Japanese Knives We need your help (read:opinion)

Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Find deals on amazon
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
markenki said:
Not exactly what you asked for, but here are a couple of suggestions for the website:
1. When you hover over the main menu items (like "By Type"), you get a dropdown of the different types, but if instead of hovering, you click on "By Type" it takes you to a the items page. It would great to be able to select the different types after clicking. Not a big deal on a computer with a mouse, but a real pain on a device like a Kindle.
2. Would love to see a comparative (written text) summary of each of the product lines you carry. What makes each of Ginga, Heiji, Hide, etc., unique? What are each of their strengths?

Thanks,

Mark
Click to expand...

see my earlier comment on the coding, but as for the summary of each product line, i think i can manage that. Maybe this sunday if i can find the time.
 
mpukas said:
To offer constructive criticism of the videos, I'm not sure that your new format with the close-up of your face best shows of the knives. You've become a great presenter on camera, but we don't get to much about the knives. You hold the knives up in front of your face for a short time, turn them around a but, and then put them down. It would be nice to see the knives in a close-up shot and in a slower presentation.

I think some of the earlier video formats, such as the Hide video, offer a better view of the product being shown and discussed. Or, as rsacco suggests above, doing table shots of the knives. This would perhaps require cutting the sequence from a shot of you talking about the maker to a close-up shot while you describe the knife. The two videos you just linked above do a great job of showing the knives' shape, profile, etc. With your new shooting equipment and editing skills, this would be even better!

AFA products go, I'd personally like to see one of your makers do a hon-kasumi KS profile 240-270 gyuto with stainless (or low-reactive) cladding and some super-steel core, like AS, ZDP-189, etc.

For stones, I'm really don't know. There's so much more to that whole realm, even more than with knives! You've already got many great stones, and there are so many others out there, I'm not sure what to even ask for or suggest. Perhaps a video of a basic overview of the stones you carry, which are soakers, which are splash-n-go, and the general characteristics of each. Also, suggest some stone progressions for different needs and what the results would be.
Click to expand...

this kind of multiple shot video requires me to do some video editing (which i dont do now)... i think i can make it work. The main reason i did the closer shot wasnt to focus on my face, but to allow the knives to fill more of the screen when i hold them up. I do agree that i move them in and out pretty quickly... maybe i can hold them up for a longer time or maybe i can shoot a separate video of just the knives.

On the new knife design, i have quite a few things in development right now and i think one or two may fit the bill.

Also, on stones, i have plans to do a general stone overview video as soon as i have the time. In fact, in addition to the things all of you have suggested, i have a long list of things i plan on doing.
 
it seems i missed gesshin uraku... i'll try to get that done this weekend with a few other things i've been working on
 
Jon, thanks for all the new videos. It does help to hear about all your different lines in detail and it can't be easy to crank all of this info out on video this quickly.
 
I'm late to this thread, but here are my requests:

More Gengetsu....you've addressed this and it might be in the works.

Wa handled Fujiwara - eg their No Meito knives for example.

Wa handled PM knives - I know you just introduced your first western handled PM blades....those are just my thoughts.

Finally...you may already do this...but polishing and/or engraving. I recently bought a knife as a gift for someone that was mirror finished and had a small engraving added to it.
 
markenki said:
Not exactly what you asked for, but here are a couple of suggestions for the website:
1. When you hover over the main menu items (like "By Type"), you get a dropdown of the different types, but if instead of hovering, you click on "By Type" it takes you to a the items page. It would great to be able to select the different types after clicking. Not a big deal on a computer with a mouse, but a real pain on a device like a Kindle.
2. Would love to see a comparative (written text) summary of each of the product lines you carry. What makes each of Ginga, Heiji, Hide, etc., unique? What are each of their strengths?

Thanks,

Mark
Click to expand...

we just finished adding a bunch of general brand descriptions to our site... there may be a few left to do, but i think i got most of them. Take a look and let me know what you guys think.
 
