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I would generally not hate on a knife that I haven't used, but there are instances that spark the emotion this being one of them. I would definetely be down to try one and I would give it a fair shake. If I was wrong, I don't mind admitting it. But there is no way I'm putting out my hard earned money to try one.

I can put an edge on a farrier's rasp and send it to you to try it out, just pay for the rasp and shipping.
 
Not new knives, but they got new matching pants. L-R Halcyonforge wrought iron dammy sanmai, huon pine. Halcyonforge wrought iron, ironwood. Kochi with machi, burnt chestnut.
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Ittetsu – Kurouchi White #1 Gyuto 180mm
330 / 200 / 188 46 / 39 / 30 … 2.8 / 1.8 / 1.8 / 1 +15 142g ***

Long
(Total/Blade/Edge)… High (Heel/Half/Tip -35)… Thick (Heel/Half/Tip -35/Tip -10)... Balance (Chin = 0)… Weight Cutting OOTB ( * Poor ** Avg *** Good **** Great)

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FIT & FINISH: 4/6

Handle: 1.5/2

Aesthetics, Ergonomics

The handle is a single piece unit made of walnut, with beautiful patterns from the grain, tapering down from the butt, perfectly sculpted and chamfered.

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It is, however, too bulky for optimal comfort. I have a soft spot for Wa handles when it comes to ergonomics because I find a (generally) longer neck to provide flexibility for finger placement; with this handle however the only really comfortable grip is pinching at the balance point, where the handle is further back and doesn’t impact comfort much (to me at least), or a hammer grip which I never use. Being a short blade with only slight forward balance, I prefer my pinch however to be right at the neck in this case, and I sure do see a good bit of sanding down the line to get it feeling just right. It is bulkier than all my other octagonals so far, or this wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve done a few preps since and it is no big deal, just odd feeling.

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Blade: 1.5/2
Choil, Spine

Some attention was put into easing the choil. While I’m pretty glad they did it, and a very smooth job where feeling is concerned, there are ungainly grinding marks left exposed on the side, and funnily enough for a knife pretending to be symmetrical, the smoothing was done mostly on the right side; on the left side the angle is still quite rough – but no grinding marks! We’ll see the final beveling is also biased. Nothing new under the sun that shines upon J-knives.

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The spine here was actually chamfered. Then again, if one wants to find fault, it is not the most even job, and doesn’t extend to the whole length of the spine, but at this pricepoint spines and choils aren’t so often eased at all. The chamfering is polished enough to feel very nice, with no sharp angle, and at least extends well beyond the balance point, making sure any pinch placement benefits from it.

The overall forging and cutting to shape doesn’t show any irregularity. I think half a point on the choil – where it should have been a full point, had a bit more care been applied to the job – and a full point on the spine does it justice.

Finish: 1/2
Aesthetics, Maintenance

To me, the actual finish of the Ittetsu is its weakest point: the Kurouchi is not very consistent, the cladding line ill-defined, the beveling finish another inconsistent pattern of hazy without much appeal, with areas where the faces were abraded in the process too leaving whitish spotting over the KU. Compared to two other iron clad KU of relatively similar pricepoint in my experience though, this is more or less average presentation.

I do like that the KU is wear resistant – Moritaka’s wasn’t – and I kind of like its pale blue-gray, golden-green oily hues coloring. Underneath we have an almost Nashiji finish in some places… and a scaly aspect in others. In the end it looks alright enough to not be bothered much by the inconsistencies, and primitive enough to give that rough sense of the forging KUs excel at.

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For maintenance, I’d say it’s half good and half kind of bad. The KU itself is impervious to discoloration from the tainted juices reacting from the core – and also to extensive dishrag scrubbing with very hot water and soap. The oily hues may shift a bit with the latter treatment, which is nice. However, the White core is quite reactive as we would expect it to be, and the bare iron cladding of the bevels is just way too keen on taking brownish discoloration from contact with the tainted juices. Forcing a patina/etching the blade here seems to be the only way towards easy maintenance.

I think half a point per criterion sounds about right.


EXPERIENCE: 3.5/4

Box: 0.5/1

Aesthetics vs. Safeguarding

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The box is very nice and sturdy. It seems to me to be the very same one used by Mazaki (with the White Kurouchi series at least), with a different printed design obviously: same red felt interior with an insert to snug fit the ferrule. Mazaki had a couple of cards and some literature, here only the knife and it’s VCI fold. These boxes also have a layer of foam underneath the cover to prevent the knife moving around. This is all nice, but pretty much your standard issue J-knife box in terms of safeguarding and materials; first impressions aren’t anything magical neither, especially with the oversized box where the small Gyuto looked at a loss.

Performance: 3/3
Profile, Geometry, Grind

This is where all minor sins can be forgiven, and in this case they will, for this knife is an absolute delight to use, and also just about perfect where it matters the most.

