Raquin nakiri passaround (US only)

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Hey All,

Time for my review! First of all I want to thank Raquin and everyone that's a part of this pass around, it's been a lovely experience so far and glad to be a part of it. As a bit of a preface, I've used couple of Raquins knives before, a classic grind or his earlier grind style and then most recently a KT or Kitchen Tractor style grind, I greatly enjoyed both and this nakiri was no different. Overall it was a lovely knife and I'm glad to get to try it.

Getting to more details and specifics now some real simple likes and dislikes....which are few compared to the likes

Likes
-Handle, the right size, right thickness, excellent grip and hand feel, honestly it puts a lot of custom handles I've used to shame in its overall utility. Never once felt slippery or like it wasn't substantial enough in hand. It's the anti-Takamura handle if you know what I mean. In a way it reminded me of older Sabatier Nogeant style handles, not in shape but in the look simple but are perfect for your hand and grip sort of way. It's unassuming but excellent. Okay probably enough about the handle...onto the next point
-KU finish, this is one of the better KU finishes I've used and this carries over like the handle from all the other Raquin knives I've tried. It's not too grippy or sticky and doesn't have that fake "gun blue" color or slipperiness that some cheaper Japanese knives have on their KU. Overall it's a great balance and looks nice as well as being functional
-Profile and grind overall, it's got enough heft to make it a great nakiri that just falls through softer stuff. It does struggle a bit through some tougher/harder stuff as others have mentioned but it's by no means bad. The wide bevels are nicely finished and flattened and the edge has a bit of curve to it so you aren't slamming into the board with every cut. Basically it's good a great overall profile and grind is great but not exceptional (more on this later in the closing notes)
-Steel is something I'm going to list in both the likes and dislikes along with grind, I love how easy the steel is to sharpen, touch up on naturals and the kind of edge it takes. Very clean edge and extremely sharp with little effort. Overall the marks of a good steel. A bit on the reactive side compared to some other carbon steel but not crazy bad, it's not Misono Swedish Steel or Masakage Shimo bad in terms of reactivity. Those things are aggressively reactive and corrosive to the point that you might as well toss your first pound or two of onions if you just thinned them because they will ruin those onions. I do wish the steel was a bit better in edge retention though and this is the one area that I think it's held back a little bit (along with a little bit of the grind) from being truly top tier/number 1 for me.

Dislikes
-Grind although really the grind is great overall. It's a like for me in that it falls through softer food and has nicely done wide bevels yet ultimately in some ways like with harder and tougher stuff the grind holds it back a little bit. Similar to my thoughts on the KT Raquin, it's great for most things but struggles on a few. This holds it back from being in my top nakiri's ever. That spot is still firmly held by Toyama and Watanabe. I would put the Raquin in the top 5 for sure but it's not top 3...I would put Kochi potentially in that top 3 as well as an old grind Takeda aka a good grind Takeda aka non-hatchet thick Takeda aka a fixed new Takeda. The grind just isn't quite as all around excellent for everything as those are. Again we are talking really really good here and it still deserves a spot in the top 5 but it's not a top 3 so to speak. I like to think of those Raquin grind as kind of like a Heiji that you eased the shoulders a bit and that was a bit more well rounded overall. Not as well rounded as the Top 3 stuff I mentioned but better than a stock Heiji while having some similar aspects to the grind style.
-Steel is a tricky one for me because there is so much to like about the steel from how easily it sharpens to how the edges feel. My only complaint with it comes from edge retention, it isn't as good as I would like. Nakiri tend to make a good bit of board contact in use and the edge retention is noticeable less than Toyama/Watanabe and Takeda. Yeah it's a bit easier to sharpen but I would say that the gulf in edge retention is much bigger than the gulf in sharpening ease if that makes sense? Again I do really like the steel overall it would just be nice to have a bit better edge retention even in comparison to some of the Japanese steels.
-Availability, seriously I wish his stuff was easier to get. Getting a Raquin is not easy and that sucks because his work is so good. I mean I'm happy he is so popular and clearly doing well but on a selfish note it's harder to get than I would like
-Overall I know I'm being picky in this dislikes section but I felt it worthwhile to outline everything here best I could.

