Teruyasu Fujiwara personnel change?

[Corradobrit1]

If you request one that is ground thin behind the edge it will be sharp. Keeping it sharp is a whole other story. Get a couple of low grit/mid grit synthetics and a nice Jnat finisher and you are set for hair shaving performance. It starts with the HT and ends on the stones.

First and foremost don't overthink it.

 

[Gooi]

If you request one that is ground thin behind the edge it will be sharp. Keeping it sharp is a whole other story. Get a couple of low grit/mid grit synthetics and a nice Jnat finisher and you are set for hair shaving performance. It starts with the HT and ends on the stones.

First and foremost don't overthink it.

Thanks mate. I got all the stones.
I have never bought a knife before where you may communicate with the shop before production. I welcome all points of view from the kkf community. It's not a cheap knife and it seems there is equally a lot of interest caution.

 

[Cip75]

Finally

 

[Gooi]

Finally

So how is it?
Did you pay for the finishing service?

 

[Cip75]

So how is it?
Did you pay for the finishing service?

I didn't pay for finishing, the knife cuts astonishing.

 

[superworrier]

I have a 240mm AS hand finished gyuto and a 150mm W#1 petty non hand finished coming in the next week so it will be a somewhat interesting comparison

 

[wcothran]

@superworrier how long did it take between order and shipping?

 

[superworrier]

Ordered late October. Was probably ready late December but I asked them to hold the shipping since I was out of town. So approx 2 months.

 

[superworrier]

Came in.

It still has wabi sabi for sure but no “wabisabi”.

Handle has no gaps but looks a little messy. Wood desperately needs oil. Classic TF red on the KU. But the grind to my eye looks really good, even on the non custom finish, so it’s more or less what I wanted. A lot better than the TF I got but by no means perfect, but this is the level of wabisabi I think is somewhat acceptable (i.e. rustic but not ****).

Wish I had a chance to switch the gyuto to non hammered because those look pretty nice, but the order was more or less done by the time I asked.

 

[superworrier]

Here is the wheel finished petty btw

 

[More_Gyutos]

Grind looks pretty good!? Looking forward to hearing more.

BTW, what’s up with the TF red brown KU? Is that concerning?

 

[PappaG]

I placed an order in September of 2022 for 2 knives. A denka and Mab. I received one knife two weeks ago. The other knife is no where to be found. The nice packaging slip shows 1 knife.
My ongoing concern is when should I receive the second knife, or rather do they acknowledge they still owe me another knife?

I have sent 3 messages over the past 2 weeks and have not received a response.
Usually they respond very quickly to me.

I'm frustrated. Is it normal to only get one knife, ie for a shipment to be broken up?
Should I continue to be patient or escalate?

To be clear, I don't care if it takes another 3 months to get the second knife. I'm concerned that they do not acknowledge I am due another knife (the original order is clearly for two knives in writing),

 

[JASinIL2006]

I placed an order in September of 2022 for 2 knives. A denka and Mab. I received one knife two weeks ago. The other knife is no where to be found. The nice packaging slip shows 1 knife.
My ongoing concern is when should I receive the second knife, or rather do they acknowledge they still owe me another knife?

I have sent 3 messages over the past 2 weeks and have not received a response.
Usually they respond very quickly to me.

I'm frustrated. Is it normal to only get one knife, ie for a shipment to be broken up?
Should I continue to be patient or escalate?

To be clear, I don't care if it takes another 3 months to get the second knife. I'm concerned that they do not acknowledge I am due another knife (the original order is clearly for two knives in writing),

Have you checked the Spam filter in your email? For some reason, about 50% of my emails from them were caught by the spam filter. Just a thought...

 

[miggus]

Maybe we should separate TF knives and Isamitsu knives? It's a bit very confusing if the thread is about what is now two separate knife makers.

 

[superworrier]

Clogging the thread with Isamitsu stuff one last time since I posted pics here...
Yeah it (the gyuto) cuts as well as I expect from the choil (which I did not post) and yeah it sharpens like a TF. There were some microchips on the edge, maybe because the way it was shipped, but very major and enough to come up very easily. I think it's a banger if you can withstand the western handle wabisabi. Wa handle is prob a little better.

I also tested the petty on an apple and it seems to be quite good as well.

 

[miggus]

TF Maboroshi 210 vs Isamitsu Stainless Clad Shirogami 210.

I had planned to do a comparison between the two, but it turns out, that would be rather pointless.
The two knives are different in their philosophy and feeling.

- Mab is chunkier. Feels rugged, very nice food release, but can be a bit wedgy. It's a very nice iteration with good height and feels like a nice all-round blade. 180g

- Isa is quite lasery, with high-performance cutting feel but seems more fragile since it is so thin behind the edge and has more stickage. Has the nicer tip. More precise and agile, but also requires more care. 160g - only 20g lighter... interesting.

Steel comparison? Both seem to do very nice and I have no clear favorite here. Seems to me that it's two iterations of nice, pretty hard White#1 with no obvious flaws.

Is has a Denka-Style "rusty KU on stainless clad". What I adore about it that it has a lot of exposed core steel.

Mab is looking well though with their classic Tsuchime finiish.

 

[labor of love]

Well…thanks for pointing out the diff grinds. Isamitsu seems to not have the clamshell style grind that I’ve come to expect from Fujiwara knives

 

[daddy yo yo]

The Isamitsu looks so much nicer in every regard. Admittedly, I am not a fan of thin blades, but the aesthetics of the knife are absolutely fantastic. I love the missing notch and the slightly curved choil area...

 

[miggus]

Well…thanks for pointing out the diff grinds. Isamitsu seems to not have the clamshell style grind that I’ve come to expect from Fujiwara knives

No, not at all. It's more in line with other premium Japanese knives with a performance grind.

The Isamitsu looks so much nicer in every regard. Admittedly, I am not a fan of thin blades, but the aesthetics of the knife are absolutely fantastic. I love the missing notch and the slightly curved choil area...

It's interesting you would see the notch as missing. I perceived the slightly curved choil as a less pronounced notch
Anyways, it's a really nice knife.
You could say, geometry and details are very close to a TF knife... after the latter has seen a reworking from DC or others. But for the same price. I think those Shirogami 210s went for 300ish Euro.

My 240 Denka is ready to ship now, too. The next "comparison" will be coming up soon.

 

[miggus]

This has left me a bit ambivalent as well. I also thought that maybe Fujiwara-San will find it not so great that they so closely imitate his products. Sure, they probably helped shape them and there is enough demand as it is. But I have also thought that it will be nice to see if they come out with some things that are genuine in-house developments, be it as a product or as a style.

Well... I can wholeheartedly retract that statement. Isamitsu has more than found their style and are putting out nice stuff. Should be interesting to see if this motivates TF to up their game a bit. But they still are swamped with orders, so market pressure should not be too high in that regard....