It's soft yet also chippy when appropriately thin behind the edge. What’s to like in the real world? Sure it sharpens nicely and is fun to play with and cut curlies from paper towel, but as a daily driver in a kitchen? Nah. I can see the argument for it in razors / sashimi knives but that’s it.
Hey now, we’re talking steel not grinds here… I’ll hand you that Takeda makes some duds in the grind department - no doubt. But as far as steel goes I much prefer his AS to TFs. A smidge less hard, but still takes a ferocious edge, holds it well, and can take tons of hard use on poly boards and never chip even at very nail flexy geometry. TF is maybe a bit better for cutting toilet paper for Instagram likes, but I know who I’d rather HT my blade for the kitchen between the two.
I’ve yet to find a Kato with steel I thought better than middling. One of the several I’ve sharpened I’d go so far as to say the HT was flawed - horrifically chippy, even when fairly thick behind the edge to my standards, and the steel lost all bite when taken north of 2k.
Birgerrssons taco trounces these. Its very hard, has great retention, cuts well at both 500 grit and off the finest natural stones, doesn’t have issues with chipping (micro or macro) even at absurdly nail flexing geometry BTE. Little glassy on stones sometimes, but small price to pay for superior performance.
