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You are in good company!

I'm curious to do some prep with it. If for nothing else than to know first hand what it is about these dimensions, grind etc... that make it so highly regarded. Having said that, I'll never pay a grand for it. And thank god there are other bladesmiths that have "workhorse" grinds that can probably satisfy my curiosity for this shape at a much more reasonable price, I think mainly Maz and Tsourkan. Maybe I can get in on a pass-around if the motivation/opportunity arises... But to obsess over upload times to drop a grand... no.

I think the flipping culture that's grown around this Kato WH is unfortunate and f---ed up. Maxim really figured out market psychology with the way he runs his website. I mean, more power to him. It's just not going to be for me.
 
It’s not just Maksim, the current kitchen knife and maker culture is so instagram social it preys on scarcity mindset and FOMO. These days drops and scripts seem to be the best way to get direct from makers... which is exactly the opposite of how I wanted to interact with the smith personally when I go to a boutique craftsman.
But hey if it nets you 1.5k for a cleaver, who am I to get in the way of their livelihood
 
I don't know, he seemed like a chill stoner dude. To bad what happened with his landlord. *cough*OJdidit*cough*
Kato Kaelin, now thats a blast from the past. Can he forge knives though?
 
The only f’n day I don’t birddog the site and he drops a pile. God has a sense of humor for sure or maybe he’s just not fond of my habit...
 
Wow. Who knew Kato Hunters were also powerful. Never seen a Kato Honyaki. Maybe explains why it sold for $2700o_O

KatoHonyaki.png
 
Wow. Who knew Kato Hunters were also powerful. Never seen a Kato Honyaki. Maybe explains why it sold for $2700o_O

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JNS has a history of selling some of these unicorns from Kato. They are made of tamahagane and use the same method as in the forging of katana swords( some carbon steel and some clay) . This one went quite at a reasonable price compared to the one sold by jns a couple of years ago for 6500$ :
https://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/kiyoshi-kato-hunting-140mm-tamahagene/
 
I really wanted that Kato Dammy hunter that was in the package.
 
It is indeed a beautiful and unique knife.
I have tried to buy one, and made some crazy offers to some people, but I am starting to let go of this obsession. The ideea of one knife to rule them all was kind of catchy. But hey, I am not Sauron and having over 5k$ trapped in a beautiful knife I can only oil and cut paper with, makes me have second thoughts about buying one. Especially when there are so many beautiful and cool knives from both western and japanese makers on the market today which I can actually use in my rotation. Another thing that makes me back away from really expensive knives is the niche market for them. If I need the money back and I want to sell it. How many people would pay me back the same amount without hassle?
 
You wouldn’t believe me if I told you the price of a western dammy kato I turned down about 6-7 years ago because I thought the price was maybe $50 more than what I wanted to pay 😐
LOL, hindsight is such a cruel thing sometimes

That's basically in the same order of magnitude for a dammy Kato than cents for a reasonable budget Jknife
 
I thought paying around $800 for a Kato dammy, I think in '14, was nutz and that was the last time I ever saw one for sale from a retailer.
 
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