Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.
I love the micarta handle on the Hattori and how nimble it is for a large knife. It has a good long flat spot for push cutting, which is nice, but for some reason it has never been my favorite cutter. Some of this is that 270 is really more knife than I need for most tasks. Shortly after buying the Hattori, I bought a Ryusen Blazen 165 mm santoku that I’ve been really happen with. Then, as I went deeper down the rabbit hole, I was lucky enough to snag a Kato Workhorse from JNS. Both of those have a more aggressive distal taper and have been better cutters for me, so I reach for them more often. I’ll always keep the HattorI, since it was my first proper J knife, but would be more likely to recommend the Ryusen for someone looking for a stainless, gyuto (ended up getting a 240 a while back from JKI since i like the santoku so much and have been happy with it).
On the NC makers, I recently discovered that Doberman Forge is just down the road from where I grew up, but haven’t had a chance to try Gabriel’s work yet. The closest I currently have to local made are some Randall hunting and camp knives made in Florida. Welcome any thoughts or suggestions if you know of good smiths working in the Carolinas. One of my reasons for joining the forum is to seek out some of the new smiths putting out top quality work.