Closing Thoughts
Overall this knife is great, really nice piece and worth the asking price. It falls just short of the very best nakiri's that I've used but it's still in excellent company. Could this be a one and done nakiri for someone? Definitely! It's shortcomings are not so much that you would want another nakiri and I'm mostly splitting hairs in my comparisons. It's a great knife and to be honest it only loses out to a few of the very best nakiri's I've tried over the last 10+ years of my knife hobby/obsession.
 
The knife is off to the next user, so I'll share my thoughts from a few days of use.

When I opened the box and first felt the knife in hand, I instantly understood the appeal of Bryan's aesthetic. The knife has a rustic, handmade look, but everything is finished at a really high level. The handle is very comfortable and I loved the grip that the texture in the wood provides. It's hard to overstate how much the handle just "works." The kurouchi is a very dark gray/black. Everything that should be rounded/polished is rounded/polished.

The first thing I did with this knife was make kale salad. This is usually the first thing that I make whenever I'm trying a new knife. As a home cook, I don't do a ton of volume and I feel like the mix of kale, apple, lemon, and shallot is a good way to get a feel for a knife. It performed really well. Having read tons of comments on Bryan's knives here, I was curious how the nakiri would handle apples and other harder produce. The first cut required a little more force than my Mazaki or Watanabe would require. After that, apples were smooth sailing. I really appreciated the fact that slices generally stayed in place and didn't stick to the blade. The knife made easy work of kale and shallots. Though some of the shallots quickly picked up a little bit of color as they reacted to the cladding.

Over the weekend, I used the knife on a variety of other fruits and veggies. Time and time again I appreciated the great food release. Even on a whole pineapple I didn't find the fruit sticking to the blade much. Same with potatoes. The only challenge for this knife was larger, hard produce. I experienced a fair amount of wedging and cracking in carrots, particularly the larger diameter ones.

Out of the box, I wasn't sure what to make of the profile. It isn't quite a rectangle, but it works really well in practice. I didn't find the heel getting stuck at any point and didn't experience any accordions - even on green onions.

I refrained from doing any sharpening. Snake put a nice edge on it when he finished up and it was still plenty sharp at the end of the weekend.

PROS: great profile, obscenely comfortable handle, excellent food release on softer produce, deep, rich kurouchi

CONS: doesn't like hard produce, cladding is a little reactive

Final thoughts: For many reasons, this is one of the better knives that I've gotten to use. Thanks to @ian for that opportunity! I don't think I would want this to be my only nakiri as carrots, sweet potatoes, and other hard veggies are one my main uses for a nakiri. But, I would happily keep this in my drawer and give it plenty of use.
 
Received the Raquin today and put it to use doing quick prep for some potato leek soup. Performed quite respectably with notably good release. The handle is very nicely done as well. Will post some more thoughts when I've had more time with it.
 
Alright, I've put it through several meal preps and a bunch of mirepoix for stock so it's time to write up my thoughts. To put my cards on the table, my expectation going in was that it would cut reasonably well on short/soft product but have significant wedging issues, which is typically a deal-breaker for me as an all-around knife.

Relative to that expectation, I slowly came around to appreciating Bryan's approach more than I thought I would. Yes, there's a bit of wedging in tall carrots, apples, etc, though not as bad as I feared. But it's thin enough behind the edge to initiate the cut well and while the geometry further up isn't conducive to buttery smooth cuts, it made me appreciate that minimizing stiction is also pretty valuable to overall ease of cutting as well as release (which is very good). I wouldn't personally put it in my favorite cutters shortlist, but it's quite good and I can understand why others do regard it so highly.

The nakiri came to me with a pretty decent edge so I only did a very minimal touchup on my Belgian Blue. It felt a little glassy on the stone but came back to life in no time. I didn't have any reactivity issues with the cladding - maybe a little more patina built than previous users helped.

