Thanks to @timebard for posting the link to the Watanabes and @ew_ut for pointing them out to him.
Oh man, I’m happy folks were able to buy these and also jealous I didn’t buy one myself

Thanks to @timebard for posting the link to the Watanabes and @ew_ut for pointing them out to him.
BST is a dangerous placeCongrats! I have Toyama/Wat 150 and 210 and Wat/Toyama 270. Absolutely LOVE all three, they just fall through product. Always in my rotation.
And I hear you on budget, I have had to stop looking at BST but my buddy @tylerleach keeps texting me when sweet stuff goes up!![]()
I already have a couple white steel cleavers so I wanted to try a blue steel one next, but I couldn’t resist a fixer upper. It turning out to be a Togashi is just the cherry on topHoooo that Togashi cleaver.
I emailed MTC and they said they got these ones in before the pandemic so I guess they’ve just been hanging around unsold for at least a couple years and they finally decided to list them online. Good looking out!Oh man, I’m happy folks were able to buy these and also jealous I didn’t buy one myself. Hope you enjoy it! If either of you ever decide to move these on, let a brotha know!
Snagged an ironclad blue #2 Watanabe 270 mm gyuto from MTC Kitchen this weekend and got it this morning. My first ironclad Wat/Toyama that’s not off BST. I’ve used my ironclad Wat and Toyama 240 extensively and can handle a #6 cleaver under 500 grams doing bulk prep for a couple hours in a row without much wrist fatigue, so I thought the 270 Wat would be a breeze, but this thing is a whole different beast. 276 grams, 60 mm tall, 4.7 mm out of the handle, thick all down the spine and super thin behind the edge with Watanabe’s signature slightly righty biased convex grind, this thing is more forward balanced than some of my cleavers and is a total monster.
View attachment 178888
View attachment 178889
Look at that choil! I julienned a pound of carrots and cut up a couple apples, and the Wat moves through everything smoothly without cracking and the elongated santoku-ish profile is perfect for bulk prep. The OOTB zero edge felt very fragile the whole time and was microchipped all over though so I touched it up on an aizu and as expected, the steel feels HARD like my other Wats, just skates on the stone, but sharpens quickly to a scary edge. Already so in love with this knife
Also picked up a mystery #6 cleaver, about 230 mm x 110 mm and 477 grams, off eBay last week. Got a killer deal on it because it had been chipped on chicken bones and had a bunch of rust spots on it. Previous owner got it from Tsukiji a few years ago and just knew that it was iron clad white #2.
View attachment 178905 View attachment 178898
Besides the chips, this thing was really thin behind the edge so it just took a couple hours to take out the chips while maintaining the nice grind. Sharpened it up and the steel took an absolutely nasty edge and held it nicely so I posted in a couple places to try and ID the maker out of curiosity. Turns out the dentoukougeshi symbol stamped on the back with the number 38 under it indicates that it’s forged by Kenji Togashi. I’ve been wanting to try one of his Chinese cleavers, so this was a nice little surprise. Also, it makes a lovely tinging sound when tap on it.
View attachment 178901
For size comparison:
View attachment 178899
Just a couple oversized ironclad boys ready to do some work. Also, if everyone could please refrain from posting any nice knives on BST for a while until I can replenish my knife budget, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks to @timebard for posting the link to the Watanabes and @ew_ut for pointing them out to him.
I feel like a lot of people replace the stock Wat handle because it’s kind of plain. I actually like a nice ho wood handle, but might look into a slightly fancier one, maybe ho wood with a blonde horn ferrule. As for the forward balance, it’s great for bulk prep, but a little unwieldy. I like heavier cleavers though, so I’ll get used to it quickly. I think most people probably prefer a more neutral balance to make the knife more maneuverable. Good news is it’s so blade heavy, you could slap on a fairly substantial handle and still have plenty of forward chopping power.Jealous you got yours so fast! How do you feel about the handle and balance point--worth putting a heavy handle on to tip it back or is the super-blade-forward balance a feature not a bug for you?
Distal taper of a custom S-grind chef from Nordquist designs heading my way this week View attachment 177944
I havent received my new one yet. I have had my previous one for over a year and it is my favorite knife. The choil shots dont do it justice. It has the best food release of any knife I have used. It does crack carrots but I have been told his newer geometry fixed that. The front 1/3rd of the knife is the thinnest of any I own. It slays garlic, onion etc. I love it. Pictured is my new one on the way.Any reviews?
I believe he has 3 more on the way in 52100 as well. I cut half an onion with my old one yesterday and the other half with my Alex Horn. The Horn went through maybe slightly easier but left a large pile of onions on the board. My Nordquist pile was 1/2 the size. If you like food release they are more than worth it. There are other foods where the Horn cuts substantially easier so there is always a trade off. I will do a review of the new one with videos when UPS decides I can have it.He has a new one in MagnaCut over at Modern Cooking. Prices are climbing.
