Are any of the new "social" brands of knives decent quality?

[coffeelover191919]

There are nearly unlimited general purpose (chefs knives / gyutos) on the market at all price ranges with tried and true and have withstood the test of time. Why are people taking risks / falling for the marketing of a company thats untested, but can produce a good advertisement?

Under $50, there is no match for a Victorinox / (Debatable) Wusthof Pro.
Under $100, lots of Wusthof Classic, Henkels, Shun, Tojiro, Kintaro, Miyabi
Under $200, Anryu, any Kato, Takamura, Yoshimune, Itto-Ryu and a crap ton of other options.

There is simply no reason to buy a facebook or "japanese" made in china knife.

 

[ian]

that sentiment would be the same as if you said something like "let's all do a group buy from Nakaya Heiji for cheaper than what you pay at JKI."

Fwiw, I like ordering direct from Heiji. It’s a good deal! You just have to be aware that you’re likely gonna get either a project knife or one with suboptimal f&f. Not that they don’t cut well ootb. It’s a different thing from Gesshin Heiji, though.

 

[tchan001]

I've only participated in one crowdfunding campaign for a kitchen knife and have only had happy results
Back a few years ago when a young knifemaker was trying to build a workshop somewhere in Washington State, I contributed to his Indiego campaign.
Here is a picture of my happy result.

 

[brooksie967]

Wow. So much butthurt here too! Kemadi is turning out really great looking knives and what they are doing is no different than any of the Japanese brands that contract Smith, sharpener, handle maker etc. This is a business model that's been around for decades but for some reason when a bunch of western guys do it there's a problem. Some people should just go pound sand .

 

[brooksie967]

Some stuff about kemadi...

Facts...
They are made by this russian guy...
instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/ito_matsu/

youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuO-UVthgs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQuDMZGV5Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQuDMZGV5Q

You can see the kemadi logo on these videos and the guy also brands his own logo on some kitchen knives too (price below)...

Robin Dalman is correct that kemadi basically stands for the 3 people behind it which is (ke)v, (ma)tteo, (di)rch.

Where it gets interesting...
The people - don't know them personally but have been following them on IG (and I'm sure many here are as well) - you can easily see that the love for their non kemadi knives are strong and the word strong may be an under-statement
For example one of the 3 people (ke)v - his love for yannick, halcyon forge, watanabe/toyama and mazaki is pretty clear - especially so when you view his IG stories too... if they are such great knives/steel it is quite interesting that even the owner behind kemadi doesn't use a kemadi much.
Another example for (ma)tteo - his love for all knives is pretty clear as well - a quick tour of his IG and his IG stories will show you his praise for almost every maker. We also know he is the undisputable mazaki king! Again, if kemadi are such great knives/steel then wouldn't the person with the passion behind the brand be supporting their own products? It's almost like Tim Cook using an android... See and judge for yourself...

The pricing - here is a link where the russian maker replies to a price inquiry...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMps95vafrs

If you have owned one kemadi before at a particular price - here is something to consider, yes a dammy one for 200 USD.

Some goods - Bulat is naturally serrated so it will be very toothy (and typically stays that way even with the finest stone) - great if that's what you are looking for, (ke)v makes knives really sharp and polish looks great! Perhaps Larrin can shed some more light on this steel.

Why none on BST? - It may be because of a few reasons but one of them may be because just only a few people have one (excluding the 3 people behind it). Things that go up on BST doesn't mean it's not good - it just means there are more of them out there. I personally see a good number of western makers make their appearance there but I think many of them are great like Halcyon Forge, Catchside, Raquin, etc. Support the actual makers and not the smokes and mirrors!

Now, if you really want a bulat - let's do a KKF group buy with the actual smith and support him directly - any russian speakers here?

I know who to contact if I ever need some private investigative work done.....

Support him directly? That's what these three guys are already doing. If it wasn't a good deal for the Smith then I don't think he'd be doing it.

Also, you're weird.

 

[M1k3]

 

[juice]

Well, that makes for an interesting start to page three of the thread...

Little did I know...

 

[M1k3]

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

 

[juice]

This reminds me of how little I miss primary school.

 

[juice]

It’s not primitive at all, I use those phrases every day buddy.

How does using primitive insults every day make them not primitive?

 

[Moooza]

Feels like the beginning of the end....

 

[wind88]

Wow is all I can say. Just a little reminder to all that we’re talking about just kitchen knives here. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[DitmasPork]

Fwiw, I like ordering direct from Heiji. It’s a good deal! You just have to be aware that you’re likely gonna get either a project knife or one with suboptimal f&f. Not that they don’t cut well ootb. It’s a different thing from Gesshin Heiji, though.

Yes, I know it’s a good deal. I’ve considered one, but TBH, I’m impatient and the 4 month wait dissuades me.

 

[tchan001]

I bought a Kemadi recently. It's shipping from the US so don't know how long it will take to arrive in Hong Kong. I like bulat/wootz and I have a wootz integral from Peter Burt from back when he was with Dragon's Breath Forge. I look forward to my more rustic looking mono bulat Kemadi. Supporting great guys who have passion for their work.