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esoo said:
The Shig KU santoku I had was so thick it was ridiculous.
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I agree with you but, it's a great cutter and holds a fantastic edge. I used it once and lost the very tip chopping onions so I need to fix that and then I'll put it up for sale or give it to one of the family. I have a 180mm Watanabe Pro Nakiri that's much more suitable for chopping. The KU Santoku is nothing like my Shig Gyuto.
 
jacko9 said:
I agree with you but, it's a great cutter and holds a fantastic edge. I used it once and lost the very tip chopping onions so I need to fix that and then I'll put it up for sale or give it to one of the family. I have a 180mm Watanabe Pro Nakiri that's much more suitable for chopping. The KU Santoku is nothing like my Shig Gyuto.
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I used it for two preps before selling. The edge was beautifully sharp, and the overall fit and finish was top notch. Nicely convex up to the shinogi, with a hollow above to aid in release. The problem is that at the shinogi it is as thick as at the spine - mine was 2.1mm. It's just too thick to make it move through food nicely. If you thin it the amount it needs, you'll lose the convex and the hollow above it.

I would say that the KU Santoku is a wonderful execution on a flawed design. It tells me that if I could find a non-KU that I could afford that it would be worth it.
 
I love my Ku Nakiri. It’s my best cutter, holds its edge forever and has great food release. I’m sorry u guys got mediocre ones but I’m still in love with mine.
Only trouble is it’s too short. 165mm is just not big enough to favor it over others. If I ever get a ku santoku, it’ll def be a 180 if I can find it.

that being said I do have a Kitaeji petty that blows me away... hell it even has the best ho wood handle I’ve ever used. Everything about it is stunning and cuts like crazy. So I can see why ppl would be bummed with a Ku compared to a Kitaeji, but the price point kinda reflects it.
 
I collect KU shigs, it’s always going to be inferior to kasumi or kiteaji in all aspects including both cutting and aesthetics. I call KU a poor man’s shig

btw, did anyone here buy the ajikiri Kitaeji thatjns had for sale recently?
 
Thats pretty aggressive.... considering its 7 days, it wont stay at 1k
 
LAB said:
Thats pretty aggressive.... considering its 7 days, it wont stay at 1k
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They started today. When I posted this before it had gone from 100€ to 400€ and since then in a few hours to 1000€.
Grab the popcorn. This is going to be interesting.
 
LAB said:
Thats pretty aggressive.... considering its 7 days, it wont stay at 1k
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Indeed. I didn't read it clearly at first and thought it said 7 hours. I chucked on a bid for 650 because why not? That was upped to 900 in seconds, and then I realized that it had 7 days left. That thing is going to go for immaculate Kitaeji prices, and it's not that.
 
People are dumb, they always try to rally themselves up and prices get laughable. Really wouldn't surprise me if this goes way beyond 1500€. I don't mind auctions if they are for a good cause but else...
Welp, it's their money but overall I don't like this **** for the market.
 
JayS20 said:
People are dumb, they always try to rally themselves up and prices get laughable. Really wouldn't surprise me if this goes way beyond 1500€. I don't mind auctions if they are for a good cause but else...
Welp, it's their money but overall I don't like this **** for the market.
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I agree - this adds artificial inflation onto a product that REALLY doesn't need it, plus, none of that money is going to whoever made the blade. Cleancut is going to pocket all of it. I've bought twice from them, and they have been great, but... yeah. Not a fan.
 
andrewsa said:
Auctioning...what a way to capitalise on the market unless its for a good cause.

They are free to do what they want but imo I think its a bad practice. Where do the profits go if it sells more than retail price?
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Unfortunately we are complicit by giving it oxygen. I would never have known about the auction had it not been mentioned here.
 
I gave up my want for a Shig due to the silly prices, perhaps they come down or I stumble across a 'bargain' we'll see but for now I'm looking elsewhere.
 
This looks either crazy or artificially inflated. It’s not a bad return on investment to pay inflated price on one Kasumi if you are long/ loaded with Shigs...
 
Is Kitaeji that much different than say a kuro? To justify the price difference? Sorry I am not that familiar with shigs...
 
Don't worry so much about kitaeiji, in my experience kasumi is better cutter than kitaeiji ;)
But with hand made knives you never know.
 
