Monzaburo Honyaki

Does anyone here have a Monzaburo W no.2 honyaki gyuto? If so, how do you like it?

Gyuto? Who sells those ?

labor of love said:

Gyuto? Who sells those ?

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Aframes: http://yhst-27988581933240.stores.yahoo.net/monzaburo-wagyuto-honyaki-270mm-blade-kn270.html

looks great

I remember reading a review on them a year or two ago. They guy loved it and then sold it a few months later. i can't remember what the replacement was...

tk59 said:

I remember reading a review on them a year or two ago. They guy loved it and then sold it a few months later. i can't remember what the replacement was...

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I believe you may be thinking of our favorite extortionist, that d-bag from South Africa....

Jason also had one iirc, and would certainly be a more reliable source of info. Maybe he will see fit to chime in.

Found it http://knifeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?post/1844557/ It looks like it has too many problems for a $700 knife. He tried to sell it in this thread, http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/879660/ with no success.

wenus2 said:

I believe you may be thinking of our favorite extortionist, that d-bag from South Africa....

Jason also had one iirc, and would certainly be a more reliable source of info. Maybe he will see fit to chime in.

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Yup. That's the one. Still, that makes two people selling within a year of acquisition. As for "problems," I didn't really see anything there. The finish sucks but nobody said it didn't cut well. On the other hand, the rough finish and the flat back probably creates a fair amount of drag.

I actually have both of the knives mentioned here, but I haven't really put them through their paces yet.

I placed an order for a lefty honyaki yanagiba through Aframes about a year ago. It took a while and when Takeshi sent pics I was concerned. There was no visible hamon on the front of the knife and the back looked like a kasumi knife with polish below the hamon and a hazy look above the hamon. I questioned this and Takeshi agreed that's what it looked like. He went back and forth with Monzaburo and I don't think they really understood what the issues were. I didn't accept the knife and Takeshi was a real gentleman about the whole thing.

Apparently the business end of Monzaburo is in Tokyo and they deal with makers in Sakai. I think they are a large company and seem to have the same kind of administrative problems as many American companies: the front office doesn't understand the product. There are too many alternatives out there to put up with this kind of nonsense. On the other hand I have a 300mm kasumi gyuto in Blue 2 that I love.

Jan

euphorbioid said:

...Apparently the business end of Monzaburo is in Tokyo and they deal with makers in Sakai. I think they are a large company and seem to have the same kind of administrative problems as many American companies: the front office doesn't understand the product. There are too many alternatives out there to put up with this kind of nonsense...

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That sounds all too familiar. Sounds like the moral of the story is buy Japanese knives from folks that know their stuff and work directly with knifemakers.

Pretty much what has been said, other than I did sell the knife. Not a bad knife, just not what I was expecting. Personally I think honyaki gyuto's are a waste of time. I've owned two, the other was very high end, and decided to sell them both. To each his own.