Review: Markin Gyuto 240 mm

[Bico Doce]

I recently received my custom from @Markin and I thought I would offer a brief review on this 240 gyuto.

First off, my qualifications. I have none. I am nothing more than a hobbyist whose outlay on kitchen knives has considerably outpaced his talent to use them. I will say I have owned and sold around 30 high end knives, so I feel like I have a decent baseline for comparison. I may mention another knife or maker in this review as a point of reference but not with the intent proclaiming a "winner". I will not be providing any measurements outside of the normal BST requirements because I personally am really only interested in the feel and not the numbers behind it.

Before digging into the knife itself I would just like to say that my dealing with Andrey was an absolute pleasure (this probably did not need to be stated). Looking back on our email thread I think there was a total of ~70 emails when it was all said and done. He was very informative, patient and responsive. I did waffle a bit on the build (which I imagine gets old very quick with makers) but he took it like a champ. In the end I asked Andrey to make me a knife that he would want for himself. I asked for around 240mm and told him I would like a handle with some contrast to it. He did the rest. Total time from first inquiry to receiving the knife - 5 months.

Here are the specs:
Length: 240 mm

Height: 54 mm

Weight: 206 grams

Handle: Snakewood

Steel: K390/Stainless Clad, 64 hrc

Here are some pics (there are professional shots on Andrey's maker's thread as well)

 

[Bico Doce]

Fit and finish was some of the best I have experienced. Not only was the polish very well done but the spine and choil was rounded to perfection. Hands down one of the most comfortable knives I have handled. The handle job is on another level. Talk about a precision fit. Here are some pics to show you what I am talking about

 

[Bico Doce]

Balance point for this knife is right at the heel which is a little more neutral than I am accustomed to but given how much I love the handle it is a price worth paying for such gorgeous wood.

In terms of performance - one of the most telling signs you know you will love a knife is that first cut. It glides thru that onion and you know - this thing is good. I would say it gave me some serious Toyama vibes in terms of how it felt going thru the onion. I know it's not even close to being the same profile but it had that feeling of just the slightest hint of resistance and then it was gone - a beautifully executed convex grind.

The profile reminded me of the Yoshikane SKD but without the flat spot that causes the knife to come to a screaming halt on the board. Food release was very good given how little cutting resistance you feel. I tested this out against the biggest sweet potato I could find and there wasn't any wedging to be heard of. Long story short, Andrey managed to hit all of the right notes that I look for in a knife while avoiding many of the pitfalls. It is an example of a beautifully crafted knife, balanced with the best traits. I do not say this lightly but it is one of the best I have had the pleasure of using and you will not be seeing this on BST in my lifetime.

I can't speak to edge retention or ease of sharpening but it came with a razor sharp edge and I am interested to see how long that lasts given this being a high alloy steel.

 

[Bico Doce]

 

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[Barmoley]

Beautiful knife and thanks for sharing.

 

[jedy617]

if you don't mind me asking what did something like this run you? Would love some k390 in my life.

 

[Geigs]

Looks awesome. I have a few of Andre's knives and they are fabulous cutters.

 

[AT5760]

@jedy617 if you look at Andrei’s maker thread here, you will see his prices are really reasonable for custom/ one-off work.

Great review, definitely a maker I’d like to try someday.

 

[Brian Weekley]

Great review!

I would love to see it added to the Naughty Schoolboy - great potato slap down.

 

[daniel_il]

very nice blade and handle, loved that the tip in particular

 

[Bico Doce]

very nice blade and handle, loved that the tip in particular

I was very impressed with the tip as well. Almost felt like a petty when I was cutting that shallot

 

[jedy617]

@jedy617 if you look at Andrei’s maker thread here, you will see his prices are really reasonable for custom/ one-off work.

Great review, definitely a maker I’d like to try someday.

Yep I have a petty from him, was just curious on this build

 

[Bico Doce]

I thought I would add a follow up since my first post. I have been using this Markin exclusively and I would say my initial assessment holds up.

As far as edge retention goes, I did notice today that the edge was not as sharp as OOTB which could easily slice thru a paper towel. It was still very sharp from a functional point of view because what who the hell is cutting paper towels for dinner? But nonetheless the edge had lost a little bit of its sharpness so i stropped the knife for about a minute on leather with .5 micron diamond paste and the Mac was back. K390 has been impressive so far. I’ll post another update when I actually hit the stones.

