Shi.Han – Mono KU 52100 Gyuto 210mm
363 / 229 / 211 ... 50 / 42 / 27 ... 3.2 / 2.9 / 2.3 / 1.3 ... +40 ... 195g
A Shi.Han I wanted for a long time, but it was simply out of my reasonable price league. Or, to put it like it really is, I wanted a knife in 52100, and Shi.Han would have been my first choice, wasn’t it for price, hence I was more aiming at a ZKramer at one point.
Still, a couple weeks ago I decided to ask Ai & Om about specs for their particular 210mm 52100 Gyuto. Since I pay only GST when ordering there, that’s a 10% off right out the bat, so I thought I would arm myself with the opportunity, should I eventually stumble on a shop wide event that would add a nice rebate to this knife.
The answer came swiftly, with detailed measurements. Another email followed the first even more swiftly: in measuring the unit, they realized that there was some slight pitting at the heel on the left side, and I was offered a 30% rebate on the knife would I still consider to purchase knowing that.
The pics of said problem revealed it to be next to nothing. From the other pics they sent I could also see that there was some faint longitudinal scratching on the bevels, but they weren’t willing to grant a bigger rebate. So I grinded at another angle: would they consent me another rebate should I order a couple other knives at the same time? Those knives I had spotted for practice knives and was pretty down to buy anyway. They decided to oblige, and with the final offer they made I could consider, adding the 10% PST saved from the onset and counting the additional rebate towards the Shi.Han instead, that I was getting the latter with a 40% discount and all taxes payed. It wouldn’t get much better than that.
When I asked they admitted this particular Shi.Han they had since early 2018, so it was likely made somewhere in the end of 2017. Likely they were very happy to get rid of it by now. I myself kind of liked the idea that this knife was forlorn this way. Like it’s been waiting for me, easy project knife: in person, pitting looked like some lint got stuck there. I spent but 10 minutes to remove it: it could have waited first bevel maintenance, but I had to see if it was hiding something more ugly.
So… somewhat ironically I ended up not buying the knife based on that American maker’s western-ish design as made by a German brand in Japan… I ended up buying that other American maker’s entirely Japanese design as made by himself in the United States – in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
FIT & FINISH: 5/6
Handle: 1/2
Aesthetics, Ergonomics
As far as the slight pitting and scratching goes, I won’t account for it in this review because it’s certainly not the maker’s fault, nor a weakness of its product (well perhaps on the long run a cloth packaging and tight cork edge guard aren’t ideal to prevent moisture and oxidation, or scratches). However, another part of the “project” knife here was to entirely sand off and repolish the ferrule, which had quite a few spots of some non-washable residue of glue or whatever. What you’ll see in the pics wasn’t so neat when I got it. Another 10 minutes was thus spent there – no big deal, but still unwelcomed.
The magnolia handle itself is perfectly sculpted, well lacquered and non-plushy after a good deal of washing, which is a first in my experience after three of these. Ferrule is perfectly sculpted too, the fitting of the blade and hole of the tang are straight and neat, as is the fit between handle and ferrule despite the long forlorn years. Without those residues on the ferrule, this was heading for a full point concerning aesthetics, but I remove half a point for having to clean up after some slightly messy job.
As always I find ergonomics to be perfect with most Wa handles, plentiful of space at the neck and choil; however in this specific case, while I like a good forward balance, 40mm forward the heel on a 210mm Gyuto is going a tad too far. I personally wouldn’t fit these knives with so light a handle, or if I had to, would find a way to counterweight the blade a bit. It’s nothing so bad, and somewhat suits the profile of the knife, but it’s still just too much to give full marks: the knife would feel better with a balance 25-30mm forward the heel at most.
Blade: 2/2
Choil, Spine
Perfectly forged and cut to shape, the Shi.Han comes with meticulously rounded spine and choil, adding to the comfort of a spine also thick enough to provide ample consistent grip.
Finish: 2/2
Aesthetics, Maintenance
Here you can see the faint “mirror-ish” spotting my work to remove the pitting left behind. Up close under cold light and with the right angle, you’d also see some faint scratching. You’d be more likely to spot the longitudinal scratches left behind by the cork guard, but even these are hiding pretty well.
Being a monosteel carbon with a Kurouchi finish, there could typically be some concern towards cleaning and drying the KU perfectly to avoid pitting in a spot where it will be relatively concealed, but however no more concerning that your typical iron-cladded carbon KU. The carbon steel in this case being 52100 with the low reactivity it’s known for, I’d say this knife goes into an even easier maintenance middle ground, more forgiving than iron cladding and most carbon steel cores but still a tad more demanding than SS clad carbon. If almost three years of storage and some humidity infiltration that went unnoticed and got trap into the cork guard could only do so little pitting… In fact, the slight stain you can see on the left side about mid-blade is the only trace of patina I got from a prep involving onions, garlic, and some down time before washing the blade. Similar behavior to Yoshikane’s SKD-12 (A2).
As for aesthetics this knife also scores in full, there’s such a high level of focus paid to the consistency of the finish, as much as there is a careful balance of elements towards a finished product of sheer, sober beauty. I’ll just shut up and let some pictures speak – and those aren’t so good pictures, yet they cannot betray the quality of the finish.
