First Honyaki?

Shop Knives and stones on ebay
Japanese Knives - by Tokushu Knife
Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

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

Froztitanz

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
225
Reaction score
680
Location
Singapore
Hello from Singapore! I'm a new kitchen knife collector, looking to collect and even possibly use my first honyaki gyuto. I've been collecting folding knives for about 5 years now and have decided to shift more to kitchen knives this year.

Seeing as this is a long (ahem, never ending) rabbit hole... Are there any honyaki gyutos that are highly recommended?

I'll also be travelling to Japan (Kanazawa,Nagano, Toyama, Tokyo) this year, so if you have any recommendations from makers there as well, it would be wonderful.

Some makers I'm considering are:
Hanaki (Sukenari honyaki blade maker)
Kenichi Shiraki
Yoshikazu Ikeda
 
I heard Shiraki has retired from knifeknifemaking.

Ill Be getting My first honyaki from Ikeda in few months. Excepting that More than Any other knife purchase.
 
F-Flash said:
I heard Shiraki has retired from knifeknifemaking.

Ill Be getting My first honyaki from Ikeda in few months. Excepting that More than Any other knife purchase.
Click to expand...

Wow. . That must be amazing. What type of honyaki is it gonna be? How did you even get on his books?
 
Following this thread because I’m also curious about the different honyakis and hope to get one!
 
I started down this road maybe 6-7 months ago, and I have three now. A shiraki, a Y. Ikeda , and a T. ikeda. The Y ikeda is the Shiro 3 and gets used the most. It gets crazy sharp easily and cuts better than the grind would suggest. I’d easily recommend an ikeda as your entry ticket and they are readily available through many retailers.
 
F-Flash said:
I heard Shiraki has retired from knifeknifemaking.

Ill Be getting My first honyaki from Ikeda in few months. Excepting that More than Any other knife purchase.
Click to expand...
Yep, Shiraki hamono still is making knives, however, it’s unclear who is actually the smith nowadays. Several apprentices work under Shiraki guidance.
 
I’m waiting for my first Ikeda. 10 months in and hope it’s coming soon.
 
-Yoshikazu Ikeda is ALWAYS a great way to go! Bernal Cutlery in the U.S. has some new ones they just got in stock. Highly recommend.
-I've heard Sukenari is awesome, but they seem to have shifted their business to focus on super steels like HAP40 and ZDP-189
-There is probably some older stock laying around, but as Shiraki-san has retired, the enthusiasm for honyaki from his shop has sort of dwindled a touch.

Singapore actually has a great shop for this: https://www.razorsharp.com.sg/

Ashi Hamono may be another worth considering.
 
i wouldn't worry to much about the smith, find a profile and grind that works for you, thats the biggest difference. I have and have had many honyaki from different smiths, the steel is honestly pretty similar across the board but the weight/grinds/profiles vary much more. Check out kappabashi while your in tokyo if you have time, there is alot of shops that sell knives under their own names, my last trip there i picked up quite a few all of which were 700$> including ashi,ikeda etc, im sure the market has changed since then but i would still bet you could find one and you can inspect in person.
 
I’d listen to this man.

He’s used more Honyaki gyutos in a pro kitchen than anyone else I know.

Good luck with your purchase and enjoy the wonderful ride that is honyaki



Wdestate said:
i wouldn't worry to much about the smith, find a profile and grind that works for you, thats the biggest difference. I have and have had many honyaki from different smiths, the steel is honestly pretty similar across the board but the weight/grinds/profiles vary much more. Check out kappabashi while your in tokyo if you have time, there is alot of shops that sell knives under their own names, my last trip there i picked up quite a few all of which were 700$> including ashi,ikeda etc, im sure the market has changed since then but i would still bet you could find one and you can inspect in person.
Click to expand...
 
Wdestate said:
i wouldn't worry to much about the smith, find a profile and grind that works for you, thats the biggest difference. I have and have had many honyaki from different smiths, the steel is honestly pretty similar across the board but the weight/grinds/profiles vary much more. Check out kappabashi while your in tokyo if you have time, there is alot of shops that sell knives under their own names, my last trip there i picked up quite a few all of which were 700$> including ashi,ikeda etc, im sure the market has changed since then but i would still bet you could find one and you can inspect in person.
Click to expand...

Good lord. May I ask when was your last visit to Tokyo?
 
Froztitanz said:
Good lord. May I ask when was your last visit to Tokyo?
Click to expand...

2014, so im sure the market has changed quite a bit over there as well but i would be willing to bet you can still find something that tickles your fancy
 
egolan said:
-Yoshikazu Ikeda is ALWAYS a great way to go! Bernal Cutlery in the U.S. has some new ones they just got in stock. Highly recommend.
-I've heard Sukenari is awesome, but they seem to have shifted their business to focus on super steels like HAP40 and ZDP-189
-There is probably some older stock laying around, but as Shiraki-san has retired, the enthusiasm for honyaki from his shop has sort of dwindled a touch.

Singapore actually has a great shop for this: https://www.razorsharp.com.sg/

Ashi Hamono may be another worth considering.
Click to expand...

-Razor shop is a bit of a snake, he searches all over the internet for rare knives, and re-sells them. The ultimate flipper.

-What honyaki do you own? How long have you been using honyaki?

TO the OP.
- Ashi Hamono ... good luck ... maybe dont even waste your time finding one and be ready to shell out massively IF you do.
-Basically anybody that can make Honyaki, is good enough to make a quality knife that you will 99% chance be happy with.
-Find a profile and Grind that you like ... some makers make them thinner (think new Mizunos) some thicker (think Watanabe)
-If you're good enough to buy/own honyaki, then you're good enough to maintain honyaki. and if your good enough to maintain honyaki you can re-profile/ alter grind/ and change what you like to fit your desires. Better knives require more from you as a consumer for them to maintain what makes them great to start with. Unless you want a wall piece just to look at.

I currently own 6 and using honyaki for about the last 1.5 years. That includes re-profiling one of them, and polishing to 10k. 2 more on the way!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top