Aphex, have you received the knife yet, your impressions?
Aphex, have you received the knife yet, your impressions?
No, it's currently in the hands of UK customs.
An update: these are no longer in stock, but I asked Keiichi who told me they would be available again within a couple of months (so end of January probably). This corresponds to the date he previously gave us for white #2 steel and 270mm versions.
He will also have two different thicknesses available: 2.2mm like the standard Sakai Yusuke gyuto, and the 2.8mm that was the only version available up to now, and which was reviewed in this thread.
I'm placing a pre-order for the 240mm stainless with Ichii handle, but I'm not sure which thickness to choose. Which would you recommend?
Having both a standard 270 white #2 gyuto and the 240 SS KS clone, I think the thicker knife is a much better cutter. I think it's primarily due to the grind - the extra thickness allows for more convexing on the blade face. The thinner knife may have a slight advantage in that because it's thinner it may slice through an item with less resistance, but I also find the thicker knife with greater convexing has a characteristic where it parts food rather than just slicing through it - kinda hard to describe.
The thicker knife also has much less of an issue with stiction.
I also find the KS profile to be much better overall, all around, than the standard profile, so that also plays into my findings on it being a better cutter.
Good for you for getting one - are you gonna get SS or carbon? You'll love it either way. Cheers! mpp
Shibui - simplicity devoid of unnecessary elements
After comparing the thick yusuke to my suisin honyaki 270mm i much prefer using the thick yusuke to a classic laser. The only benifits i could find in the thin suisin was in chopping large hard things like turnips and massive onions etc. The thick yusuke with it's gentle spine to edge convex grind cut everything else with not only less effort, but with hardly any product sticking to the blade thanks to good but not excellent food release. The yusuke also had a better ballance, better feel than the laser. There was no getting to know the knife, it felt natural as soon as i picked it up. The stainless steel also got mighty sharp after a couple of strops of the original edge as well, almost carbon sharpness. Overall i would say this knife was a far better knife that the thinner version and worth the increased cost.
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Great to see you got your knife, and great to see another review of it. I'm relieved to hear that I'm not just in a little fantasy world of mine own... ;-)
Shibui - simplicity devoid of unnecessary elements
FYI, it seems all of the new batch of Yusuke gyutos available at bluewayjapan have the KS profile, but with their standard 2.2mm thickness. The 2.8mm ones are still not in stock, but will be soon I hope.
Aphex,
just curious to see what your thoughts are on this stainless after using it a couple months later. I'm very interested in scoring one with the blonde cap as opposed to the black. looks real nice
perneto, im not sure which new gyutos your talking about but i made some inquiries about a couple of the new lasers w/extra hardness and keichi told me theyre actually just the regular profile.