Morihei Hisamoto

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friz

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Hi. I didn't want to discuss about it on the newest knife buy thread.

We agree Morihei Hisamoto is from Teruyasu, so....

How much where they going for few months back when they first launched and were not this popular? What was the price for a 'normal' gyuto 240 and a 'fine finish' one? And, what is the current pricing?

Also, what is the difference between the 2, 'fine and rough finish'?

And, how do you compare them with a regular Teruyasu Maboroshi?

Please discuss, thank you.
 
I don’t know facts but I’ve learned, especially the last few months, that shouldn’t hinder someone from commenting. 😂

I think that they are mab’s that we’re finished by morihei. I remember them being around over a year ago. The “fine finish” are ones which the blade road is fixed and given a kasumi finish.

I recall that Morihei wasn’t going to put any more out because TF raised their prices on them which leads me to assume they are nos ones that have popped up everywhere. I’m guessing when they’re gone, they’re gone. Well until another batch appears.

I think blade runner or another AU website shows the prices of the out of stock old ones. Regardless of price, they are a good deal compared to a tf mab. A few of them had made their rounds on BST at one point.
 
They have been around for a while now. I know a member who got his for $400+ AUD few years back.
Anyway they are still cheaper than Mabs now even with the fine finish and the regular ones even cheaper.
TF bumped up the price on them and Morihei refuses to buy them now so they are all NOS. But I know a few others who sell OEM Mabs, Tsubaya being one of them.
 
The info I had was that TF will continue to supply Morihei but the latter will no longer give them the stone polish. This was done by hand by the 70+ year old owner and I guess he has better things to do with his time.
 
The info I had was that TF will continue to supply Morihei but the latter will no longer give them the stone polish. This was done by hand by the 70+ year old owner and I guess he has better things to do with his time.
No way these were done by Oguro-san. Same with the Akimitsu. The polishing is so low quality they could be done by any of his staff.

And definitely not finished on naturals too.
 
There are bunchs of fine finish recently because COVID force business to slow down, and I heard Oguro san don't have anything to do but he enjoys sharpening some knife. So that's why he just sharpens all of his old stock knives. That's the info that I heard for the fine finish.
 
I'm pretty sure the regular 240 had been in stock at Strata for a while. I was eyeing it off in September and think I saw an earlier IG post too.
 
Anyone have experience with the iron-clad white#1 versions?
Denka-lite?
https://hitohira-japan.com/products/aaa-020-fa240?variant=6946416099381

Definitely not denka-lite. From talking to the folks at Strata, the KU iron clad shirogami 1 is analogous to the nashiji line (and should be in price as well as performance), and the hammered white without KU is the maboroshi equivalent. I don't think there's a denka lite out there, as I cannot recall ever seeing a morihei in AS that's been forged by TF.
 
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What about it?
Have experience with one? Thoughts? Performance?

The other Morihei Hisamoto are ss-clad white (like Maboroshi), so there is a parallel here to TF-branded stuff in terms of steel/cladding.
But the only TF-branded line that uses iron cladding is Denka (AS). So it's interesting that an iron-clad white made by TF is only available as a Morihei Hisamoto.
 
@McMan The Denka is also stainless clad, it's just manipulated to have a KU finish. I'm trying to coin the term "pickled" KU because IMO stainless cladding shouldn't have KU finishes and smiths do strange things to the stainless to get it to form KU.

There is no double bevel TF line that's iron clad, but you can request iron-clad knives that are made for Hisamoto if you're ordering direct like @Corradobrit1 and his iron clad nakiri with TF marks

In terms of making sense, iron cladding makes knives far easier to forge (SS is cladding is tough to bond to the carbon in the san mai sandwich if you're forging it in house rather than buying billet. It also complicates the heat treatment) so it makes sense that of their two lines, the iron cladding is their lower priced option.
 
Have experience with one? Thoughts? Performance?

The other Morihei Hisamoto are ss-clad white (like Maboroshi), so there is a parallel here to TF-branded stuff in terms of steel/cladding.
But the only TF-branded line that uses iron cladding is Denka (AS). So it's interesting that an iron-clad white made by TF is only available as a Morihei Hisamoto.
Have one, nice feedback on stone. Performance is really nice, I don't have a normal TF to compare side by side, but better than TF Mab that I tried on One of the Knife shops here.

In terms of TF, Nashiji is the pre-laminated one and followed by Mab for the In-House laminated SS clad Wh1. Denka is SS clad Aogami Super, and as most AS and Blue steel knife, it's more popular in the western world than in Japan itself. TF also has a White 1 Iron Clad version but not as common as SS clad one and usually comes with KU finish and apparently Morihei likes to order that version since Morihei loves polishing knife.
 
TF also has a White 1 Iron Clad version but not as common as SS clad one and usually comes with KU finish and apparently Morihei likes to order that version since Morihei loves polishing knife.
It's interesting that the iron-clad white isn't available through TF's website.
I wonder why?
 
