Any interest for an EU gyuto passaround?
- Thread starter Haburn
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I have just received the confirmation that the knife is on its way to Germany. It should arrive within 2-3 weeks. I'll keep you posted once it is ready to be picked up at local customs 
Just got an update from USPS. I expect to be picking up the knife in the course of the next week from local customs
riba
Senior Member
That's pretty quick
It usually takes 2-3 weeks door-to-door for packages from US to Germany out of which it takes about 7 days for the package to arrive to Frankfurt, the rest is customs.
I am really looking forward to test this little fella
I am really looking forward to test this little fella
Haburn
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Thank you for your interest, but the list is closed. The thread was open for almost four months before a list was decided, I feel like that was plenty of time respond.
Update:
The knife arrived to the local customs. I went to pick it up today, but I need to provide some more information which I need from Ian (the thing with passaround does not quite fit in what German tax law is built for), so I will pick it up either tomorrow or beginning next week.
But I have seen the knife already - it is really lovely and arrived in perfect shape, so it is just a matter of few more days before the knife will start to serve its duty
The knife arrived to the local customs. I went to pick it up today, but I need to provide some more information which I need from Ian (the thing with passaround does not quite fit in what German tax law is built for), so I will pick it up either tomorrow or beginning next week.
But I have seen the knife already - it is really lovely and arrived in perfect shape, so it is just a matter of few more days before the knife will start to serve its duty
Update:
I have just picked up the knife - the fun can begin :knife:
EDIT: already PM'd next participant to make sure everything goes on smoothly
I have just picked up the knife - the fun can begin :knife:
EDIT: already PM'd next participant to make sure everything goes on smoothly
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and don't forget, use it for a week OR LESS !!! :viking:
Just a quick update - I am having some real fun with the knife, but I will save my impressions until end of the week. The knife will be shipped on Saturday to Berko (all necessary arrangements have been made already).
Stay tuned
Stay tuned
So, the knife will be shipped tomorrow :sad0: and all I have left to do now is to give my view of the knife. Please keep in mind that I am not a pro user ad my experience and thus relevance of my opinion is limited :O
Let me start with the knife design. The cutting edge has a nice flat spot and belly towards the point seems just about right for most tasks. Best way to describe the grind is "wide wide bevel" (take with grain of salt I did not use wide eve gyuto before). The bevel basically starts at about 2 - 2.5 cm from the spine and goes with rather little convex all the way towards the edge. The spine and the heel are rounded so pinch grip is very comfortable.
There is not all too much of distal taper first half from the handle, but it gets more pronounced towards the tip - in particular last 7-8 cm have very nice taper so the tip is nicely thin (though not to the point to make weak or too bendy feel)
The handle is made out of lovely stabilised burl and is an iteration of an octagonal handle. Well done and finished (though there seems to be slight void between the thin bronze spacer and the stainless bolster - just noticeable with your fingernail). Personally for my taste (and hand size) it is touch too large and also a bit too heavy given the size of the blade. The balance point of the knife directly in from of the bolster (before the heel) what means that the knife its just on the verge to feel slightly butt heavy when you try to balance it on your index finger with pinch grip. Not a problem, but 10-20g less weight in the handle would make it perfectly balanced. To achieve front-ballance the handle wold have to be without metal bolster and made from some light wood (Ho or such), but that is true for most knives as it is simply a matter of weight distribution.
Disclaimer: I personally prefer knives with balance point few cm from the heel towards the tip, so that even with pinch grip the knife would fall point down - extreme example is Kato 240.
Now onto the performance - here is where it gets interesting. To put it simply - the knife cuts really well. I used it mostly with vegetables (onions, carrots, salad, tomatoes, paprika) and some meat. The tip thickness allows to go through carrots without wedging and would nearly fall through onions. Even cutting carrots length wise was easier that I expected and has put my Carter Funayuki in shame (I guess the little fella got to the point that it needs some thinning).
Part of this really nice performance even with hard veggies is the grind - the wide bevel goes down to the cutting edge with practically no edge bevel. Here I would like to mention that whoever will be the happy owner of this knife in the future should not only sharpen the edge as the knife would probably become rather fast too thick behind the edge (as any wide bevel knife would). The edge has seen quite some contact with the cutting board and I saw no ill effect to the edge. That together with no micro bevel would speak for a heat treat to be more on the 'tough' side rather than 'as hard as possible' side.
Many people are super concerned about food release. My problem with it that I can never achieve it. Even with Kato gyuto I had cucumber and zucchini sticking to the blade. This gyuto has wide flat-ish bevel, so you should not expect miracles either.
