Ok, after much curiosity, I finally broke down and bought a Takeda Nakiri. Nice knife and the fit and finish on my specimen is good. Cutting potatoes and carrots and mincing herbs are a breeze. Onions on the other hand, not so much. Kinfe seems to wedge when cutting parallel to the root and horizontally through the onion. The knife came very sharp out of the box but is this something that can be corrected? Seeking wisdom from the group. Thanks in advance.
Takeda Nakiri
- Thread starter krell
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nakiriknaifuwaifu
Senior Member
Congratulations on the nakiri.
Do you have any pictures of the blade and choil?
The newer Takedas are known to be a bit wedge prone, so I would imagine your experience is par for the course. Generally, yes you can thin the knife to fix your problem.
For reference, sharpness refers to the edge, wedging is generally a problem of being too behind the edge (~ 1 - 3mm behind edge). For example, you can have a really sharp axe but it's going to wedge through carrots if you use it like a knife because of the high thickness behind the edge.
Do you have any pictures of the blade and choil?
The newer Takedas are known to be a bit wedge prone, so I would imagine your experience is par for the course. Generally, yes you can thin the knife to fix your problem.
For reference, sharpness refers to the edge, wedging is generally a problem of being too behind the edge (~ 1 - 3mm behind edge). For example, you can have a really sharp axe but it's going to wedge through carrots if you use it like a knife because of the high thickness behind the edge.
The newer Takedas need to have the shinogi pushed up a few millimetres. I know, I have one 
It is not a particularly nice job to do as the stainless cladding is fairly tough and slow to remove on stones. But it can be done.
It is not a particularly nice job to do as the stainless cladding is fairly tough and slow to remove on stones. But it can be done.
nakiriknaifuwaifu
Senior Member
Yeah man, push that shinogi line up a bit! Take a look at the older ones for reference, the blade road is much wider on those. And like @Matus says, I hope your stones like eating metal
IMO, Takeda's zero grind is inherently bad at horizontal cuts in onion; I suppose that's the price you pay for unreal food release. But that knife will absolutely slay tomatoes, and the edge holds up exceptionally well to waxy skins.
It depends on the Takeda. My 300mm gyuto will do horizontal cuts on onions with ease, but my 210 was a bit chunky on the shoulders for that purpose so I ground them down a bit. Looking at the choils on both, though, you would have thought the reverse was true. At any rate, some Takedas benefit from a bit of thinning. But given the geometry, it's less about moving the shinogi "up" and more about knocking the widest part of the bevel behind the edge back. That's the part where the grind stops and the KU begins. If you do this properly, the shinogi doesn't move and the knife looks more or less the same as before you started (when viewed from the side) but the knife won't be as thick at the top of the grind.