Looks good so far. Gesshin Kagero is spelled 'Kaegro' in the "Knives-by brand" drop-down menu and the top of the description.
 
Namaxy said:
I'm late to this thread, but here are my requests:

More Gengetsu....you've addressed this and it might be in the works.

Wa handled Fujiwara - eg their No Meito knives for example.

Wa handled PM knives - I know you just introduced your first western handled PM blades....those are just my thoughts.

Finally...you may already do this...but polishing and/or engraving. I recently bought a knife as a gift for someone that was mirror finished and had a small engraving added to it.
Click to expand...

more gengetsu is indeed in the works

considering the fujiwara stuff, but its a big overlap with gengetsu... just something to keep in mind

on the stainless clad super steel thing, i have a craftsman in mind and am currently working on this

and on the polishing/engraving, we can always order knives this way, but polishing can be very time consuming. Thats not to say we cant do this, but usually when you see this on knives, its done by the maker. Otherwise, it would be people paying for a couple of hours of my time. on the engraving, i'm actually training and practicing this, but its a lot harder than people give it credit for and not being great at kanji isnt helping me... but we are practicing...
 
JBroida said:
we just finished adding a bunch of general brand descriptions to our site... there may be a few left to do, but i think i got most of them. Take a look and let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...

I like it; and I'll like it even more when you finish Hide and Ittetsu. ;)
 
JBroida said:
we just finished adding a bunch of general brand descriptions to our site... there may be a few left to do, but i think i got most of them. Take a look and let me know what you guys think.
Click to expand...
They're great, Jon. Thanks for doing them so quickly!

I noticed that when I select Gesshin Ginga, the first so many knives are Ashi. Not sure whether that's intentional.

Thanks,

Mark
 
markenki said:
They're great, Jon. Thanks for doing them so quickly!

I noticed that when I select Gesshin Ginga, the first so many knives are Ashi. Not sure whether that's intentional.

Thanks,

Mark
Click to expand...

that is intentional... i've got 4 left and thats the easiest place to put them
 
JBroida said:
this kind of multiple shot video requires me to do some video editing (which i dont do now)... i think i can make it work. The main reason i did the closer shot wasnt to focus on my face, but to allow the knives to fill more of the screen when i hold them up. I do agree that i move them in and out pretty quickly... maybe i can hold them up for a longer time or maybe i can shoot a separate video of just the knives.

On the new knife design, i have quite a few things in development right now and i think one or two may fit the bill.

Also, on stones, i have plans to do a general stone overview video as soon as i have the time. In fact, in addition to the things all of you have suggested, i have a long list of things i plan on doing.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this more - two ways you could possibly do it w/ little not or no editing; 1) stand in front of a table, with approximately the same zoom, and give an intro to the knives, then have your assisant (ahem, Sara) pans the camera down to the table where you can show the knife in detail and describe it's characteristics and let poepl really soak in the knife visually. Then, your lovely assistant (ahem, Sara) could pan the camera back up to your face for closing comments. 2) do a point of view or over the shoulder shot, as you've done in the sharpening seminars/videos. But this would probably eliminate any shot of your face unless you edited the vid.
 
yeah... i'm thinking of how i can do this best. Its not all that important that i'm in the videos, but it just felt odd when it was a lot of me talking and my hands doing nothing. However, it is worthwhile to note that most of the videos i shoot now days, i do entirely by myself, so i have no helper to move a camera.
 
Jon, your product selection on your site can be filtered by brand and type. Have you thought about sorting by type of steel? So with one click I can see your entire selection of white #2, for example.
 
JBroida said:
I might be able to figure out a way to make that work
Click to expand...
I know that trying to do that might suck because you might want to split hairs about different steels. But even something simple like stainless/carbon sections may help customers out a little. And you can already sort by price so having Zakuri next to the Jin knives isn't a big deal.
 
let me think about this and how best to make it happen... that being said, I'm sure I can do this somehow
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top