What happened to the popularity of these knives?

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phasedweasel

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Reading through some other threads, I was wondering what happened to some knives that used to be old staples, when I first started reading various boards. So, what happened? Did we learn more? Did the knife just not live up over the years? Did new, better stuff in the price range (maybe CarboNext, maybe Gesshin, maybe Konosuke) appear and crowd it out? Or is it just the case of fashion always changing, as fashions do?

The knives:

1: Tadatsuna: This used to be listed every time Susin Inox was, as an almost equivalent knife. Now I haven't seen the name in years, and in fact it's mention in the "great cutter" thread got me thinking.

2: Yoshikane: People used to sing the praises of the edge-retention of SKD, now I almost never see it mentioned. I have an EE SKD 240 mm Yoshi gyuto, but am somewhat dissatisfied with its thickness. Is part of why people left it? The huge price increases its seen on EE? The san mai construction?

3: Blazen: Wow, this knife was like the most popular thing ever on the KF boards maybe seven years ago. New steels push it out?

Hattori FH: People keep selling these. VG-10 just get out-shinied by the new stainless western handle lasers (Konosuke), and the new quite affordable entry level benchmark knife of CarboNext?

This last one may not belong on the list, but no one seems to push Hiromoto AS then. The name still comes up, but did people get tired of the F/F issues and the existence of better AS knives crowd it out?
 
No longer esoteric/novel enough. Tad is expensive compared to other Sakai layzors. Yoshikane kasumi favoured over skd hammered now.
 
Funny you should bring this up. I've been thinking about cyclical the market is. I can't help but think Tads are every bit as awesome as they ever were. Stefan still loves his Blazens...I just about bought a Hattori FH, yesterday. I dunno...it's just how the market goes. The secret is to love what you love.
 
Tadatsuna seems to have closed up shop. Their website http://www.itkitchenknife.com/ has been out of commission for many months, or has it been years now? A few months ago I tried send an e-mail to Hideki San, and it was bounced. I've seen threads ask what happened to them with no answers.
 
The aritsugu a type has disappeared too

Oh man, Aritsugu! Just the mention of that makes me miss KCMA. We should all get A-types and sharpen them with massively asymmetric, convex bevels :sad0:
 
Ikkanshi-tad is simply an awesome knife. I'm thankful every time I use them I bought when I did. Their shop closed after the Japanese disaster but I have no idea why. I tried to contact Hideki as well with no luck. He was awesome to work with. Some of the sharpest knives OOB I've ever seen. I have a Inox western handled petty, 185mm gyuto and a 270 suj. My only regret is that I didn't order a WA Gyuto as well.

Dave
 
I think some of it is cyclical but it is also partly that knives get replaced in visibility by something that is just better and or cheaper. I think the fact that there are so many new custom makers recently who offer amazing value has made some knives less desirable. For some of the more expensive ones, you could go custom for very little more, or sometimes even less.
 
I finally settled on a Hattori FH gyuto a few months ago after buying and selling several "better" knives with the "best" steel, including a Kono HD. I seriously doubt that any of the knives you mentioned are any less effective than they were when people were lining up to buy them. I certainly have no complaints about my Hattori's performance. It fits well into what I like in a gyuto, while the Kono and the others were every bit as good quality but just didn't meet my personal preferences.

A lot of the guys here enjoy finding something new and chasing that next best knife as part of the hobby. Luckily, I think we're all better off for it, as we now are in a position of having quite an impressive number of excellent knives to choose from that might have never been known had no one ever searched them out.
 
Still love my Blazen 270 - one of my favorite knives. It's got everything that we talk about a good knife should have. It it had all of these things before we've hashed them out (not that I've been aorund that long...). The only things I have to say is I prefer a flatter profile - it's dead flat at the heel, but turns up a fair towards the tip; and the edge retention isn't great - a bit tricky to get super sharp, and it doesn't last at all.

I sold my Hattori FH a while ago simply becasue I wasn't using it, as I prefered some other knives and I wanted to try others as well. I do miss it sometimes. Overall, it's one of the most beautiful knives, but there are a few things I find that could use an upgrade - the spin and choil and square, the grind is dead flat on the sides, there's a but too much belly.
 
I have bought and sold a"few" blades........I still own my Tad and Yoshi and I doubt if will sell them.
 
I love trying new knives and can't afford to keep them all. So what was once "hot" is replaced with the new. But honestly once I started getting customs I'm hooked and doubt I'll ever fall into the trendy knife again.
 
Hello. I think the maker Ikkanshi-tadasuna is still working fine. But now he does not make internet sales on his website, which is closed. Maybe website sales takes too much time and these makers prefer that the other people sell knives for him? But I hear he is still a busy maker with many loyal domestic customers.
 
Nenox knives were talked about a few years ago.
 
I have an Ikkanshi Tadatsuna 240 gyuto, 270 sujihiki, 180 petty, all inox, and a 300 yanagiba in whitesteel. Amazing knives, and I have tried all the big guys. I got them as a good stainless set, and they didn't disapoint.
 
Yeah, I asked myself the same questions. Surely a knife is less subject to fashion mood swings than,say, cars or shoes but I agree with Chefdog that there are (blessed) experimenters and pioneers out there that every now and then stumble unto something good and influence forum aficionados. Af Chefdog says, it's to everybody's advantage!
 
I have an Ikkanshi Tadatsuna 240 gyuto, 270 sujihiki, 180 petty, all inox, and a 300 yanagiba in whitesteel. Amazing knives, and I have tried all the big guys. I got them as a good stainless set, and they didn't disapoint.

Excuse me but how did you purchase these knives? From the internet? It was long ago?
 
Stranger things have happened but I think it's very unlikely Ikkanshi is still open and just not doing internet sales. I've spoken to Hideki many times and after the disaster I've never received a single response. I don't think they were physically located any where near the Tsunami but I'd expect the financial devastation to be just as bad.
I'd really like to be wrong about that.

Dave
 
It looks like some one bought the Ikkanshi name although I'm having trouble getting some of the pages to load.
No Inox and a very limited selection. Does any one still have an Ikkanshi catalog to cross check the address?

Dave
 
About Ikkanshi Tadatsuna, yes they are definitely open. Sorry I don't know about the histories or maybe if the ownership have changed. The proprietor is Toshihiko Nagata, the same man that they said his name in the video clip from 2010 that I put above. The website above is correct also. I know he still produces INOX.
 
It is just the nature of hobbyist forums to try and continue evolving...even if the evolution isn't really a step forward, change is still needed and pursued. It doesn't mean any of those knives you listed aren't still amazing pieces (love my Yosh SKD, just mentioned in another thread recently). Not to mention, there has been a boom in new knife offerings in the last two years from both custom and production makers, which provide much more choices nowadays.

Tadatsuna started to become hard to find as many retailers ran out of their inventory, and during that time, Konosuke was everywhere offering very similar knives for much less than both Tads and Suisin IH...it was easy for people to substitute one for the other. And now you barely hear about Konosuke anymore (even far prior to the recent price spike), as people have moved onto pushing Gesshin and renewed interest back to Sakai Yusuke.

It's funny how things can change, but really stay the same, at the same time.
 
I remember no one wanted nenox's as they were too soft! lol

just fashion.
 
Nenox has also become extremely expensive compared to other production knives. You can get at least a semi-custom and some full customs for the current price of a Nenox. I suspect this is the major reason for their fading appeal.
 
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