Curious about stuff. Awase bocho in question is Denka no Hoto. Discussed are fit and finish, and performance.
I've had a Denka no Hoto 270 gyuto for a little while. About a month. The knife is fairly stiff, though I feel that mono steel, for example even the gesshin ginga, are stiffer for their cross-section. The faint hammer marks and concavity right behind the edge, which is laser-like thin for a medium weight gyuto, allow the knife to move through food with good release, and edge is has good bite and is spring-like flexible. When I drag my fingers perpendicular there is a little spring and give and great bite, thought not as "sticky" as I would like, or as I've had with razors or white steel. It feels like the teeth are bigger. But it bites into hair and food very well. Sharpening is much of a hassle. I can stack food higher and not have it slip when cutting. Of course, the edge microchips when misused. No crusty breads, meats, and so on.
In terms of cutting experience, I haven't had anything better yet. I have 270 Maboroshi which came in a little thicker so I thinned it and tried removing grind marks. These a 80 grit or so. They go all the way to right before the edge, where the sharpening edge was established. The out of the box edge was a little hamaguri, just a little. I like the feeling white steel gives in utter control over food, and I like how stiff knives feel in cutting through food and each layer. I imagine honyaki knives are stiff, not springy, yet have a bite like the springier knives, except with even smaller teeth. So cutting requires less effort, which means more control for the user, and more cooking done. And less thinking about hypothetical and more practice. The Maboroshi steel was really great when sharpening because the burr at 400 and 1000 grit was nice, floopy, continuous, and easily torn off by running my finger and thumb along the side of the knife. It felt gritty and smooth at the same time. Sharpening was very, very quick and responsive.
I polished the grind marks somewhat on the Denka, which led to a little more sticking, but smoother feeling when going through food. I had to adjust technique a little. I'm a bit torn between concavity with grind marks and thinned convexed with a polish. The latter provides better feedback when cutting, but the former is more effective. Concavity allows for the laser like entry and heft, stiffness, and control of a medium weight knife.
The finish on both is rustic, and by that I mean grinds aren't consistent along the blade length and there is no rounded spine, only slightly eased, but all fixable by sandpaper, polish, mesh, and sharpening. I wonder about fit and finish still--how it affects knife work, still. I know the regular things--sharpening is a more of a hassle, it's harder to predict and control the knife, the philosophical stuff behind it. I have to confirm with experience the counterpoints.
When cutting hair, both knives tend to make a "tink" noise, which is the blade flexing a little when cutting and releasing, like a guitar pick and a string. I'd like something a bit more like a kamisori, except even more silent.
The finger notches are nice, and the tang enters the handle without expanding to the entire diameter of the handle, which I like, because it makes the center of gravity more compact and the knife more nimble. The notch makes the knife a bit lighter, too.
I tried freezing a Zakuri petty 150 mm Blue 1 and I like how edge is, a little bit finer, but I need more time to see how that affects sharpening, cutting, and edge holding. So, still looking into heat treat and effects.
The grind was nice and neat looking new for both knives, but you could feel with your fingers the unevenness. I don't know what to conclude in absolutes. Because when thinning everything is revealed and scratch marks will run in different directions. It looks unfinished when I do this. Not rustic anymore, but unfinished, even thought the performance improves. I tried different things and am still trying. Finger stones. Polish. Thinning. Using ginger or other vegetable chunks to hold the polish, or using them on their own. Awasedo grit. Right now I'm still learning what does what, so the knives tend to look unfinished.
Anyone try a denka and honyaki and willing to share, business and political reasons aside? Eventually I'll get both, but discussion and prior knowledge is quite nice.
Grind Thinness
http://postimg.org/image/jeg0wu4xn/
Profile
http://postimg.org/image/6ck1qn80z/
Finger Notch
http://postimg.org/image/cqsflrqpl/
Deeper Grind Marks at Tip (also present at heel)
http://postimg.org/image/ni88cktot/
I've had a Denka no Hoto 270 gyuto for a little while. About a month. The knife is fairly stiff, though I feel that mono steel, for example even the gesshin ginga, are stiffer for their cross-section. The faint hammer marks and concavity right behind the edge, which is laser-like thin for a medium weight gyuto, allow the knife to move through food with good release, and edge is has good bite and is spring-like flexible. When I drag my fingers perpendicular there is a little spring and give and great bite, thought not as "sticky" as I would like, or as I've had with razors or white steel. It feels like the teeth are bigger. But it bites into hair and food very well. Sharpening is much of a hassle. I can stack food higher and not have it slip when cutting. Of course, the edge microchips when misused. No crusty breads, meats, and so on.
In terms of cutting experience, I haven't had anything better yet. I have 270 Maboroshi which came in a little thicker so I thinned it and tried removing grind marks. These a 80 grit or so. They go all the way to right before the edge, where the sharpening edge was established. The out of the box edge was a little hamaguri, just a little. I like the feeling white steel gives in utter control over food, and I like how stiff knives feel in cutting through food and each layer. I imagine honyaki knives are stiff, not springy, yet have a bite like the springier knives, except with even smaller teeth. So cutting requires less effort, which means more control for the user, and more cooking done. And less thinking about hypothetical and more practice. The Maboroshi steel was really great when sharpening because the burr at 400 and 1000 grit was nice, floopy, continuous, and easily torn off by running my finger and thumb along the side of the knife. It felt gritty and smooth at the same time. Sharpening was very, very quick and responsive.
I polished the grind marks somewhat on the Denka, which led to a little more sticking, but smoother feeling when going through food. I had to adjust technique a little. I'm a bit torn between concavity with grind marks and thinned convexed with a polish. The latter provides better feedback when cutting, but the former is more effective. Concavity allows for the laser like entry and heft, stiffness, and control of a medium weight knife.
The finish on both is rustic, and by that I mean grinds aren't consistent along the blade length and there is no rounded spine, only slightly eased, but all fixable by sandpaper, polish, mesh, and sharpening. I wonder about fit and finish still--how it affects knife work, still. I know the regular things--sharpening is a more of a hassle, it's harder to predict and control the knife, the philosophical stuff behind it. I have to confirm with experience the counterpoints.
When cutting hair, both knives tend to make a "tink" noise, which is the blade flexing a little when cutting and releasing, like a guitar pick and a string. I'd like something a bit more like a kamisori, except even more silent.
The finger notches are nice, and the tang enters the handle without expanding to the entire diameter of the handle, which I like, because it makes the center of gravity more compact and the knife more nimble. The notch makes the knife a bit lighter, too.
I tried freezing a Zakuri petty 150 mm Blue 1 and I like how edge is, a little bit finer, but I need more time to see how that affects sharpening, cutting, and edge holding. So, still looking into heat treat and effects.
The grind was nice and neat looking new for both knives, but you could feel with your fingers the unevenness. I don't know what to conclude in absolutes. Because when thinning everything is revealed and scratch marks will run in different directions. It looks unfinished when I do this. Not rustic anymore, but unfinished, even thought the performance improves. I tried different things and am still trying. Finger stones. Polish. Thinning. Using ginger or other vegetable chunks to hold the polish, or using them on their own. Awasedo grit. Right now I'm still learning what does what, so the knives tend to look unfinished.
Anyone try a denka and honyaki and willing to share, business and political reasons aside? Eventually I'll get both, but discussion and prior knowledge is quite nice.
Grind Thinness
http://postimg.org/image/jeg0wu4xn/
Profile
http://postimg.org/image/6ck1qn80z/
Finger Notch
http://postimg.org/image/cqsflrqpl/
Deeper Grind Marks at Tip (also present at heel)
http://postimg.org/image/ni88cktot/