The knife came pretty sharp - there was probably some room for improvement, but I did not feel the need to sharpen it and decided to let the following testers to do so. After one week of home use the knife could use some stropping or light tough-up. Time for full sharpening has not come yet IMO.
Summary:
I think Ian did a really nice job with this knife - it cuts well, it feels good in hand (save for that tiny little too heavy handle) and last but not least it looks good. I enjoyed using it.
Thank you Ian for giving us the chance to try this knife :knife:
Let me start with the knife design. The cutting edge has a nice flat spot and belly towards the point seems just about right for most tasks. Best way to describe the grind is "wide wide bevel" (take with grain of salt I did not use wide eve gyuto before). The bevel basically starts at about 2 - 2.5 cm from the spine and goes with rather little convex all the way towards the edge. The spine and the heel are rounded so pinch grip is very comfortable.
There is not all too much of distal taper first half from the handle, but it gets more pronounced towards the tip - in particular last 7-8 cm have very nice taper so the tip is nicely thin (though not to the point to make weak or too bendy feel)
The handle is made out of lovely stabilised burl and is an iteration of an octagonal handle. Well done and finished (though there seems to be slight void between the thin bronze spacer and the stainless bolster - just noticeable with your fingernail). Personally for my taste (and hand size) it is touch too large and also a bit too heavy given the size of the blade. The balance point of the knife directly in from of the bolster (before the heel) what means that the knife its just on the verge to feel slightly butt heavy when you try to balance it on your index finger with pinch grip. Not a problem, but 10-20g less weight in the handle would make it perfectly balanced. To achieve front-ballance the handle wold have to be without metal bolster and made from some light wood (Ho or such), but that is true for most knives as it is simply a matter of weight distribution.
Disclaimer: I personally prefer knives with balance point few cm from the heel towards the tip, so that even with pinch grip the knife would fall point down - extreme example is Kato 240.
Now onto the performance - here is where it gets interesting. To put it simply - the knife cuts really well. I used it mostly with vegetables (onions, carrots, salad, tomatoes, paprika) and some meat. The tip thickness allows to go through carrots without wedging and would nearly fall through onions. Even cutting carrots length wise was easier that I expected and has put my Carter Funayuki in shame (I guess the little fella got to the point that it needs some thinning).
Part of this really nice performance even with hard veggies is the grind - the wide bevel goes down to the cutting edge with practically no edge bevel. Here I would like to mention that whoever will be the happy owner of this knife in the future should not only sharpen the edge as the knife would probably become rather fast too thick behind the edge (as any wide bevel knife would). The edge has seen quite some contact with the cutting board and I saw no ill effect to the edge. That together with no micro bevel would speak for a heat treat to be more on the 'tough' side rather than 'as hard as possible' side.
Many people are super concerned about food release. My problem with it that I can never achieve it. Even with Kato gyuto I had cucumber and zucchini sticking to the blade. This gyuto has wide flat-ish bevel, so you should not expect miracles either.
The knife came pretty sharp - there was probably some room for improvement, but I did not feel the need to sharpen it and decided to let the following testers to do so. After one week of home use the knife could use some stropping or light tough-up. Time for full sharpening has not come yet IMO.
Summary:
I think Ian did a really nice job with this knife - it cuts well, it feels good in hand (save for that tiny little too heavy handle) and last but not least it looks good. I enjoyed using it.
Thank you Ian for giving us the chance to try this knife :knife:
UPDATE: The knife was just shipped - Berko you should have it middle next week (see you PM with tracking information)
Sorry, I did not take any photos as I simply did not have the time. Hopefully the others will fix this problem
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confirmed & replied! :groucho:
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Knife arrived safe and sound today (Friday). Will use it for a couple of days irate1: and ship to mark76 next Friday at the latest. PMed him for his address already.
irate1: and ship to mark76 next Friday at the latest. PMed him for his address already.
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I shipped the knife this afternoon to the next in line (mark76). Will PM tracking no. in a moment...
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So here are my thoughts on the (European) passaround of a 210mm gyuto in AEB-L made by Ian Haburn. Please bear in mind that I am a home cook only. I have good experience with cooking and knives but wouldn't consider myself a knife expert who could name edge angles from cutting food. And before I forget, I have not sharpened the knife, there was absolutely no need to.
To begin with the most important thing, cutting performance: my first impression was good, quite nice actually. I cut apples, onions, carrots, courgettes, fennel, peppers, potatoes, chicken breast and fish fillets over the past couple of days. I experienced no stiction, and wedging only once when cutting the fennel stalks (not the bulb itself; and not even when cutting carrots lengthwise). Admittedly, my personal preference is 240mm for a gyuto, but I enjoyed testing this 210mm a lot. While my first impression was "good", my final impression has evolved to a shout-out-loud WOOOO-HA!!! Really, my overall impression is quite... impressed! The blade falls through food and has everything I really want for a knife in my collection.
