Cowry and Aogami

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ceramic

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
I am itching to get a cowryX gyuto at 210 mm, under 500. I cannot find a single blade at most knife sites. Any suggestions guys? I'd like to make an order for this in a time frame where I get it before Septemer and the Hattori KD series (given that it doesnt meet the budget) wont even meet the time frame.

Really would appreciate any advice here- again I am not sure how it stands with Aogami blades.

The Aogami kuroichi style deba I have came with the caveat to purely use it as a slicer- I'd have thought they'd be a bit more robust than that.
 
If you want CowryX, I'd suggest trying something out of ZDP-189 instead. With regard to your "Aogami" question, how robust a blade is has a lot to do with how thick it is at the edge. Single bevel knives are generally more delicate. Also, a vendor has to protect him/herself against people that abuse blades and then ask for return or replacement after jacking the thing up.
 
Is there a particular difference between the two? I heard good things about Cowry, its a bit surprising that the blades are so hard to come by, I dont exactly know why
 
Both cowryx and zdp189 knives are expensive to produce, which is part of the reason you are having trouble finding one under $500. Because they are expensive, not many companies use them because at the price point they would need to sell them at, they would be considered too expensive for a production knife. Not really a steel a custom maker would be using either.

Here is a 210mm from a good maker in ZDP-189, but it is over your budget a bit. It is available right now however.
 
Here, make your own :)

http://www.knifemaking.com/mobile/default.aspx#P104

I have never seen them in person, so I have no idea about their Quality, just came across them the other day...

Stefan

P.S. Oops, direct link doesn't work, click yourself through the knife blades, kichen knives, and you will see a few ZDP-189 blades.
 
You can get a henkels miyabi in zdp-189 for less than $200.
 
Yeah hate the handles on those... I'd snap up one of those if they had better handles especially as they are on sale in singapore right now...
 
Rottman did a wa-conversion maybe a year ago (posted on KF) that I thought came out REALLY nice. Maybe you can get him or someone else to do that for you.
 
Both cowryx and zdp189 knives are expensive to produce, which is part of the reason you are having trouble finding one under $500. Because they are expensive, not many companies use them because at the price point they would need to sell them at, they would be considered too expensive for a production knife. Not really a steel a custom maker would be using either.

Here is a 210mm from a good maker in ZDP-189, but it is over your budget a bit. It is available right now however.

The blade looks curious- definitely over the budget so I will wait until I replenish my knife trust fund and then consider this one. Thanks for letting me know, it would probably be cheaper for me to try and get it via Japan because the postage from CKTG to Aus increments by about 25 bux per item over the 35 dollar standard rate...it makes me sad inside that, only that is the limiting factor for me not going nuts on that website. But it also keeps me safe from breaking the bank, sorta hate mixed blessings.

Here, make your own :)

http://www.knifemaking.com/mobile/default.aspx#P104

I have never seen them in person, so I have no idea about their Quality, just came across them the other day...

You can get a henkels miyabi in zdp-189 for less than $200.

These two blades are quite curious- only zdp I knew before this thread was the sanetsu and thats at a rocking 700 bux. Any idea why there is the price differential? One point of difference I am speculating on is the added corrosion resistance the cowry may have- this is somehow akin to the whole shirogami vs aogami stuff.


Off to harass the knife making guys- =]
 
...These two blades are quite curious- only zdp I knew before this thread was the sanetsu and thats at a rocking 700 bux. Any idea why there is the price differential? One point of difference I am speculating on is the added corrosion resistance the cowry may have- this is somehow akin to the whole shirogami vs aogami stuff...
For whatever reason, it's hard to get the Cowry-series steel, if I understand correctly. I'm pretty sure corrosion resistance is a non-issue.
 
I'd suggest that you first master sharpening the knives you already have before you move up to the super steels. You'll only get frustrated otherwise.
 
These two blades are quite curious- only zdp I knew before this thread was the sanetsu and thats at a rocking 700 bux. Any idea why there is the price differential? One point of difference I am speculating on is the added corrosion resistance the cowry may have- this is somehow akin to the whole shirogami vs aogami stuff.

There is almost no difference between the steels Its almost like ats34 and cm154. They both have 20 percent chromium, so corrosion is a non issue.


http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/steelgraph.php?nm=Cowry-X,ZDP-189&ni=271,410
 
Why do you want a Cowry/ZDP blade? Is it just the "wow" factor or is it the benefits of the steel?
 
Back
Top