absolute perfect.

As far as returning the knife, I didnt know the extent of the issues until much later after the purchase date and after multiple uses and sharpenings, so I didnt want to make a stink about it. I used to sell hard to get sneakers on ebay, and Ive been burned by buyers that would purchase the shoes, wear them for months on end, and then file a bogus complaint. Ebay and paypal would freeze my accounts until the issue was resolved, usually for at least a month. Even though I was never found at fault, it was still stressful and made me rethink selling on ebay. I have had nothing but positive experiences with this vendor, and have bought many items from them and will continue to do so if they have something I want, so i dont have any ill will towards them. Im just thankful that I was able to get the knife to perform great and learned alot about the ura side and its maintenance in the process.
Click to expand...
 
JBroida said:
i made a point in another thread, but its kind of relevant here as well... what many of you see as mistakes, the craftsmen making the knife consider to be well within the range of what they think is good work
Click to expand...
And that is where a considerable added value when buying from a vendor instead of making some kind of direct order should come into play. Good vendors apply their own QC and should a knife like this slip through, I would expect they would offer full refund and an apology.

(The knife in question was bought from a vendor - that is my understanding here)
 
JBroida said:
i made a point in another thread, but its kind of relevant here as well... what many of you see as mistakes, the craftsmen making the knife consider to be well within the range of what they think is good work
Click to expand...

This is a fair point to always keep in mind. To keep that context when judging what types of flaws are 'fatal' to a knife,
is maybe another way to look at it...The natural life of the (well used) knife is one of an evolving profile in any event.

https://mobile.twitter.com/chef_morimoto/status/448914879370379264
 
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