So even Michael didn't know what was special??
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Knife Japan: What's notable, worth buying, etc.?
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Yoshi
Shindo Maniac
I'm a bit skeptical, if you look at most Japanese boxes, they all say specially made/high grade/etc
Absolute Buffoon
Pineapple on Pizza Fanboy
Seems not. His suspicion (though he admitted he may be completely wrong) was that it referred to it being warikomi forged, as opposed to being fashioned from blanks like the stainless clad ones. Admittedly, the cheaper KU ones and the white #2 JCK ones both seem warikomi clad as well, so I'm not sure how likely this is.
Yup. Kono uchihamono also uses this designation, and I've never compared their work side by side (or even owned any of it). Seems like bare minimum, more care goes into the final product. Whether that results in meaningful ROI or not is kinda where my skepticism comes into play Reminds me a bit of paying extra for tamahagane; potentially meaningless or even worse in practical performance, but always a badass part of history. Not high on my list of $350 items for purchase, but maybe I find all I need from that performance tier in the near future and want to take a risk on mystique then. We'll see.
Its special because its a double beveled usuba for use on meat.
Absolute Buffoon
Pineapple on Pizza Fanboy
Oh yeah, this would count as special! Can't believe I forgot about that.
An additional update from Michael, apparently a big thing with their toku-sei stuff is additional hammering of the steel. I'm not personally sure if this results in a thinner end result and/or better geometry, but bare minimum, there is more time and care put into the hammering phase. Given his product listing for Kono's toku-sei knives, additional hammering seems to be a common trend.
So I bought the 210 based on this post. As I liked the visual and stainless clad and a great deal.
But found it challenging. The spine at the tip end too thick to compete against a Myojin for an onion. And maybe because of the higher heel, there’s a lot of curve at front half, which to me effectively shortened the knife so much to make pinch grip unusable.
So knife was donated to family.
More Okubo propaganda
Absolute Buffoon
Pineapple on Pizza Fanboy
Is that their takenoko or just a custom spec standard grind? I'm assuming the former, but the glide on the last cuts makes me think the latter.
Takenoko custom, asked for 210x90 and got 216x93. 470 g
I put my own edge on it at a fairly low angle that kinda doubled as little thinning right behind the edge and it noticeably increased performance. A micro-tune? Don't really feel the need to do a full tune up anymore tbh, maybe in a year if I get bored but for now I'm happy with it.
I picked myself up one of these from With Knives, posted pics here: https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/show-your-newest-knife-buy.7655/post-1168724
I should mention that I had asked Michael about Okubo’s kiridashi because I saw one in a video. So he not only reached out to Okubo, but ordered one of each of the 5 different ones Okubo makes to carry in his shop. I already bought B. I am assuming he will have all options for purchase, but I know the other 4 are instock.
So am I the only oyster lover on here. I just saw and ordered one of these. Kawasaki Kajiya Kakiake-bocho Oyster Knife Shirogami #1 https://knifejapan.com/kawasaki-kajiya-kakiake-bocho-oyster-knife-shirogami-1/No idea other than my guess on it, but it looks like it would work really well. I have other french style and while they work well can be difficult on some oysters and dangerous to the palm.
Yeah I was thinking this could be a bit dangerous but if I was still shucking loads of oysters I might try it. Make sure to pad your palm. Pretty cool.
Yoshi
Shindo Maniac
Wouldn't it be very difficult to maintain a carbon oyster knife?
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I was hovering over it but decided the shape wasn't particularly appropriate for Gulf coast oysters. Would love to hear your thoughts after use
Turns out it is recycled leaf spring not Shirogami and it has what appears to be a dark finish that may protect. Not sure if it is like KU or not. So shouldn’t be too hard to maintain.
I mostly get east coast here, but the shape is what attracted me. It appears to have two edges with a rise in the middle and an up curve like a ski for prying. I have not really seen this design before so not 100% on if it is a better hinge type oyster blade or lip type. Guessing hinge.
