Kemadi passaround
- Thread starter preizzo
- Start date
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I shipped it a few days back, should be arriving to Austria in a day or two. I will be posting my feedback soon 
Sooo, about that knife 
I am not going to try to write a PhD thesis here as I find that my impressions are pretty close to the ones by @JayS20 , so I would just mention the main points that I found relevant:
The knife was not particularly hard to sharpen. It had a very thin edge so there was not much material to be removed when sharpening. I did a very few light passes on JNS800 (I normally use a 2k stone to start, but it was still on a loan at that time) not to remove too much steel and then finished on Gesshin Synthetic Natural. I had not issued to de-burr the edge on the stone, but did use a few light passes afterwards on 1 micron diamond paste on leather. In total - I could not complain about the steel. It is stainless and does not feel anywhere close as crisp as well HTed AS would (nor did I expect that), but it was fine.
The weight felt good in hand - maybe there could have been a touch more distal taper, but the knife did not feel overly nose heavy. I consider this a pretty personal. The profile was good for my style, the heel was very gently raised (as it should be IMO), so all good there.
The blade has considerable distal taper in the grind - being fairly thick at the heel, but going to a very fine tip last 5cm or so. The tip was ground thin enough to allow smooth horizontal cuts on onions without feeling flimsy. The grind towards the heel was less of a joy as a combination of workhorse style with a flat grind really does not work well with hard vegetables. I did use the knife side by side with my Kato WH (which has 238g and is thus on the lighter side, but is a bit longer than this Kemadi gyuto) and while both would of course wedge in hard carrots, the flat grind made this a less pleasant experience than necessary. Sticking was very much dependent on what one was cutting, but as expected - the flat grind does not improve that particular properties either.
One thing I would like to mention in regard to the very tall flat grind - it may not be an issue right away, but once the blade will need some thinning the user will be faced with the decision to either just thin first few millimetres behind the edge and thus add some convex to an already fairly workhorse grind (for the most length of the blade - save for the tip), or attempt to thin the whole bevel - what would most likely be a lesson in patience and fitness for the fingers as thinning a 30 mm wide monosteel blade is going to take a long while - and it is the large contact surface with the stone that it will make it difficult to achieve sufficient pressure and thus material removal. Those who did a more considerable thinning on a honyaki knife of some sorts will be able to relate.
One thing I would like to mention was the finish of the blade - there were some start/stop sanding marks left. I am going to assume that since this was a passaround knife, it was potentially not finished as finely as a 'production' (for the lack of a better word) knife would be, plus there were 1 or 2 faint marks left by the grinder. Otherwise the finish looked and felt pleasant and was very practical.
I did appreciate the gently rounded spine and choil.
Handle material felt good in hand, the thickness of the handle was spot on for the size/weight, but I would prefer to have some tapering towards the blade - especially from the sides - to make pinch grip more comfortable.
In total my experience was positive, the main point to improve (change) upon would be going for a little convex instead of just a flat grind.
Thank you @preizzo for having a chance to try it out.
I am not going to try to write a PhD thesis here as I find that my impressions are pretty close to the ones by @JayS20 , so I would just mention the main points that I found relevant:
The knife was not particularly hard to sharpen. It had a very thin edge so there was not much material to be removed when sharpening. I did a very few light passes on JNS800 (I normally use a 2k stone to start, but it was still on a loan at that time) not to remove too much steel and then finished on Gesshin Synthetic Natural. I had not issued to de-burr the edge on the stone, but did use a few light passes afterwards on 1 micron diamond paste on leather. In total - I could not complain about the steel. It is stainless and does not feel anywhere close as crisp as well HTed AS would (nor did I expect that), but it was fine.
The weight felt good in hand - maybe there could have been a touch more distal taper, but the knife did not feel overly nose heavy. I consider this a pretty personal. The profile was good for my style, the heel was very gently raised (as it should be IMO), so all good there.
The blade has considerable distal taper in the grind - being fairly thick at the heel, but going to a very fine tip last 5cm or so. The tip was ground thin enough to allow smooth horizontal cuts on onions without feeling flimsy. The grind towards the heel was less of a joy as a combination of workhorse style with a flat grind really does not work well with hard vegetables. I did use the knife side by side with my Kato WH (which has 238g and is thus on the lighter side, but is a bit longer than this Kemadi gyuto) and while both would of course wedge in hard carrots, the flat grind made this a less pleasant experience than necessary. Sticking was very much dependent on what one was cutting, but as expected - the flat grind does not improve that particular properties either.
