Yamawaku Nakiri

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Alright, first-round experience with the knife tonight!

I diced up bunch of carrots, celery, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers and sectioned up a whackload of tomatoes. I think the knife takes a nice edge - certainly no problems with tomato skins and pepper skins even though I did them pretty much last. However, I think the profile height and the flat-ground geometry towards the edge keep this nakiri from being the best it could be.

In terms of the geometry, the blade reminds me of my Takedas but is considerably thicker. Practically slab-sided faces from spine to at least the halfway mark, and then flat ground from there to the edge. The "slab sides" aren't entirely perpendicular to the cutting surface, there's some taper, but very little. I think the Takedas get away with this approach because of the overall thinness of the blades. The Yamawaku, however, ends up wedging through hard veggies like carrots. You can hear them cracking rather than getting cleanly cut. For tonight's mix of veggies, I only noticed it on the carrots. The Takeda has a bit of this too, which is why the Takeda nakiri wouldn't be my first choice for carrots either.

Whether it's a function of the geometry or the finish, I have to say that the knife did wonderfully well with Russet potatoes. No sticktion issues at all. Maybe I should try out some Yukon Golds to see how they do :)

Onion, tomatoes, no problems.

The profile height thing is purely a matter of personal preference. Comparing with my other nakiri, there's about a 3-5mm difference in height. Technically not a big difference, but somehow it made a difference in feel. I know I prefer taller blades in general, even with gyutos, so this may not be anything at all for other users.

I'd like to go through some more veggies and spend a bit more board time with the knife, but those are my initial impressions from tonight!
 
I received this today, along with the Harner that is being passed around. I will post stuff later this week.

I have just a few days with the Harner. Can't keep the knife from its new owner.:thumbsup:
 
A Harner vs. a Yamawaku? It's a great blade, but C'mon! A Harner is a Harner! Ha
 
Crothcipt said:
I received this today, along with the Harner that is being passed around. I will post stuff later this week.

I have just a few days with the Harner. Can't keep the knife from its new owner.:thumbsup:
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You've got me confused. AFAIK, the Harner doesn't have a new owner, it's the Yamawaku that does. At least I hope so ...

Rick
 
Rick,

I hired a guy to steal your knife and give it to me.

I'm sorry,
Lefty

:D
 
Oh man I hope I don't send the wrong knife to the wrong person.

Wait that would mean to the right person.

You get what I mean.
 
Wow talk about a gem of a knife. First of all I have never used a Nakiri, or even seen one other than pics. I never noticed that there is a 45 degree angle from the spine to the edge, sweeping back to the handle.
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When I opened the box there was some orange rust on the san-mai, that came off with a little bit of washing with soap came right off. Looking up this knife and prices I was amazed with the fit and finish. For less than 100 can't be beat. Loved the feeling, and texture of the burnt chestnut handle was nice.
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The edge came very sharp. In fact I had a co-worker check out the edge and he turned chicken and put it right down. It took some time to get used to the shape of the blade. Having Butches knife here too took some time away from this knife. But it was a fun debate to have. Here is a couple pics I took making a veg. soup the other night.
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All in all I am very pleased and happy to have been a part of this pass a round. I will be looking at buying one of these, some time in the future. Hopefully in the morning it will be off to Chifunda if I get to the post office in time.
 
I went to send this out today, and budget cuts for the post office, the one by my apartment is closed on sat. So off it will go on Mon.
 
So here I am in the middle of a comparison test between Rick's Harner nakiri and my own and now I have the Yamawaku to test drive? I believe this is what's known as an embarrassment of riches. :) I'm gonna have to hijack a produce truck.
 
The Yamawaku arrived in yesterday's mail but I was out of the kitchen all day and haven't used it yet. Will get down to business and post my impressions ASAP.
 
I have the knife....

The knife came and it had(has) very minor issues. The knife has slight recurves/holes along the edge when it is edge down on the board. I will leave that for Lefty to sharpen out.

I feel that on knives like these the KU finish comes across as an inexpensive alternative to a proper finish and used to cover up forging issues. Its a personal thing I guess.

The knife is fairly thin, which aides its cutting. One of the things I don't like is ,because of the thin geometry, there isn't much of a primary bevel.

It's a good cutter, needs to be a bit heavier.

On the whole, it's a good knife.

Lefty, shoot me a PM with next in line's name and address and I'll put it in the mail to them.

Pesky
 
My apologies for failing to report my impressions of the Yamawaku in a timely fashion. My wife has been down with a very nasty salivary gland infection (who knew there was such a thing?) and I've gotten a little behind.

