Sorry all, it's been a crazy week and now we're back to disaster activation for potential flooding in Sacramento so I better get to sharing thoughts while I have a moment.
Use: I didn't get to use it as much I would have liked, but it got in the mix to prep some minestrone, a stir fry, and some poké.
Pros:
1. Took and held a nice edge (admittedly I didn't use enough to really gauge retention).
2. I don't use 210's much but I appreciated the extra height.
3. The handle offered a nice piece of burl for the price point.
4. I liked the profile more than I initially expected with the belly being balanced by a good sized flat with a forward slope to the overall shape. The shape reminded me very much of an S. Tanaka Blue 2, but with more taper in the grind and a solid if not overly aggressive distal taper.
5. Nice budget offering of 52100 steel.
Cons (to be fair I'm being a bit overly picky on some of these for a sub $300.00 knife made in the US):
1. The blade had a substantial twist to it towards the front 1/3 of the blade and some waviness to the edge. It was pronounced enough to be visible looking down at the blade while using it. Visibly it bothered me, but did it affect the cutting ability? Not for me. I'd be curious if it felt differently for a righty.
2. There was some slight uneven portion of the grind close to the end in one spot (sorry, I forgot to take a pic and I can't recall exactly where it was) and some finish inconsistencies.
3. No distal taper to the handle. To be fair this is just a pet peeve of mine for any wa handle and the handle was comfortable in use.
4. Narrow neck isn't my favorite, but this just comes down to personal preference.
Conclusion:
To be fair, my cons 2-4, are mostly personal preference pieces and are the compromises to be expected in a more budget line. I ended up testing it three times to compare against a couple of my favorite knives and as a stand alone. The comparisons we're an MCX Spåre 250mm x 56mm Apex Ultra gyuto and a 255mm x 58mm Kamon 1.2519 gyuto. I definitely leaned towards these two in each side by side comparison, but they're some of my most heavily used knives (and yes comparison to $1300.00 and $450.00 knives is a little unfair, but I think Spåre is an interesting comparison I'll get to a little later). In retrospect I wish I had tried something a little more comparable in size and weight but I don't have many 210's.
In performance, the one place where this really lagged behind was where it just didn't feel great cutting the fish. Initially I was surprised because I thought it had a really nice edge on it. In testing I was paying close attention to account for the length difference and it took half the blade length for the largest cuts on the Kamon vs. about 1 1/2 full length draws on the Hanson. The edge felt good, I just think it came down to how thin behind the edge the Kamon is. This one scenario aside it felt good to use. It felt nimble, I appreciated the height on a 210mm knife, and using it as a stand alone it just felt like a nice all around tool that didn't leave me feeling like I need to grab anything different. If I wanted an all around knife in the $250ish range this offers an interesting option, moreso if you place a premium on something made in the US. I think in the bigger picture of custom makers this a tough price point as jumping the $350.00 threshold can offer a big step up in refinement from makers like Spåre, AG Klint, and Birgersson amongst others. If you're deadset one staying under $300.00 or especially like taller 210 range knives, these are worth consideration. I'm curious to see the higher-end line up close for comparison.
Postscript:
Very different knives, but it makes me think of two of my favorite workhorse knives, on one side is a 270mm Xerxes and the other is a collection of 4 Munetoshi gyuto. I don't give a **** about the imperfections in the Munetoshi's, I just enjoy the project in a couple of them, beat on the third one, and tell myself to sell the Migaki so I can buy a 270mm kurouchi. On the Xerxes, it feels effortless and the craftmanship is pretty much flawless, the Munetoshi is just a great knife that I don't feel like I need to baby. I love them both. If you get a good one of these I think it can fall in that Munetoshi camp (albeit at a much lighter weight).
Thank you to @Delat, @Matt Jacobs and @Brian Hanson for the pass around.
Cheers!
Ive got a 180mm petty from him! Its a little on the thick workhorsey side but it takes an excellent edge. (He also makes a sweet bench scraper too)I’ve been eyeing a 180mm petty on his website for a while, people’s comments on this thread are making it hard to make excuse for not buying it now
Blade Defects
The blade did not appear damaged in any way when I received it, but there were two issues I noticed during inspection.
The edge is angled to one side toward the front part of the knife. If holding the knife in a cutting position, the edge kinda goes to the right. However, the spine looks straight, so you can think of it as a bit of a “twist.” I don’t think it had any noticeable effect on performance, but still something worth noting.
The profile also has short section of recurve or “hole” toward the back. This is definitely noticeable in use, where it creates a sort of stop in the cutting motion. Also it’s noticeable when sharpening the blade.
Performance/ Actual Use
I went through a mix of about 20lbs of stuff with the knife, making a big pot of pasta sauce and another big pot of soup. A variety of hard, soft, wet, dry, tall, dense, fatty and some acidic ingredients.
In general, the knife performs like a thin laser (again very similar to the Takamura, which aligns with what I expected from the measurements). Pretty nimble due to its length and weight. It falls through foods, no wedging, no cracking of carrots, goes through onions both vertically and horizontally with little effort. In stuff where I needed a bit more force such as fatty pork shoulder where the edge kinda gets stuck, the square edges on the spine became noticeable, creating pressure point on my grip. I personally was not a fan of the handle design for my hand. As I mentioned earlier in the review, it was difficult to get a solid grip due to the size/shape, so I ended up taking a few breaks during the prep to stretch out my hand some.
I think perhaps the knife’s greatest shortcoming is the stiction. Wet product was getting glued to the blade. I suspect that this is related to the finish of the blade rather than geometry, because I pulled out a couple knives with similar grinds/thickness to test side by side and didn’t notice the same level of sticking.
The 52100 steel performed as you would expect. It maintains its edge well, and seems to have minimal reactivity. Onions didn’t blacken, and I didn’t notice any smells that are common when using carbon knives and working with acidic ingredients.
Final Thoughts/ Summary
I have mixed feelings about this knife. I would categorize it with the lasers due to grind and performance, though it has a thicker spine than your typical Takamura or Kono HD2. I understand this is supposed to be a budget version, so it won’t have all the bells and whistles of the higher end, but when considering this knife against other 210mm in the $200-$325 range, there is stiff competition (Ashi Ginga, Kono HD2, Takamura, Shiro Kamo, Wakui, Yoshikane, Matsubara, Manaka, yoake, Shibata, and on the western end, Markin, Spare, etc).
Pros:
Cons:
- Top notch presentation
- Laser performance
- Nimble, good balance
- Quality materials
- Low reactivity
- Handle shape not to my preference
- Square spine/choil edges
- Some manufacturing defects in blade
- Stiction in wet product
Thanks for reading. Again, I really appreciate the opportunity to test drive this knife and share my thoughts with everyone.
Houston, Tx here is love to give it a try if any room. Thanks
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