Bryan Raquin Passaround

Hz_zzzzzz · Feb 1, 2021

Confirming that I received the knife today. It was well packaged and oiled. It looks good. I’ll try to provide some impressions in a few days.

Jaszer13 · Feb 5, 2021

Hi All,

Unfortunately we have been unable to get in touch with @ma_sha1 . It seems like he hasn't been online since Oct.

I have sent him a refund and will move forward with the final recipient @francoalophoto . Once he is done I will have the knife refurbished by JKI. ETA for the drawing is 2/20. Will do it live via my IG @Knife_roll. Details to come as soon as I have the knife back from JKI.

Thanks all who participated.

ExistentialHero · Feb 7, 2021

Oh shoot, I never posted my notes! Not a ton to add over the excellent comments upthread. My main impression, like @Unstoppabo, was that this knife just *feels right*. It's much smaller than my usual preference, but it's hefty enough to feel natural in hand anyway. The grind is thicker than I like for onions and struggled with hard squash, but it's perfect for working with meat.

I had a lot of fun with this--thanks again @Jaszer13!

Hz_zzzzzz · Feb 7, 2021

My impression is similar. It’s smaller than I thought, but the cutting ability is better than the choil shot suggests. I was actually a bit surprised by how well it cuts potato and carrots given the geometry. The handle is super comfy as well. It’s overall very pleasant.

SolidSnake03 · Feb 10, 2021

Looking forward to that drawing coming up on this

francoalophoto · Feb 17, 2021

Knife has been received here yesterday. What can I say? I've been dreaming of holding a Raquin for years, and have been trying to figure out for years WHY are so many people obsessed. Well once it's in your hand it becomes evident. My first impression pre-having it in my hand was "damn that's a thick handle for my small hands". However, the second it was in my hand my new comment was "holy, how is this handle so comfortable?" Sooo basically what I'm saying is I get the hype, and I WANT one now. 1-day impressions: love the workhorse geometry, that kurouchi finish is fire, and the edge performance is very satisfactory (joy to use and nice edge resiliency).

Here are some straight out of the camera JPEGS I took yesterday.

banzai_burrito · Feb 17, 2021

Pretty snazzy looking!

francoalophoto · Feb 17, 2021

banzai_burrito said:
Pretty snazzy looking!

Was hoping the pictures would do it justice, glad you like them. That handle feels great in hand, love the texture from the oak.

Bodine · Feb 17, 2021

Nice pass around folks, knife was well taken care of and respected.
Thanks for letting me participate.

Twigg · Feb 18, 2021

I can say I really enjoyed my time with it!

Jaszer13 · Feb 18, 2021

Hello everyone,

Setting a 2/20 date for the raffle was a bit ambitious. @francoalophoto will be passing me back the knife on Monday the 22nd.

But another issue has come up. Unfortunately JKI is currently not offering sharpening/restoration services due to COVID. I will most likely need to go to Hitachiya. They are further away from me so I will have to drop it off the weekend of the 27th and pick it back up the following weekend of the 6th. Realistically we can have the raffle that same weekend.

OR

Judging by the pictures posted by @francoalophoto it seems as if the knife held up pretty well and if everyone is in accordance we can just have the give away next week when I get the knife back (without reconditioning). I will just touch it up via, Makuri (Arato) > Suisa (Nakato) > Natsuya before sending it off.

Edit: @Twigg brought up a good idea. I will just do the raffle this weekend and the winner will decide if they want it to be reconditioned or not.