LAB said:
Is Kitaeji that much different than say a kuro? To justify the price difference? Sorry I am not that familiar with shigs...
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It's just that they are extremely rare and have become unicorns to some extent. Shigs are beautiful, exquisitely made knives, which has certainly contributed to making them collectibles. The Kitaejis are the (entirely subjectively) most beautiful, most rare and most desirable as collectibles. Many people at this point buy Shigs and stick them in a drawer or on a wall. If you had bought 50 5 years ago, you'd be able to easily double or triple your money on them today.

That said, like most things where a huge amount of the value is scarcity-driven, it's hard to make the argument that it's objectively worth 1500 or 2 grand or whatever for a workhorse gyuto that does... what a gyuto does.

I just received a kurouchi Shig nakiri, and I really like it. The fit and finish are, as expected, phenomenal. I used it for prep, discovered that it had a wide (4mm), shallow rough spot near the tip on the blade and also discovered that the OOB edge is as worthless as most OOB edges, so to the stones it went - like literally every knife on my mag strip except for, oddly, my Yu Kurosakis, which have flawless edges and refuse to get dull.

OK, end digression, the Shig is an even better knife now, and I intend to use it well. I'm also not at all unhappy that this is a 350 euro knife and not a 1000 euro knife. It's not objectively superior to my much cheaper AS Moritaka nakiri. It is definitely a whole different level of fit and finish: they might as well not have been made by the same species, but both make short work of piles of veggies, and the Mori arguably does it better. I said it. Flame shield engaged.
 
big_adventure said:
It's just that they are extremely rare and have become unicorns to some extent. Shigs are beautiful, exquisitely made knives, which has certainly contributed to making them collectibles. The Kitaejis are the (entirely subjectively) most beautiful, most rare and most desirable as collectibles. Many people at this point buy Shigs and stick them in a drawer or on a wall. If you had bought 50 5 years ago, you'd be able to easily double or triple your money on them today.

That said, like most things where a huge amount of the value is scarcity-driven, it's hard to make the argument that it's objectively worth 1500 or 2 grand or whatever for a workhorse gyuto that does... what a gyuto does.

I just received a kurouchi Shig nakiri, and I really like it. The fit and finish are, as expected, phenomenal. I used it for prep, discovered that it had a wide (4mm), shallow rough spot near the tip on the blade and also discovered that the OOB edge is as worthless as most OOB edges, so to the stones it went - like literally every knife on my mag strip except for, oddly, my Yu Kurosakis, which have flawless edges and refuse to get dull.

OK, end digression, the Shig is an even better knife now, and I intend to use it well. I'm also not at all unhappy that this is a 350 euro knife and not a 1000 euro knife. It's not objectively superior to my much cheaper AS Moritaka nakiri. It is definitely a whole different level of fit and finish: they might as well not have been made by the same species, but both make short work of piles of veggies, and the Mori arguably does it better. I said it. Flame shield engaged.
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Thanks, I understand all that. Although I am new to knives, I have been collecting other stuff. Essentially, above a certain point, performance starts becoming besides the point and aesthetics, emotions, collectability, scarcity etc comes into play. Totally agree with your points.

I guess what I was trying to ask is how is a keitaeji different from Kuro (besides black finish)? Why do people see it as better, or more expensive? is it just more scarce? Same steel? In more cynical terms, what is the marketing behind it lol.
 
LAB said:
Thanks, I understand all that. Although I am new to knives, I have been collecting other stuff. Essentially, above a certain point, performance starts becoming besides the point and aesthetics, emotions, collectability, scarcity etc comes into play. Totally agree with your points.

I guess what I was trying to ask is how is a keitaeji different from Kuro (besides black finish)? Why do people see it as better, or more expensive? is it just more scarce? Same steel? In more cynical terms, what is the marketing behind it lol.
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The core is the same in all of them, from what I understand. It's some Uddenholm steel that Shig uses and doesn't expressly announce.

The Kitaeji is a damascus cladding, the kasumi is single-layer clad and the ku is, well, ku. From what I understand, the Kitaeji and kasumi lines are a bit thinner and lighter than the ku, but none of them are lasers in the slightest.

I would imagine that the performance between the Kitaeji and the kasumi are pretty close to identical. They are meant to be the same core, same HT, same grind, etc. The ku will be a bit different because of the extra girth. Other people on the board who have juggled the three will be much better placed to identify any functional differences than I am.
 
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