I noticed the same problems with the edge that Pesky refers to, but they are minor and since I'm reluctant to take someone else's knife to the stones, I simply stropped on chromium oxide charged leather and went to work.

I found it very pleasant to use, although the size and weight took some getting used to; my Harner is both longer and heavier. Can't really make up my mind on the kurouchi finish, although it does seem to help avoid the dreaded stiction when cutting potatoes. I agree that it's done as a cost cutting measure, but that's not necessarily a bad thing as long as you don't object to the appearance on esthetic grounds.

No problems cutting most everything I tried it on, with the exception of some monster carrots that I think were grown out near the old nuclear test site. Did experience some wedging here which I attribute to blade geometry. The blade has no taper that I could detect from the spine down to the point where the bevel begins.

My first experience with a burnt chestnut handle and I must say, I rather liked it.

All in all, a nice cutter, especially considering the price. I'd rate it as a heck of a deal.
 
+1 on the burnt chestnut. My first time with it too. It gave a texture that if wet it wouldn't be slipping, and still comfortable in the hand.

I wasn't sure if that was a over grind or not. I did try to get a pic of it but it was at a odd angel and wouldn't work well with the focus.
 
Thanks for the review, guys!

As for the recurve, could someone maybe take and post a pic of the issue? This one was "dent-free", originally, but I didn't inspect it closely before sending it out to you crazy SOBs. ;)

Pesky, if Tinh wants a go with the knife, let him have a chance, and better yet:
Tinh, if you do take part, could you PLEASE fix the issue? It won't be coming back to me, before if makes its way to Scott.

Thanks again, for the reviews, and I'm glad everyone is pleasantly surprised :)
 
It's not that noticeable. Can't notice it when cutting.
 
Might be easier for Tinh to just bring it to WCG and save on shipping hassles.
 
I'll see about fixing any issues and then bring it to the WCG unless I get it done really soon. If that's the case, I'll send it off early since I need to get some stuff shipped soon, anyway.
 
My early impression of this knife is positive. It cuts very well and fit and finish seems to be pretty nice. He handle is set too close to the choil making it feel a little odd. If I had to guess, I would say it used to cut better, OOTB. It is thicker than it needs to be near the edge, like sharpening was done mostly at the edge without the requisite thinning of the secondary bevels. I was surprised the the cutting edge is righty-biased, coming from Lefty but I guess that the OOTB geometry was being preserved. There is a very slight hole in the edge an a few tiny chips. With Lefty/Scotts permission, I think I'd like the thin the secondary bevel out a bit before resharpening the cutting edge. The risk would be that uneveness in the grind of the secondary bevel will be exposed. As far as the faux kuro-uchi finish is concerned, I like it. It is fairly clean looking, prevents corrosion problems and it does not come off onto food, etc.
 
Ya I liked it better than the finish I have on my Tanaka santoku. Just because of that knife I want a Nakiri.
 
Alright. I have to be quick, cuz I also have to be up in like 4 hours. Dang!

But, TK, you're right, I kept the geometry as it was, because it didn't negatively affect anything for me (I never noticed sticking), and I basically just sharpened the edge, cleaned up the secondary bevel and left it alone. Feel free to thin it out, especially if you feel it's for the best.

I'm glad everyone has been pleasantly surprised with the little guy. I kinda miss it, but I know Scott is going to love it and give it more attention than I ever would.
 
Just a quick update: I passed this knife off to Deckhand at the WCG after a bit of thinning, refinishing and sharpening. I didn't get a chance to cut anything with it after thinning but I like it a lot! The grind was pretty nice and even, too.
 
Tinh, your endorsement means a lot, and so does your extra effort, in fixing it!
Thank you very much, and I'm really glad you had a good time with the knife!
So, here's the question. Would you (all of you who've tried it) buy one? I have a theory we might start seeing more of these knives around.
 
I thought it was worthy of a rehandle (plastic ferrule). If the quality is consistent, I think there's no reason it shouldn't be in the running for best buy.
 
tk59 said:
I thought it was worthy of a rehandle (plastic ferrule). If the quality is consistent, I think there's no reason it shouldn't be in the running for best buy.
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I agree, 100%!
 
I'm so-so on the knife, primarily because of the feel and slightly lower profile height. None of the factors I can think of are major in and of themselves, but together I can't say I felt particularly comfortable with it. I wouldn't get one myself nor would I specifically recommend the Yamawaku nakiri because of that, but I also have no objective reason to actually dissuade anyone from getting one.
 
It is on my list to get. I keep looking at others, and am still going back to this one. thx again for the opportunity to use this one.
 
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