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inzite said:
I've not quite figured it out, so did Master Nagao retire fully yet or not? I would buy a 270 honyaki made by him in a heartbeat if it came with the fit and finish found on the likes of sukenari or mizuno honyaki's - kind of want the 270 to be my final knife so would require it to be highly finished. Having said that, I'm totally loving his honyaki santoku that I got, to the point and quite a workhorse - does everything I use it for with ease and sharpens easily while at a competitive price!
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to be honest I think koki has posted about ten new (could be NOS - new old stock) items from Hiromoto in the last year, however, I have a funny feeling this might be the last update.
 
inzite said:
I've not quite figured it out, so did Master Nagao retire fully yet or not? I would buy a 270 honyaki made by him in a heartbeat if it came with the fit and finish found on the likes of sukenari or mizuno honyaki's - kind of want the 270 to be my final knife so would require it to be highly finished. Having said that, I'm totally loving his honyaki santoku that I got, to the point and quite a workhorse - does everything I use it for with ease and sharpens easily while at a competitive price!
Click to expand...

He has retired. He visits factory to advice and educate young generation of knife makers.

His final collection is the vg-10 damascus. Though I am not a fan of damascus, that particular one i love it, as I love the backside of his g-3 damascus.
Problem is, after carbons and sg-2, I dont want more vg-10 and g-3, I already have enough. though I am tempted for the vg-10, since it is his last creation.
If only it had been in white 2, or as.

His honyaki santoku, light brown handle, is divine! The other one, rosewood handle, had different profile, I cant tell.
The light brown handle has a hybrid gyuto-santoku profile, very handy. I used it to fillet a big halibut, vegetable prep, on the line, perfect!
The gyuto metal bolster, is even better. Quality wise, like the whole blade has something extra, I cant describe it. Hard, easy to sharpen, keeps edge because of hardness.

I have eased the spine in mine, and mirror polished it(up to a degree).

I was thinking today, before I read your post, to ask Koki, if he knows any technicians, to mirror polish it, perfect, my second one (I love that knife).

Ask him a question
 
Handles on mine are perfect. 240mm cutting edge, perfect balance, the most artisan spinal tampering ever
 
supersayan3 said:
He has retired. He visits factory to advice and educate young generation of knife makers.

His final collection is the vg-10 damascus. Though I am not a fan of damascus, that particular one i love it, as I love the backside of his g-3 damascus.
Problem is, after carbons and sg-2, I dont want more vg-10 and g-3, I already have enough. though I am tempted for the vg-10, since it is his last creation.
If only it had been in white 2, or as.

His honyaki santoku, light brown handle, is divine! The other one, rosewood handle, had different profile, I cant tell.
The light brown handle has a hybrid gyuto-santoku profile, very handy. I used it to fillet a big halibut, vegetable prep, on the line, perfect!
The gyuto metal bolster, is even better. Quality wise, like the whole blade has something extra, I cant describe it. Hard, easy to sharpen, keeps edge because of hardness.

I have eased the spine in mine, and mirror polished it(up to a degree).

I was thinking today, before I read your post, to ask Koki, if he knows any technicians, to mirror polish it, perfect, my second one (I love that knife).

Ask him a question
Click to expand...

spoiledbroth said:
270mm honyaki yo gyuto... scroll past the aogami santokus and you will find it available inzite

you can easily have someone to rehandle the knife if the handle is done poorly. but it sounds like sayan is saying the knfe is fine quality wise.
Click to expand...

spoiledbroth said:
to be honest I think koki has posted about ten new (could be NOS - new old stock) items from Hiromoto in the last year, however, I have a funny feeling this might be the last update.
Click to expand...


I believe the santoku you mentioned is the one I have, assuming by light brown you refer to the one still in stock (the first honyaki santoku on the hiromoto page). I find it a good choice for my needs - home cooking. Sharp enough and havn't notice any cracking when cutting thick and dense items. It is also my first japanese knife so I don't have any comparison but ideally my next knife, potentially a 270mm I would prefer it to be highly finished without having to ship it off to upgrade it after purchase since I'm located in Canada and most highly reviewed folks that does nice finishing upgrades are in the states.
 
You can ask for it, and if possible to happen, it will come to you ready. I have to send it, if it can happen, since I already have it.
As a home cook, I suggest you to consider a 24cm knife
 
spoiledbroth said:
270mm honyaki yo gyuto... scroll past the aogami santokus and you will find it available inzite

you can easily have someone to rehandle the knife if the handle is done poorly. but it sounds like sayan is saying the knfe is fine quality wise.
Click to expand...

spoiledbroth said:
to be honest I think koki has posted about ten new (could be NOS - new old stock) items from Hiromoto in the last year, however, I have a funny feeling this might be the last update.
Click to expand...

supersayan3 said:
You can ask for it, and if possible to happen, it will come to you ready. I have to send it, if it can happen, since I already have it.
As a home cook, I suggest you to consider a 24cm knife
Click to expand...

yes 240 or 270 will depend on the knive some are short of that or longer of that. somewhere around 250 to 260 is what i want.
 
supersayan3 said:
Why did you sold your Sukenari zdp tjangula? What did you thought of the size(cutting edge length)?

I dont like that yo knives, are never the size they tell. 240mm and it is between 228-255mm, depending on the maker.

