240_Gyutos_Only
Well-Known Member
Being first in line, I got to use the knife this weekend, while watching some of my neighbors panic and board up their windows due to tropical storm Hilary that will supposedly hit us out here in Arizona.
As Gshep91 already mentioned, he sent it out with the tip slightly bent to the left and some minor orange spots that may be patina or early onset of rust. Here are pics of the blade upon arrival. I got it on 8/19, just wrote the wrong date and was too lazy to re-write.
I measured:
Length: 232.5mm
Height at heel: 53mm
Spine: 4.3mm at handle
Weight:174g
I really like the look of the blade. The nashiji-esque finish has some shallow vertical grooves here and there. It also has some sparkly/glittery looking areas, not entirely sure what that is. The transition zone between nashiji and the nicely polished bevel is really well done.
The grind along the wide bevel is clean and fairly flat with a subtle convexity on both sides.
Balance point is between the maker's mark and choil, right at the pinch grip for me.
The flat-ish area is about 1/2 of the knife, with a bit of a hard stop but nowhere near as hard as say a Yoshikane.
The knife arrived with a somewhat mediocre edge, slid across fingernails easily and would not bite into tomato skin. I will attribute this to Gshep91 not wanting us boneheads to cut ourselves, how kind of him. Some light stropping brought the edge back nicely.
Made some Greek salad, the knife went thru cucumber/tomato/etc. as well as the best knives I've used, with no real stiction issues. The tip is really good for onions, this is where having a big distal taper helps. Chopping carrots at the heel is easy, but not quite as easy as w/ a "laser" profile.
The knife arrived with some patina already and I added a good amount just from the quick job described above. I tried to wipe down immediately after cutting, still got patina. However, there was no discoloration at all on the onion itself and I did not notice any strong smell from the knife.
The two things that stick out to me about this knife compared to Japanese knives are the profile and handle.
I like this profile better than the standard Japanese gyuto. It is thinner near the tip and thus better for things like cutting thru onion.
The handle resembles a Japanese wa handle but with european flair, buffalo horn replaced w/ birch bark and brass. Terrific attention to detail on it. I really like the profile of the handle, it has octagonal cuts on top and a U shape on the bottom which feels great in the hand. It is a tad shorter than my other wa handles, I have slightly above average male hands and I prefer this shorter handle since the back portion of the handle does little in a pinch grip. The back of the handle is sloped, so the knife cannot be stood up on its handle. Of course, I am probably the only one on earth to ever try to do that.
I would say one thing that could be better is more polish on the choil. It is nicely ground and quite comfortable but not high-polished. The spine could also be polished higher. Probably to be expected at the price, and easy enough for the owner to polish.
I expect most people who are not carbon averse would love this knife. I am definitely considering one (maybe w/ ApexUltra).
Many thanks to Gshep91 for putting this together. I'll put up some more recent pictures right before I send it out.
As Gshep91 already mentioned, he sent it out with the tip slightly bent to the left and some minor orange spots that may be patina or early onset of rust. Here are pics of the blade upon arrival. I got it on 8/19, just wrote the wrong date and was too lazy to re-write.
I measured:
Length: 232.5mm
Height at heel: 53mm
Spine: 4.3mm at handle
Weight:174g
I really like the look of the blade. The nashiji-esque finish has some shallow vertical grooves here and there. It also has some sparkly/glittery looking areas, not entirely sure what that is. The transition zone between nashiji and the nicely polished bevel is really well done.
The grind along the wide bevel is clean and fairly flat with a subtle convexity on both sides.
Balance point is between the maker's mark and choil, right at the pinch grip for me.
The flat-ish area is about 1/2 of the knife, with a bit of a hard stop but nowhere near as hard as say a Yoshikane.
The knife arrived with a somewhat mediocre edge, slid across fingernails easily and would not bite into tomato skin. I will attribute this to Gshep91 not wanting us boneheads to cut ourselves, how kind of him. Some light stropping brought the edge back nicely.
Made some Greek salad, the knife went thru cucumber/tomato/etc. as well as the best knives I've used, with no real stiction issues. The tip is really good for onions, this is where having a big distal taper helps. Chopping carrots at the heel is easy, but not quite as easy as w/ a "laser" profile.
The knife arrived with some patina already and I added a good amount just from the quick job described above. I tried to wipe down immediately after cutting, still got patina. However, there was no discoloration at all on the onion itself and I did not notice any strong smell from the knife.
The two things that stick out to me about this knife compared to Japanese knives are the profile and handle.
I like this profile better than the standard Japanese gyuto. It is thinner near the tip and thus better for things like cutting thru onion.
The handle resembles a Japanese wa handle but with european flair, buffalo horn replaced w/ birch bark and brass. Terrific attention to detail on it. I really like the profile of the handle, it has octagonal cuts on top and a U shape on the bottom which feels great in the hand. It is a tad shorter than my other wa handles, I have slightly above average male hands and I prefer this shorter handle since the back portion of the handle does little in a pinch grip. The back of the handle is sloped, so the knife cannot be stood up on its handle. Of course, I am probably the only one on earth to ever try to do that.
I would say one thing that could be better is more polish on the choil. It is nicely ground and quite comfortable but not high-polished. The spine could also be polished higher. Probably to be expected at the price, and easy enough for the owner to polish.
I expect most people who are not carbon averse would love this knife. I am definitely considering one (maybe w/ ApexUltra).
Many thanks to Gshep91 for putting this together. I'll put up some more recent pictures right before I send it out.