TF yanagi

[Giltobi04]

Hey, so I've had a few of TF denka knives all being double bevelled and have loved them. But now I have been wanting to try learning single bevel knife skills like using a deba or yanagiba and wanted to buy the TF denka series of them, but i was doing some reading on the forum and people were saying the uraoshi was bad with TF. So i wanted to know if this actually affects the performance?

 

[refcast]

Please don't buy them to learn on lol. I've bought 3 tf single bevels. He put a microbevel on the ura on all of them. I ordered direct in 3 separate instances. I guess you could ask him to not do initial sharpening. The edges are straight though. I got a denka deba, kiridashi, and maboroshi usuba. The usuba had a ****** up edge profile too, ground shorter at the heel in height, and the shinogi was shorter there. . . It was normal when they showed me pictures of it while it was being made, but when it was shipped to me it was malformed that way. I guess it's better for in hand work? Idk, but Sakai stuff is more consistent and performance benefits of tfs heat treat aren't worth it to me for single bevels.

The ura microbevel was like 5 degrees. . . Ugh. Normally a person lays the ura flat to deburr . . . Not possible on these without modification or correction.

Here's an old denka deba ura picture of mine

 

[ethompson]

Do not buy a TF single bevel

 

[stumpt]

Holy moly. That thing looks like hell to try to fix.

 

[shobudonnie]

Please don't buy them to learn on lol. I've bought 3 tf single bevels. He put a microbevel on the ura on all of them. I ordered direct in 3 separate instances. I guess you could ask him to not do initial sharpening. The edges are straight though. I got a denka deba, kiridashi, and maboroshi usuba. The usuba had a ****ed up edge profile too, ground shorter at the heel in height, and the shinogi was shorter there. . . It was normal when they showed me pictures of it while it was being made, but when it was shipped to me it was malformed that way. I guess it's better for in hand work? Idk, but Sakai stuff is more consistent and performance benefits of tfs heat treat aren't worth it to me for single bevels.

The ura microbevel was like 5 degrees. . . Ugh. Normally a person lays the ura flat to deburr . . . Not possible on these without modification or correction.

Here's an old denka deba ura picture of mine

View attachment 270378

When you opened the box to see what you received, I’ll bet your reaction was, TF?!?!?

 

[ethompson]

I should elaborate. Crappy ura grinds are the worst and they 100% do cause long term issues with sharpening the knife. Can they be fixed? In theory, yeah. But I don't know anyone who will do it for you unless its an extremely expensive honyaki and even then they'll charge a small fortune for it.

I think the Sanjo hand scraped stuff is the best - Shigefusa and Toyama. But generally speaking the well known Sakai brands dominate single bevels. Or just be extra smart about it and buy something from Jon @ JKI as they have excellent quality control and he really, really knows his way around single bevels and only stocks well done stuff that won't cause long term issues with sharpening.

 

[refcast]

For single bevel uh, I guess get a yanagi first. Often deba come with bends that are hard to fix because of the thickness of the knife. I've been able to straighten more yanagi than deba. Yanagi are thinner and this easier to straighten.

If you really still want one, like I did, you can still go ahead. It's just I know better know and about knife design and norms, to know that tf wabi sabi for single bevels really makes things hard for me and what I want. If you're fine with an ura microbevel then it's not an issue, because all the single bevels were spot on straight.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

For single bevel uh, I guess get a yanagi first. Often deba come with bends that are hard to fix because of the thickness of the knife. I've been able to straighten more yanagi than deba. Yanagi are thinner and this easier to straighten.

If you really still want one, like I did, you can still go ahead. It's just I know better know and about knife design and norms, to know that tf wabi sabi for single bevels really makes things hard for me and what I want. If you're fine with an ura microbevel then it's not an issue, because all the single bevels were spot on straight.

I'm waiting for a refcast single bevel honesuki sale.

 

[Giltobi04]

I appreciate all the advice ill think ill stay away from tf's single bevels.

I should elaborate. Crappy ura grinds are the worst and they 100% do cause long term issues with sharpening the knife. Can they be fixed? In theory, yeah. But I don't know anyone who will do it for you unless its an extremely expensive honyaki and even then they'll charge a small fortune for it.

I think the Sanjo hand scraped stuff is the best - Shigefusa and Toyama. But generally speaking the well known Sakai brands dominate single bevels. Or just be extra smart about it and buy something from Jon @ JKI as they have excellent quality control and he really, really knows his way around single bevels and only stocks well done stuff that won't cause long term issues with sharpening.

 

[shobudonnie]

I appreciate all the advice ill think ill stay away from tf's single bevels.

Very very good idea.

 

[EShin]

I appreciate all the advice ill think ill stay away from tf's single bevels.

Yes - in case of single bevels, absolut sharpness and ease of sharpening are what you want from the steel. The traditional steels mostly used in Japan like white 2 are extremely good at that, and I’d prefer it over AS or apex ultra or so (which are great for double bevels). Just buy from a reputable vendor and you shouldn’t have any problems like a huge microbevel, bad geometry or a bent shape or so. If you’re looking for a vendor from Japan, this thread might be helpful: Looking for first Usuba, shapes and brands