Honyaki prices bordering the absurd!

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Chicagohawkie

Chicagohawkie

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Just saw a jikko white 3 oil quench 240 gyuto Honyaki priced at 1700! That’s insane! Question, does anyone else thinks this is completely nuts? Holy crap!
 
It's expensive, would I pay $1700 for a 240 oil quenched honyaki.... No, are there people who will, yes. I imagine we will see a pretty decent jump in honyaki pricing once Yoshikazu ikeda retires, there aren't many Smith's producing the volume of honyakis the market demands. I've seen a +/- 30% increase in honyaki pricing in the last two years. Also Sakai Jikko like nehoni tends to be in my opinion over priced because they can get away with it.
 
Guess you haven't been following the crazy prices Rolex are going for these days on secondary market. Its all down to supply and demand. I did notice Maksim dropped the list price of his Jikko/'Shiraki' honyakis 20%. Guess he wasn't seeing the sales he expected and had to adjust prices accordingly. The 15% additional sale price reduction to about $850 dropped them into the realms of acceptability for me. Anything above that demands a better handle than burnt chestnut IMO.
 
Corradobrit1 said:
Guess you haven't been following the crazy prices Rolex are going for these days on secondary market. Its all down to supply and demand. I did notice Maksim dropped the list price of his Jikko/'Shiraki' honyakis 20%. Guess he wasn't seeing the sales he expected and had to adjust prices accordingly. The 15% additional sale price reduction to about $850 dropped them into the realms of acceptability for me. Anything above that demands a better handle than burnt chestnut IMO.
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What’s wrong with burnt chestnut?
 
Corradobrit1 said:
Guess you haven't been following the crazy prices Rolex are going for these days on secondary market. Its all down to supply and demand. I did notice Maksim dropped the list price of his Jikko/'Shiraki' honyakis 20%. Guess he wasn't seeing the sales he expected and had to adjust prices accordingly. The 15% additional sale price reduction to about $850 dropped them into the realms of acceptability for me. Anything above that demands a better handle than burnt chestnut IMO.
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Hmmmm, have a few old beat up Rolex’s in my drawer, maybe I should look into that. Haven’t worn a watch in 20 years! Maybe my antique sundial is worth a mint as well. Jikko Shiraki hamono Honyakis are made by his apprentices now. No interest in Shiraki anything these days. Now to look into those Rolex’s!
 
esoo said:
You can get an oil quench honyaki for $275.
https://www.aframestokyo.com/tesshu...-240mm-blue-i-steel--japanese-chef-kn240.html

From what I've been able read, they need some work, but the steel is apparently worth it. If it were only a little taller at the heel.

As for the rest, they are way too rich for my blood. Anything over $350USD is out of my range when I consider exchange to local currency.
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Ha Ha! Those knives are not differentially hardened and have no hamon. They have been around for a long time, sold by many resellers. A few people picked these up 4-5 years ago and said they were horribly unfinished.
 
Spipet said:
What’s wrong with burnt chestnut?
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Well for one think its light pushing the balance point forward on the blade. OK if you enjoy forwarded weighted blades. Personally I like it to be at the pinch grip.
 
Chicagohawkie said:
Hmmmm, have a few old beat up Rolex’s in my drawer, maybe I should look into that. Haven’t worn a watch in 20 years! Maybe my antique sundial is worth a mint as well. Jikko Shiraki hamono Honyakis are made by his apprentices now. No interest in Shiraki anything these days. Now to look into those Rolex’s!
Click to expand...
Beat up is all the rage. A guy recently bought a vintage Rolex 5513 for $2.50 in a thrift store. Thing was beat up really bad. He sold it for $6500 on Ebay last week with some question mark over its authenticity. Turns out its genuine and worth nowadays about $10K in its beat up state. I'd be running to that drawer.......
 
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Corradobrit1 said:
Beat up is all the rage. A guy recently bought a vintage Rolex 5513 for $2.50 in a thrift store. Thing was beat up really bad. He sold it for $6500 on Ebay last week with some question mark over its authenticity. Turns out its genuine and worth nowadays about $10K in its beat up state. I'd be running to that drawer.......
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What’s this POS worth?
 
I've been trying to figure out what the performance benefit of differential heat treating is for smaller blades such as kitchen knives. I get the benefit in swords, etc. So taking visual appeal out of the equation, is there something else, how's honyaki with 65 hrc edge better than the same steel mono at 65 hrc? Is it the higher failure rate in heat treat that make honyaki more expensive than mono? It also seems that some western makers don't necessarily charge much more for honyaki. Would a mono blade be more fragile in a kitchen knife vs a honyaki in the same steel if they were both at the same hardness?
 
Corradobrit1 said:
Beat up is all the rage. A guy recently bought a vintage Rolex 5513 for $2.50 in a thrift store. Thing was beat up really bad. He sold it for $6500 on Ebay last week with some question mark over its authenticity. Turns out its genuine and worth nowadays about $10K in its beat up state. I'd be running to that drawer.......
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Have you seen the videos of “production run distressed jeans”. They slide them over an ironing board and hit them with a belt sander. Triple the price.
 
Barmoley said:
I've been trying to figure out what the performance benefit of differential heat treating is for smaller blades such as kitchen knives. I get the benefit in swords, etc. So taking visual appeal out of the equation, is there something else, how's honyaki with 65 hrc edge better than the same steel mono at 65 hrc?
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I'm curious about this too. Sure look purdy but any real world advantage? I'm guessing little if any. DiffHT on a sword....whole other ball game.

I hear for some makers the failure rate can be as high as 70% for honyaki HT. That can be down to a multitude of factors though from inexperience, steel type/formulation being less than optimal etc.
 
Yes, if anyone has one of those terribly overpriced JNS honyakis I’ll gladly take it off your hands.
Atleast shirakis apprentices makes true edge length 240mm Honyakis!
 
Seems all but very few honyaki are too short on the heel for my taste.

As to cost, the pretty/wavy line drives demand
 
labor of love said:
Yes, if anyone has one of those terribly overpriced JNS honyakis I’ll gladly take it off your hands.
Atleast shirakis apprentices makes true edge length 240mm Honyakis!
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Actually they are a little oversized. 240's have a 244 edge length and 54 tall at the heel.
 
Yes, I'm tempted to get one too. I prefer oversized 210's. Just waiting for some feedback from early adopters.... and another JNS sale.
 
kato and shigs going for nearly 1k, now that's absurd.

i wish smiths would produce generic honyakis with straight non wavy hardening line with no mirror polish at a more reasonable price.
 
panda said:
kato and shigs going for nearly 1k, now that's absurd.

i wish smiths would produce generic honyakis with straight non wavy hardening line with no mirror polish at a more reasonable price.
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You may be on to something there! Since I’m only buying sub 300 dollar knives now, that would good in my book. Knife makers take notice!
 
The handles that come with most honyakis these days aren’t fancy enough either.
I need Atleast three different stabilized woods and 2 spacers otherwise it’s not up to par.
;)
 
WildBoar said:
I don't really follow Rolex, but the Omega forum I am on has had some like this typically listed in the $1k - $2k range. Datejusts are not nearly as popular as the old subs and daytonas, so they do not command the $20k - $200k sales prices. :cool:
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Guess it’s going back in the junk box! I know I have another somewhere, maybe better luck goes with that. My dad gave me his omega that’s unused, haven’t bothered to grab it yet. Had no idea watches were such a big thing.
 
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