FS: Heiji 190mm nakiri, Misono 180mm stainless santoku

Two up for sale. First, I've got a 190mm (cutting edge) semi-stainless kurouchi nakiri from Heiji. Beautiful knife, easily sharpened and holds a wicked edge. Shows grind marks on the and a spot of patina on one side of the kurouchi surface which I have attempted to show. Nice burnt chestnut handle. I'm not using it enough, so I'd like to pass it on. If someone has an interesting American or Japanese gyuto they'd like to trade, I would consider that as well. Asking $255 shipped.







(That is not a pit at the top left of the photo, just a patina mark.)


Next, a 180mm Misono stainless santoku with grantons and western handle. Nice little knife. The tip does not come to a perfect point at the moment (slightly blunted) which I've shown -- not a big deal but want to be 100% clear on the description. $65

PM sent on Heiji

So Glen did you get it or what?

GLE1952 said:

PM sent on Heiji

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No Mike, I offered a Gyuto in trade which wasn't accepted.
I've already got the Watanabe which you re handled and a Yoshikane Nakiri. So I'm not too disappointed.
Sure hard to pass on a Heiji though!

I'm interested, new to the site. Haven't figured out how to PM people yet. Do you know what the steel type is? Hardness rating? How many times have you sharpened it? I'm concerned about how thick it is at the edge and whether it will need flattening. Can I pay through PayPal?

Any other information would be appreciated since it's always nice to know the story behind the knife (age of knife, why you bought it, how you liked it, anything unique about the knife and mfr, etc.)

Thanks in advance for any and all answers.

David Levy
Washington, DC

Welcome David. 1 more post then you can send a PM so just go for another then shoot sashae a PM.

Oh and as for the OP. That Heiji is great. If I didn't already have a shig and a Del (in the works) I would be all over it.

Edit for the question below me: you should see a little Edit Post button right below your post. It must be within I believe 15 minutes tho.

Oops. I meant the santoku. (Is there no way to edit a post once it's submitted?)

Btw, I just learned from my sister, who used to speak fluent japanese, that 'san' means 'three' in japanese, so it is probably indeed the case that 'santoku' means '3 virtues'. It looks like the santoku is the most common 'go to' knife in japanese homes. for the amateur linguists out there, in japanese it is pronounced SAN-to-ku, almost even stresses on all three syllables but with a light stress on the first syllable.

okay, thanks for the friendly advice, man! always nice to have a warm welcome.

Okay, I've posted 3 times and still don't seem to have the ability to PM yet, even after logging off and back on. Sashae, if you'd rather not reply in the thread, could you send me an email at davidlevysixo (at) gmail?

Oops. Never mind. Sorry folks! Looks like logging off and back on again did the trick. As Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, "Never mind!"

PM sent on Nikiri

Heiji is pending...

Any of you mavens know what the steel type of the santoku would be? OP said in PM he is not sure. A quick web search on "misonos handmade" didn't yield any obvious candidates.

I checked out zknives.com and he doesn't have anything I can see for them.

Btw I had to look up maven. Too funny. At first I wasn't sure if I should be offended. But it fits.

dglevy said:

Any of you mavens know what the steel type of the santoku would be? OP said in PM he is not sure. A quick web search on "misonos handmade" didn't yield any obvious candidates.

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Hey new guy,

I'm not sure the exact steel used, but it's a 56 to 58 HRC stainless with "added molybdenum and vanadium." Things to read include this, this, and this.

From BDL on ChefTalk:

Misono Moly -- Misono's bottom of their stainless line. Good entry level knife. Good but not great F&F. Get fairly sharp, fairly easily and stay fairly sharp for a fairly long time. Very reasonably priced.

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Thanks, Vertigo, you get 'maven' status, in my book! And, wow, question answered in under 30 minutes. The Internet rocks...

dglevy said:

Any of you mavens know what the steel type of the santoku would be? OP said in PM he is not sure. A quick web search on "misonos handmade" didn't yield any obvious candidates.

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It's just the "garden variety" molybdenum stainless, hardened to 56-58 HRc. The "Handmade" is marked on the knife, but not used to describe the knives, so that's why you don't get any hits on Google.

It's a really nice steel. I have a crap load of time with one (gyuto) and it gets crazy sharp and actually holds it fairly well. If I had to guess at its hardness, based on how long it holds an edge (I know how flawed this is, but it does come into play), i'd put it at 58. It's noticeably nicer than German stainless in how it takes and holds an edge.
My favourite part about Misonos Moly knives is that you get a nice shiny polish on the bevel, at about 6k, but it bites like crazy. I'm talking bites into your board, bites.
All in all, it's a great great knife for a home user and even a pro environment that isn't full of knife snobs like us.

dglevy said:

Thanks, Vertigo, you get 'maven' status, in my book! And, wow, question answered in under 30 minutes. The Internet rocks...

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I always thought that Mr. Lahey was a drunk.

El Pescador said:

I always thought that Mr. Lahey was a drunk.

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He could be a drunk and a maven, no? :cheffry:

Thanks, guys, for all the input. I'm new to this forum but not to some other forums. Nice to see all the old familiar folks -- the helpful ones, at least!

I think I'll pass. I guess my minimum for hardness is 60. I've been very impressed with the ability of my Tojiro DP gyuto to hold an edge and, unlike you guys, I'm no good (yet?) at sharpening, so it's quite a chore.

But it does indeed sound like a great stainless starter knife for someone.

--D.

Yup! It's likely a great little blade. Meh.

That isn't kuro-uchi. It's stainless clad. Out of curiosity, what are the grind marks from?

Light grit belt?

I would presume so. I didn't grind on it

...Heiji is sold, Misono still available. Would take small trades too, if someone has a stone or other small knife they'd like to swap.

tk59 said:

That isn't kuro-uchi. It's stainless clad.

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I kind of like the rustic look but just out of curiosity (I will have two Heijis with the same finish delivered next week...) - can you remove it? How does cutting performance / stiction change?