363 / 229 / 211 ... 50 / 42 / 27 ... 3.2 / 2.9 / 2.3 / 1.3 ... +40 ... 195g
A Shi.Han I wanted for a long time, but it was simply out of my reasonable price league. Or, to put it like it really is, I wanted a knife in 52100, and Shi.Han would have been my first choice, wasn’t it for price, hence I was more aiming at a ZKramer at one point.
Still, a couple weeks ago I decided to ask Ai & Om about specs for their particular 210mm 52100 Gyuto. Since I pay only GST when ordering there, that’s a 10% off right out the bat, so I thought I would arm myself with the opportunity, should I eventually stumble on a shop wide event that would add a nice rebate to this knife.
The answer came swiftly, with detailed measurements. Another email followed the first even more swiftly: in measuring the unit, they realized that there was some slight pitting at the heel on the left side, and I was offered a 30% rebate on the knife would I still consider to purchase knowing that.
The pics of said problem revealed it to be next to nothing. From the other pics they sent I could also see that there was some faint longitudinal scratching on the bevels, but they weren’t willing to grant a bigger rebate. So I grinded at another angle: would they consent me another rebate should I order a couple other knives at the same time? Those knives I had spotted for practice knives and was pretty down to buy anyway. They decided to oblige, and with the final offer they made I could consider, adding the 10% PST saved from the onset and counting the additional rebate towards the Shi.Han instead, that I was getting the latter with a 40% discount and all taxes payed. It wouldn’t get much better than that.
When I asked they admitted this particular Shi.Han they had since early 2018, so it was likely made somewhere in the end of 2017. Likely they were very happy to get rid of it by now. I myself kind of liked the idea that this knife was forlorn this way. Like it’s been waiting for me, easy project knife: in person, pitting looked like some lint got stuck there. I spent but 10 minutes to remove it: it could have waited first bevel maintenance, but I had to see if it was hiding something more ugly.
So… somewhat ironically I ended up not buying the knife based on that American maker’s western-ish design as made by a German brand in Japan… I ended up buying that other American maker’s entirely Japanese design as made by himself in the United States – in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
FIT & FINISH: 5/6
Handle: 1/2
Aesthetics, Ergonomics
As far as the slight pitting and scratching goes, I won’t account for it in this review because it’s certainly not the maker’s fault, nor a weakness of its product (well perhaps on the long run a cloth packaging and tight cork edge guard aren’t ideal to prevent moisture and oxidation, or scratches). However, another part of the “project” knife here was to entirely sand off and repolish the ferrule, which had quite a few spots of some non-washable residue of glue or whatever. What you’ll see in the pics wasn’t so neat when I got it. Another 10 minutes was thus spent there – no big deal, but still unwelcomed.
The magnolia handle itself is perfectly sculpted, well lacquered and non-plushy after a good deal of washing, which is a first in my experience after three of these. Ferrule is perfectly sculpted too, the fitting of the blade and hole of the tang are straight and neat, as is the fit between handle and ferrule despite the long forlorn years. Without those residues on the ferrule, this was heading for a full point concerning aesthetics, but I remove half a point for having to clean up after some slightly messy job.
As always I find ergonomics to be perfect with most Wa handles, plentiful of space at the neck and choil; however in this specific case, while I like a good forward balance, 40mm forward the heel on a 210mm Gyuto is going a tad too far. I personally wouldn’t fit these knives with so light a handle, or if I had to, would find a way to counterweight the blade a bit. It’s nothing so bad, and somewhat suits the profile of the knife, but it’s still just too much to give full marks: the knife would feel better with a balance 25-30mm forward the heel at most.
Blade: 2/2
Choil, Spine
Perfectly forged and cut to shape, the Shi.Han comes with meticulously rounded spine and choil, adding to the comfort of a spine also thick enough to provide ample consistent grip.
Finish: 2/2
Aesthetics, Maintenance
Here you can see the faint “mirror-ish” spotting my work to remove the pitting left behind. Up close under cold light and with the right angle, you’d also see some faint scratching. You’d be more likely to spot the longitudinal scratches left behind by the cork guard, but even these are hiding pretty well.
Being a monosteel carbon with a Kurouchi finish, there could typically be some concern towards cleaning and drying the KU perfectly to avoid pitting in a spot where it will be relatively concealed, but however no more concerning that your typical iron-cladded carbon KU. The carbon steel in this case being 52100 with the low reactivity it’s known for, I’d say this knife goes into an even easier maintenance middle ground, more forgiving than iron cladding and most carbon steel cores but still a tad more demanding than SS clad carbon. If almost three years of storage and some humidity infiltration that went unnoticed and got trap into the cork guard could only do so little pitting… In fact, the slight stain you can see on the left side about mid-blade is the only trace of patina I got from a prep involving onions, garlic, and some down time before washing the blade. Similar behavior to Yoshikane’s SKD-12 (A2).
As for aesthetics this knife also scores in full, there’s such a high level of focus paid to the consistency of the finish, as much as there is a careful balance of elements towards a finished product of sheer, sober beauty. I’ll just shut up and let some pictures speak – and those aren’t so good pictures, yet they cannot betray the quality of the finish.
