Munetoshi Honyaki

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jimmy_d

jimmy_d

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I took a quick search on here but couldn't find much information. What are the thoughts on the Munetoshi Honyaki? How is the heat treat treat? Exactly how bad is the fit and finish? Thanks in advance everyone.
 
I had a chance to see a few of these and used one briefly. The F&F is ... OK. One can give it a quick rub with FS, or have a full go at it. However I did not find the finish 'bad' as to be bothered by it. The steel feels definitely hard on stones - that should not be a surprise as we know that about Munetoshi already. The knife is a workhorse - both in weight and grind. Not super thin behind the edge, but cuts well. I must say - I was very tempted to get one. Oh and BTW - the strange 'line' that one can see in the photos on JNS - is not the edge of the hamon. Hamon is actually a few mm higher. This line is probably a left-over from the clay during the HT or something like that.
 
I own one; I am very beginner with my skills and my knife vocab, so I won't be able to give a detail professional feedback like Matus.
However I proof and agree with the points
"The F&F is ... OK ... did not find the finish 'bad' as to be bothered by it"
"steel feels definitely hard on stones"
"Not super thin behind the edge"
"cuts well"

I am not very sure if the weight matches other Workhorse knives I own, I find my Mune on the lighter end of knives.
And I will like to add that the edge retention is very very very good.

If you want to give it a try, you should do it now as JNS is having their NOV sales, I can't imaging you can purchase a Honyaki wrong at that price...
 
Matus said:
I had a chance to see a few of these and used one briefly. The F&F is ... OK. One can give it a quick rub with FS, or have a full go at it. However I did not find the finish 'bad' as to be bothered by it. The steel feels definitely hard on stones - that should not be a surprise as we know that about Munetoshi already. The knife is a workhorse - both in weight and grind. Not super thin behind the edge, but cuts well. I must say - I was very tempted to get one. Oh and BTW - the strange 'line' that one can see in the photos on JNS - is not the edge of the hamon. Hamon is actually a few mm higher. This line is probably a left-over from the clay during the HT or something like that.
Click to expand...
Thanks Matus! And that is interesting about the hamon.
 
Gjackson98 said:
I own one; I am very beginner with my skills and my knife vocab, so I won't be able to give a detail professional feedback like Matus.
However I proof and agree with the points
"The F&F is ... OK ... did not find the finish 'bad' as to be bothered by it"
"steel feels definitely hard on stones"
"Not super thin behind the edge"
"cuts well"

I am not very sure if the weight matches other Workhorse knives I own, I find my Mune on the lighter end of knives.
And I will like to add that the edge retention is very very very good.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! I don't think JNS has a weight listed, how much does yours way?
 
Yeah, good deal for a honyaki but could use a little TLC
 
I just bought 210 gyuto. I was nicely surprised by the finish. I was expecting something in line with what Maxim is saying for the knife "As always fit and finish is not his strong side so they come quite rough for Honyaki blades ".
Truth is that this is far from true. I find the finish quite good. Comparable with other knives, like Kato. OK the spine is not rounded at all, but so it is not on many other knives. The blade is finished with aprox. 600 grit sand paper which is just fine with me. No issues to replicate the finish when first thinning will come.

The knife I got is definitely no workhorse, not even close! Actually I was a bit disappointing by this as I prefer beefier knives. It's also not laser, just in between. I just weighted it at 141g. When you check the grind looking at the heel you can see that the knife is very thin coming to the edge. But then when you check by rubbing you fingers towards the edge you see that it is just missing on the thinness immediately after the edge (1/1.5 mm out). In fact the first part of grind, looking from the spine, is nice and convex, but when approaching the edge it gets pretty straight almost like FFG. I think this is where the knife loses some of its cutting performance compared to the best ones that have the convexing almost to the final edge. You can feel this when you cut with it. It's good but nowhere near falling through food like Toyama. Probably easy fix for Maxim or Jon (or not?!).

Matus said:
... Oh and BTW - the strange 'line' that one can see in the photos on JNS - is not the edge of the hamon. Hamon is actually a few mm higher. This line is probably a left-over from the clay during the HT or something like that.
Click to expand...

I just noticed this. Indeed there is another line few mm higher.
 
If I remember correctly there was one of these blades in the November Special section on JNS... Honestly, can’t explain why but I doesn’t click with me. There is no particular reason but probably it is because I already have a couple of Honyaki knives...
 
daddy yo yo said:
If I remember correctly there was one of these blades in the November Special section on JNS... Honestly, can’t explain why but I doesn’t click with me. There is no particular reason but probably it is because I already have a couple of Honyaki knives...
Click to expand...

can you tell us which ones you have? And which you like the most. Always room for one more knife ;)
 
I had a chance to use the 210 honyaki for a few days. The knife has great HT - sharpening was a joy. The one I had weighed just under 150h and I would agreed with @krx927 here that it is not a laser. The one I used was however was very thin behind the edge, so it would fly through onions. The grind is bit like wide bevel being nearly flat first 15mm behind the edge and then having a shoulder. I found the pronounced distal taper of the grind really nice. In hand the knife felt very differently from Tanaka white#2 which actually has about the same height abd is actually a bit shorter (200 mm vs 215 mm). The Tanaka is basically typical Sakai profile with more blade height (which is realized with increased angle between spine and flat spot), while the Munetoshi has more belly

While the profile shares certain features with its bigger brother, the grind is much thinner. The 240 is basically a workhorse (not super thin behind the edge).

I agree that the finish is pretty nice.

In general I do agree that these are great value and are a new new flavor to the honyaki spectrum.
 
Is the tip particularly thin with the distal taper?
 
JNS currently having a sale on the 210 Honyaki Gyuto. Its within the price range of some other knives I'm also currently looking at.

Unsure if its worth picking it up over my other options... only reason being its a honyaki...:rolleyes:

My other options within the price range are:
  • Hitohira Togashi W1 Migaki 210
  • Hitohira Tanaka Yohei W1 240
  • Kagekiyo W2 210
  • Takada no Hamono B2 Suiboku 210
 
andrewsa said:
JNS currently having a sale on the 210 Honyaki Gyuto. Its within the price range of some other knives I'm also currently looking at.

Unsure if its worth picking it up over my other options... only reason being its a honyaki...:rolleyes:

My other options within the price range are:
  • Hitohira Togashi W1 Migaki 210
  • Hitohira Tanaka Yohei W1 240
  • Kagekiyo W2 210
  • Takada no Hamono B2 Suiboku 210
Click to expand...
All sound like much better knives than the mune Honyaki IMO
 
Have the Muni Honyaki. It’s a real lightweight compared to my other Honyakis. I really like it but I wouldn’t choose it over the Togashi or Tanaka you mentioned. No experience with the Takada.
 
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