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I seem to recall Hitohira's website mentioning some kind of Natural stone wheel that was used to produce the 'Fine Finish'. I also remember hearing that the piece of equipment broke a little bit ago and that had a lot to do with the scarcity of fine finish. The natural stone wheel also explains the somewhat imperfect bevels despite having natural seeming Kasumi finish. At any rate they are without a doubt the better value over buying TF
 
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There are bunchs of fine finish recently because COVID force business to slow down, and I heard Oguro san don't have anything to do but he enjoys sharpening some knife. So that's why he just sharpens all of his old stock knives. That's the info that I heard for the fine finish.

if True, then we got ourselves a good knife and good bargain
 
@McMan The Denka is also stainless clad, it's just manipulated to have a KU finish. I'm trying to coin the term "pickled" KU because IMO stainless cladding shouldn't have KU finishes and smiths do strange things to the stainless to get it to form KU.

There is no double bevel TF line that's iron clad, but you can request iron-clad knives that are made for Hisamoto if you're ordering direct like @Corradobrit1 and his iron clad nakiri with TF marks

In terms of making sense, iron cladding makes knives far easier to forge (SS is cladding is tough to bond to the carbon in the san mai sandwich if you're forging it in house rather than buying billet. It also complicates the heat treatment) so it makes sense that of their two lines, the iron cladding is their lower priced option.
But Sanmai can be pre-billeted too - I remember getting an education on this by the learned in another thread
 
Those fine finishes don’t look that great IMO. I think the mab equivalents are nice though. If I wanted a 240 mab, I would probably just buy one of those. IMO though, the fine finish is not worth the extra money. Would rather do it myself. Either way, it’s a good deal though. I really enjoy the mab steel personally.
 
Did some work on stones and polishing paste.

This is my Morihei "Fine Finish" 😂

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Wish you could do your magic on mine from KitchinT before they send 😂😂😂😂 kidding

how did you find the “fine finish” - lots of theories as to who polished it

anyway, it’s on its way - should be really interesting to try it out
 
Wish you could do your magic on mine from KitchinT before they send 😂😂😂😂 kidding

how did you find the “fine finish” - lots of theories as to who polished it

anyway, it’s on its way - should be really interesting to try it out
This is my theory which I feel is pretty reasonable.

Oguro-san is a certified sword polisher, however he isn't too well regarded with his skills. He is definitely more businessman now than polisher. Therefore I would confidently say the knives were done by his staff. You can definitely see scratches and imperfections that I don't think should escape the eye of a good polisher. I don't think he can be proud of passing these knives as finished by himself.

IF these knives were indeed finished by him, I can see why he isn't doing polishing much now. So to anyone fantasising their knives were polished by some legendary sword polisher, sorry to burst your bubble.

But pertaining to the finishing, I would say it does its job. Nice and slightly convex, and incredibly thin, almost as stupidly thin as my Denka was and no low spots on mine. Pretty even bevels, if I could do this in 30mins with stones and polishing paste, its a really decent bevel. I would say there is a certain element of machine finishing, because economically speaking, no way are they charging this price for hand finishing. Stainless clad is a pain in the ass to thin and polish, which magnifies the time needed to do this, to a high level. I would guess the knife was machine polished to remove the low spots then finished with synthetic or natural fingerstones.
 
No way these were done by Oguro-san. Same with the Akimitsu. The polishing is so low quality they could be done by any of his staff.

And definitely not finished on naturals too.
If fake news then several sources are propagating the misinformation including Hitohira and Ai & Om
 
The $350 regular one is a fantastic deal IMO considering the 240 mab is around $530 from TF directly or Knifewear. Being able to get this one made me feel better about the loss in the Kaiju race. However, the $425 FF one is an even more fantastic deal IMHO unless you really ENJOY flattening, thinning, and polishing on your own. I personally don't. Even if it's not done perfectly, it saves tons of time compared to starting from scratch. I would have got the FF one if it was available at the time.
 
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Another thought. I don't know how Morihei chooses the knives that are getting FF treatment. They might choose the better ones so that the FF treatment process would be easier. Or they might choose the worse ones because those ones are too bad to be sent to customers without any treatment. Or maybe they choose them randomly.
 
The other Morihei Hisamoto are ss-clad white (like Maboroshi), so there is a parallel here to TF-branded stuff in terms of steel/cladding.
But the only TF-branded line that uses iron cladding is Denka (AS). So it's interesting that an iron-clad white made by TF is only available as a Morihei Hisamoto.
Denka is SS clad Aogami Super, and as most AS and Blue steel knife, it's more popular in the western world than in Japan itself.
This whole time I thought the Denka was iron-clad... Thanks for correcting me there.
Now I really wonder why the iron-clad are only available through Morihei?...
 
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If fake news then several sources are propagating the misinformation including Hitohira and Ai & Om


the mystery of Oguro-San polishing or not polishing only grows deeper

I though it was resolved by @lemeneid’s authoritative response, but this data flies in the face of it

it’s still an open item in my view.

Me personally, nothing would please me more than knowing the swordsmith master Oguro-San sharpened my knife
 
And since most if not all these Morihei's are being wholesaled through Hitohira onto their 'partner' retailers in the West and Singapore, I wonder why they would pass on this info if incorrect or unverified.
 
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