JimMaple98
Well-Known Member
Alright finally having received my beautiful YS and having ample time to give an initial review, I want to start of by saying I am a big fan of Yoshikane’s work, so it was assured I would like this specific knife. But I do, nonetheless have some criticisms.
After processing a lot of vegetables, mainly onions, celery, leeks, carrots and a good amount of proteins, I feel I have a general knowledge of this blade. First of all, the profile is exactly that of my Yoshikane Ameriki 240 White #2, and that is most definitely a great thing. It is a very smooth, generally flat knife, which most certainly excels in the hands of a push/pull cutter and performs admirably with some speedy yet controlled chopping.
The distal taper is another great feature, substantial where it needs to be and thin at the tip, just like every Yoshi I have had the pleasure of working with. The grind comes in to a very thin edge, the cutting experience is up there with the best you can have, until you run into the problem of sticking. The grind line comes up relatively high on the blade face, so the hammered Kurouchi has relatively no effect on ingredients and it lends plenty of realestate for your product to cling to. Thinly slicing carrots was the worst offender, no cracking to be heard whatsoever, but I found the carrot almost being suctioned onto the blade. Saying that, this isn’t absolutely terrible for stickage, compared to a polished laser like my Makoto Sakura SG2.
The reactivity on this (non-disclosed) core steel is very mild, reacting similarly to my Yoshikane SLD santoku, though I have heard it is similar to Konosuke’s HD2, only treated to a higher Rockwell. I do wish it did patina a bit more, though I appreciate it when I am busy and don’t have time to constantly wipe down the blade. The blade does hold a very nice edge considering though, I have found the edge retention to be most comparable to a well treated Blue #2 steel (one of my favourites as a matter of fact) so I was very pleased. Sharpening has been relatively easy, being so thin at the edge.
Overall I am happy with this knife, very happy from a stance of aesthetics, the finish on this knife is arguably its most defining attribute, though the hammer marks are not as consistent as I would have liked, the KU finish is quite awesome, changing colours in different levels of light. As my girlfriend aptly put it “it looks like an oil slick”, though an oil slick is most definitely not cool at most times, it looks amazing on a knife!
The knife is also helped along by a custom handle from East Asia Knife Imports (Login • Instagram), a fantastic guy to work with out of California, he looked after my new knives well and sent them my way to Australia within a short timeframe and for a ripper price!
My only other criticism of this knife would be the price. Do not get me wrong, I think it is worth it, but I would advise others to get another Yoshikane, such as the Ameriki offered by K&S, as an alternative to this one. A Yoshi SKD or White #2 are both fantastic options, and at their price points they are glorious. Saying that if you are a fan of the looks of the knife, I wouldn’t tell you not to buy it. Purely from a perspective of performance, you would be better of choosing another of Yoshi’s knives.
This is my current grail knife. A lot of it’s attributes edge it above the rest of my collection. The closest contender being my K&S special edition Yoshikane White#2 ( https://www.knivesandstones.com.au/collections/yoshikane/products/amekiri-雨切-by-yoshikane-nashiji-stainless-clad-gyuto-240mm-white-2-special-edition-sp2 ) but just falls short in terms of edge retention and blade aesthetics.
Thank you very much for taking your time in reading, I would love to answer any questions
After processing a lot of vegetables, mainly onions, celery, leeks, carrots and a good amount of proteins, I feel I have a general knowledge of this blade. First of all, the profile is exactly that of my Yoshikane Ameriki 240 White #2, and that is most definitely a great thing. It is a very smooth, generally flat knife, which most certainly excels in the hands of a push/pull cutter and performs admirably with some speedy yet controlled chopping.
The distal taper is another great feature, substantial where it needs to be and thin at the tip, just like every Yoshi I have had the pleasure of working with. The grind comes in to a very thin edge, the cutting experience is up there with the best you can have, until you run into the problem of sticking. The grind line comes up relatively high on the blade face, so the hammered Kurouchi has relatively no effect on ingredients and it lends plenty of realestate for your product to cling to. Thinly slicing carrots was the worst offender, no cracking to be heard whatsoever, but I found the carrot almost being suctioned onto the blade. Saying that, this isn’t absolutely terrible for stickage, compared to a polished laser like my Makoto Sakura SG2.
The reactivity on this (non-disclosed) core steel is very mild, reacting similarly to my Yoshikane SLD santoku, though I have heard it is similar to Konosuke’s HD2, only treated to a higher Rockwell. I do wish it did patina a bit more, though I appreciate it when I am busy and don’t have time to constantly wipe down the blade. The blade does hold a very nice edge considering though, I have found the edge retention to be most comparable to a well treated Blue #2 steel (one of my favourites as a matter of fact) so I was very pleased. Sharpening has been relatively easy, being so thin at the edge.
Overall I am happy with this knife, very happy from a stance of aesthetics, the finish on this knife is arguably its most defining attribute, though the hammer marks are not as consistent as I would have liked, the KU finish is quite awesome, changing colours in different levels of light. As my girlfriend aptly put it “it looks like an oil slick”, though an oil slick is most definitely not cool at most times, it looks amazing on a knife!
The knife is also helped along by a custom handle from East Asia Knife Imports (Login • Instagram), a fantastic guy to work with out of California, he looked after my new knives well and sent them my way to Australia within a short timeframe and for a ripper price!
My only other criticism of this knife would be the price. Do not get me wrong, I think it is worth it, but I would advise others to get another Yoshikane, such as the Ameriki offered by K&S, as an alternative to this one. A Yoshi SKD or White #2 are both fantastic options, and at their price points they are glorious. Saying that if you are a fan of the looks of the knife, I wouldn’t tell you not to buy it. Purely from a perspective of performance, you would be better of choosing another of Yoshi’s knives.
This is my current grail knife. A lot of it’s attributes edge it above the rest of my collection. The closest contender being my K&S special edition Yoshikane White#2 ( https://www.knivesandstones.com.au/collections/yoshikane/products/amekiri-雨切-by-yoshikane-nashiji-stainless-clad-gyuto-240mm-white-2-special-edition-sp2 ) but just falls short in terms of edge retention and blade aesthetics.
Thank you very much for taking your time in reading, I would love to answer any questions
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