Going to be a longer listing than usual as I think this blade needs some context as it is about as far away from BNIB as can be.
Tanaka x Kyuzo - reground & polished by me
Construction: Togo Regio (vintage Swedish) & soft iron san mai
Specs: 233 x 50 @ 193 g / Spine tapering from 4mm to <0.8mm
Handle: Ebony / black horn & Ziricote / marbled blonde horn
Comes with original box & two finger stones provided by me
Price: $1,300* OBO & I will cover the first $25 of fully insured shipping globally
I purchased this blade over a year ago. A Tanaka-Kyuzo in Togo was a grail of mine for some time and, with some help and generosity, I was able to get my grubby paws on one. Unfortunately (and this was something I was aware of going into it), the stock grind was woeful. The blade was horrendously thick at the “shinogi” above the heel and would wedge and crack even slimmer carrots. There were serious over grinds up the blade face on both sides, etc. For a knife of this price with a steel this special, the grind was truly embarrassing. Would look great in new condition on a rack somewhere or sitting BNIB in a collection, but was not a high performance gyuto and was impossible to polish well.
After some consternation, I ended up deciding to regrind the blade entirely converting the hollow wide bevels with faux shinogi to an asymmetric convex grind. I was able to maintain most of the spine thickness and height during the conversion. Overall I removed about 18g of blade weight during this process. The asymmetric walkschliff grind - shaped entirely on bench stones - is now an admirable performer. It has a great stiff feel, extremely lasery tip, and a good balance of separation, release, and edge stability (at least to my tastes). The entire surface of the blade can be reached on hard flat bench stones across 3 axis - vertical, horizontal, & diagonal. There are no low or high spots and the convex grind is very smooth as a result. It should be easy to follow the grind over time as thinning is required. The grind is not suitable for left-handed users.
After the regrind, I polished the blade on natural stones. The finish was created entirely on bench stones with some final blending and makeup with finger stones. The core is brightly burnished to reveal the crazy carbide detail in the very hard core steel and the cladding is polished with contrast in mind. There is lots of banding in the iron that will pop even more as patina sets in. Because I forwent synthetic polishing pastes and powders and used just JNats and finger stones, there are very fine hairline scratches throughout the kasumi. Overall, the finish is more subtle than a mirror / media blasted finish. But, I find the subtlety and pearlescent nature of true stone finishes irresistible. The spine and choil have been polished as well. Overall, I easily have well north of 60 hours and $150 worth of abrasive sunk into this blade.
When I removed the original handle, I sadly caused some damage to the original horn ferrule. It’s not structural, but given the amount of effort put into all the other aspects of this blade I decided to rehandle the blade as well. The new handle is of the same make but is ebony and black horn. I found the subdued handle helped highlight the blade and matched its simple refined elegance.
*The astute forumite will correctly realize this is quite a bit above the MSRP from Hitohira several years okay. The price is my breakeven on the blade and materials used reworking it. My time is valued at $0 / hr, the experience gained in regrinding and working with Togo was worth the time spent. And I promise this will be the cheapest stone finished Togo blade you’ll find anywhere and I’m definitely not making money here lol
Tanaka x Kyuzo - reground & polished by me
Construction: Togo Regio (vintage Swedish) & soft iron san mai
Specs: 233 x 50 @ 193 g / Spine tapering from 4mm to <0.8mm
Handle: Ebony / black horn & Ziricote / marbled blonde horn
Comes with original box & two finger stones provided by me
Price: $1,300* OBO & I will cover the first $25 of fully insured shipping globally
I purchased this blade over a year ago. A Tanaka-Kyuzo in Togo was a grail of mine for some time and, with some help and generosity, I was able to get my grubby paws on one. Unfortunately (and this was something I was aware of going into it), the stock grind was woeful. The blade was horrendously thick at the “shinogi” above the heel and would wedge and crack even slimmer carrots. There were serious over grinds up the blade face on both sides, etc. For a knife of this price with a steel this special, the grind was truly embarrassing. Would look great in new condition on a rack somewhere or sitting BNIB in a collection, but was not a high performance gyuto and was impossible to polish well.
After some consternation, I ended up deciding to regrind the blade entirely converting the hollow wide bevels with faux shinogi to an asymmetric convex grind. I was able to maintain most of the spine thickness and height during the conversion. Overall I removed about 18g of blade weight during this process. The asymmetric walkschliff grind - shaped entirely on bench stones - is now an admirable performer. It has a great stiff feel, extremely lasery tip, and a good balance of separation, release, and edge stability (at least to my tastes). The entire surface of the blade can be reached on hard flat bench stones across 3 axis - vertical, horizontal, & diagonal. There are no low or high spots and the convex grind is very smooth as a result. It should be easy to follow the grind over time as thinning is required. The grind is not suitable for left-handed users.
After the regrind, I polished the blade on natural stones. The finish was created entirely on bench stones with some final blending and makeup with finger stones. The core is brightly burnished to reveal the crazy carbide detail in the very hard core steel and the cladding is polished with contrast in mind. There is lots of banding in the iron that will pop even more as patina sets in. Because I forwent synthetic polishing pastes and powders and used just JNats and finger stones, there are very fine hairline scratches throughout the kasumi. Overall, the finish is more subtle than a mirror / media blasted finish. But, I find the subtlety and pearlescent nature of true stone finishes irresistible. The spine and choil have been polished as well. Overall, I easily have well north of 60 hours and $150 worth of abrasive sunk into this blade.
When I removed the original handle, I sadly caused some damage to the original horn ferrule. It’s not structural, but given the amount of effort put into all the other aspects of this blade I decided to rehandle the blade as well. The new handle is of the same make but is ebony and black horn. I found the subdued handle helped highlight the blade and matched its simple refined elegance.
*The astute forumite will correctly realize this is quite a bit above the MSRP from Hitohira several years okay. The price is my breakeven on the blade and materials used reworking it. My time is valued at $0 / hr, the experience gained in regrinding and working with Togo was worth the time spent. And I promise this will be the cheapest stone finished Togo blade you’ll find anywhere and I’m definitely not making money here lol
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