Cool, worth looking into. Quick google suggests Aoki= Takayuki? Is this correct?
I thought it was his son that was the sharpener on basic Togashi. but could be wrong. But the sharpener is key to the distinction - as noted by @Gregmega, yohei ones are thin. Then there is Kambei, etc. mine are all sharpened by Tosa. The Tosa ones are a bit beefier, and the tosa Honyaki tends to be quite heavyI had read that the standard Hitohira san mai models are forged and sharpened by Togashi? Is this the case?
I hope so too - was in Japan last October, best trip of my life! Kyoto and Tokyo - sadly my knife passion had not been discovered then. I still got a couple of Saji - Nakiri snd Santuko
Hitohira is essentially a company that farms out our work to the various disciplines in the industry throughout Japan to their specs -an important factor to remember is that for centuries, these disciplines are handled by specialists in each step of the process, which is why you’ll see a certain smith forging for so many different brands. Hitohira has the vision for their product and it’s literally ‘forged’ into reality by all the artisans. This is a fairly redundant simplification of the process as there’s so many other examples that could be given, but in a nutshell....Also a question - is Hitohira like a holdings company, a brand? Like how LVMH owns a bunch of other brands? What is Hitohira exactly? Is it a blacksmith?
Hitohira Blue 2 iron clad Ku: 255g. heavy and thick but not unwieldy and less wedgy than you might think. The upswept shinogi helps with tipwork and the profile is a lot like Shigehiro, kind of bullet shaped. Definitely not a laser but more versatile than just a big ol’ whammer.
Yep, forged by Kenji and sharpened by his son Kenya. For comparison here it is next to a Hitohira Tanaka Kyuzo; you can see the difference in the shape of the bevel and point.
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From my experience there's still room for improvements in Kenji's son's sharpening.
From my experience there's still room for improvements in Kenji's son's sharpening.
I always thought it was Tanaka's stamp, Fujiyama's have the same stamp or should I say had the same stamp.Beats me, is it Hitohira’s or Tanaka’s brand mark? I feel like I’ve seen it or something like it before
Are you referring to the grind or the actual sharpening of the edge?From my experience there's still room for improvements in Kenji's son's sharpening.
Yeah I'm referring to the sharpening of the wide bevels. Good to know that Hitohira ships them unsharpened.Are you referring to the grind or the actual sharpening of the edge?
Kenji's son is grinding the blade, not doing the final sharpening.
Hitohira ship there knives unsharpened to protect the edge in transit.
The retailer or customer is responsible to sharpen edge.
This is from Hitohira website:
"-Please be aware that we do not have a full edge on the blade to protect it during the shipping process, you can sharpen the knife so that the edge will be sharper once you have received the product."
https://hitohira-japan.com/pages/about-us
I would be curious as to how it compares to a KU Watanabe. The dimensions and grind look pretty similar. .Hitohira Blue 2 iron clad Ku: 255g. heavy and thick but not unwieldy and less wedgy than you might think. The upswept shinogi helps with tipwork and the profile is a lot like Shigehiro, kind of bullet shaped. Definitely not a laser but more versatile than just a big ol’ whammer.
Finally got my Togashi... fit and finish is pretty spectacular. Kind of want to buy another one just for display.
Which Togashi did you go for?
Oooof I was very close to purchasing one of those instead of the regular profile iron clad. Sounds awesome!
Very nice. Def on another level.Stainless clad white 1 ktip! It's simply gorgeous, worth every dollar. The feel in the hand is incredible too, weighty but not heavy. The grind on the spine, edge of the spine, and the slight brush/grain on the cladding are all wonderfully done. Strong, angular shinogi line.
Some good photos for those interested: Hitohira Togashi White #1 Stainless Clad Kiritsuke Gyuto 210mm Taihei Makassar Ebony Handle (Saya)
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