TLDR: Markin’s work is top notch and highly underrated

 

[Bico Doce]

I just realized I tagged some random member in my first post at the top as opposed to @Andrei . I would correct it but I can no longer edit the post

 

[Bico Doce]

I thought I would add a note here for sharpening. The edge retention was too good and I did not want to wait a year or however long to sharpen this knife so I did the logical thing and blunted it on the side of my gesshin 220. Once I could feel all of the bite of the edge was gone against my finger nail I gave this knife a full sharpening.

I had read that you could use conventional whetstones for sharpening high alloy steels at lower grits so I started with a NP 400. Terrible choice. The stone felt glassy as if it were doing nothing. I tried to make up for it with increased pressure which sort of worked but it is harder to maintain an angle when you start dialing up the pressure. I was persistent and stuck with it until I felt the slightest burr form (hell, it may have been imagined by that point just so I could move on). I de-burred, stropped a bit on the stone and the knife was reasonably sharp. Enough to cut paper, sort of cut paper towel but not enough to shave hair.

From here I moved on to a Naniwa Diamond 1000. This was a much better experience. On this stone the steel sharpened almost like a low alloy steel would on conventional whetstones. I was able to raise a burr easily and I could feel that the burr resembled of a "negative burr" which is to say small and brittle. After removing the burr the knife was much sharper.

I then used a Venev Phoenix Fine/Extra Fine combo stone to refine the edge. I thought this stone performed pretty well for $100. I preferred the feel of the Naniwa but for the price I thought it was great. By the time I finished with both sides of the stone the knife had a great edge with plenty of bite and could slice a paper towel cleanly. I did strop afterwords with 1 micron diamond paste and then some green compound (I did this because I had read that finishing off with AlOx exposes a bit more of the carbide at the edge, giving it a more aggressive feel).

Tldr: if you have diamond stones, sharpening k390 is a breeze. Venev offers some options at a good price, you could get 4 grits for $200. I am thinking I will grab a course combo stone from them so I dont have to muck around with that NP 400 again. Overall this steel has been fantastic, great edge retention and enough toughness where I haven't had any issues with chipping.

 

[Bico Doce]

Ok, here’s the last piece of the review, a toughness test. This video is me cutting a kabocha which is pretty damn hard. I didn’t record the whole thing because it would have been too long but I cut and peeled the whole squash. That involved some awkward cutting that made me think I would leave with a micro chip or two but the edge held up beautifully.

Long story short k390 at 64 hrc is a really great steel choice for a kitchen knife.

 

[DF18]

This is really awesome! Thank you for putting this out there. I grabbed one of his “budget” knives that he posted on Instagram a while ago. I’m still waiting on it to depart Russia. I also put in an order for a custom from him that is about 4 months out!

 

[Bico Doce]

This is really awesome! Thank you for putting this out there. I grabbed one of his “budget” knives that he posted on Instagram a while ago. I’m still waiting on it to depart Russia. I also put in an order for a custom from him that is about 4 months out!

Thanks! I dont see myself doing a lot of reviews but I thought it was worth it for this knife because there isn't a lot of information out there on Markin's knives. What do you have planned for your custom if you don't mind me asking?

 

[DF18]

I can imagine, just because a review this in-depth takes a lot of time I’m sure! I haven’t heard much about his knives, but everything I have heard has been positive.
I asked for one of these:
Monosteel workhorse, 8mm to 1mm taper.

 

[Geigs]

I can imagine, just because a review this in-depth takes a lot of time I’m sure! I haven’t heard much about his knives, but everything I have heard has been positive.
I asked for one of these:
Monosteel workhorse, 8mm to 1mm taper.

Oh man that's nice. I have 3 markins but no workhorse, perhaps time I had a 4th....

 

[DF18]

His “budget” drop will be my first, hopefully quickly followed by the workhorse. The budget is supposed to keep me tided over. and I’m telling myself I’ll only keep one…..

 

[Rangen]

Wow. Great review of what sounds like a great knife.

Do you need my shipping address, to send it to after you get tired of it?

 

[daddy yo yo]

Wow. Great review of what sounds like a great knife.

Do you need my shipping address, to send it to after you get tired of it?

Get in line!