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aseo45 said:
Hi all, new member to the forum, long time reader though! I’ve owned a Mazaki 210 KU gyuto for a while now and love it. I recently purchased the kasumi 210 from KNS, and have noticed a slight bend in the spine to the right at the very tip. Have any of you noticed any irregularities such as this with your Mazakis? I did a quick search through the forum and couldn’t find any mention of something similar. I do have some broader experience with hand forged and ground knives and know that irregularities are not uncommon!
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Pics would help. Is the edge straight?
 
aseo45 said:
Hi all, new member to the forum, long time reader though! I’ve owned a Mazaki 210 KU gyuto for a while now and love it. I recently purchased the kasumi 210 from KNS, and have noticed a slight bend in the spine to the right at the very tip. Have any of you noticed any irregularities such as this with your Mazakis? I did a quick search through the forum and couldn’t find any mention of something similar. I do have some broader experience with hand forged and ground knives and know that irregularities are not uncommon!
Click to expand...
It could of bent in shipping. It's clad with a softer material so it'll be easy to fix. Pictures will help us sort it for you.
 
aseo45 said:
Hi all, new member to the forum, long time reader though! I’ve owned a Mazaki 210 KU gyuto for a while now and love it. I recently purchased the kasumi 210 from KNS, and have noticed a slight bend in the spine to the right at the very tip. Have any of you noticed any irregularities such as this with your Mazakis? I did a quick search through the forum and couldn’t find any mention of something similar. I do have some broader experience with hand forged and ground knives and know that irregularities are not uncommon!
Click to expand...
Honestly his knives are thick and all the ones ive handled have been straight. That is not an issue ive seen come up much or something i'd expect from him. If it's truly weirdly bent and not just the taper playing a trick on your eye, i would "maybe" return it. Probably going to have to post some good pics and do some tests to check it out for sure.
 
aseo45 said:
Hi all, new member to the forum, long time reader though! I’ve owned a Mazaki 210 KU gyuto for a while now and love it. I recently purchased the kasumi 210 from KNS, and have noticed a slight bend in the spine to the right at the very tip. Have any of you noticed any irregularities such as this with your Mazakis? I did a quick search through the forum and couldn’t find any mention of something similar. I do have some broader experience with hand forged and ground knives and know that irregularities are not uncommon!
Click to expand...
Should not be the problem with Mazakis in general but anything can happen during shipping etc. You could try look the blade straightness in natural light from all angles. The distal taper may play a little tricks too and some angles may show that spine is bent when it isnt. Try to take some pictures and Post here
 
Many thanks for the replies and apologies for the delayed response, a bit busy ushering in the new year 😬. Will post photos later today. The edge is also a bit bent from straight, as far as I can tell.
 
Alright, my attempts at capturing the perceived bend at the tip.

Bend to the right
36937AA8-4AD9-470F-A8E2-D4334207BBD4.jpeg


Bend away from the book
7714C704-AC7A-4B17-B957-9E02115124E4.jpeg


Bend towards the book
E3E7D7A7-76D8-49F7-87A2-C54D4CECACF3.jpeg


As I spent a solid 15 mins trying to take photos of this, the absurdity of how slight the bend is (if there even is one) really dawned on me... I appreciate you all indulging my knife neurosis 😬
 
From the pictures it looks like it was ground that way and not actually bent, I could be wrong though.
 
Yes I can see it. If the edge is also bent as you suggest I'd probably return it. I had a Xerxes Primus II with a similar deviation and equally thin towards the tip and it really bugged me. Its most likely occurred during the HT rather than being ground that way
 
Thank you both for the feedback! The edge is curved as well (harder to capture on camera), which leads me to believe it may be a HT issue as well. I think I’ll go ahead and email KNS about it, think it’s been nagging at me enough.
 
Hi all, just a quick update. I attempted to gently bend the tip back into place and succeeded. I’ll see if it slowly returns to bent over time, but I’ve decided to keep the knife and see this through. Thanks all for your input and advice.
 
stereo.pete said:
From the pictures it looks like it was ground that way and not actually bent, I could be wrong though.
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I was thinking the same thing.
Some thoughts... Have you checked at just the edge? The edge can be straight but if there is slightly more meat above the edge and/or at the spine on one side of the tip, it'll make it look bent at the tip and will make the tip rise higher one one side than the other if the whole blade is placed on a flat surface. I always check at just the edge (using the back of a diamond plate as a flat surface). This'll also show if there is a bend at the spine but not the edge.
Or, the thing is just bent :)
 
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McMan said:
I was thinking the same thing.
Some thoughts... Have you checked at just the edge? The edge can be straight but if there is slightly more meat above the edge and/or at the spine on one side of the tip, it'll make it look bent at the tip and will make the tip rise higher one one side than the other if the whole blade is placed on a flat surface. I always check at just the edge (using the back of a diamond plate as a flat surface). This'll also show if there is a bend at the spine but not the edge.
Or, the thing is just bent :)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip, yes checked the edge, which was bent along the same line as the spine. I tried taking photos but it was more difficult to capture than the spine. Fortunately this has been successfully remedied with some moderate force against the back of my cutting board!
 
Same difference to me. It’s still saving “you” some time. Even if you’re not interested in buying, you can compare some aspects to what you already have.
 
Are these DEC2020 knives the same as what was sold in November? I bought one during thanksgiving and it looks exactly the same as these and since then they were out of stock till recently. The blue steel versions appear to be slightly shorter at the heel though.
 
as Ive continued to use mine, I like it more and more.

the main thing I wish he would do differently though is finish them a bit better. I feel like Im still trying to polish scratches out of the core steel lmao.

Im really tempted to buy a second one but I have a shi.han coming up and Ive bought two suitas this month so gonna wait for the next round I think.
 
btw I feel like every time I post I mention that I like the knife more, and it continues to be true.

I think the K&S version is really a wonderful knife in a lot of respects that have become more obvious to me over time. an excellent example is how good the balance is for such a heavy knife; I recently picked up a Hinoura and even though that knife is 75g lighter it feels like a hammer compared to the Mazaki.
 
tcmx3 said:
btw I feel like every time I post I mention that I like the knife more, and it continues to be true.

I think the K&S version is really a wonderful knife in a lot of respects that have become more obvious to me over time. an excellent example is how good the balance is for such a heavy knife; I recently picked up a Hinoura and even though that knife is 75g lighter it feels like a hammer compared to the Mazaki.
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I believe the Hinoura feels heavier because the center of gravity is more blade forward. My Shun is heavier but feels ridiculously lighter. Its interesting how the c.g. can affect how it feels in the hand! I am still warming up to my Hinoura;
 
Twotimehojo said:
I believe the Hinoura feels heavier because the center of gravity is more blade forward. My Shun is heavier but feels ridiculously lighter. Its interesting how the c.g. can affect how it feels in the hand! I am still warming up to my Hinoura;
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yep, hinoura 210 is quite long for a 210 (mine is >220mm) and tall so balance point is way out front.

like the Mazaki, Im going to thin it out a bit, but I'll probably go a fair bit further on the hinoura to shave some weight. luckily hinoura steel is a lot softer than mazaki lol
 
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