I was thinking till 2 hours ago, to get a ZDP 24cm, now I am thinking a Honyaki whiite 1, 27cm.

Spoiledbroth, I dont know why he calls it honyaki, and what procedures he made, but it is a monosteel ZDP, that yanagiba, unique!
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I sold for a number of reasons... a large one was I don't want/need a knife with insane edge retention like ZDP-189 as I barely seem to need to use the stones as it is. The cutting edge was about 258mm; I genereally don't care for knives in the 270 size (prefer 240ish for most work or else my 300 Misono Dragon for monster prep), although I like the ZK 52100 10" and my 270 Takeda NAS. A pro to some may be that for a knife this long it was only about 51-52mm at the heel if you don't like taller knives (my Watanabe 240 is 55mm).

I ended up buying the Sukenari AS Damascus 240mm Gyuto as a replacement, but sold it too after putting one of Maksim's semi-custom ebony nickel-silver handles on it.
ED459EE6-97B6-4A66-96A8-8FE1F1965486_zpsvdxophdj.jpg

I really liked it but it was the same profile as my honyaki and I felt like I had too many knives and still had other projects I wanted to fund so made the decision to let it go :sad0:


spoiledbroth said:
monosteel! must be a bear to sharpen.

yes it is true sukenari I have noticed make the measurement to include the neck of the knife, so effectively you lose 5 or 10mm on the cutting edge. I know TJ sold his just a few months after someone posted a video of a zdp-189 knife with a massive failure (7-8mm deep chip if I recall) and I believe it was the Sukenari damascus zdp-189. Though as a cook I actually I kind of like the 225-230mm range, as a consumer it's a bit of a piss take.
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This was the thread (http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/22170-Oh-Macro-chip-on-a-rather-pricey-knife) but it wasn't why I sold it. The knife was put through the wringer and survivied fairly well. I was planning on a custom handle but then the the AS Damascus caught my eye, which I ended up selling anyways, man I'm an idiot :doublebanghead:
 
Hiromoto cleaver arrived today :D

I'll post more later but at first glance it kind of has a wavy bevel/cutting edge (can be corrected) and is definitely asymmetric (will post choil shot). I'll be using is for some veg prep this evening so will post my thoughts.
 
I'm waiting with bated breath
 
tjangula said:
Hiromoto cleaver arrived today :D

I'll post more later but at first glance it kind of has a wavy bevel/cutting edge (can be corrected) and is definitely asymmetric (will post choil shot). I'll be using is for some veg prep this evening so will post my thoughts.
Click to expand...

pjotr said:
I'm waiting with bated breath
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Brucewml said:
I am waiting too. Lol
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supersayan3 said:
Me too
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Well, here it is:
7C570BB2-5355-4F85-953A-410EF1B44AD8_zpsgnrvo1gp.jpg


You can see that it looks fairly asymmetrical:
5B9D242B-A130-4423-B130-F2067A7F3FEF_zpsyszuel9c.jpg


Stevie Wonder bevel setting:
9F058751-964E-4CDB-8AD3-DB95CB873CBC_zps2wgbfewa.jpg


I used it and as a lefty didn't encounter much problems, the biggest issue is its my first cleaver and my wrist is so high when using three it feel different. I did some celery, cucumber and bell pepper for salads and despite the OOTB edge it did alright, bit into the peppers skin side up no problem. I imagine the weight helps too in this regard. I do this veggie combo every week and felt it did alright considering the cleaver learning curve.

I'll be doing some kale, chard, spinach, shiitake mushrooms and tomatoes (another weekly regular) later and will report back.
 
Thank you for pics and review, living vicariously through others knives is the next best thing to having them yourself :biggrin:
 
ah yeah that's what my wonky bevels looked like. Looks really nice though! Hope you grow to love it. :)
 
I still can't understand what I see.

My Honyakis, none of their bevels look like this

Cleaver looks a beauty though [emoji4]

Thank you for the photos!
 
supersayan3 said:
I still can't understand what I see.

My Honyakis, none of their bevels look like this

Cleaver looks a beauty though [emoji4]

Thank you for the photos!
Click to expand...

also confirming my hiromoto honyaki santoku didnt have such strange edges :O
 
My Hiromoto Chinese Cleaver came. The sharpening was irregular somehow, wider in the tip and heel, much narrower in the middle, but it is very very sharp [emoji75]

Also, I remember, my Hiromoto As 20cm, had arrived with irregular edge towards the tip, but that one was extremely sharp as well, cut perfect, and was no need to do anything to it
 
Cool, I sent mine off to get rehandled along with another knife. Mine was sharp enough to do my prep at home, but should have taken my finger nail off when I hit it (I've cut thru and taken out part of the nail and skin underneath before on a knife I sharpened, and I'm no expert). I'm having it sharpened by Dave so I can see what a real sharpening job is like
 
tjangula said:
Cool, I sent mine off to get rehandled along with another knife. Mine was sharp enough to do my prep at home, but should have taken my finger nail off when I hit it (I've cut thru and taken out part of the nail and skin underneath before on a knife I sharpened, and I'm no expert). I'm having it sharpened by Dave so I can see what a real sharpening job is like
Click to expand...

Haha, be careful with your fingers
 
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