Being known as "the knife guy" a long time coworker came to me a week or so back and said he wanted to upgrade his kitchen knife and was looking for my opinion on a set. Yes, the word "set" caused my eye to squint but what he showed me was a $1300+ set of three DLC-coated blades with gaudy G10 handles. Good steel and for all I know well done grinds but that's a helluva leep.
He currently uses a Wusthof santoku and likes it but isn't thrilled with the steel and wanted "something thin". He's a metallurgical engineer and had obviously been doing some homework. I gave the usual, "hard to know what you're really going to like so be careful spending a lot in the beginning" spiel. I gave the cutting and cutting board spiel. The sharpening plan spiel. The stainless vs. carbon spiel. The size and shape spiels. All of it. A good long talk. Then I gave him links to a bunch of vendors to start seeing what was out there and told him just to ping me when he saw things he liked.
He first asked about a Tsunehisa bunka, then a couple different santokus, all from Carbon and Bernal, but then he said he really liked a santoku from Knife Japan. Clearly he wanted to stick with santoku right now. The one he was looking at was only 150mm and was kind of expensive. He understood the carbon/iron combo and what that meant and actually like the idea. So I said well if you just want to dip a toe into a carbon steel, wa-handled, santoku just to see what this stuff is all about, then look at the one from Homi san. He did, we talked about it, he loved the idea of it and ordered it. I made sure he understood the rustic finishes of most of the KJ offerings but, like many of us, he likes the notion of the small smiths making tools meant to be used.
He ordered over the weekend and today he told me how he got this really nice, personalized email from Michael. I said, I told ya, he's the nicest guy in the business. He's stoked and we're talking about learning to sharpen.
But wait, there's more...
I also got an email from Michael. It turns out he didn't have any of Homi's santoku's in stock and because he received an order for one, he took the opportunity to drive out and see Homi and see if he had any made and able to be picked up. Michael only makes it out there every so often and Homi kinda works at his own pace. Michael has also made it clear to me in the past that he really enjoys Homi san's company and he likes him.
While there, Michael passed on how much I like my 180mm nakiri that Homi eventually made me. Homi didn't remember it and said he didn't make it as he only does 165's. They had a fun back and forth until Homi remembered and Michael said it was a good time. He was able to get my coworker's new knife.
That's a lot of cool things all triggered by one guy's desire for a better cutting kitchen knife. The universe is a cool place. God, karma, chance... Whatever works for you, there's some real circular or at least linked things and subtle dynamics at play. This thing had to happen to lead to this thing and that led to this other thing that led to this thing and so on. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
He currently uses a Wusthof santoku and likes it but isn't thrilled with the steel and wanted "something thin". He's a metallurgical engineer and had obviously been doing some homework. I gave the usual, "hard to know what you're really going to like so be careful spending a lot in the beginning" spiel. I gave the cutting and cutting board spiel. The sharpening plan spiel. The stainless vs. carbon spiel. The size and shape spiels. All of it. A good long talk. Then I gave him links to a bunch of vendors to start seeing what was out there and told him just to ping me when he saw things he liked.
He first asked about a Tsunehisa bunka, then a couple different santokus, all from Carbon and Bernal, but then he said he really liked a santoku from Knife Japan. Clearly he wanted to stick with santoku right now. The one he was looking at was only 150mm and was kind of expensive. He understood the carbon/iron combo and what that meant and actually like the idea. So I said well if you just want to dip a toe into a carbon steel, wa-handled, santoku just to see what this stuff is all about, then look at the one from Homi san. He did, we talked about it, he loved the idea of it and ordered it. I made sure he understood the rustic finishes of most of the KJ offerings but, like many of us, he likes the notion of the small smiths making tools meant to be used.
He ordered over the weekend and today he told me how he got this really nice, personalized email from Michael. I said, I told ya, he's the nicest guy in the business. He's stoked and we're talking about learning to sharpen.
But wait, there's more...
I also got an email from Michael. It turns out he didn't have any of Homi's santoku's in stock and because he received an order for one, he took the opportunity to drive out and see Homi and see if he had any made and able to be picked up. Michael only makes it out there every so often and Homi kinda works at his own pace. Michael has also made it clear to me in the past that he really enjoys Homi san's company and he likes him.