The dimensions and shape feel more on the 'tipless gyuto' end of the nakiri spectrum vs 'small cleaver'. Compared to Watanabe or Toyama nakiri it feels a little small but the length works well enough for general prep. The distal taper is more drastic than many square knives which is nice. As I mentioned above, the handle is nice, grippy, and comfortable as well as aesthetically complimenting the blade - feels a bit like Shihan burnt ash and Matt Sicard's oak handles. No complaints regarding the spine and choil rounding.

Overall, this reflects a different approach to making a high performing knife than most of my collection; the tradeoffs are real but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works for many tasks. Thanks to @bryan03 and @ian for making this passaround happen and hope everyone down the line enjoys it!
 
Knife has arrived here, looking forward to checking it out
 
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I've had my fun, ready for the next guy. I'll post thoughts shortly. Getting it boxed up to go to @captaincaed
 
In the mail after a short delay and onto its next home! Enjoy! I'll post my thoughts shortly. Thanks for the opportunity and organization.
 
Eagle has landed
 

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Haha fair!

Here's the rundown:

I love rectangles. Cleavers have never been my thing as I feel disconnected with that high of a heel but I've used nakiri a lot over the years at home and in a pro kitchen. I find nakiri super useful in the land of veg and fruit prep (duh) and it's my typical knife for any small and large veg prep, especially baton and julienne type work. Some things I default to a nakiri include:

- Julienne/brunoise - peppers, carrots, daikon, ginger, burdock
- Baton/Batonnet/dicing - potatoes and their relatives, onions
- Slicing - green onions, leeks, garlic, mushrooms, cabbage, radishes
- Chiff - herbs and leafy greens

Profile - This was my main gripe but it's probably a preference thing. The knife did in fact feel like a tipless gyuto to me vs. a nakiri. To be frank, it didn't really fit the bill for what I reach for when I think about the above tasks. I think that's a combination of the thickness toward the tip, the relatively curved profile, and the short-ish feeling heel (maybe due to that curved profile).

Handle - Lovely, fits the blade, good grip, well proportioned, beautiful in its utility.

Wedging/cutting feedback - I didn't love it doing horizontal or vertical cuts on onions. I think the point is a grind that helps with food separation but it was thick enough where those cuts felt sticky and therefore not confident. In that sense, it feels like I'd just grab a gyuto if working through a bunch of onions but I certainly could run through a few with this knife and not be truly bothered in the least. It felt a lot, through most products, like my heiji nakiri which is overall really great and authoritative but isn't to me as focused to task as my favorite nakiri at the moment (markin).

Steel - Didn't sharpen it. Have sharpened raquins before and they're lovely on stones and edge retention has always been really good to me. Seemed to hold the edge it came with well.

Reactivity - Didn't notice one way or another which I guess is a plus

Fit and finish - Great. It's never a big concern of mine but nothing stood out as a problem. I've always found Raquins overall asthetic to be really pleasing.

Overall it's a very lovely knife but it tracked again with feelings I had about previous raquins I've tried, I want a little bit more/different at the end of them. Personally, that probably means I want a 260-270 someday. Thank you so much everyone for the opportunity, really love being a part of this group of people and what this process stands for.
 
Still working my way through a few dinners, but wanted to jot some thoughts in no particular order while I’m midway though the borrow.

Sharpening: super easy, takes a great edge on a variety of stones. Just tons of bite, eats into the board if you let it, just like I like. Has a gesshin synthetic natural edge for now. I don’t really care about retention if it‘s easy to sharpen. I just get more practice, and touch ups aren’t a hassle.

Cutting ease: very good. For a knife with food release this good, it cuts easier than it has any right. Insert obvious comparison to the Nine here. Wedging and splitting isn’t an issue, but I wouldn’t choose this for butternut.

Weight: heavier than I expect on a nakiri - I think of them as thinner, taller knives. This strikes me as a circumcised gyuto (which ain’t bad). But I need to mentally tweak how I’m using it. It I cut like it’s a short gyuto, it makes sense.

Handle has good grip wet and dry. Rounded in all the right places, very comfy to use with a variety of grips. I wish more handles were like this.

