J-knife vs. Custom

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NO ChoP!

Old Head
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As I follow literally every knife maker on Instagram, have owned a few customs, handled a bunch more, visited a few makers shops and delved into making a few knives on my own, my respect for traditional Japanese knives has only grown.

We will nitpick every slight nuance of a j-knife, "this could have had 1mm more of a flat spot", or "the tip is 1mm too high for me", or " I prefer knives that weigh 1gram less". And changes do happen and evolve slowly over time. Many are now stainless clad, taller profile, thinner behind the edge. Searching and finding that new knife has always been part of the fun.

Enter customs. Instant gratification. And the good ones can turn ones vision into reality. And there are makers who do a hell of a job. (There are makers who make complete shyt. And there are customers whose vision is complete shyt.)

Art. That would be the answer. A full, one off custom is a piece of art. And I agree, there are some drop dead sexy knives out there. And I love to look at them, and hold them.

Put a J-knife in my hand and I want to use it. Cut with it. At the end of the day, I am a 30+ year veteran kitchen grunt who has wielded a knife in-hand for probably 100,000 hours.

I will continue to admire the art. For me, it's the J-knife life.
 
As a home cook, I haven't done enough with knives to know what I truly want. I can use a knife and decide if I like it, but I don't know enough to tell a maker what I want.

I have had a few experiences that tell me that there is an art to this:
- The ZKramer Carbom 8" knife is wrong to me. Beautiful knife, balances at the pinch, cuts well. But it was wrong - it was too heavy for the length - as I learned after holding a ZKramer Carbon 10". I would love to own an original.
- Kotetsu Bunka 180 - this knife was near perfect. It just felt so right - balance, weight, length were just perfect for me. It was an extension of my hand. Ok, food release sucked being a laser but it was still a sweet knife.

At this point, I'd just like to try what more makers think they do best and see what that brings me.
 
I was dreaming about ZKramer carbon 8', but after so many reading and digging into KKF I am glad I didn't follow the rush to buy one.
I want to hold a nice piece of art, like a Kagekyo blue paper steel knife, and watch it forms patina over the time...
Tbh, I am glad I am such a greenhorn about the knives, because (if God says so), the pleasure of submerging in this experience with knives is in front of me. As chinese say "You can not walk into the same river 2 times." And "rivers" in front of us are so much...Right?
 
It’s weird how tastes change, there was a time when my roll had no Japanese knives in it whatsoever. I now only have a couple from western makers. Can’t exactly put my finger on why.
 
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Well said. I see a lot of the gorgeous custom knives from western makers, and while I think they are beautiful and very cool, they just don't fire me up.

I'm here for the Jknives.
 
Don’t currently have any westerns. All about the J. Can’t beat the value, and my aesthetic preferences are pretty spartan anyway. Most fancy handles make me want to vomit.

Edit: damnit, I forgot I have a Kip workpony in the mail at the moment, though. I guess Australia is west of somewhere. But wait, so is Japan. Hmmmm. I’m confused.
 
Don’t currently have any westerns. All about the J. Can’t beat the value, and my aesthetic preferences are pretty spartan anyway. Most fancy handles make me want to vomit.

Edit: damnit, I forgot I have a Kip workpony in the mail at the moment, though. I guess Australia is west of somewhere. But wait, so is Japan. Hmmmm. I’m confused.
While being closer to Thailand and more heavily influenced by a far off European country 🤔 :cool:
 
I have both, like both. Started my rabbithole with Japanese and now going thru westerns. Propably 2 years from now I have less knives and mostly Japanese.
 
Have you thought why Western (custom) knife makers in their present form emerged? I believe, it is a trend, a marketing concept. With the main purpose how to make the custom knife blacksmith stand alone. And there is nothing bad with that.
The Japanese makers sales and marketing concept is not that developed. They are still oriented to mass production, even in the cases when the father is quite old and only his two sons are helping him. They do not make a batch of two knives and announce that they will sell it at the end of the next month.
What i am thinking and having as a conclusion, J-knife production is in its earlier stage of evolution.
And I foresee that at a later stage, after years, we will have a J-Kippington, a J-Jannis, etc...It is evolution.
 
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Don’t currently have any westerns. All about the J. Can’t beat the value, and my aesthetic preferences are pretty spartan anyway. Most fancy handles make me want to vomit.

Edit: damnit, I forgot I have a Kip workpony in the mail at the moment, though. I guess Australia is west of somewhere. But wait, so is Japan. Hmmmm. I’m confused.
Your not confused. You are in denial.
 
Japan isn't west of America? 🤷‍♂️
"While geographically close to Asia, Australia is a Western nation, proven by the fact that our political and legal institutions and much of our language and literature are derived from Britain and Europe."Jan 26, 2011. I got it from the internet:). So he will be a lover of Western knives. There is nothing to be ashamed of.
 
You lost me. What is Ian in denial about?
I was joking - But I was referring to him saying he only has j knives and trying to reason that the Kipp maybe wasn't a Western. I was joking saying he has a Western and he will love it. Therefore he is not confused but in denial that he likes western knife makers.
 
I was joking - But I was referring to him saying he only has j knives and trying to reason that the Kipp maybe wasn't a Western. I was joking saying he has a Western and he will love it. Therefore he is not confused but in denial that he likes western knife makers.

Huh? I’m confused. ;)
 
Cool thing about living on a globe is that Japan is both east and west of us. You can fly over Canada, Alaska, brave Russian air, glacier jet streams or you can fly over the Atlantic, Europe and Asia.
 
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From my perspective, I like both J knives and westerns. With most J knives you get to share the joy and frustrations with fellow knife owners who own the same ones you do. With westerns, you may end up as the proud owner of unique masterpieces which can only be ogled by others at least until you decide to sell onwards. Of course there are exceptions to the above statement. I can't imagine too many fellow forum members ogling at your Chelsea Miller if you so choose to show off.
 
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Huh? I’m confused. ;)
Haha, man at first I didn't see the wink. I started rereading your post to see if I missed something, while I'm thinking why can't anyone understand the joke - geeze, got me, :)
 
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Yeah, I'm a big fan of both. Concerning, Western makers(good ones) what is not to like? They are making bad ass knives with tons of style and paying attention to the details. And the grinds are phenomenal and they can be very comfortable to use. So in the end, they are great tools that are enjoyable to use. If you were just going by value, of course you could easily argue for j knifes for value of performance as a tool. Then, when you add the aspect of being able to taylor the knife to your preferences, it takes it to another level.
 
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