first knife: Fujiwara Denka?

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Hi there. I got a 210 Denka direct from TF recently. Similar specs to yours 214 length, 53 heel, red handle. But mine weighs 148 g with finger notch. Are you sure yours weighs 212 g? That's a heavy knife.
Just weighed it and it’s 214 grams. As mentioned above, this is the normal weight for a Yo pakka handled 210 Denka. It feels perfectly balanced and is now high up on my list of favourite knives. More importantly, my wife likes it as much as her Takeda which is amazing.
 
Btw, how do you guys do custom orders for your denkas? Do you add to cart and check out with comments or send a message to them first? They don’t seem to reply me when I use the contact tab on the website
 
Hi there. I got a 210 Denka direct from TF recently. Similar specs to yours 214 length, 53 heel, red handle. But mine weighs 148 g with finger notch. Are you sure yours weighs 212 g? That's a heavy knife.
Btw, how do you guys do custom orders for your denkas? Do you add to cart and check out with comments or send a message to them first? They don’t seem to reply me when I use the contact tab on the website
 
Btw, how do you guys do custom orders for your denkas? Do you add to cart and check out with comments or send a message to them first? They don’t seem to reply me when I use the contact tab on the website
When you order or inquire someone will contact you. They are usually pretty accommodating.
 
Just weighed it and it’s 214 grams. As mentioned above, this is the normal weight for a Yo pakka handled 210 Denka. It feels perfectly balanced and is now high up on my list of favourite knives. More importantly, my wife likes it as much as her Takeda which is amazing.
I have two of the oversized Takeda gyutos and I agree. They are fantastic knives. They are in a class of their own. Very unique.
 
The finger rest and handle can make a noticeable difference. That's what they told me at TF.
Mine has a finger rest so I think it's mostly because mine is big and thick overall.

Edit: it's actually not a bad thing as I can remove steel when I want but I can't add steel if necessary.
 
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Mine has a finger rest so I think it's mostly because mine is big and thick overall.

Edit: it's actually not a bad thing as I can remove steel when I want but I can't add steel if necessary.
What handle do you have?
 
Hi, OP here, sorry for the thread revival. I did end up buying TF Denka. Although, it did take ONE YEAR to receive it, and Gaku from TF ignored all of my simple request for specs and pics before finally shipping it so I’m not very happy with the service.

When I purchased it, the long wait plus rough life during this period (we had our first child, flood wrecked my house, work stresses, covid era, etc), made me completely forgot about this. But I’ve finally unboxed this Denka. Before I use it, please help me determine if this is a lemon or not. I already didn’t get the specs I wanted, but also want to make sure it has no glaring issues (way out of spec, over grind, or profile). Specs:

edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm

I can already see that there’s a slight angle when it was inserted into the wa handle, but fit and finish doesn’t bother me. 54.6mm seems on the taller side. Anything else I’m missing? Specs and profile issues will bother me more.
 

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At some point when you are ready to sharpen I imagine the sequence as a montage out of Austin Powers, in the immortal voice of Frau Farbissina: Prepare the stones.
 
Hi, OP here, sorry for the thread revival. I did end up buying TF Denka. Although, it did take ONE YEAR to receive it, and Gaku from TF ignored all of my simple request for specs and pics before finally shipping it so I’m not very happy with the service.

When I purchased it, the long wait plus rough life during this period (we had our first child, flood wrecked my house, work stresses, covid era, etc), made me completely forgot about this. But I’ve finally unboxed this Denka. Before I use it, please help me determine if this is a lemon or not. I already didn’t get the specs I wanted, but also want to make sure it has no glaring issues (way out of spec, over grind, or profile). Specs:

edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm

I can already see that there’s a slight angle when it was inserted into the wa handle, but fit and finish doesn’t bother me. 54.6mm seems on the taller side. Anything else I’m missing? Specs and profile issues will bother me more.
What’s the weight?
 
I already didn’t get the specs I wanted, but also want to make sure it has no glaring issues (way out of spec, over grind, or profile). Specs:

edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm
What specs did you ask for? How far off are they? Sounds like a bad experience so it may be best to just move on and buy something else from a more reliable vendor.
 
