Gesshin Uraku 165 Nakiri

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Knife is on its way to Todd and should arrive Thursday. I'll post my thoughts on it asap, but for now it was definitely a fun experience--thanks Crothcipt!
 
Crothcipt said:
here is the list. To bad it didn't get bigger.

Bradgibson
Amon-Rukh
Stereo Pete
Toddnmd

Todd if you don't live in Maryland pm me were. I seem to remember you said that was a part of your name. The order went as for location west to east. Brad pm me your address and I will get this out first thing.
Click to expand...

List update,

Toddnmd
Mrmnms
then back to stereo pete if he has time then.

Remember post pics plz.
 
Amon-Rukh said:
Knife is on its way to Todd and should arrive Thursday. I'll post my thoughts on it asap, but for now it was definitely a fun experience--thanks Crothcipt!
Click to expand...

Not a problem, thx for trying it out. What did you think?

Toddnmd did this arrive? Guys please link me the shipping details. I just find that doing that for the owner gives a piece of mind.

It looks like I missed someone when I did the new list. Sorry for the oversight Chef

I'll just put Cheflarge right before stereo pete to give more time for him.

Toddnmd
Mrmnms
Cheflarge
Stereo Pete

Again sorry for that Chef, I had a ton of stuff on my mind at the time.
 
:chin:

Where is this??? Anyone post anything about the knife? Pics?
 
Knife is here. We'll start on it this afternoon
 
Received the knife from Mrmnms yesterday. Looks awesome for the price point. The only thing that I see OOTB is the lack of a distal taper (or extremelly limited). I will put it through the paces next week at work and then off to Pete. Pete are you going to make it up to the "hammer in?"
 
I have 3 Nakiri's and I can't think of any distal taper at all. I don't think they are to have any. I can be wrong tho.
 
Well I have three as well and it appears that two of them have distal tapers, whatever. Put the knife through some minor paces today and was very impressed. Edge was sharp and there was no wedging at all. Really like the balance and make up of this knife, so far. More to come.
 
I have done my due diligence and will have a complete report in a few days. Pete did you want a pass at this one? Let me know, ready to ship this one out.

Don't think you will find a better nakiri for the price.
 
I just recently got the Uraku Kamagata usuba and am super pleased with it. I knew what I was getting myself into with the nice fit and finish and sweet saya on this knife. Thanks again for the opportunity to use it!
 
Dave it will be sent to you some time around mon. since chef is going to a hammer in. Thx Chef for your patience on this.
 
I've had a chance to take this around the block a couple of times and came away favorably impressed.

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I did not sharpen or strop the knife. Was using a 165 Carter Nakiri for relative comparison.

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Mirepoix is a common "new knife" test for me. Onions cut very precisely, knife handled easily. Celery could do all day. Carrots would occasionally split on lengthwise cut. Dice was clean. Prepped some Trinity as well. Took a little push to julienne bells, dice was precise. "Sticktion" happened but no more than on Carter.

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Sushi class prep was next up. When slicing "thin as you can" scallions there was some accordion stuff going on, prob as much to do with user as knife. Thin sliced mushrooms were easy. Cubing tofu (I washed it well afterwords) was straightforward. These beauties went into the worst Miso soup ever made. Julienned cukes were easy. Fake "ken" cut carrots for garnish went fine.

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The most impressive thing about the knife is the value at the price point. I have no aversion to stainless and think its a good steel for this knifes market. The wa handle is no frills but does not look or feel "cheap". Fit is good.

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A subjective impression is that it felt a little "clunky" compared to the more svelte Carter. It handled well but not gracefully.

The only part of the knife I did not like was the edge on the spine. Sharp corner rubbed a raw spot on callus. After cutting vegs with moderate pressure, i.e. onions, I appreciated the more rounded edges on most of my knives. This could probably be easily remedied with a little sandpaper.

Overall I liked it. Great value at the price point. If this is representative of the Uraku lineup the knives should do very well.

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Thanks Cothcript for the opportunity to participate. Where does it go next?
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If no one else wants in send it back to me. Give it a couple of days to see if anyone else would like to try it.

Dave thx for giving it a good write up.

The only thing I didn't like about this knife was how it stuck to everything, I don't know if it was the lacquer or not enough use. Also going from a 270 to this throws me off, but it's not just this knife that it happens with.
 
First off, I'd like to apologize to Crothcipt for taking so long to respond and second to the forum for the thread necromancy I'm committing right now. Hopefully it will at least be semi-interesting for people though. I was able to participate in this passaround last year and it was really cool (thanks Crothcipt!). In between then and now I've had to deal with a lot of work-related stress plus my computer's hard drive crashing, which I thought had destroyed my write-up about this knife. But yesterday i (largely by accident) discovered some notes about the knife that I had apparently saved on an old flash drive and forgotten about. So I will post those as is and hopefully they can contribute to the discussion about this knife!

note: I did not sharpen this knife while I had it but I did strop it on balsa loaded with 1 micron diamond solution.

Gesshin Uraku 165mm nakiri

pros:
Comes with a great saya!
Was excellent with garlic, ginger, cabbage, broccoli, cutting corn off of cob, herbs, green onions
Good on small cutting surface (I am sometimes limited to a 10x10 inch board and this size is definitely more maneuverable and convenient than a knife that is 80-120% the size of the board)

middle ground:
Cucumber, eggplant (some sticking but not too annoying and noticeably less than on German chef's knife)
Quite blade-heavy (Personally I prefer a bit more overall balance but I know some people like it better this way.)
F&F could be better but it's not bad at all for the price point and will certainly serve you well (can feel difference between handle and ferrule, sharp choil)
Small size made initially cutting through big cabbage difficult, but chopping the cabbage slices into slaw later on was great.

cons:
Carrots, onions (did not glide through)
Yellow squash (lots of sticking)
Tomato (hard time getting through skin, significant squashing)

Overall I liked the knife quite a bit; I was curious about it since it was one of the knives that I was considering when I bought a nakiri last year. Ultimately I am happier with the Zensho nakiri that I ended up buying, but there is a definite price difference but I did like the Uraku and it sticks in my mind as a good budget option!
 
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