sakai takayuki western aogami

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Hi all.

I've bin looking for a western gyuto and have come across a sakai takayuki western aogami.

Anyone here knows if it is any good? It should be made in monosteel b#2

Thanks.
Have a nice day 😊
 
Hi all.

I've bin looking for a western gyuto and have come across a sakai takayuki western aogami.

Anyone here knows if it is any good? It should be made in monosteel b#2

Thanks.
Have a nice day 😊
do you got the link? or tell us what is the finish.
 
i fondled the petty knife in the series the other day. just had a look at the gyuto. i had decided on a stainless knife that day, for specific use, but was really tempted to get the stwa. good price point, cool w/ blue #2 monosteel. appeared to have a very nice grind, and not a knife you'd have to baby or worry too much about. if you're ok with the reactive blade, it seemed like a lot of knife for the money. just don't expect more f&f than you pay for.

.
 
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i fondled the petty knife in the series the other day. just had a look at the gyuto. i had decided on a stainless knife that day, for specific use, but was really tempted to get the stwa. good price point, cool w/ blue #2 monosteel. appeared to have a very nice grind, and not a knife you'd have to baby or worry to much about. if you're ok with the reactive blade, it seemed like a lot of knife for the money. just don't expect more f&f than you pay for.

.
Sounds great. Thanks for your input😊
 
Do you need it to be from aogami? hamono.nl has the TUS steel series for 69 euros (180mm) and 100ish euros for 210mm.
I own petty knives from that series and they are great. They have the same profile as the one you linked.
 
Yeah if you google 'Sakai Takayuki Aoniko' you'll find a bunch of hits (including from this forum).
 
Thanks 😊
Maybe I should find a misono instead. But where did you find the info about the sakai takayuki western aogami? I can't find anything.
First thing: you are right-handed, aren't you? Because all knives I'm speaking about are more or less strongly right biased.
The Misono at 210mm is rather narrow.
A very nice, finely grained steel, but a tad softer than your Herder 1922.
You may consider the Masahiro VC instead, which has the harder steel as well, quite close to Aogami #2. Not with Misono's nice F&F, though. That said, all Misonos come with a weak, overly convexed factory edge due to excessive buffering. But at this price point all Japanese knives require a good stone sharpening before use. In the case of a Misono you can't just follow the factory edge, though.
If it's important to you: Misonos come with a spear point tip, elegant but vulnerable. The same as your Herder, but that one comes with a relative thickening at the tip. Masahiro has a classic Japanese low tip.
Another option were the Suien VC, made of monosteel Aogami #2. Requiring a good stone sharpening to attenuate its extreme asymmetry and ease its protruding shoulder. So, with both the Misono and the Suien, first thing to do is taking it to a coarse stone. To me, the Suien is the most comfortable one, but only after some love.
 
Does it have to be western-handle monosteel? This Shiro Kamo is a great value with blue 2 core san mai iron clad, wa handle.

Gyuto
 
First thing: you are right-handed, aren't you? Because all knives I'm speaking about are more or less strongly right biased.
The Misono at 210mm is rather narrow.
A very nice, finely grained steel, but a tad softer than your Herder 1922.
You may consider the Masahiro VC instead, which has the harder steel as well, quite close to Aogami #2. Not with Misono's nice F&F, though. That said, all Misonos come with a weak, overly convexed factory edge due to excessive buffering. But at this price point all Japanese knives require a good stone sharpening before use. In the case of a Misono you can't just follow the factory edge, though.
If it's important to you: Misonos come with a spear point tip, elegant but vulnerable. The same as your Herder, but that one comes with a relative thickening at the tip. Masahiro has a classic Japanese low tip.
Another option were the Suien VC, made of monosteel Aogami #2. Requiring a good stone sharpening to attenuate its extreme asymmetry and ease its protruding shoulder. So, with both the Misono and the Suien, first thing to do is taking it to a coarse stone. To me, the Suien is the most comfortable one, but only after some love.

Thanks for your input..you always come up with with some great info👍

I'm mostly looking for a carbon gyuto that I can use everyday without babying it too much. I know stainless would make sense. But I just really like carbon. I have a suisin High Carbon in 240 mm. I enjoy using it when cooking goes fast and I don't have the time to dry and wash knives all the time. I would like a 210 I could use the same way. I guess I could use the herder. But somehow I've come to like and enjoy it so much that I now have a tendency to baby that one a bit(stupid..i know)

I tried a misono at a friend's house a while back. And besides the great F&F I really didn't get the hype. But of course that might be because of wrong or unskilled sharpening.
 
Would a san-mai be an option, or do you insist on monosteel? The Deep Impact comes with Aogami Super core cladded with soft stainless. The core steel is at 64-65Rc but has no trace of brittleness. As the 210 comes very thin behind the edge it allows a very conservative edge with no performance loss, but a remarkable edge retention. Have used it on crappy poly boards in a welfare kitchen and at the end of the day the edge was as smooth as when I started. Never seen before, even not with a Ryusen Blazen SG2. As for the need of babying: AS isn't reactive at all once a patina got installed on the apparent core steel, which turns black within a few days.
One warning: no use of a Dickoron allowed.
They are produced in small batches. May take two months or so before they are available again.
https://japanesechefsknife.com/products/jck-natures-deep-impact-series-gyuto-180mm-to-240mm-3-sizes
 
Would a san-mai be an option, or do you insist on monosteel? The Deep Impact comes with Aogami Super core cladded with soft stainless. The core steel is at 64-65Rc but has no trace of brittleness. As the 210 comes very thin behind the edge it allows a very conservative edge with no performance loss, but a remarkable edge retention. Have used it on crappy poly boards in a welfare kitchen and at the end of the day the edge was as smooth as when I started. Never seen before, even not with a Ryusen Blazen SG2. As for the need of babying: AS isn't reactive at all once a patina got installed on the apparent core steel, which turns black within a few days.
One warning: no use of a Dickoron allowed.
They are produced in small batches. May take two months or so before they are available again.
https://japanesechefsknife.com/products/jck-natures-deep-impact-series-gyuto-180mm-to-240mm-3-sizes

That is a very good suggestion. I like simplicity of the design. The boring choice, I guess would be to just get a suisin high carbon in 210 mm?
 
That is a very good suggestion. I like simplicity of the design. The boring choice, I guess would be to just get a suisin high carbon in 210 mm?
The 210 and 240 by Japanese makers tend to be very different knives, with a very different character. Not just a question of size as with the big Germans. I would at least check the width and the weight to have an idea.
 
I tried a misono at a friend's house a while back. And besides the great F&F I really didn't get the hype. But of course that might be because of wrong or unskilled sharpening.
A first impression is often a wrong one. It says more about what you're used to than about the knife you're actually handling. E.g. it does take some time to get used to a new geometry and a different balance. A loose grip helps.
 
A first impression is often a wrong one. It says more about what you're used to than about the knife you're actually handling. E.g. it does take some time to get used to a new geometry and a different balance. A loose grip helps.

Your probably right. I think I will give the sakai takayuki a try. I might be disappointed. But then I'm an experience richer. And I can always sell it again. 😊
 
Give it a fair chance. My trick is in using it exclusively for a week or so at home, really for any task. Even cutting cabbage with a hankotsu. With some knives it really took quite some adjustments before I felt comfortable with them. I often see here in the BST-section almost brand-new knifes, never sharpened, used only for two onions. And people ready to conclude it won't work with them. A hasty conclusion.
 
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