Konosuke Kaiju

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Uhm... not here to bash the Kaijus but the knife just does what any other Watanabe has done for years, no!? Yes, it does look gorgeous and yes I'd try/buy one too but seriously, there's nothing I hate more than artificial scarcity (besides TF wabi-sabi, hahahaha). 4 knives available for a bunch of hundreds of interested buyers?! No thanks! Guess I'll have to stick with my old Fujiyama Blue #2 - yep, THE one!! :angel:
 
daddy yo yo said:
Uhm... not here to bash the Kaijus but the knife just does what any other Watanabe has done for years, no!? Yes, it does look gorgeous and yes I'd try/buy one too but seriously, there's nothing I hate more than artificial scarcity (besides TF wabi-sabi, hahahaha). 4 knives available for a bunch of hundreds of interested buyers?! No thanks! Guess I'll have to stick with my old Fujiyama Blue #2 - yep, THE one!! :angel:
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konoske/ivan explained that the scarcity comes from how labor intensive the process it is for them to produce them. now, they might be lying, but if they are not, then the scarcity has a reasonable explanation.
 
Jason183 said:
The knife looks so awesome until I heard the cracking sound when cutting carrots/Daikon, especially near the heel area, that’s the reason I won’t consider any workhorse type of grind knife.
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I was very surprised to hear that sound too...
 
Jason183 said:
The knife looks so awesome until I heard the cracking sound when cutting carrots/Daikon, especially near the heel area, that’s the reason I won’t consider any workhorse type of grind knife.
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My 210 Kato WH Migaki is not a 🥕 cracker.
 
My TF Nash makes cracking noises but when I inspect the carrot slices, they appear perfectly smooth. It's a mystery!
 
For me it wasn't so much that it wedged some - the user literally tries to slide the known to be junk-in-the-trunk-ish Kaiju's heel through without any glide, so some wedging was pretty likely. I was surprised at how badly it stuck.
 
frombaltimore said:
konoske/ivan explained that the scarcity comes from how labor intensive the process it is for them to produce them. now, they might be lying, but if they are not, then the scarcity has a reasonable explanation.
Click to expand...
The only extra labor is a final polish done by Konosuke after Myojin Naohito finishes the initial sharpening.
Konosuke explained that they have only one polisher who spends up to 6 hours on each Kaiju.
Seems they could make more knives or hire another polisher if they wanted to...
 
big_adventure said:
For me it wasn't so much that it wedged some - the user literally tries to slide the known to be junk-in-the-trunk-ish Kaiju's heel through without any glide, so some wedging was pretty likely. I was surprised at how badly it stuck.
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Looked like got all stuck in the cabbage too. To be fair, it looked like was using light pressure throughout the video, probably expecting the knife to fall through the produce like a laser instead of approaching it with more authority in his cuts.
 
Delat said:
Looked like got all stuck in the cabbage too. To be fair, it looked like was using light pressure throughout the video, probably expecting the knife to fall through the produce like a laser instead of approaching it with more authority in his cuts.
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his grip...I couldn't handle it after a minute
 
I don't think he wanted to obscure the beauty of the blade with a full blown pinch grip. The saw action was SO unprofessional.
 
parbaked said:
The only extra labor is a final polish done by Konosuke after Myojin Naohito finishes the initial sharpening.
Konosuke explained that they have only one polisher who spends up to 6 hours on each Kaiju.
Seems they could make more knives or hire another polisher if they wanted to...
Click to expand...
i don’t think it’s as easy as hiring another polisher. i think that
parbaked said:
The only extra labor is a final polish done by Konosuke after Myojin Naohito finishes the initial sharpening.
Konosuke explained that they have only one polisher who spends up to 6 hours on each Kaiju.
Seems they could make more knives or hire another polisher if they wanted to...
Click to expand...
if the knives are made to some level of exacting specifications as they say they are, i don’t think it would be as easy to hire another polisher who could come in an immediately do the job.

this reminds me a lot of around the time restaurants started embracing the concept of locality/seasonality. it was hard to customers to accept that they couldn’t have fresh local tomatoes year round. and when they were in season locally, the supply wasn’t endless. people want what they want when they want it.
 
parbaked said:
The only extra labor is a final polish done by Konosuke after Myojin Naohito finishes the initial sharpening.
Konosuke explained that they have only one polisher who spends up to 6 hours on each Kaiju.
Seems they could make more knives or hire another polisher if they wanted to...
Click to expand...
6 hours labor on each knife just polishing. So why not hire 3 extra people? Are you seriously suggesting that they can not only afford to hire another highly skilled polisher but that they are sitting around waiting for the work?

daddy yo yo said:
Uhm... not here to bash the Kaijus but the knife just does what any other Watanabe has done for years, no!? Yes, it does look gorgeous and yes I'd try/buy one too but seriously, there's nothing I hate more than artificial scarcity (besides TF wabi-sabi, hahahaha). 4 knives available for a bunch of hundreds of interested buyers?! No thanks! Guess I'll have to stick with my old Fujiyama Blue #2 - yep, THE one!! :angel:
Click to expand...

Do you really believe this is a marketing ploy? Can you tell me how it behooves Konosuke to restrict production to the point that they are making almost no profit on the project? This is a labor of love. And BTW there were 8 released this time round. I dont see Kato expanding his production as a result of the moaning on KKF!

So much bad vibes on this site directed at Konosuke! Why?
 
mauichef said:
6 hours labor on each knife just polishing. So why not hire 3 extra people? Are you seriously suggesting that they can not only afford to hire another highly skilled polisher but that they are sitting around waiting for the work?



Do you really believe this is a marketing ploy? Can you tell me how it behooves Konosuke to restrict production to the point that they are making almost no profit on the project? This is a labor of love. And BTW there were 8 released this time round. I dont see Kato expanding his production as a result of the moaning on KKF!

So much bad vibes on this site directed at Konosuke! Why?
Click to expand...
What this all screams to be is they should be charging a lot more for their knives. Obviously demand far outweighs supply.
 
Checkpure said:
What this all screams to be is they should be charging a lot more for their knives. Obviously demand far outweighs supply.
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Yep....that about sums it up perfectly!

In fact Kosuke just announced his new club idea on IG. Good read especially for the people who think Konosuke are playing games. He is serious about expanding production by bringing new talent to the forge but it is a long and expensive job. Oh and BTW...do the doubters have any idea of how little these guys earn...this is another aim of the club concept. To train and then pay smiths and sharpeners the real rewards they are due.

That's what we in Hawaii call Pono! (righteousness and respect for all)
 
It can't be easy to just "add more people" since they're a small business and don't scale up easily or quickly. A lot of these businesses are literally running out of a rented house with limited floor and desk space - adding more people might require them to actually move to bigger premises.

The fact that the high demand knives get sold out immediately and stay sold out for long periods shows that they're charging too little. Why do the Honyaki's go for thousands while the Kaiju is just 600 bucks if so much effort went into it?
 
mauichef said:
Yep....that about sums it up perfectly!

In fact Kosuke just announced his new club idea on IG. Good read especially for the people who think Konosuke are playing games. He is serious about expanding production by bringing new talent to the forge but it is a long and expensive job. Oh and BTW...do the doubters have any idea of how little these guys earn...this is another aim of the club concept. To train and then pay smiths and sharpeners the real rewards they are due.

That's what we in Hawaii call Pono! (righteousness and respect for all)
Click to expand...
As cool as the club is why not just charge an appropriate amount for their work? They don’t need charity they are skilled craftsmen who can make highly desirable goods. The prices are going to inevitably go up a lot.
 
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