Myojin Hamono knives

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Zeedouble

Zeedouble

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Good morning fellow knife nerds!

I’m currently looking for a new petty, and came across a nice looking 165mm Myojin Hamono. Only thing is I can’t seem to find any info on the line at all. I know is that Myojin was/is a sharpener for Konosuke, and that he’s making his own knives now. I guess that these are pretty new? Just wanted to see if anybody here has had any experience with these before I throw 300 bucks at it.

Link to knife Myojin Hamono 165mm SG2 Petty Custom #1

Thanks!
 
Myojin Hamono is Tosa knifemaker going back 80 years located in Kochi Prefecture. The current blacksmith Takeshi Myojin is the 3rd generation and with 15 years in the business.
 
To add to the confusion, I think these SG2 blades are the first ‘blacksmith’ output from Naohito Myojin, the sharpener from Konosuke’s FM series amongst others. My understanding is that these are stamped SG2 blades, with Myojin handling the grinds and finish.

I know this because I’ve been tempted to buy the same range from Cutting Edge knIves in the UK, but have hesitated because the price seems quite high for the undersized gyuto and petty currently on offer. Suspect that the grinds will be exemplary, and the simple fit and finish is my kind of thing. I just don’t really need another small stainless knife, honest…

Even more confusingly I’ve just seen Myojin Hamono mentioned by name in the Uk for the first time too, also on the Cutting Edge site. Myojin Hamono seem to be producing a new range of single bevels (shirasagi) for Hatsukokoro at the moment. However, their listings have recently been updated to mention ‘Myojin Riki Seisakusho‘ rather than Myojin Hamono in the last few days, so guess they’ve spottted the potential confusion.

Anyway I thoroughly encourage you to buy these Naohito knives and to report back. I would like to know more…
 
Wow、that certainly is confusing.
Myojin Hamono has been around for 80 years.
Myojin Riki Seisakusho is much younger. Naoto Myojin is just 29 years old.
The two shops are in the same City and Town of Susaki and are in fact 3 minutes from each other (1 km) by car.
 
Interesting stuff, thanks for the insight. Seems to be a lot of potential confusion surrounding the name though.

Quality doesn’t seem lacking and it fits the bill for what I’ve been looking for. Guess I’ll have to buy one to get any idea how they fare.
 
They are at Japanny as well

https://www.japanny.com/collections/naohito-myojin
also i found this on the CKTG chat form from Mark Richmond

Re: Knife range by Myojin Naohito Konosuke Sharpener
Post by ************** » Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:26 am

Ok, my friend called him up and found out the deal. These knives are stamped so there is no blacksmith per say. He said he has difficulty because they come rough and it’s hard for him to get the grind and polish the way he likes them. Also, he’s swamped with business grinding blades for various blacksmiths in Sakai.

I’m going to see if we can do some knives with him with a blacksmith that he works with currently. If I have some success you’ll be the first to know.
:)



And Konosuke states

Myojin is an incredibly talented sharpener, and has over 10 years of experience in the knife industry. During that time, he has also trained as a Blacksmith, which he feels helps him understand sharpening even more.
 
Thanks for digging that up. I don’t mind stamped blades, but if Myojin himself is saying he’s having difficulties with grinding them, I think I’ll have to wait a bit to try any of his knives, especially given the prices. Wait til he gets all that sorted. Still interested in trying his knives though.
 
Thoses knives looks really appealing indeed, even at that price point, because of the excellent finish. But I can stop myself wondering why the "wave"/lamination pattern is exactly the same for every single blade. If you take the models from Japanny, cuttingedge, or even the ones on Naohito insta... every single one have the same line/pattern, up and down at the same spot (for a similar blade length) ! Almost like a machine made piece ... how is that possible ?
 
Justablacktee said:
Thoses knives looks really appealing indeed, even at that price point, because of the excellent finish. But I can stop myself wondering why the "wave"/lamination pattern is exactly the same for every single blade. If you take the models from Japanny, cuttingedge, or even the ones on Naohito insta... every single one have the same line/pattern, up and down at the same spot (for a similar blade length) ! Almost like a machine made piece ... how is that possible ?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing because they are stamped...I have been told the cladding line is where you can look to tell the difference between a stamped knife or not.
 
Justablacktee said:
Thoses knives looks really appealing indeed, even at that price point, because of the excellent finish. But I can stop myself wondering why the "wave"/lamination pattern is exactly the same for every single blade. If you take the models from Japanny, cuttingedge, or even the ones on Naohito insta... every single one have the same line/pattern, up and down at the same spot (for a similar blade length) ! Almost like a machine made piece ... how is that possible ?
Click to expand...

95E9B843-12C8-4825-B237-73A2468BD337.jpeg

395EF064-6056-47FB-A10D-DCB47F39211A.jpeg


Not exactly, but extremely close, which is even weirder to me.
 
spaceconvoy said:
View attachment 142548
View attachment 142549

Not exactly, but extremely close, which is even weirder to me.
Click to expand...

Yes ! That bug me a lot, the patterns are so damn close 🤔

So it would mean that the knife is stamped in a sheet that is processed by a machine (with almost identical lamination patterns) at the exact same place every time so again by an other machine ?
 
Good spot on the weirdly consistent pattens. I have come so close to ordering one of these on numerous occasions, but nagging doubts have just about kept my curiosity to try Myojin‘s first output at bay. It just seems a hefty amount to spend on a stamped blade, especially on the undersized gyuto and petty more widely available. I’ve spotted that someone on the ‘New Knives’ thread seems to have got hold of a 240 gyuto, which may have changed things a little

I also can’t say that I really adore SG2 that much either. It’s perfectly passable and clearly can hold a keen edge, but I still find it mildly unpleasant to sharpen and less fun to keep at peak condition than other carbons and stainless options. And when pushed into very thin grinds - I’m thinking Shibata in particular - it can feel fragile. I;m guessing that Myojin’s grinds, even on stamped blades, should be more forgiving than Shibata’s or Kobayashi R2 work, but the warnings on Tosho about a fragile edge on a ’workhorse’ don’t exactly convince me

Someone should really try these out and report back though. I‘m still v. curious indeed…
 
Yoshikane seems to have that same kind of consistency. Super straight lamination lines on all of them, to the point that it's something you spot Yoshi DNA by. Don't really know what it says about the production method though. For all you know they just have some hyperconsistent sharpener.
 
Curious to hear more about how these Myojin sg2 knives perform. Seems like even after steep discounts as low as $399 the sg 240 wasn’t keepers for some forum members. Disappointing handles or something else?
 
labor of love said:
Curious to hear more about how these Myojin sg2 knives perform. Seems like even after steep discounts as low as $399 the sg 240 wasn’t keepers for some forum members. Disappointing handles or something else?
Click to expand...

any time there's a new thing tons of people grab one. it's no surprise that some folks will have tried one out of curiosity and it wasnt a good fit for them.

there are tons of great knives on BST at any time because it just wasnt the one for someone.
 
tcmx3 said:
any time there's a new thing tons of people grab one. it's no surprise that some folks will have tried one out of curiosity and it wasnt a good fit for them.

there are tons of great knives on BST at any time because it just wasnt the one for someone.
Click to expand...
Sure I’m well aware. But I’m curious what specifically about the knife made it not a keeper for some users. And user experiences.
My guess is a lot of stiction. But I have no idea.
Great looking knives, perfect for me actually. I love nice Sakai stuff and sg2.
 
labor of love said:
Sure I’m well aware. But I’m curious what specifically about the knife made it not a keeper for some users. And user experiences.
My guess is a lot of stiction. But I have no idea.
Great looking knives, perfect for me actually. I love nice Sakai stuff and sg2.
Click to expand...
I am one of the seller's so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt. I agree the optics look bad. A couple myojin's hit BST recently and 2 of which havent moved.

I think that is for a couple of reasons. Right at the end of the year, Myojins and Metal Flows flooded the market and they were at great prices. HomeButcher had the 240 for $398. It was that pricing that tempted me to buy one just to see. I have the Konosuke Tetsujin and the SG2 is almost identical. I wanted to compare and I thought it would be cool to have a stainless version because it is one of my favorites.

I bought the jobone handle to put on it with the intent to upgrade the knife and keep it. Shortly after that I was able to unexpectedly snag a Devin Thomas and that threw my knife budget off. Since this knife is redundant it's the one I chose to cut.

I obviously cant speak to why others are selling but I really like this knife and I feel like the fact I sunk more money into it speaks to my intent with the knife or you could just assume I am really stupid and enjoy losing money (fair assumption).
 
labor of love said:
Sure I’m well aware. But I’m curious what specifically about the knife made it not a keeper for some users. And user experiences.
My guess is a lot of stiction. But I have no idea.
Great looking knives, perfect for me actually. I love nice Sakai stuff and sg2.
Click to expand...

Mine's up for sale as
- the handle is a little large
- the spine is chamfered like a Kono FM (which I don't prefer)
- it's a bit thicker BTE than I wanted (I was looking for a stainless version of the Kono MM)

All of those are fixable things, but considering I got a Massdrop Kamon 4 days later, I'm not really wanting to do the effort on a new knife to get it to where I want it (especially as I'm not great at that kind of work).

