Amazing knife, I am envious! Only thing for me is the edge is too straight. I like a little curve in my cleavers. Nice going, if you ever decide to sell I got first dibs!!!!!
Thanks Bert. I noticed in the pictures of my Konosuke (also custom same size) that the edge looked perfectly straight, but after receiving it, the knife had the slightest curve to it that I found to be perfect. I'm hoping this is the same.
So got back to me about the weight - 490g so it's going to be
really similar to my Konosuke
I got another message from So about the knife in response to my question about how hard the steel is -
"Hmmm, HRC huh..., well to be honest, this knowledge isn't too popular yet, but this HRC thing, it's actually very unreliable. It's affected by the angle of the bevel which the diamond pin strikes, and this angle isn't adjusted accurately at all. So I myself never paid much, well to tell you the truth, any attention to it, so I actually don't know. I'm not even sure if Shigefusa themselves know.
But considering the usage of this knife, I assume it is tempered a bit more, perhaps close to deba (Shigefusa's deba is pretty hard, less skilled chefs chip them very easily) or even more, so that it won't chip or crack when striking the bones. But I suggest you go easy on it first and see.
In that sense, you should extensively try it before you change the handle, at least sharpen it twice and get the hang of the steel, because if you feel that it is a bit too hard/tense, you can bake it in the oven and temper it down a bit. It is very easy, but you need to know at what degree, for how long, so IF you decide to do it, let me know and I'll instruct in detail. Once you attach the new handle you cannot take it off anymore, so right before you send it to the handle maker, you can take the handle off (do you think you can do it?) and bake the blade in the oven.
Again, this might sound a bit surprising for you, but this is how the smiths are tempering to begin with, altho their ovens are specialized in tempering, but these tempering ovens are no different from the ones we bake cakes and lasagnas at home =-O
Would this be good enough info?
So"