EDIT: I especially enjoyed the tip of this knife. It definitely is the closest thing to the most wicked tip I have ever used: ZKramer gyuto in 52100. Ian, when I say the tip of your knife comes really, really close to the tip of a ZKramer, I really mean that as a compliment!
However, there are also areas of potential improvement, at least if I am the person who has to be satisfied. Or to be precise, my main (and only) concern is the handle - which I know is a highly subjective thing to talk about. There are some who prefer Western, some prefer Wa, among Wa-fans are those who like D-shaped handles and those who like octagonal. I like Western and Wa, and in Wa, I like D-shaped and octagonal - can you imagine that??? Talking about materials, handle shapes and execution has kept the forums busy for years! Now, coming back to this knife: F&F of the handle was excellent. I even like the choice of materials very much, even though I would have opted for some other wood. While I thought the handle was only a bit too thick/chunky for my taste at the beginning, I can now, after a couple of days of usage, express better what I didn't like. It is not the thickness itself, it is more the shape... It is octagonal (which I generally like), but slightly different octagonal (see pics). Anyway, this is maybe only my personal taste and probably others will love the shape of it. The thickness of the handle also results in a slightly butt-heavy feeling of a knife of this length. For what it's worth, if I decide to get myself one of Ian's knives, I know it has to feature an octagonal handle with a classic octagonal shape which would be a tad thinner. This and an extra 30mm of length would shift the balance point forward and improve the knife performance more to my liking. Besides that personal preference, this knife is a beast! :ggodjob:
Ian, thank you very much for this fantastic opportunity! I will keep an eye on your online store, searching for a 240mm gyuto with octagonal handle. I have seen amazing knives there, and I am sure that sooner or later I will pull the trigger (if I am patient enough not to go full custom).
Everyone else, enjoy the knife and keep posting your experiences!
Oh, finally some pics (comparison shots with my Shigefusa 210mm Kasumi gyuto):
To begin with the most important thing, cutting performance: my first impression was good, quite nice actually. I cut apples, onions, carrots, courgettes, fennel, peppers, potatoes, chicken breast and fish fillets over the past couple of days. I experienced no stiction, and wedging only once when cutting the fennel stalks (not the bulb itself; and not even when cutting carrots lengthwise). Admittedly, my personal preference is 240mm for a gyuto, but I enjoyed testing this 210mm a lot. While my first impression was "good", my final impression has evolved to a shout-out-loud WOOOO-HA!!! Really, my overall impression is quite... impressed! The blade falls through food and has everything I really want for a knife in my collection.
EDIT: I especially enjoyed the tip of this knife. It definitely is the closest thing to the most wicked tip I have ever used: ZKramer gyuto in 52100. Ian, when I say the tip of your knife comes really, really close to the tip of a ZKramer, I really mean that as a compliment!
However, there are also areas of potential improvement, at least if I am the person who has to be satisfied. Or to be precise, my main (and only) concern is the handle - which I know is a highly subjective thing to talk about. There are some who prefer Western, some prefer Wa, among Wa-fans are those who like D-shaped handles and those who like octagonal. I like Western and Wa, and in Wa, I like D-shaped and octagonal - can you imagine that??? Talking about materials, handle shapes and execution has kept the forums busy for years! Now, coming back to this knife: F&F of the handle was excellent. I even like the choice of materials very much, even though I would have opted for some other wood. While I thought the handle was only a bit too thick/chunky for my taste at the beginning, I can now, after a couple of days of usage, express better what I didn't like. It is not the thickness itself, it is more the shape... It is octagonal (which I generally like), but slightly different octagonal (see pics). Anyway, this is maybe only my personal taste and probably others will love the shape of it. The thickness of the handle also results in a slightly butt-heavy feeling of a knife of this length. For what it's worth, if I decide to get myself one of Ian's knives, I know it has to feature an octagonal handle with a classic octagonal shape which would be a tad thinner. This and an extra 30mm of length would shift the balance point forward and improve the knife performance more to my liking. Besides that personal preference, this knife is a beast! :ggodjob:
Ian, thank you very much for this fantastic opportunity! I will keep an eye on your online store, searching for a 240mm gyuto with octagonal handle. I have seen amazing knives there, and I am sure that sooner or later I will pull the trigger (if I am patient enough not to go full custom).
Everyone else, enjoy the knife and keep posting your experiences!
Oh, finally some pics (comparison shots with my Shigefusa 210mm Kasumi gyuto):
malexthekid
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I really love the look of that knife.