Where profile is concerned, we have a short Gyuto that isn’t just belly and can push cut effectively on average size stuff and small stacks, yet we have a fair bit of a curve to the tip for rock chopping. To me this is a Santoku with elevated rocking abilities and tip work, and that was really the goal of the experience: to supplant my affection towards Santokus for shorter blades.

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The geometry of the Ittetsu just works great. If geometry cuts, then that is a tremendously sharp one, because no food I tried to cut, would that be carrots, celery, onions, stack of leaves, garlic, peppers or cooked poultry, managed to make it wedge, resist it or otherwise make the cut feel subpar– knife just goes through, again and again, leaving clean cuts behind. Admittedly one of the best OOTB edges I ever experienced, but then again, sharp doesn’t mean anything without geometry, and this one still amazes me.

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The grind, “according to legend”, is the work of Abe-san, former head sharpener with Yoshimi Kato, now a loose gun. Don’t know about the veracity of any of that, but he or someone sure did amazing beveling here – where performance is concerned. This is the kind of final work a knife from Moritaka’s shop would benefit from tremendously – but I guess too that the makers for Ittetsu have the common sense not to leave shoulders so low to begin with.

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A perfect score in this section is something I am ready to compromise a few other things for – the Ittetsu represents that kind of extreme balance.

Of course, a spine shot is regulatory here, but all it shows is a faux taper, from 2.8mm to 1.8mm well before the middle of the blade, and keeping at 1.8 until the very last 15mm or so - making for a rather thick tip. The knife, however, feels nowhere near thick in use, where even the tip feels laser like and nimble.

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Overall Score: 7.5/10

Personal take:
In some ways it’s the roughest bit of forging that entered my kitchen, akin to my Moritaka, and yet has nice finishing touches where it matters and ranks right at the top as one of the best performing knives in my collection – or that I ever had the chance to try period. The question is: was I mostly lucky, because I feel the balance to greatness here is somewhat fragile…


Be well folks!
 
Those look really nice!! I especially like the huon pine, which im not familiar with.
Huon pine is such a wonderful timber from Australia, and it smell so freaking good! Huon pine has amazing looking detailed structure, and lots of colour depth variation. One of my favorite timbers, definitely my favorite light coloured timber.
 
@ModRQC I bought the same knife at the end of May. It's my second gyuto (Shinko Seilan KU 210). I really enjoy using it, but I have to send it out to get fixed. I chipped it, then tried my first repair. Yikes. The chip was user error, not anything to worry about. I'm glad your review confirmed my feelings, since I am very new to all of this.
 
@ModRQC I bought the same knife at the end of May. It's my second gyuto (Shinko Seilan KU 210). I really enjoy using it, but I have to send it out to get fixed. I chipped it, then tried my first repair. Yikes. The chip was user error, not anything to worry about. I'm glad your review confirmed my feelings, since I am very new to all of this.

It’s a great knife; then again I wouldn’t just go and splurge any more dollars on a « real » 210-240 from that series, or from that maker in fact. They soon fall into the « there’s much better out there at this price » category. This small Gyuto was just the perfect pricepoint with a rebate for what I was aiming for with this purchase, though, and a big surprise in how much I just love it.

I’m sorry for your situation - hope the repair isn’t too expensive.

Where did you grab your Shinko?
 
K&S Australia

Yeah. I'll be fine if it ends a 170ish petty. I'll just get another gyuto. feed the habit.
 

love the limerick. The baculum (Oosik) is common in many creatures including gorillas and some monkeys. the largest oosik ever found was 1.4 meters (typically they are 20-24 cm). This whopper was actually a fossil baculum (penile bone) from an extinct species of Walrus. I suspect this Specimen‘s smile was even more sly.
 
Should we be surprised that the species who put the penis ahead of their brain is now extinct? 🤔

The Oosik enabled longer mating bouts, and mating on demand (bye bye viagra), but did not save the species from extinction. This is true

Why nature did not provide intelligence, and a Baculum together is for the reason you posted above - it’s one or the other😆
 
Beautiful knife, all the better with the super blue steel. What kind of wood is the handle made from? I went for one of his colored Damascus gyuto's with the bone handle. I suspect that generally the knives aren't honed to maximum sharpness before being shipped. It's a safety issue. The customer get's to do that.
I think it is ironwood. I’m not sure I’m liking it all that much. The hammered finish dimples rub my knuckles when I chop. Other than that, a flawless performer after finishing the edge on water stones followed by a leather strop.
 
View attachment 90354Heiji 210 Sujihiki in semi stainless. Unfortunately I will have to wait a little longer on it as I just added a 180 Nakiri to my order this week.🙈
Mr. Heiji thinks he will be done by Christmas so this will be my present to myself this year.:merrychristmas:

Huge Heiji Fan! I don’t think I have seen a Heiji Sujhiki - looks amazing. I have a semi stainless Gyuto 245mm coming in next week. Post more pics when you get it

Heiji has been non-responsive to me when i use their website. I need their email I think - embedded here somewhere in this forum. Did you find them responsive?
 
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