Drinking the Takeda kool aid

[sergeysus]

Did you get your new knife yet? Pics?

 

[milkbaby]

Thanks for asking sergeysus! Yes I got the knife Saturday but didn't have the time to use it until today. However I was so taken by its looks that I already made a saya for it.

As you can see from the choil pic, it does have a bit of a shoulder at the shinogi. However, it cut through potatoes and onions superbly with incredible food release. There was a bit of wedging on carrots. I did some A/B cutting comparing with the DT ITK, and the Takeda rules on potatoes whereas the DT wins at carrots.

The height is awesome, almost 66 mm. I'm totally smitten with the looks, and the patina after cutting onions was beautiful blue, purple, and yellow. The one off-putting thing was when I first held the knife, it was so light that it felt like a toy!

 

[sergeysus]

Nice! I think the "shoulder" is there on many knives and there was a thread about this. I think its there for food release.

Its not a laser, but a general purpose chefs knife and that it is! My 210mm Bunka is 1/2 the weight of 240mm guyoto and 1/2 thickness.... Now I just need a Takeda suji/yanagi.

I would be curious to what you think after using it for a while.

 

[Fedusa]

Very cool! Did you just use that little chisel in the back to make it? I really want to make a few for my knives.

 

[milkbaby]

Nice! I think the "shoulder" is there on many knives and there was a thread about this. I think its there for food release.
Its not a laser, but a general purpose chefs knife and that it is! My 210mm Bunka is 1/2 the weight of 240mm guyoto and 1/2 thickness.... Now I just need a Takeda suji/yanagi.
I would be curious to what you think after using it for a while.

It definitely has incredible food release, potatoes were absolutely no problem. The best food release of any of the knives I've used so far. I'm definitely planning to keep it the way it came for a while before I decide on thinning it or not. I think the speculation that some of the grinds are thicker is to keep hamfisted users from damaging the blade is possibly correct. This thing is sharp and light, I can definitely see that some users could very well abuse it. I really like it so far, call me a fan.

Very cool! Did you just use that little chisel in the back to make it? I really want to make a few for my knives.

Thanks, and yes, I used the chisel to carefully cut out the space for the blade. This is my second homemade saya and is made out of basswood. Basswood is soft and often used for intricate wood carving by artists.

The first saya I made was out of balsa wood which is quite soft, so good for the blade, but somewhat flimsy feeling in the hand. Basswood has a little more heft and feels a lot more sturdy. I could've made a friction fit saya with the basswood, but I didn't want to possibly wear down the kurouchi finish from the contact. I have some pine and poplar wood that I got for future sayas, but I am going to have to sharpen the chisel because it took FOREVER to carve out the wood! I'm in an apartment right now so no garage to store power tools, so everything is done by hand tools except for using a power drill to make the pin hole. There was a LOT of hand sanding involved, oof! But the feeling of accomplishment is very rewarding, so I'll continue to make them myself.