So after my "recommend me a knife" post a months ago I've made a few steps in my knife journey.
After the Yoshi Gyuto (which is currently up for sale) I went for the highly recommended Toyama SS 210. After that I got a bit greedy and got a Hado B1 two months ago. I wanted to share some thoughts on the knives + some pics for your enjoyment
The Toyama is my first carbon knife and I absolutely love it. The santoku-like profile feels like home and the B2 feels very similar to the SG2 Santoku I've used for such a long time. It bites real nice! The knife sturdy and still nicely thin behind the edge. At first I didn't appreciate the thicker tip at all but after using it for a while I've really changed my opinion. It might not be the right choice for dicing onions but for any other prep it feels like an upside to have more stability and nice food release at the front. Choil is a bit wabi-sabi but doesn't really impact holding it. Cutting with this is a lot of fun for some reason. It's smooth to cut and has nice food release at the same time. This one has really stolen my heart
The Hado B1 is my first iron clad knife. The first time cutting with this knife was a real experience. First the reactivity of the knife making it look like it bleeds after cutting onions and secondly the way it just falls through the onion. The tip feels like you're cutting with metal paper. It's sooooo thin! Honestly I think it's a bit too thin for my taste, it really doesn't feel like a carefree knife. The two knives feel like opposites in many ways. The Hado excels at cutting onions and fruit whereas the Toyama is better with dense and tall veggies. The oak handle on the Hado is just amazing, the taper is beautiful and the balance just outstanding. It's dead on neutral behind the heel. The etch was super sticky until I reset the patina. I'm very glad that the stickage improved at some point. It arrived completely blunt so I've had some time sharpening it. Already above a 3000 SG it felt a bit too smooth for my preference so I finished at a 1000 grit. Whereas I take the Toyama up to a 6k Imanishi stone. The edge life of the B1 is amazing though, just fantastic.
So here are some questions out of curiosity:
-What finisher stones would you recommend for Tanaka's B1?
-The vendor's page stated the Hado is convex ground, however I really can't see any convexity at all. Is it just me or is it a perfect V-grind?
-How does the Hado grind compare to a Myojin? I'm very tempted to try his knives next.
Would love to hear from people's experiences related to these 2 knives!
After the Yoshi Gyuto (which is currently up for sale) I went for the highly recommended Toyama SS 210. After that I got a bit greedy and got a Hado B1 two months ago. I wanted to share some thoughts on the knives + some pics for your enjoyment
The Toyama is my first carbon knife and I absolutely love it. The santoku-like profile feels like home and the B2 feels very similar to the SG2 Santoku I've used for such a long time. It bites real nice! The knife sturdy and still nicely thin behind the edge. At first I didn't appreciate the thicker tip at all but after using it for a while I've really changed my opinion. It might not be the right choice for dicing onions but for any other prep it feels like an upside to have more stability and nice food release at the front. Choil is a bit wabi-sabi but doesn't really impact holding it. Cutting with this is a lot of fun for some reason. It's smooth to cut and has nice food release at the same time. This one has really stolen my heart
The Hado B1 is my first iron clad knife. The first time cutting with this knife was a real experience. First the reactivity of the knife making it look like it bleeds after cutting onions and secondly the way it just falls through the onion. The tip feels like you're cutting with metal paper. It's sooooo thin! Honestly I think it's a bit too thin for my taste, it really doesn't feel like a carefree knife. The two knives feel like opposites in many ways. The Hado excels at cutting onions and fruit whereas the Toyama is better with dense and tall veggies. The oak handle on the Hado is just amazing, the taper is beautiful and the balance just outstanding. It's dead on neutral behind the heel. The etch was super sticky until I reset the patina. I'm very glad that the stickage improved at some point. It arrived completely blunt so I've had some time sharpening it. Already above a 3000 SG it felt a bit too smooth for my preference so I finished at a 1000 grit. Whereas I take the Toyama up to a 6k Imanishi stone. The edge life of the B1 is amazing though, just fantastic.
So here are some questions out of curiosity:
-What finisher stones would you recommend for Tanaka's B1?
-The vendor's page stated the Hado is convex ground, however I really can't see any convexity at all. Is it just me or is it a perfect V-grind?
-How does the Hado grind compare to a Myojin? I'm very tempted to try his knives next.
Would love to hear from people's experiences related to these 2 knives!
