Thoughts on Sukenari SG2 Gyuto

[naptight]

Hello! Looking for thoughts and opinions on the Sukenari SG2 Gyuto 240mm.

I ordered one during the mtc sale. They're taking a long time to send it same I'm getting apprehensive lol.

This is the second thread I've started looking for recommendations. Thanks to the community for your help! My other thread explained I'm just going down the Japanese knife rabbit hole. I was going to have a custom made by a relatively unknown European maker. But, ultimately I was dissuaded in favor of spending my money on something more eminent. Later once I know my preferences and have more skills I can look at customs more. I was going to go for one of matt sicard's basic builds for my first gyuto, but I saw the deal pop up on the sukenari and just impulse bought it. Respectfully, there's something about having at least one Japanese knife made in Japan by multigenerational craftsmen with Japanese steel and wood that is really appealing. This one has super cool Kangis in the blade.

I've read that the sukenari grinds are kind of middle of the road. That plus the sg2 means this knife will have a better chance surviving my lack of skills and any abuse my partner who is nickname "wrecking ball" does to it.

Thanks again for any input you have.

 

[Dan-]

Sukenari makes high quality knives. You’ll likely be happy with it, and I have never seen Sukenari’s knives called “middle of the road,” by which I believe you mean “mediocre,” except by people who should go back to Reddit. They are not really lasers, nor are they chunky workhorses (the other middle of the road), and they usually have decent fit and finish for their price.

 

[superworrier]

Sukenari seems pretty good.
I don't think "middle of the road" for grinds is exactly wrong. Maybe a bit harsh, but they aren't known for the best grinds ever, but they're definitely decent. So "middle of the road" relative to their price seems totally reasonable. They have very good heat treats of high tech steels, and they aren't flashy. But they're probably one of the best choices if one doesn't need something flashy or with the highest performance grind ever.
I think for your use case it sounds pretty good, but I think you still need to be cautious with it, but it's not insanely fragile like the super high performance grinds are (Yoshikane, Myojin, etc)

 

[jedy617]

Have had a few, they are at the top of my list for people looking for a good, do everything knife. Again, middle of the road means not workhorse or laser really. They aren't thick. They perform nicely. I like that they do justice to the PM steels they work with.

 

[Dan-]

Unasked question: their single bevels are excellent.

 

[superworrier]

I’ve been quite tempted by the hap40 but I don’t think my stones are up to it

 

[naptight]

Sukenari makes high quality knives. You’ll likely be happy with it, and I have never seen Sukenari’s knives called “middle of the road,” by which I believe you mean “mediocre,” except by people who should go back to Reddit. They are not really lasers, nor are they chunky workhorses (the other middle of the road), and they usually have decent fit and finish for their price.

Ya I meant the other middle of the road.

I saw a review call them Goldilocks grinds - bout to thick, not to thin. The reviewer compared them to the gesshin series.

 

[naptight]

Sukenari seems pretty good.
I don't think "middle of the road" for grinds is exactly wrong. Maybe a bit harsh, but they aren't known for the best grinds ever, but they're definitely decent. So "middle of the road" relative to their price seems totally reasonable. They have very good heat treats of high tech steels, and they aren't flashy. But they're probably one of the best choices if one doesn't need something flashy or with the highest performance grind ever.
I think for your use case it sounds pretty good, but I think you still need to be cautious with it, but it's not insanely fragile like the super high performance grinds are (Yoshikane, Myojin, etc)

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a sound choice.

I'm blown away by the responses in this thread. This forum is great!

 

[naptight]

Have had a few, they are at the top of my list for people looking for a good, do everything knife. Again, middle of the road means not workhorse or laser really. They aren't thick. They perform nicely. I like that they do justice to the PM steels they work with.

That's awesome! Sounds perfect for a rookie like me. Like I said, someone called them a Goldilocks knife. It's sound like you agree!

 

[naptight]

Unasked question: their single bevels are excellent.

That's cool. Sounds exotic.

 

[mengwong]

I don't think "middle of the road" for grinds is exactly wrong. Maybe a bit harsh, but they aren't known for the best grinds ever, but they're definitely decent

Sucky? Nary!

 

[naptight]

I’ve been quite tempted by the hap40 but I don’t think my stones are up to it

Dang is hap40 that hard?

I'm happy to start with sg2. It's sounds like a pretty close facsimile to white paper but in pm flavor.

 

[jedy617]

Dang is hap40 that hard?

I'm happy to start with sg2. It's sounds like a pretty close facsimile to white paper but in pm flavor.

It's more of the fact it is rich in mc carbides (the hard ones like vanadium) compared to overall hardness rating, but yeah they are like 67-68 hrc. Sg2 is actually pretty dang far apart from white having decent vanadium content as well. It borders on being better to use diamond stones with. Traditional alox stones will do just fine, but diamond is preferable. I'd say something like 440c, or vg10 besides the cobalt is much closer to white steel

 

[Duukt]

I can't even tell the difference between HAP40 (Kohetsu) vs SG2 (Takamura) on a Naniwa Pro 1000. Both seem to form a burr quickly and lose it readily. Haven't tried zdp-189 yet because my blade won't get dull and I prefer using carbon steel knives almost exclusively now.

 

[naptight]

It's more of the fact it is rich in mc carbides (the hard ones like vanadium) compared to overall hardness rating, but yeah they are like 67-68 hrc. Sg2 is actually pretty dang far apart from white having decent vanadium content as well. It borders on being better to use diamond stones with. Traditional alox stones will do just fine, but diamond is preferable. I'd say something like 440c, or vg10 besides the cobalt is much closer to white steel

Ah that makes more sense. I don't have any actually experience. I picked up an sg500, sg1000 sg2000 and a diamond stopping set with the sg2 sukenari and cheap 52100 petty.

