Blues - Fujiwara Denka vs takada vs hitohiro

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So difficult comparing these two very different gyutos. What’s better red or white wine; steak or paella; Harley-Davidson or Triumph?
As I mentioned earlier, I love both these knives.
Denka undoubtedly has a more vocal cult following, potentially easier to sell on, albeit considerably more expensive than Takada.
Personally, if I didn’t have any knives and had to choose between the two—and my parameters were a comfortable knife to use all day, I’d go with the Takada. I prefer the profile more; it goes through food easier; f&f is wonderful; lighter and nimbler than the TF denka.
If wanting a great performing knife with a good dose of rustic wonkiness, then denka all the way.

Takada is beautiful in its understated elegance; denka makes a louder aesthetic statement of rustic authorship.
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HD are the Takeda AS of the motorcycle world. TF would be a Ducati, full of soul, all about performance and with lots of quirks.

The comparison of TF knives to Italian sports cars may be the most apt I've seen yet. Buying a TF is very much like staring at a Lancia or Alfa Romeo and wanting it soooo bad, but knowing despite how great it probably drives....it might catch on fire just sitting in your driveway
 
The comparison of TF knives to Italian sports cars may be the most apt I've seen yet. Buying a TF is very much like staring at a Lancia or Alfa Romeo and wanting it soooo bad, but knowing despite how great it probably drives....it might catch on fire just sitting in your driveway
Or rust into oblivion.
 
Lol I was playing again with the thought of looking at a 210 denka but the more I read about it the more it seems like the knife will frustrate me
I’d buy another 240 in the future once I become a pro at bench stone grinding. Seems like a great place to start a long project if money isn’t a concern. I’ve gone to work on a few knives with basic low spots and that took hours and was a learning process. The diet a Denka needs to shine is a wee bit more than the diet I needed to cut the quarantine fifteen.
 
The comparison of TF knives to Italian sports cars may be the most apt I've seen yet. Buying a TF is very much like staring at a Lancia or Alfa Romeo and wanting it soooo bad, but knowing despite how great it probably drives....it might catch on fire just sitting in your driveway
Nah, TF is like buying a Porsche 911R (my unicorn car) and complaining about it’s uncomfortable bucket seats, lack of rear passenger seats, GPS or that it only comes in manual transmission whilst forgetting about the fact this car destroys every car on the Nurburgring.
 
I am generalizing but it seems that most people complaining about TFs never used one. Some people did run into bad examples especially a few years ago, but most TFs seem to perform very well, regardless of perceived f&f issues. I get that paying a lot of money and getting a knife with low spots sucks, but most of these don’t make the knife cut bad. One might argue that it decreases the life of the knife, but very few people actually use these knives enough to run into issues due to low spots. Bolster issues are mostly superficial and don’t effect performance. I‘ve only seen 3 denkas and 2 mabs, so very little sample size but all were good knives that cut very well. Clearly there are enough problem TFs out there, but it gets tiresome when people who never used one keep on complaining about fit and finish of these knives.
 
I am generalizing but it seems that most people complaining about TFs never used one. Some people did run into bad examples especially a few years ago, but most TFs seem to perform very well, regardless of perceived f&f issues. I get that paying a lot of money and getting a knife with low spots sucks, but most of these don’t make the knife cut bad. One might argue that it decreases the life of the knife, but very few people actually use these knives enough to run into issues due to low spots. Bolster issues are mostly superficial and don’t effect performance. I‘ve only seen 3 denkas and 2 mabs, so very little sample size but all were good knives that cut very well. Clearly there are enough problem TFs out there, but it gets tiresome when people who never used one keep on complaining about fit and finish of these knives.
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Nah, TF is like buying a Porsche 911R (my unicorn car) and complaining about it’s uncomfortable bucket seats, lack of rear passenger seats, GPS or that it only comes in manual transmission whilst forgetting about the fact this car destroys every car on the Nurburgring.

I dont understand your analogy.

Porsche is the most detail oriented car maker; legitimate antithesis of TF aesthetic.

that said I have a less expensive tf as a petty where stainless lamination makes more sense and it has a chestnut handle and as such makes for a perfectly reasonable small knife. in fact there's another thing where the 911R comparison doesnt make sense; stainless clad carbon is definitely a compromise.
 
look if someone wants a TF specifically, go for it. I just cant recommend any of them other than the reasonably priced smaller knives / nashiji knives over any other well made knife just because their pricing is completely disjointed from what they deliver. I would pay that price only if I really wanted a TF specifically.

there are some great knives available at that price, and pretty much all of them offer more for your dollar and again in a head-to-head it's so stark it's hard to ignore.
 
I started out like many here being taken aback by the apparent fit and finish/QC issues - questioning how can the knives with such “issues” have the price tags that they do. That said, I remained intrigued, telling myself that there must be something to them. After all, they continue to be sought after. And so with that, I took the plunge.
I have to say my only regret is not jumping in sooner. Social media, forums have a tendency to amplify issues or problems to the point that they are out of proportion.
All said and done, TFs are still sought after and there are many happy owners out there. Just on this thread alone I can see them. As @Barmoley said most accurately and he isn’t the only one, those “issues” never get in the way of performance. They cut and hold their edge like nothing else.
TFs work for me because I only look at sharpness and retention. It’s a knife after all no? A tool. So all the so-called “issues” don’t bother me. I don’t ease choils or spines, nor fill in gaps between the tang and the scales etc, etc. I just use them. And boy, do they cut well.
 