Still need to: cut sweet potato stacks into matchsticks for Sunday brunch. If it does it without potato slices sliding everywhere, all is right in the world.
 
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Ok, @SolidSnake03, @Chang, @AT5760, @ethompson, @pgugger.

I'll draw someone randomly. That person can then donate to the Red Cross as above. New, we could consider the knife to be around $500, say, so you can donate whatever you think is appropriate, keeping that in mind. As you're all established members here, we trust that you'll give a good donation. I just received the knife from @captaincaed and it looks in very good condition. Still cuts well, maybe very slightly thicker bte than when I got it the first time, but I can't really tell from memory.

If noone objects, I'll just ask google tonight for a random number from 1 to 5 and pick that person. If you'd prefer to try to organize a Zoom call where we do it live and I pick a slip of paper out of a hat, we can also do that.
 
ian said:
Ok, @SolidSnake03, @Chang, @AT5760, @ethompson, @pgugger.

I'll draw someone randomly. That person can then donate to the Red Cross as above. New, we could consider the knife to be around $500, say, so you can donate whatever you think is appropriate, keeping that in mind. As you're all established members here, we trust that you'll give a good donation. I just received the knife from @captaincaed and it looks in very good condition. Still cuts well, maybe very slightly thicker bte than when I got it the first time, but I can't really tell from memory.

If noone objects, I'll just ask google tonight for a random number from 1 to 5 and pick that person. If you'd prefer to try to organize a Zoom call where we do it live and I pick a slip of paper out of a hat, we can also do that.
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Sounds wonderful! If it comes may way I’m happy to up my yearly Red Cross donation by a healthy bit ;)

Could I pay in blood donations by chance? Kidding I’m terrified of needles….

Random number generator works for me, I’m out of town this week (currently in Portland) so if there is a zoom call I’ll miss it. But no worries :)
 
ian said:
Ok, @SolidSnake03, @Chang, @AT5760, @ethompson, @pgugger.

I'll draw someone randomly. That person can then donate to the Red Cross as above. New, we could consider the knife to be around $500, say, so you can donate whatever you think is appropriate, keeping that in mind. As you're all established members here, we trust that you'll give a good donation. I just received the knife from @captaincaed and it looks in very good condition. Still cuts well, maybe very slightly thicker bte than when I got it the first time, but I can't really tell from memory.

If noone objects, I'll just ask google tonight for a random number from 1 to 5 and pick that person. If you'd prefer to try to organize a Zoom call where we do it live and I pick a slip of paper out of a hat, we can also do that.
Click to expand...
No need for a zoom from my perspective, I like these odds
 
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I am not involved in the pass around and not trying to hi-jack this thread but I thought it was interesting to read some of the thoughts about edge retention. Some of the best makers across the pond tend to use these low alloy steels like 145sc, 135cr3 etc. They are so nice to sharpen and polish but I end up selling everyone of them because the edge retention is not there. I am happy to see some of these guys like Gravier working more with Apex Ultra or other steels that offer much better retention.
 
Matt Jacobs said:
I am not involved in the pass around and not trying to hi-jack this thread but I thought it was interesting to read some of the thoughts about edge retention. Some of the best makers across the pond tend to use these low alloy steels like 145sc, 135cr3 etc. They are so nice to sharpen and polish but I end up selling everyone of them because the edge retention is not there. I am happy to see some of these guys like Gravier working more with Apex Ultra or other steels that offer much better retention.
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And yet here you are looking at a White #1 sale thread! 😉👀👀

IMG_6162.jpeg
 
Matt Jacobs said:
I am not involved in the pass around and not trying to hi-jack this thread but I thought it was interesting to read some of the thoughts about edge retention. Some of the best makers across the pond tend to use these low alloy steels like 145sc, 135cr3 etc. They are so nice to sharpen and polish but I end up selling everyone of them because the edge retention is not there. I am happy to see some of these guys like Gravier working more with Apex Ultra or other steels that offer much better retention.
Click to expand...

Bryan's 145sc is pretty darn good and so is white #1 😉
 
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