Konosuke White #2 wa-petty short review

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UglyJoe

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Hey guys, wanted to post up a quick review of my newest knife. I got this Konosuke petty a bit over a week ago from Jon, and I wanted to show it off! Here are some photos:

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This is my first Konosuke and I'm very impressed. Fit and finish on the knife is gorgeous, everything is rounded off perfectly, the saya fits nicely, and the handle is the stabilized ho handle Konosuke now offers. It's a great handle, both in feel and finish, and I really like this option and would suggest it highly to others interested in Konosuke's knives.

The OOTB edge was okay. It was sharp, but had a couple of rough spots/chips in it. The knife itself is very close to a 50/50 grind, and the edge was ground with maybe a very slight bias to the right hand side, maybe 60/40. I've been wanting to play around with a 99/1 grind and thought this knife would be a good knife to do this on, as the thinness of the edge won't be a problem so much on a knife that wont hit the board as often or as forcefully as say a gyuto. The knife took the edge quickly and without too much work, and needless to say this knife is SHARP. One of the sharpest knives I own, with the exception of a white #2 150mm yanagi, the only single bevel I currently own. I ground exclusively on the right hand side of the knife, and simply removed the burr on a 6000x stone on the back side with a few light passes. No microbevel on the face side.

The edge has held up really well. This is the first japanese monosteel knife I have owned, and I was a little shocked at how long it's taking the patina to form naturally. I wipe down the blade every minute or so while working, and the knife has taken basically no patina so far. In fact, I was convinced that there had been some mixup at the factory and I'd gotten the HD or stainless blade for at first :)shy:) so I hit the tip wiht a bit of mustard just to make sure, and yes, it's white #2. Very shocked at how slow the patina is forming, as my other clad carbon knives start to darken in seconds when dealing with onion, tomato, garlic, etc.

Anyway, my silliness aside, this knife is great and highly recommended. Super thin, as one would expect from Konosuke, very light and nimble, the edge doesn't chip easily (I broke down some chicken and purposely scraped some bone a bit to see if chipping would be an issue, and it wasn't), it takes a killer edge, is very easy to sharpen, and the handle doesn't need any particularly special care because it's already stabilized. For the price you simply can't go wrong with this knife!
 
I was a little shocked at how long it's taking the patina to form naturally....Very shocked at how slow the patina is forming,

Get some acetone and put it on some paper towel and rub the blade down with it...your patina will then develop more quickly and evenly.
 
CJ,

I've already done that, and I usually do that when the blade has been lacquered... but I don't think this blade has been lacquered. At least, no gunk started to come off the blade with acetone. I think it's just slow and I am wiping the blade A LOT as I use it. Leaving mustard on the tip for like 20 seconds left a nice little bit of color on it very quickly. You can see in one of the pics.
 
Okay, I didn't realize you did that. I do the acetone wipe to all my carbon blades right as I get them--I just remember having similar issues with my Konosuke gyuto back when I first got it. In general, Konosuke white#2 did seem slower to react than all my other carbon steels, but once it gets going...it gets going.

Great petty by the way! Is that a 150mm?

I just got my Konosuke 270 HD suji today and sharpened it up an hour ago, but no chance to use it yet because I'm going out...will do a direct review of HD vs white#2 lines in the next week or so.
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Yeah, it's the 150. I swear I thought I put that in there somewhere. Oh well.
 
Damn Kyle, I can't believe that deal you had on your Konosuke. Too bad I missed that sale.
 
You're going to enjoy that knife. I love the Konosuke knives. I really liked the patina that formed on my white #2 suji.

I actually sold it earlier today. Here are pictures of the patina if you're interested. I only ever cut up raw and rare beef and pork, never used for acidic fruits and veggies. It developed a beautiful blue patina

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php?892-Konosuke-270mm-white-2-wa-sujihiki

Rare beef is the best for patina building. Great blues.
 
Okay, I didn't realize you did that. I do the acetone wipe to all my carbon blades right as I get them--I just remember having similar issues with my Konosuke gyuto back when I first got it. In general, Konosuke white#2 did seem slower to react than all my other carbon steels, but once it gets going...it gets going.

Great petty by the way! Is that a 150mm?

I just got my Konosuke 270 HD suji today and sharpened it up an hour ago, but no chance to use it yet because I'm going out...will do a direct review of HD vs white#2 lines in the next week or so.
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Jarrod,

Have you posted a review or a selection of pictures of your most recent Konosuke purchase?
 
Jarrod,

Have you posted a review or a selection of pictures of your most recent Konosuke purchase?

Yo Pete...I'll have one up sometime this week. From the little bit I've got to use it so far, I'm pretty excited about it. Just need a few days of testing to get more accurate conclusion.
 
Nice knives guys. Uglyjoe, enjoy! CaddyJ, please do post a vs. review, as I'm an HD and a W#2 owner as well, and would love to see anothers opinion. I wasn't at all impressed with the OOTB edge on either (average). It was much easier to put an edge on the W#2, but I've found the HD holds an edge seemingly forever. Your custom handle is making me think I need to purchase a new knife sooner than I thought! LOL
 
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