the Knife That'll Decide my Future

[steelcrimp]

Epicurean edge has the Yoshi in stock atm. Though it's with the ho wood handle. You could ask if they're willing to swap a different handle on it. The Stock handle is very well made IMO. I bought mine from them and had a very pleasant experience buying from them.

Still the Tanaka is a great choice and James is just one of the best guys around to do business with.

Yeah I guess the hammering look just isn't for me. I was looking around JKI and I stumpled upon the Koichi K-tip 240mm heheheh. That knife looks beautiful. Thin behind the edge with a thick spine, very tapered towards the tip, and a nice ku finish.

It seems with the Tanaka, I'm paying mostly for a custom handle? Which isn't to say it's still a great price at 230 usd to get a custom handle for the blade.

 

[rickg17]

Epicurean edge has the Yoshi in stock atm. Though it's with the ho wood handle. You could ask if they're willing to swap a different handle on it. The Stock handle is very well made IMO. I bought mine from them and had a very pleasant experience buying from them.

Still the Tanaka is a great choice and James is just one of the best guys around to do business with.

No no, he should buy BOTH and sell one

The downside of lurking on this thread is learning about the Yoshi. Why? Because Epic Edge is about 10 miles from me....

 

[steelcrimp]

Sorry guys, I'm going to go against everything said here and go for the 240 Koichi stainless clad gyuto. I saw pictures on JKI's instagram and its too beautiful to pass up. Plus that burnt chestnut handle is sexy af.

Only thing is it wont ship til Jan 5th ((

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Excellent choice. The stainless clad finish is awesome. The chestnut handle looks good, durable & comfortable.

 

[Matus]

The Kochi knives are great. I had a K-tip santoku with carbon cladding - very thin behind the edge, with excellent weight distribution and very even grind. The kurouchi was beautiful too.

 

[steelcrimp]

The Kochi knives are great. I had a K-tip santoku with carbon cladding - very thin behind the edge, with excellent weight distribution and very even grind. The kurouchi was beautiful too.

Yeah I'm soo stoked. I love the look of the handle too.

Question about the sharpening of your santoku, did you lay the wide bevel completely flat to the stone while sharpening, or did you just do the edge?

 

[OliverNuther]

Only thing is it wont ship til Jan 5th ((

You can spend the time deciding what your next knife will be. 😇

Because there will be a next one.

 

[steelcrimp]

You can spend the time deciding what your next knife will be. 😇

Because there will be a next one.

Not until I use the Kochi and can feel what I'm missing out on hah

 

[OliverNuther]

Hah! Yes. Good point.

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Yeah I'm soo stoked. I love the look of the handle too.

Question about the sharpening of your santoku, did you lay the wide bevel completely flat to the stone while sharpening, or did you just do the edge?

A few pointers if using a thinning bevel first:

I would not lay the blade flat to the stone. The Kochi has a mist finish above the clad line, this line is about 4mm to the knife edge. If you lay the blade flat to the stone the side of the knife will scratch up above the clad line into the mist finish.

When I was working in production kit. I would do my thinning bevel almost flat to the stone before putting on a micro bevel. I did not care how the knife looked as long as it was sharp & cut well.

Now esp. since I sharpen a lot of other peoples knives, for thinning bevel use spine 3-5% off the stone. Also I lift the knife slightly off the stone after each stroke, even mud on the stone can marr above the clad line at a 3% shallow bevel if not lifting the blade. At higher bevels can keep the knife on the stone. Even a 3% bevel is well below the clad line.

I sell pass around knives. It is easy because put on very sharp edges and the sides of the knives are like out of the box.

Hope this helps don't want you to mess up the looks of that beautiful Kochi

 

[deskjockey]

Yes, pay attention to the angles on your new knife or you will get cosmetic 'blems'. Also, pay attention to be very consistent with your strokes on the stone so you get an even and consistent edge.

 

[Matus]

Yeah I'm soo stoked. I love the look of the handle too.

Question about the sharpening of your santoku, did you lay the wide bevel completely flat to the stone while sharpening, or did you just do the edge?

Since the blade is so crazy thin behind the edge you can keep sharpening just the edge for quite some time.

I did lay the bevel flat on a stone (thinning was still not needed, I was just curios) and one could see that the bevel is gently concave ground. No damage was done to the finish above the shinogi line. But one shoul be careful where the pressure is being applied when doing do, so you do not push the shinogi further up as that really is not necessary.

 

[steelcrimp]

A few pointers if using a thinning bevel first:

I would not lay the blade flat to the stone. The Kochi has a mist finish above the clad line, this line is about 4mm to the knife edge. If you lay the blade flat to the stone the side of the knife will scratch up above the clad line into the mist finish.

When I was working in production kit. I would do my thinning bevel almost flat to the stone before putting on a micro bevel. I did not care how the knife looked as long as it was sharp & cut well.

Now esp. since I sharpen a lot of other peoples knives, for thinning bevel use spine 3-5% off the stone. Also I lift the knife slightly off the stone after each stroke, even mud on the stone can marr above the clad line at a 3% shallow bevel if not lifting the blade. At higher bevels can keep the knife on the stone. Even a 3% bevel is well below the clad line.

I sell pass around knives. It is easy because put on very sharp edges and the sides of the knives are like out of the box.

Hope this helps don't want you to mess up the looks of that beautiful Kochi

Yes that does help, thank you. I'm not sure what you mean by the 3%. is it that 3% of the blade is only on the whetstone? So the 4mm edge thats below the clad line will be one bevel, and then the micro bevel will just be a tiny portion of that bevel, correct? I saw Jons video where he details the Kochi line, and he recommended the micro bevel for these knives.

Since the blade is so crazy thin behind the edge you can keep sharpening just the edge for quite some time.

I did lay the bevel flat on a stone (thinning was still not needed, I was just curios) and one could see that the bevel is gently concave ground. No damage was done to the finish above the shinogi line. But one shoul be careful where the pressure is being applied when doing do, so you do not push the shinogi further up as that really is not necessary.

I read Daves post about blade asymmetry. Am I paying attention to the asymmetrical edge below the clad line as well as the wide bevel? Say the Kochi knife is 70/30 knife, will that be true for the knife edge as well as the wide bevels?

 

[Keith Sinclair]

Spine 3% of the stone