Are Takedas still worth the price?

[Marko Tsourkan]

Didn't liked any I have seen (I made sayas for a few of those, including chuka). To me, they weren't worth the price then, and even more now.


M

[brainsausage]

Didn't liked any I have seen (I made sayas for a few of those, including chuka). To me, they weren't worth the price then, and even more now.


M

Are you speaking strictly aesthetics Marko? Or F/F? Perceived performance based on geometry? I'm very curious, as I'm fairly close to pulling the trigger on a used one myself...

[schanop]

Saji ones are pretty heavy, 600g+ and 800g+ from chef's armoury store.

[brainsausage]

Saji ones are pretty heavy, 600g+ and 800g+ from chef's armoury store.

Ouch. That's pushing it. I think 5-550 is the top end myself.

[JKerr]

Saji ones are pretty heavy, 600g+ and 800g+ from chef's armoury store.

Yeah, I seen that. But like I said, it's not gonna be used at work for hours and hours of vege prep so potential fatigue isn't really a concern. I was taken by Saji's cleaver as I think it's a stunning piece and I was very impressed by the gyuto of his I just recently sold. I know a lot of people don't care much for VG-10, but I for one am a fan and he knows who to squeeze a lot out of that steel.

Cheers,
Josh

[jaybett]

Cheers for the input so far everyonbe. Much appreciated.

I probably should have added a but more info in the OP. The knife won't be used at work, pretty much just for when I'm cooking at home so I was after something that would basically be fun to use (and maybe to look at ). As such, I'm not specifically after a certain type of cleaver (laser, bone-in-meats etc) which is why I was considering the takeda, sugimoto oms and the saji, all of which are pretty damn different. And my preference would be for carbon, though if the right thing comes up I am open; already have one of the N2T mid tech cleavers on order.

Anyone know if Tadatsuna are still making chuckabocho?

Cheers,
Josh

Before Tadatsunas English website went down they were selling a inox cleaver. The white steel version was discontinued when the craftsman retired.

Jay

[sw2geeks]

I brought my two Moritaka cleavers to the DFW meetup. The last one I had made a year ago and was $550. It was very highly customized.

[mikemac]

I seem to have had a funky mojo with Takeda, but that was more with the transaction than the knife...that said, I feel that there are two seperate, but equal truths about Takeda blades....1) They cut like a mother****, you just can't deny that; and 2) when the craftsman threw the rejects into the trash pile, Takeda blades always seem to land a few mm's short.
To call them unrefined, rustic, or crude really doesn't do them justice.
And they cut like a mother. And most owners love them.
When we get to a chuka for $550, we get a whole different set of issues. FWIW, the chuka was my second Takeda, I paid $250 for it, and Ithink that was only 6 - 7 years ago. The two things that I would look out for in a chuka - first, every Takeda I've had (6?) was wavy...looking at the blade from both handle to tip and spine to edge, the blade went left and right. My chuka had the least amount of this, but all of them had it. Next - the takeda is a 'sandwich' construction.Seems like you're paying an awfully large price for a really small piece of AS shoved up the butt crack of cheap iron. Are Takedas worth the price? thats your call. But it sure seems like a lot of steps taken in putting these knives together are done on the cheap.

[Eamon Burke]

I brought my two Moritaka cleavers to the DFW meetup. The last one I had made a year ago and was $550. It was very highly customized.

Yeah it was. I was pretty impressed.

[JKerr]

What sort of custom options did you go for on the Moritaka? I didn't think they would make anything as expensive as that, aside from their damascus.

Cheers,
Josh