Finally!
I’ve been looking at these for a long while, but letting them pass. What was available in Canada was either SG2 or VG-10 when branded Takamura. A whole lot more of the same from Hitohira, plus a few of the Chromax line with the cheap western handle. But the Brown Pakka Takamura Chromax line was elusive.
I was still long to come to a decision when a diligent Canadian KKF member, who had shortcut all my vain lookout and gone direct for the C**G 210mm unit, proposed it for sale. IDK why but I thought this maker would shine best with a 180mm unit, as a sort of easy all-around utility-Gyuto that would just breeze through anything brought its way. But… after willing myself not to grab it a fair few times, at one point I just went for it.
Incidentally as I’m writing this Knifewear has one stock. They may have for a while too, I don’t shop there often…
I’m not convinced anymore it would be ideal if any shorter. It pretty much works splendidly just like that. It recalls me of “generic shape” 210/46 Yo Guytos I owned and liked to better or lesser extents – which quite possibly played into me wanting to rather try the shorter length if that – but it makes much more sense than most, and the mistake of all my fussing about them was precisely in thinking that I was right to think it’d just be another one of these.
Takamura’s design is distinctively genuine much more than generic, the first of such knives that strikes me as the original kind (pretty solid backstory to that shop too) all others try to imitate, perfected to surprisingly acute standards for the price. Seemingly following pretty stringent criteria of both form and function, it’s a perfect cutter out of the box that also is quite undoubtedly the cheapest line of knives with that kind of performance and that kind of HT to that kind of a nice steel and stellar F&F, any competition counted in.
Is it really good though?
I’ve been looking at these for a long while, but letting them pass. What was available in Canada was either SG2 or VG-10 when branded Takamura. A whole lot more of the same from Hitohira, plus a few of the Chromax line with the cheap western handle. But the Brown Pakka Takamura Chromax line was elusive.
I was still long to come to a decision when a diligent Canadian KKF member, who had shortcut all my vain lookout and gone direct for the C**G 210mm unit, proposed it for sale. IDK why but I thought this maker would shine best with a 180mm unit, as a sort of easy all-around utility-Gyuto that would just breeze through anything brought its way. But… after willing myself not to grab it a fair few times, at one point I just went for it.
Incidentally as I’m writing this Knifewear has one stock. They may have for a while too, I don’t shop there often…
I’m not convinced anymore it would be ideal if any shorter. It pretty much works splendidly just like that. It recalls me of “generic shape” 210/46 Yo Guytos I owned and liked to better or lesser extents – which quite possibly played into me wanting to rather try the shorter length if that – but it makes much more sense than most, and the mistake of all my fussing about them was precisely in thinking that I was right to think it’d just be another one of these.
Takamura’s design is distinctively genuine much more than generic, the first of such knives that strikes me as the original kind (pretty solid backstory to that shop too) all others try to imitate, perfected to surprisingly acute standards for the price. Seemingly following pretty stringent criteria of both form and function, it’s a perfect cutter out of the box that also is quite undoubtedly the cheapest line of knives with that kind of performance and that kind of HT to that kind of a nice steel and stellar F&F, any competition counted in.
Is it really good though?