I started out like many here being taken aback by the apparent fit and finish/QC issues - questioning how can the knives with such “issues” have the price tags that they do. That said, I remained intrigued, telling myself that there must be something to them. After all, they continue to be sought after. And so with that, I took the plunge.
I have to say my only regret is not jumping in sooner. Social media, forums have a tendency to amplify issues or problems to the point that they are out of proportion.
All said and done, TFs are still sought after and there are many happy owners out there. Just on this thread alone I can see them. As @Barmoley said most accurately and he isn’t the only one, those “issues” never get in the way of performance. They cut and hold their edge like nothing else.
TFs work for me because I only look at sharpness and retention. It’s a knife after all no? A tool. So all the so-called “issues” don’t bother me. I don’t ease choils or spines, nor fill in gaps between the tang and the scales etc, etc. I just use them. And boy, do they cut well.
My only questions are, did you thin the knife? If so how much and how long did it take on a low grit stone?

Those two questions go to Lemeneid and all the other Denka fans. They are fine knives for sure but who is using them as they came out of the box?

Forget fit and finish, how does it move through food stock?
 
My only questions are, did you thin the knife? If so how much and how long did it take on a low grit stone?

Those two questions go to Lemeneid and all the other Denka fans. They are fine knives for sure but who is using them as they came out of the box?

Forget fit and finish, how does it move through food stock?

Nope. No thinning. I use as is. No issues at all. For TF it’s the steel, the heat treat, sharpness and edge retention. @captaincaed said his Denka is like a wolf on steroids. I thought how apt when I read that.
 
Nope. No thinning. I use as is. No issues at all. For TF it’s the steel, the heat treat, sharpness and edge retention. @captaincaed said his Denka is like a wolf on steroids. I thought how apt when I read that.
Thats awesome. Mine was so thick towards the heel wedging was terrible in that section, had to use the tip solely for carrot work.

If you find the time (no big deal if not) could you put up a video of you cutting a carrot and potato towards the heel/middle of the knife? Would love to see how much better yours is stock than mine. I'm not talking overgrinds or anything like that.
 
I dont understand your analogy.

Porsche is the most detail oriented car maker; legitimate antithesis of TF aesthetic.

that said I have a less expensive tf as a petty where stainless lamination makes more sense and it has a chestnut handle and as such makes for a perfectly reasonable small knife. in fact there's another thing where the 911R comparison doesnt make sense; stainless clad carbon is definitely a compromise.
Their details are never asthetic, but all performance focused. Eg, larger intakes for turbos, magnesium wheels and roof to cut weight, vinyl stickers and nylon door pulls for weight reduction, etc...

If you noticed, asthetic and quality of life details are an afterthought for them. Their infotainment system is archaic, and their interiors are pretty bare and basic, even for their “luxury” Panamera and Cayenne models.

They couldn’t be more similar to TF where what you’re getting is focused solely on performance with aesthetics and finishes an afterthought.

And how is stainless clad “compromising”? As far as we know TF invented stainless cladding and made carbon knives easier to maintain. Again,if you’re comparing it to the 911R, manual transmission is for purists. But if you just want pure speed and power, GT2RS and GT3RS are still there for you.
 
Their details are never asthetic, but all performance focused. Eg, larger intakes for turbos, magnesium wheels and roof to cut weight, vinyl stickers and nylon door pulls for weight reduction, etc...

If you noticed, asthetic and quality of life details are an afterthought for them. Their infotainment system is archaic, and their interiors are pretty bare and basic, even for their “luxury” Panamera and Cayenne models.

They couldn’t be more similar to TF where what you’re getting is focused solely on performance with aesthetics and finishes an afterthought.

And how is stainless clad “compromising”? As far as we know TF invented stainless cladding and made carbon knives easier to maintain. Again,if you’re comparing it to the 911R, manual transmission is for purists. But if you just want pure speed and power, GT2RS and GT3RS are still there for you.

rofl.

Id say "you cant be serious" but I suspect you are.
 
My only questions are, did you thin the knife? If so how much and how long did it take on a low grit stone?

Those two questions go to Lemeneid and all the other Denka fans. They are fine knives for sure but who is using them as they came out of the box?

Forget fit and finish, how does it move through food stock?
My Denka was perfect ootb. I did thin it eventually, but found not much tangible benefit to doing so.

Think I posted a video a while back showing it compared to a Toyama honyaki.
 
I don't think I'd want a denka any thinner than this. Used daily for the past 2.5 years. Edge touched up on a fine grit Jnat once a month. Used for about 80% of the tasks in the kitchen, a beater TF Nashiji which is thicker behind the edge for everything else.
 
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look if someone wants a TF specifically, go for it. I just cant recommend any of them

Basically this, the only reason I sometimes join this discussion is because beginners read these threads for information.
 
I don't think I'd want a denka any thinner than this. Used daily for the past 2.5 years. Edge touched up on a fine grit Jnat once a month. Used for about 80% of the tasks in the kitchen, a beater TF Nashiji which is thicker behind the edge for everything else.
Yea thats half the thickness of mine. That would work just fine and was going to be the goal thinness for mine if I kept it. I'll try another one at some point just for fun but that will be one I pick out in person at a shop.
 
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