One thing I would like to mention in regard to the very tall flat grind - it may not be an issue right away, but once the blade will need some thinning the user will be faced with the decision to either just thin first few millimetres behind the edge and thus add some convex to an already fairly workhorse grind (for the most length of the blade - save for the tip), or attempt to thin the whole bevel - what would most likely be a lesson in patience and fitness for the fingers as thinning a 30 mm wide monosteel blade is going to take a long while - and it is the large contact surface with the stone that it will make it difficult to achieve sufficient pressure and thus material removal. Those who did a more considerable thinning on a honyaki knife of some sorts will be able to relate.
One thing I would like to mention was the finish of the blade - there were some start/stop sanding marks left. I am going to assume that since this was a passaround knife, it was potentially not finished as finely as a 'production' (for the lack of a better word) knife would be, plus there were 1 or 2 faint marks left by the grinder. Otherwise the finish looked and felt pleasant and was very practical.
I did appreciate the gently rounded spine and choil.
Handle material felt good in hand, the thickness of the handle was spot on for the size/weight, but I would prefer to have some tapering towards the blade - especially from the sides - to make pinch grip more comfortable.
In total my experience was positive, the main point to improve (change) upon would be going for a little convex instead of just a flat grind.
Thank you @preizzo for having a chance to try it out.
Tanks matus 
Hi all
Checking out how is it going with the passaround and to see where the knife is
Have a great weekend
Checking out how is it going with the passaround and to see where the knife is
Have a great weekend
kidsos
Well-Known Member
Got em!
So to celebrate some finely chopped sofrito for ragu Bolognese
First reactions: Cuts nicely with not a lot of drag. There is quite a lot of sticking though. Comfortable Handle and nimble grind.
Cutting vids behind this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gR_t1wvcCJJUXglNe5GsWHGukTA5B5pA?usp=sharing
So to celebrate some finely chopped sofrito for ragu Bolognese
First reactions: Cuts nicely with not a lot of drag. There is quite a lot of sticking though. Comfortable Handle and nimble grind.
Cutting vids behind this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gR_t1wvcCJJUXglNe5GsWHGukTA5B5pA?usp=sharing
kidsos
Well-Known Member
Knife will go to next in line after the weekend, had a blast with it. Bit more detailed write up soon hopefully!!
Great
Must be my lucky day! Both of my PAs arrived on the same day. This weekend I'll get to compare it to Kippington's Franken-knife
First impressions are extremely positive though, love the profile, the thicker spine, and I'm curious to see how the tall flat grind will do.
Last edited:
Must be my lucky day! Both of my PAs arrived on the same day. This weekend I'll get to compare it to Kippington's Franken-knife
First impressions are extremely positive though, love the profile, the thicker spine, and I'm curious to see how the tall flat grind will do.
Whoho. I am next on the list
Knife came back to me today in perfect condition.
Tanks to all the members who partecipate to this passaround .
I will continue here in sweden with few members so if some more swede fella want to partecipate please dm me
I will soon organize a new passaround with my kemadi bulat gyuto 250 mm if any want to try this awesome steel please comment in here
Saluti Matteo
Tanks to all the members who partecipate to this passaround .
I will continue here in sweden with few members so if some more swede fella want to partecipate please dm me
I will soon organize a new passaround with my kemadi bulat gyuto 250 mm if any want to try this awesome steel please comment in here
Saluti Matteo
Is the cutting edge 250 mm? What is the height?
250 lenghtIs the cutting edge 250 mm? What is the height?
56 height
WiriWiri
Senior Member
Always been a little curious of these - who wouldn’t want to try a bit of Bulat? - but thanks to our political overlords our little island is now free of the evil EU empire, which basically means we’re in a uselessly awkward customs club of one for passarounds., I’m not feeling the love for Brexit right now, or ever tbh.
Still, Britannia rules the waves and we’re better off apparently, so if anyone does find a solution to this self-inflicted wound feel free to count me in. Good luck with the generous passaround though!
Still, Britannia rules the waves and we’re better off apparently, so if anyone does find a solution to this self-inflicted wound feel free to count me in. Good luck with the generous passaround though!
I assume that Brexit does mean that one cannot send packages to and from the UK with customs. If the parcel is shipped as gift from Uncle Matteo to you do you still have to pay?
WiriWiri
Senior Member
I’m not sure if the gift thing ever really works consistently, but I’m up for Uncle Matteo sending me a giftwrapped knife along with a card and slice of cake if it helps
But more seriously, I’m cynical that there’s a convenient, reliable way around this Brexit bummer that doesn’t cause the OP awkwardness.
But more seriously, I’m cynical that there’s a convenient, reliable way around this Brexit bummer that doesn’t cause the OP awkwardness.
I can ,no problemaI’m not sure if the gift thing ever really works consistently, but I’m up for Uncle Matteo sending me a giftwrapped knife along with a card and slice of cake if it helps
But more seriously, I’m cynical that there’s a convenient, reliable way around this Brexit bummer that doesn’t cause the OP awkwardness.