![]()
Gyuto 240mm MagnaCut "S" Grind Nepalese Alder & Brass
Crafted from MagnaCut steel, a relatively new steel specifically formulated for knife makers by metallurgist and author Larrin Thomas (Knife Steel Nerds). MagnaCut is a stainless steel with very high hardness potential(65HRC), but more importantly high toughness. Jesse Thompson of Nordquist...moderncooking.com
I believe he has 3 more on the way in 52100 as well. I cut half an onion with my old one yesterday and the other half with my Alex Horn. The Horn went through maybe slightly easier but left a large pile of onions on the board. My Nordquist pile was 1/2 the size. If you like food release they are more than worth it. There are other foods where the Horn cuts substantially easier so there is always a trade off. I will do a review of the new one with videos when UPS decides I can have it.
The 10" I got from Homebutcher two years ago has got a pretty decent handle. In fact the handle scales on mine are actually a touch proud of the spine.
View attachment 178770
Had this one made some years ago.I’ve seen his work which is always impressive. I think Will and Joel are both from the same general area in England.
That'd be fun! 260mm Sir.Bian cleaver with finger bang hole!@M1k3 , I look forward to your visit with @Isasmedjan .
Name dem off pleezeTanaka/Yohei in Blue 1…
The most Kasumi Kasumi finish I have ever seen…. No idea how he does this-View attachment 179312 View attachment 179313 View attachment 179314
And my Mitsuaki Takada collection grows-View attachment 179315
Almost looks like an old Kono tetsujin/VSC finishTanaka/Yohei in Blue 1…
The most Kasumi Kasumi finish I have ever seen…. No idea how he does this-View attachment 179314
And my Mitsuaki Takada collection grows-
Wow. So incredibly cool. Great looking knives sir, well done! I would love to try something like that.I visited Isasmedjan last weekend for a 1-on-1 class in knifemaking and got to make two knives with guidance from Jonas at Isasmedjan. Since I’m not a craftsman and couldn’t have done this by myself, I’m posting it here. Anyway – wow. Incredibly fun.
The knives was a forged a san mai gyuto kurouchi, and a stock removal honyaki petty. Jonas at Isasmedjan did similar knife types and demonstraded step by step on them, so I got plenty of time to make my own mistakes on my blades, and Jonas could step in and assist me when I got stuck. Which I did, frequentlyThe really big trouble was grinding. I got a somewhat even start when the angle is steeper down by the edge, but as the surface area increased so did the level of difficulty for me. After some less than clean passes I could make a clean pass, immediately followed by one or two where I created a new ridge here and there. Then another clean pass, followed by two bad. The shinogi went up, and so did the edge
So, when I felt close to where I wanted to be and risked messing it up completely if I went on, I had to ask Jonas to clean up the grind. It looks so easy…
With the honyaki – the first part with profile, taper and clay worked pretty fine – but Jonas did the heavy lifting on the grind. No way I could have made a crisp shinogi and finish like that at my first attempt. Kudos to him.
I enjoyed getting a sense of how the process works and understanding how complex it is, many moving parts. Design is very close to my heart, and it was really interesting to understand the lines, after removing too much in one place it’s tricky to know exactly where to adjust to get the lines back in order. Once again, Jonas has a very sharp eye and could guide me.
A truly perfect weekend – and (at least to me) wonderful knives! Oh, and did I mention that Jonas was a great guy? He was. He is.
View attachment 179222
View attachment 179221
View attachment 179220
View attachment 179219
View attachment 179218
View attachment 179217
View attachment 179216
Do it you get a chance - so fun!Wow. So incredibly cool. Great looking knives sir, well done! I would love to try something like that.
Name dem off pleeze
Top 3 are Takada no Hamono Suiboku (2nd is Damascus)Almost looks like an old Kono tetsujin/VSC finish
2 of the knives that's high on my list, hope MTC find another iron clad Wat somewhere in their warehouse... Looking forward to your review if you are doing one.2x NKD: one formidable Wat ironclad 270 and a comparatively dainty Kochi v2 240.
View attachment 179651
The out of the box edge on the Wat lives up to the hype. Sustainable, no, cuts raw carrots like they're cooked, yes. Super fun and not too big despite being... really quite big. Kochi edge needs a refresh before proper testing can proceed.
2 of the knives that's high on my list, hope MTC find another iron clad Wat somewhere in their warehouse... Looking forward to your review if you are doing one.
Enter your email address to join:
Register today and take advantage of membership benefits.
Enter your email address to join: