For those who are curious about this line, I put together some quick thoughts and experiments with this new offering from Naohito Myojin, the sharpener behind Konosuke's Fujiyama FM knives.
I like the FM grind and SG2 steel, so I jumped right in when the 240 (actual edge length 232-233 mm) was available. Actually, I didn't ask for a choil shot before the purchase. I just trusted Myojin's craftsmanship and believed he'd only offer something near perfect.
The choil shots confirm that, from left to right are FM b1 240 (from Tosho's website), my SG2, and Kaiju (from Tosho's website)
My phone camera is a bit blurry, but the grind is as thin as the FM I had.
Further study reveals that the grind is a very thin convex, rather than a full-flat.
So the grind is great just as expected. However, the knife came with a hard coat of knife lacquer, which made everything stuck. I had to wait until it wears down before testing seriously (even acetone was not very effective in removing that, please let me know if anyone has a better solution...).
The out-of-box edge was just so so. It was close to a micro-bevel, about 16 degrees per side. The FM I had was much more aggressive in the angle.
After several acetone sessions, I started to put the knife in use. Although the grind is almost identical to a FM, I could immediately notice a difference when the blade hit the board - it is very stiff. The feedback felt like from a very hard monosteel rather than a sanmai, wow.
It glided through produces as expected because of the aggressive grind, but the edge was not acceptable IMO. So I put it on the stone.
Sharpening it confirmed the steel is very hard. I have three other SG2 knives, one Zwilling Kramer, one Yu Kurosaki, and one Shibata Koutetsu. None of them were this difficult to sharpen.
Started with Shapton Pro 1000, it took ~2 times more stokes then the aforementioned SG2 blades to create a burr. The noise it made on the stone was also scary. But after that, the sharpening became smooth and enjoyable. After burr removal on the 1k, I followed with SP 2k. After that, I started to try natural stones, and discovered that only the Okudo shiro suita can remove the steel efficiently. Uchigumori and Ohira renge suita used to work well with my other SG2 blades, but this time they performed really poorly. The last stone in this session was a very hard Nakayama mizu asagi with Aizu slurry.
Although the steel was very challenging, the final outcome was pretty good. The edge off the Nakayama turned out to be very polished yet toothy enough. I sharpened a Hisamoto white 1 tsuchime using the the same progression and compared the two edges. The SG2 was almost as polished and was noticeably more aggressive. This ultra-sharp edge sunk in peppers and tomatos, and it was well held after a few dinner sessions at home.
Normally I wouldn't dare to cut corn on the cobs with a blade this thin behind the edge. But since the steel is so strong, I tried it anyway (sorry Myojin, I tried my best to not hit the board too hard, but nontheless hit it several times).
After four cobs the edge still cut paper towel cleanly with the region that hit the board.
My guess is although the heat-treat is harder, the grain-size is finer than my other SG2s. I haven't tried to polish it to pass the hanging hair test, but I may seriously give it a try later, it already shaves arm hairs effortlessly though. Due to the adaptation to the weight and shape, I bumped the edge and tip into various surfaces, the stainless sink, the stone countertop, the wooden cabinet, you name it. Not too badly, but none caused any noticeable chipping as I would expect with high carbon steel. Now I'm willing to take the edge to 8 to 12 degrees per side in the future. My other SG2s would micro chip crazily in those angles.
So, my preliminary conclusion is that the knife is really well made from the grind to the steel. However, I think the vendors should remove the lacquer and sharpen the knife well to make it more enjoyable to those who want to enjoy it right ootb. What's more, can this replace a FM? I feel this a difficult question to answer. I like low-maintenance knives so I enjoy it very much. However, the easy-to-sharpen FMs provide a different board feedback, thus might also be someone else's favorite.
Oh, by the way, my example is 212 g with the handle.
======================Update 1=======================
Today I went ahead to attempt the hanging hair test.
Since the edge was still very sharp, I did not go to coarser stones but sharpened it directly on the Okudo shiro suita, then the Nakayama Mizu Asagi with tomo slurry.
(The Nakayama beast)
Usually, if this was a carbon steel knife, it should silently split a hanging hair. However, the SG2 blade only whittled it.
It cut tissue papers just fine.
I'd say it's pretty difficult for this blade to pass that test, if possible. Maybe a careful natural stone progression will do that, or maybe shapton 30k/stropping is needed. I don't know yet. However, the good side is, there's still some toothiness at the edge. On-board testing with tomatoes and peppers confirmed that.
Given the long-lasting beauty and the sharp toothy edge, I think this SG2 knife is a "practical Fujiyama," but not "everyone's Fujiyama". A seasoned sharpener or a user who only wants to sharpen it once will like it.
An "everyone's Fujiyama" would be made out of some easy to sharpen stainless such as Ginsan.
IMHO, the old Fujiyamas are still the all-time classical for someone chasing characteristics and the ultimate performance. However, a perfect balance between the long-lasting beauty and the performance would be a stainless-clad carbon. And when that's available, I will buy it without hesitation just like what I did with this SG2 version.
======================Update 2=======================
Since the knife world opened the door to me, I kept on buying and buying. However, this makes me feel sick.
Rather than keeping a lot of drawer queens, I'd like to build a long-term relationship with some of the best cutters by using and sharpening them. For example, I want to use and sharpen/thin my favorite gyuto until it becomes a petty.
Actually, single bevel knives in Japan are meant to be used and maintained this way:
The same should apply to double-edged knives to keep their performance and beauty at the peak. However, thinning and polishing on bench stones are very challenging to most knives on the market - the blade face needs to be free from low spots. This is something you can't tell from website images.
I bought a Hitohira Togashi wide bevel with the hope to practice stone polishing. However, the actual bevels still need much work to allow an even finish, and the shinogi line became wavy after that. Below is a Morihei TF I'm working on.
Despite being a "fine" finish, I spent considerable time on the 220 stone to take out the remaining low spots. Now it's in good working condition, and I can regain the mirror after light thinning within a few minutes.
Here is a Kurosaki R2 Santoku. You can see the reflection on the low spots. I don't plan to stone polish it as that may take too long and too much steel to fix.
Unlike these knives, Myojin finishes this knife notches above them. I couldn't feel any low spots running my fingers across the blade face. The level of consistency in the grinding is simply stunning. Below is a little experiment to confirm this.
The paint was evenly removed with a few polishing strokes, and polishing the core doesn't affect the cladding much higher to the lamination line.
The hairline finish and the SG2 steel may still cause some trouble, but this is a great grind to start with, and I will try stone polishing soon.
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