That said, I do think with those tweaks it would be a excellent knife.
 
labor of love said:
Sure I’m well aware. But I’m curious what specifically about the knife made it not a keeper for some users. And user experiences.
My guess is a lot of stiction. But I have no idea.
Great looking knives, perfect for me actually. I love nice Sakai stuff and sg2.
Click to expand...
My experience has been the opposite. The Myojin SG2 has taken the top stainless spot in my rotation. I described the knife to a friend as "end game" for my preferences. The I measured the grind at various spots all along the blade, and it's essentially a stainless Kono FM with a thicker neck area and no machi gap. I have not had any issues with stiction, as the finish on the cladding is like a smooth matte. One test I use to compare "stickiness" is wiping it with a wet towel.

One difference I can think of would be the handle. I got mine with a K&S heart shaped ebony handle which is crazy comfortable.

I also have the homebutcher 180 version, which also bumped out most everything else I have in the 180 size. The handle is not the prettiest, but is actually comfortable
 
tostadas said:
My experience has been the opposite. The Myojin SG2 has taken the top stainless spot in my rotation. I described the knife to a friend as "end game" for my preferences. The I measured the grind at various spots all along the blade, and it's essentially a stainless Kono FM with a thicker neck area and no machi gap. I have not had any issues with stiction, as the finish on the cladding is like a smooth matte. One test I use to compare "stickiness" is wiping it with a wet towel.

One difference I can think of would be the handle. I got mine with a K&S heart shaped ebony handle which is crazy comfortable.
Click to expand...
Cool cool glad to hear you’re enjoying it. I’m talking to a vendor literally right now about the line. I think I’m sold. That ginsan Kagekiyo kasumi is my other option.
 
labor of love said:
Cool cool glad to hear you’re enjoying it. I’m talking to a vendor literally right now about the line. I think I’m sold. That ginsan Kagekiyo kasumi is my other option.
Click to expand...
Yea the battle between my Myojin 240 and Nakagawa/Morihiro Ginsan 240 was close. Both have excellent fit and finish, and excellent grinds. The Myojin is more on the thinner side of medium grind and feels like a laser, while the Nakagawa feels more durable behind the edge. Since I only use these knives in a home environment, the laser feel of the Myojin is nicer for me, so that's why I have my Nakagawa up for sale.
 
labor of love said:
Well I guess we’re in a similar boat then. I’m looking for a thin ground kasumi counter part to my OUL wide bevel gyuto. However I think I’m content with using them both but for separate tasks.
Click to expand...
Ideally I'd do the same and keep both, as you said, for separate tasks. But as it stands now, my overflow storage for knives in my bedroom has filled up, and now I have 4 knives in my overflow overflow storage (ie. dining room table). So cuts will need to be made, pun intended.
 
tostadas said:
Yea the battle between my Myojin 240 and Nakagawa/Morihiro Ginsan 240 was close. Both have excellent fit and finish, and excellent grinds. The Myojin is more on the thinner side of medium grind and feels like a laser, while the Nakagawa feels more durable behind the edge. Since I only use these knives in a home environment, the laser feel of the Myojin is nicer for me, so that's why I have my Nakagawa up for sale.
Click to expand...

Ha, I’ve decided to keep both, under the ludicrous justification that the Myojin is a 210 daily ‘second driver’ (ie the knife you invariably reach for when you’ve remember the herbs, lemon or other ingredient when you’ve just wiped and put the carbon of choice away) and the Nakagawa is more of a sturdy workhorse of a grind, filling in a gap in my stainless 240s. It’s a weak excuse I’ll admit, but they’re both fine knives. And I generally prefer sharpening Ginsan tbh

The Myojin is probably the better performer ootb - thinness bte was good and it’s very much as close to a stainless FM as I’ve encountered yet - a bit more angular, a little stickier, but still very familiar. The Nakagawa is more conservative in grind and arguably could do with a bit of mild thinning, but definitely has real potential and feels more purposeful/robust.
 
I've got both as well - the Myojin SG2 and the Nakagawa ginsan, both in 240. The myojin sg2 is an awesome knife I'll be letting some of his carbon examples go because of it. My only complaint about this knife it would be that it doesn't quite have that "je ne sais quoi" feel to it. Probably due to being a stamped blade vs. forged. I think its like comparing a Corvette vs. a Ferrari. Both with over 500hp and will get you where you need to go in a hurry, and both cool, but one is cooler :cool: . For now I'm very content to turn some hot laps with the vette.

I like the midweight feel of the Nakagawa and the wide bevel is fun. I've been slowing thinning (as @WiriWiri was musing) and agree that it is getting better after each round. I'm using a SG500 and taking my time with it.

Neither is hitting bst in the near term unless I get faster with my mouse and really start landing some gems :)
 
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