I recently had posted a thread about looking for a lefty gyuto, and a few people suggested the Misono. In a few other places, I commented that I had one coming and people wanted to know my thoughts, so I figured I'd put up a thread on the knife (as searching didn't find one in this sub-forum).
I had been looking in the 180-210 range, and was just about to pull the trigger on the 210 when I read a comment that the 195 had a slightly taller profile. As I like taller knives, I ordered the 195
As you can see, the lefty knives don't get any engraving. However, this doesn't bother me at all as will become clear.
The specs were exactly as stated on the JCK website:
- 210 mm Blade length
- 167g
- 45mm blade height (Ok - it is 44.5mm, but that's splitting hairs)
Out of the box, fit and finish is very good. My only knock would be that you can feel the tang is slightly raised above the handle. And when I mean slightly, I mean that - it feels like the slightest ridge as you run your finger across the tang. The one thing that I found a bit sloppy was that there was grease from fingerprints on the blade when I took it out of the paper. Would've been nice to have a clean blade for the first look.
The other thing that I did not expect was that the bolster was stamped with a number on the off side (right in my case).
That was confirmed as normal with Koki. I'd just never seen it in any comments anywhere so had been a little surprised
Obligatory Choil shot:
Not the best shot, but the grind of the knife is meant for the lefty.
In the hand, the knife feels very nice. It has a nice heft to it that I like, with a slight weighting to the handle. One thing I'd read after I purchased the knife, but before it arrived, was that the balance point was on the bolster. This made me worried, but it was not an issue. On this length at least, the balance point is slightly behind the pinch grip at the curve of the front of the bolster. To me it feels natural and nimble.
My previous experience with carbon knives are a couple of Tojiro Shirogami (in the grinding finish) and Zwilling Kramer Carbons. As a home chef, I tend to do my prep by collecting ingredients, chopping everything and then wiping down my knife. So far this has treated me well without any rust. The Zwilling Kramers I've had have also had forced patinas, while I've left the Tojiro alone.
My first cutting test of the Misono, with factory edge, was a single onion. Cut in half, put knife down, peel onion half, chop, put knife down, peel other onion half, chop, wash knife. Initial cuts were nice and crisp. Horizontal cuts were not quite as smooth as I hoped, but that may have just been me and my technique. When it came to washing the knife, it had onion juice all over, and was patina free with the exception of a 2mmx2mm square on one side that decided to change color to a nice dark grey.
At this point, I decided to start forcing the patina. A 50/50 mix of 6% vinegar + hottest tap water for 20 minutes, clean the knife, then reheat the solution in the microwave, and two more 20 minute soaks with fresh water cleaning and scrub in between and I've gotten a very dark patina on the knife:
I expect the knife to be pretty much non-reactive at this point. The only thing to point out was that during the process I did get a bit of rust on the bolster (which I thought was stainless and didn't expect to rust). You can also see that the color in the etching was completely eaten away by the vinegar and the etching is hidden by the patina. If I'd had a dragon or flower, it would pretty much be hidden, so no big loss for me compared to have a righty knife
I then put the knife through my standard sharpening (400 Superstone, 1000 Shapton Pro, 5000 Shapton Pro, 8000 Imanishi and black latigo strop). The edge sharpened very nicely and was shining by the time I was done.
Only had one meal prep on it since, and the knife handled beautifully. Sitting here after my mise en place for Pad Thai:
I'll have to spend more time with it to give more details, but through my couple of initial home cook sessions with it, the Misono is a keeper. I'll add more to this thread as I spend time with the knife.
I had been looking in the 180-210 range, and was just about to pull the trigger on the 210 when I read a comment that the 195 had a slightly taller profile. As I like taller knives, I ordered the 195
As you can see, the lefty knives don't get any engraving. However, this doesn't bother me at all as will become clear.
The specs were exactly as stated on the JCK website:
- 210 mm Blade length
- 167g
- 45mm blade height (Ok - it is 44.5mm, but that's splitting hairs)
Out of the box, fit and finish is very good. My only knock would be that you can feel the tang is slightly raised above the handle. And when I mean slightly, I mean that - it feels like the slightest ridge as you run your finger across the tang. The one thing that I found a bit sloppy was that there was grease from fingerprints on the blade when I took it out of the paper. Would've been nice to have a clean blade for the first look.
The other thing that I did not expect was that the bolster was stamped with a number on the off side (right in my case).
That was confirmed as normal with Koki. I'd just never seen it in any comments anywhere so had been a little surprised
Obligatory Choil shot:
Not the best shot, but the grind of the knife is meant for the lefty.
In the hand, the knife feels very nice. It has a nice heft to it that I like, with a slight weighting to the handle. One thing I'd read after I purchased the knife, but before it arrived, was that the balance point was on the bolster. This made me worried, but it was not an issue. On this length at least, the balance point is slightly behind the pinch grip at the curve of the front of the bolster. To me it feels natural and nimble.
My previous experience with carbon knives are a couple of Tojiro Shirogami (in the grinding finish) and Zwilling Kramer Carbons. As a home chef, I tend to do my prep by collecting ingredients, chopping everything and then wiping down my knife. So far this has treated me well without any rust. The Zwilling Kramers I've had have also had forced patinas, while I've left the Tojiro alone.
My first cutting test of the Misono, with factory edge, was a single onion. Cut in half, put knife down, peel onion half, chop, put knife down, peel other onion half, chop, wash knife. Initial cuts were nice and crisp. Horizontal cuts were not quite as smooth as I hoped, but that may have just been me and my technique. When it came to washing the knife, it had onion juice all over, and was patina free with the exception of a 2mmx2mm square on one side that decided to change color to a nice dark grey.
At this point, I decided to start forcing the patina. A 50/50 mix of 6% vinegar + hottest tap water for 20 minutes, clean the knife, then reheat the solution in the microwave, and two more 20 minute soaks with fresh water cleaning and scrub in between and I've gotten a very dark patina on the knife:
I expect the knife to be pretty much non-reactive at this point. The only thing to point out was that during the process I did get a bit of rust on the bolster (which I thought was stainless and didn't expect to rust). You can also see that the color in the etching was completely eaten away by the vinegar and the etching is hidden by the patina. If I'd had a dragon or flower, it would pretty much be hidden, so no big loss for me compared to have a righty knife
I then put the knife through my standard sharpening (400 Superstone, 1000 Shapton Pro, 5000 Shapton Pro, 8000 Imanishi and black latigo strop). The edge sharpened very nicely and was shining by the time I was done.
Only had one meal prep on it since, and the knife handled beautifully. Sitting here after my mise en place for Pad Thai:
I'll have to spend more time with it to give more details, but through my couple of initial home cook sessions with it, the Misono is a keeper. I'll add more to this thread as I spend time with the knife.
Nice review btw - thanks for taking the time.