While there, Michael passed on how much I like my 180mm nakiri that Homi eventually made me. Homi didn't remember it and said he didn't make it as he only does 165's. They had a fun back and forth until Homi remembered and Michael said it was a good time. He was able to get my coworker's new knife.
That's a lot of cool things all triggered by one guy's desire for a better cutting kitchen knife. The universe is a cool place. God, karma, chance... Whatever works for you, there's some real circular or at least linked things and subtle dynamics at play. This thing had to happen to lead to this thing and that led to this other thing that led to this thing and so on. Pretty amazing when you think about it.
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Uncle Danny
Custom handles and sayas @Dirtypalms_ on IG
Once again I need to state how great a guy Michael is to deal with! Top customer service
Has anyone tried any of the Shigemitsu Hamono knives?
Any thoughts on quality, fit and finish, etc? I'm thinking about tryibg one, but still on the fence...
Thanks!
Any thoughts on quality, fit and finish, etc? I'm thinking about tryibg one, but still on the fence...
Thanks!
Kawasaki Kajiya Kakiake-bocho Oyster knife Recycled Steel.
So since the last post I spoke with Michael who spoke with Kawasaki and it is made of recycled leaf spring not shirogami. The leaf spring steel is probably better suited for this purpose anyway.
Best oyster knife I ever used. So easy. At least so far on our east coast oysters. Both ways were hinge opening on these. First round was tip up. Super easy slides deep in the hinge a little wiggle and twist pry and pop, then cut top free and bottom. Second round tip down same method yet even easier and it is already flat in the top shell for cutting free. I had zero worries or concerns of slipping or stabbing my hand.
I don’t know if he blued the blade or heat, but it is dark with the rainbow effect and nothing ever scratched it ever. Wash dry no rust issues. I did end up bees waxing the handle tang connection to keep water out when washing.
Again Michael is just awesome to work with.
I need to stay off this forum. Yet another thing I want, but don't need and shouldn't spend money on.
If you really like oysters and you shuck them yourself you should.
I'm just gonna leave this right here...
https://knifejapan.com/kawatsu-hamono-funayuki-bocho-120mm-aogami-2/
Absolute Buffoon
Pineapple on Pizza Fanboy
I keep seeing this and still can’t get over how ideal those dimensions look for a knife that could handle fillet/petty tasks while still being a serviceable chopper. 120x45 looks so optimal you might have convinced me to pick one up.I'm just gonna leave this right here...
https://knifejapan.com/kawatsu-hamono-funayuki-bocho-120mm-aogami-2/
Did you get hold of an Okubo kiridashi? Maybe you could post a picture? Cheers!
aporigine
The slow blade penetrates the winter squash
I’m in the same boat. However one of those sleek little Kawatsu is likely in my future.
Yes I did. I was waiting for Michael to post them up on his site, but maybe he forgot. He ordered all five varieties Okubo makes and got them all in and sent me pics. Even though I had already decided on B from the over all shape and size. First pic is day one just did a little rubbing on that stone to test out. Second pic is after removing a low spot up near the mid section just below the KU finish on a Hindostan and rubbing on the iromono for a little bit to test some polishing. Other pics are what Michael sent me on mine. Last pic is all the types he makes.
Very nicely made kiridashi. His Aogami #2 is just so nice. This one has a nice shape and edge profile which works well with my big hands and is a little different from my other profiles. Kind of wanting different edge styles for wood working like spoon carving too.
If you are interested, I would ask Michael. I know at the time he sent mine he had the other 4 styles in too. So Guessing he forgot to list these up on the site. Not sure though you would need to check with Michael on that.
Oh and unfortunately he doesn't have anything on the site right now from Yoshimitsu, but my Yoshimitsu Kajiya Tall Nakiri 155x70 Shirogami #2 is a really nice fun little blade that I recently did a light job of removing the low spots, polishing up on a coticule and rehandled too.