The two challenges I'd see in starting with a Denka are that you'll immediately jump into the need to not only sharpen well but thin and rework a blade very well, and you'll also have to have enough experience to judge cutting performance to see how your blade reworking is going. I know you expect to get a "good" one. I've been there done that and got a "good" one, hand picked in person, that "only" took me five hours to clean up and rework to become useable (plus time to replace the mediocre Wa handle w/ a custom). It still needs a couple of hours to be completely finished (--there's still a small section of the blade where it wants to wedge).
You don't say how experienced you are at thinning and blade maintenance. Know that you'll almost inevitably knock off a lot of kurochi finish that you'd intended to leave. You'll have trouble getting the scratches out--and oh yes, it will look like a cat fight that lasted hours with deep scratches that have to be worked out again. So if you don't have a minimum of three good stones ( 220/300, 800/1200, 2000/4000) at least, plus a good flattener, you'll be buying those, too, just to start w/ a Denka.
If you are tired of mediocrity and want excellence, you could try a Wantanabe or Toyama for a heavier knife, a Gesshin Gengetsu for a medium weight, or a FM or Tadatsuna (Inox or carbon) if you want a great laser. These are all plug and play knives that will not need reworking to be functional.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I recently received a 210 denka yo-handle (full tang, heavy). From reading about them for a long time, I knew the cons. I feel I got lucky in some regards, the knife did not have any imperfections that the brand has been known to let slip out. However, as Phip mentioned, it is fat as hell and needs thinning, as it wedges horribly on hard veggies, despite being shaving sharp OOTB.
Whether TF Denka is the epitome of the perfect knife is highly debatable anyway. I have some stones on the way to thin mine, I have a feeling it will be a very fine knife afterwards, but it will still be a heavy beast (the wa version will not be so heavy, so you have choices here). With that said, I don't know if it will ever surpass my Kagekiyo or Tetsujins in cutting prowess and comfort. I doubt it will, I'll let y'all know after I thin it.
 
More of a general question, for such an expensive knife, are people really being over critical?

Or, do people really get knives with serious defects as I see a lot of chatter about some being superior but a lot also having real faults.
 
Hi, OP here, sorry for the thread revival. I did end up buying TF Denka. Although, it did take ONE YEAR to receive it, and Gaku from TF ignored all of my simple request for specs and pics before finally shipping it so I’m not very happy with the service.

When I purchased it, the long wait plus rough life during this period (we had our first child, flood wrecked my house, work stresses, covid era, etc), made me completely forgot about this. But I’ve finally unboxed this Denka. Before I use it, please help me determine if this is a lemon or not. I already didn’t get the specs I wanted, but also want to make sure it has no glaring issues (way out of spec, over grind, or profile). Specs:

edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm

I can already see that there’s a slight angle when it was inserted into the wa handle, but fit and finish doesn’t bother me. 54.6mm seems on the taller side. Anything else I’m missing? Specs and profile issues will bother me more.
You don't say what your desired specs were, so nobody here can say whether or not they conform? The typical issues I've heard with TF are over grinds, under grinds, excessive thickness, and yes wonky handles. Grind and thickness issues can't really be determined from OOTB photos - you figure them out based on usage and sharpening/thinning. Regardless, I assume this is what you signed up for given the responses on this thread?

Best of luck with your new knife! I'm really sorry it took a solid year (!) with no communication and you're experiencing all levels of the infamous TF wabi sabi. And sorry about the house and work issues, but congrats on the baby! Sincerely hoping you enjoy your new blade.

BTW there's a shop out there offering a tuneup service specifically for TF - I forget the name but I'm sure someone will chime in with it.
 
More of a general question, for such an expensive knife, are people really being over critical?

Or, do people really get knives with serious defects as I see a lot of chatter about some being superior but a lot also having real faults.

I don't have one, but TF seems to be a crapshoot - many people get great OOTB knives, others get wonky examples. I think everyone agrees the steel is excellent though, and he has a cult following. The randomness is why I've never bought one, and if I ever get the itch I'd buy one off BST that somebody better than me already tuned up.

A new TF feels like eating at Hell's Kitchen - you might get something great or you might end up needing to send raw chicken back and wait another hour.
 
@deskjockey and @Delat from post #1

Quote -
I’ll be ordering directly from Teruyasu’s site. To avoid getting a lemon, I’d like to request certain specifications in the order comment section. However, since I’m still new to this, I have no idea what to even ask for. To have the performance that this knife should have, what are the ideal specs? I stole this from another thread, let me know if these are good ballpark numbers to request:

edge length - 210mm
height at heel - 53mm
spine thickness - 3.2mm

What he received from post #525
edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm

edited to add received specs for your convenience.
D.
 
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@deskjockey and @Delat from post #1

Quote -
I’ll be ordering directly from Teruyasu’s site. To avoid getting a lemon, I’d like to request certain specifications in the order comment section. However, since I’m still new to this, I have no idea what to even ask for. To have the performance that this knife should have, what are the ideal specs? I stole this from another thread, let me know if these are good ballpark numbers to request:

edge length - 210mm
height at heel - 53mm
spine thickness - 3.2mm

What he received from post #525
edge length - 208.7 mm
height at heel - 54.6 mm
spine thickness - 3.1 mm

edited to add received specs for your convenience.
D.

Final product looks pretty close. I don't see any cause for complaint.
 
"A new TF feels like eating at Hell's Kitchen - you might get something great or you might end up needing to send raw chicken back and wait another hour."

HUH? - You'd expect that after being tossed several times by grinning demons across a flaming pit packed with tortured souls - that your chicken gibbet would at least be lightly browned.

Why I gave up eating at Hell's Kitchen in favor of Heck's Breakfast Bar...

Jim
 
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