Regional/OEM branding, call it out here or not?

[rami_m]

I find it interesting that some have quite a few from the same maker while others tend to have lots of different ones. And I don't mean the shig Kato collectors

 

[shownomarci]

i Guess the Akifusa knifes come in 10 trillion different rebrands.

Do you mean Ikeda, Haruyuki, Ohishi,...?

As long as they give you some detailed specs like steel, HRC, grind, apart from the length, i don't mind how they call their OEM brands i might give it a go.
But when they only tell you the blade length and say 'carbon steel' or 'Stainless Steel' and nothing else, then it's a no go for me.
Insufficient info puts me off big time.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

"I do find it funny sometimes when you read people's descriptions that say "this is my favourite knife, its an awesome cutter etc". Does make me wonder..."

"favourite", unless sold due to financial needs, sound disingenious indeed - but positive statements about performance could indeed be down to style, aesthetic, balance... issues.


"If people were only purchasing based on name all the "new" makers that are continuously getting "discovered" would never happen."

To the contrary. If I buy a knife by a maker I can find no information on, bearing that makers name, and use the knife, I have also bought empirical information with it: If it is good, I know "some by maker XY are good", if bad or not my style, "some by maker XY are lousy, or not my style". If it is sold under a rebrand, I can only say anything about the reseller's QC...

 

[malexthekid]

"I do find it funny sometimes when you read people's descriptions that say "this is my favourite knife, its an awesome cutter etc". Does make me wonder..."

"favourite", unless sold due to financial needs, sound disingenious indeed - but positive statements about performance could indeed be down to style, aesthetic, balance... issues.


"If people were only purchasing based on name all the "new" makers that are continuously getting "discovered" would never happen."

To the contrary. If I buy a knife by a maker I can find no information on, bearing that makers name, and use the knife, I have also bought empirical information with it: If it is good, I know "some by maker XY are good", if bad or not my style, "some by maker XY are lousy, or not my style". If it is sold under a rebrand, I can only say anything about the reseller's QC...

So you are proving my point..... and when buying a knife by a maker through a reseller you are saying the same thing about reseller's QC.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

Which means if a reseller features knives by a great new maker under a house brand, that is not helping the maker's "hype" or reputation And the value of such empirical information is shorter lived - resellers tend to be more here today gone tomorrow than makers...

 

[spoiledbroth]

though again to put things in perspective I think most of these knives are regarded as being "professional grade cutlery" in japan, ie intended for professionals

if you go to most decent sushi bars, and talk to your sushiman about different steels, even if you use the japanese terms, you will probably get funny looks.

probably vast majority of professional users only care whether it is carbon or stainless. probably the vast majority of professional users, even in Japan, are not well appraised of the history or reputation of most small makers. I'd imagine names like Ryusen or Takamura and maybe even Shigefusa or Kato ... may be known but not in such detail as is common here.

Long story short: they may not be trying to rip you off with lack of information, they may just mistakenly believe you don't care.

 

[malexthekid]

Long story short: they may not be trying to rip you off with lack of information, they may just mistakenly believe you don't care.

Exactly. Or their business model may be pumping out "generic" knives with minor tweaks to vendors specification which makes different naming perfectly sensible.

 

[fatboylim]

though again to put things in perspective I think most of these knives are regarded as being "professional grade cutlery" in japan, ie intended for professionals

if you go to most decent sushi bars, and talk to your sushiman about different steels, even if you use the japanese terms, you will probably get funny looks.

probably vast majority of professional users only care whether it is carbon or stainless. probably the vast majority of professional users, even in Japan, are not well appraised of the history or reputation of most small makers. I'd imagine names like Ryusen or Takamura and maybe even Shigefusa or Kato ... may be known but not in such detail as is common here.

Long story short: they may not be trying to rip you off with lack of information, they may just mistakenly believe you don't care.

SB, you are totally correct about Japanese Sushi chefs not knowing knife details. In most cases, they train under a master chef who literally takes them to a knife shop and says, buy that one. Usually a knife at their lower skill level.

Only as they get to the upper end of chef work does this change but by then they are used to the very specific grind, geometry, heat treatment etc. of that initial knife.

 

[Dan P.]

Do tell.

I can't say off the top of me head, but if you google something like "who makes Sainsbury's Islay" you will find plenty of Whisky nobs in the UK spend a lot of time thinking about these things.
And, if you think about it, if you buy supermarket brand single malt Islay for 25 pounds, it necessarily comes from a distillery who normally markets a bottle at 35 quid or more.
Problem is it could be excess production, or it could be dud barrels, or a mix of both.

 

[LifeByA1000Cuts]

" they train under a master chef who literally takes them to a knife shop and says, buy that one."

Yep, big difference to the lone home cooking enthusiast that has no choice but be their own master and student at the same time