 

[jedy617]

Should be pretty good to go, I would also get something like a 3k

 

[Nemo]

Sukenari make quality knives.

They seem to vary between thinner middleweight and thin-but-not-laser-thin. Probably just the variation seen in handmade knives rather than any deliberate differences in grind.

They do pretty serious heat treatments of many different steels.

SG2 is a pretty highly alloyed steel, not at all like white paper steel. HAP40 has more of the harder carbides, though.

You can sharpen SG2/R2 with any decent quality AlOx stones. HAP40 as well, although I get a better edge when I use a diamond stone for my fine (3-5ish k) stone with HAP40. Probably with SG2 as well, although it is much more obvious with HAP40. To be fair, I couldn't actually tell the difference diamonds made until my deburrung skills had progressed to a certain level.

 

[naptight]

Sukenari make quality knives.

They seem to vary between thinner middleweight and thin-but-not-laser-thin. Probably just the variation seen in handmade knives rather than any deliberate differences in grind.

They do pretty serious heat treatments of many different steels.

SG2 is a pretty highly alloyed steel, not at all like white paper steel. HAP40 has more of the harder carbides, though.

You can sharpen SG2/R2 with any decent quality AlOx stones. HAP40 as well, although I get a better edge when I use a diamond stone for my fine (3-5ish k) stone with HAP40. Probably with SG2 as well, although it is much more obvious with HAP40. To be fair, I couldn't actually tell the difference diamonds made until my deburrung skills had progressed to a certain level.

What's a AlOx stone?

 

[naptight]

Should be pretty good to go, I would also get something like a 3k

The strop kit I got has two roo hide strips, 5 micron diamond paste and 1 micron diamond spray. I'm hoping the paste will actually do some fine sharpening and the spray will polish.

 

[Nemo]

What's a AlOx stone?

Aluminium Oxide. Most synthetic waterstones are AlOx. Your SG stones certainly are.

There are a few SiC (silicon carbide) stones around, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

 

[Nemo]

The strop kit I got has two roo hide strips, 5 micron diamond paste and 1 micron diamond spray. I'm hoping the paste will actually do some fine sharpening and the spray will polish.

You don't NEED to strop. I'd suggest you concentrate on getting a sharp edge with your 1K first. Once you can make a sharp, well deburred edge on 1k, maybe progress to polishing the edge on a 3ish K and deburring that edge.

Once you can make the edge sharp in this way, experiment with things like strops.

 

[naptight]

Aluminium Oxide. Most synthetic waterstones are AlOx. Your SG stones certainly are.

There are a few SiC (silicon carbide) stones around, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Ah, cool!

 

[jedy617]

Yeah strops can definitely mess up beginners pretty easily

 

[naptight]

You don't NEED to strop. I'd suggest you concentrate on getting a sharp edge with your 1K first. Onde you can make a sharp, well deburred edge on 1k, maybe progress to polishing the edge on a 3ish K and deburring that edge.

Once you can make the edge sharp in this way, experiment with things like strops.

Oops I made a typo I got an sg500 and a sg2000.

I get that. I also don't really care about looks at this point, as long as the blades work well.

Hoping I can get some good use out of the strops just touching up regularly.

I also have a cheap diamond plate set. A nicer 150/400 diamond combo and a set of lapping films on float glass. These work good on my wood working tools.

 

[naptight]

Yeah strops can definitely mess up beginners pretty easily

Other than over stropping and pressing too hard, what are the mistakes to watch out for?

 

[jedy617]

id say thats pretty much it

 

[naptight]

Cool, thanks

 

[Nemo]

Other than over stropping and pressing too hard, what are the mistakes to watch out for?

Very easy to round the edge.

Especially with stropping materials with a bit of give like roo leather (or any leather for that matter).

FWIW, when I strop, it's usually on hard substrates such as balsa, cereal box cardboard or hard felt. I find it much easier to control the angle that the substrate abrades the edge at with these.

SG 2k is probably a bit coarser than 2k. Probably pretty close to the Naniwa Chosera 1k (maybe 1500 JIS) that I am used to using as a medium stone. So probably fine to use it as a medium stone.

 

[naptight]

Very easy to round the edge.

Especially with stropping materials with a bit of give like roo leather (or any leather for that matter).

FWIW, when I strop, it's usually on hard substrates such as balsa, cereal box cardboard or hard felt. I find it much easier to control the angle that the substrate abrades the edge at with these.

SG 2k is probably a bit coarser than 2k. Probably pretty close to the Naniwa Chosera 1k (maybe 1500 JIS) that I am used to using as a medium stone. So probably fine to use it as a medium stone.

How do you know if you're sharpening fine enough? I think the ability to cut would really be enhanced. Is it just how glossy the food looks after being cut? Or does certain food not cut as well if you stop at medium?

What's your favorite fine stone? I'll probably wait to pick one up and just use the lapping films if I need to sharpen finer than the 2k/5 micron roo strop

 

[Duukt]

Very easy to round the edge.

Especially with stropping materials with a bit of give like roo leather (or any leather for that matter).

FWIW, when I strop, it's usually on hard substrates such as balsa, cereal box cardboard or hard felt. I find it much easier to control the angle that the substrate abrades the edge at with these.

SG 2k is probably a bit coarser than 2k. Probably pretty close to the Naniwa Chosera 1k (maybe 1500 JIS) that I am used to using as a medium stone. So probably fine to use it as a medium stone.

I thought we're supposed to strop at a slightly lower angle than the sharpening angle to prevent the apex from getting rounded? For example, if we sharpen at 12%ish, then we should strop at 11% or lower.

I've only seen this mentioned a couple of times over the years and recently saw Ryan Swanson mention it on a youtube video so I'm genuinely curious.