Togiharu Knife Passaround!

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Mari--

My pleasure! As I said, it was a nice knife to use.

Geometry usually means (at least as I understand it) the cross-section of the knife if you were holding it perpendicular to your body and looking down the handle to the tip (or from the tip to the handle). This usually encompasses the thickness of the knife, the height of the knife, and--maybe most importantly--the grind of the knife from the spine to the edge.

Best regards,
David
 
Received today, very beautiful knife. Can't wait to give it a go. I can't believe it has been sent around the country.
 
Togiharu

When I got this knife it looked like it hadn't been passed around yet, so new.
I went an looked at the steel which is a molly blend, which in my mind went to
Global knives. (sorry but that is my ah-ha knife) I was looking forward to using
this blade at work to see if it would hold up to a Global standard in my mind.

Fit and finish

You can get Globals for cheaper, but not in this length. Also the metal is about
all that Globals have in common with the Togiharu that I had. The scales were fit
very well except in one spot that I thought was due to lack of humidity. On one side of
choil there seemed to be a small burr that can rub a little wrong with some long
period use. But these are very slight, I don't think a casual user would have seen
the two things I saw.

The edge

I have never had a edge with a what I want to call a 80/20 bevel. I am in awe with
how well this looked and worked. I could see no steering at all when used. When I
first looked I didn't notice at all was just worried how sharp it was. Which wasn't
to bad at all. I just did a light strop on loaded cardboard on the back side and
it was arm hair shaving sharp. The edge held up all week on my poly boards at work.
There was no need for any kind of sharpening or maintenance at all.

Over all

I was very amazed at what I had received and very happy to have tried it out. It
went through tomatoes with out a problem, but sharpened to high to pierce the skin.
Potatoes had no wedging at all. Celery just cringed when I lined it up for splitting
and lobbing ends off. Onions when slicing were not a problem at all, dicing
was even easier to do. It wasn't quite falling through food but very little effort
was need for cutting. Out of a 10 scale I would give it a 8.5. But for the price
range I would give it a 9.5, just because I don't give 10's.

I would recommend Togiharu for a present to someone that is new to Kitchen cutlery,
or needing a upgrade from a softer blade.
 
That you so much for such a wonderful review! It's written with so much detail and in depth comparison. It gives us in sight onto how we can improve the line too. :)
Yea, I'm sure the knife could have used a little sharpening by the time it got to you, but I'm glad it held up just fine.

To everyone: May I post your reviews to the Korin website?
 
I will post a review on your website that I think will serve it better. Mine is more for us knuts here.
 
I just got around to taking a good look at this knife. I see some minor fit and finish issues that have been pointed out and there are some gaps where the scales don't quite mate with the tang perfectly. Aside from that, it seems well constructed. There is some minor corrosion/staining which I'm sure is from it's short stint in a pro kitchen. At 52.5 mm at the heel, it is on the tall side of the spectrum. The average for a gyuto being right around 50 mm. The blade remains on the tall side all the way through leading to the somewhat stubby tip. The tip profile reminds me of the Masamoto VG amonng others. The grind is thinner than average with a nicer distal taper than most. It is thinner near the edge and at the tip than any of the "lasers." I have no doubt it is a very nice cutter. The handle is like a somewhat nicer version of the Tojiro handle in terms of contour and size.

I know this isn't exactly the stock edge anymore but it is still interesting. There is some obvious refinement from a loaded strop on some parts of the edge. Most of the edge is finished on the equivalent of 300-ish grit waterstone. That would explain the awesome tomato-cutting performance. This edge is a saw by KKF standards. There is some microchipping along most of the edge and especially in the tip area. I'm gonna go sharpen now and I'll do some cutting tests tomorrow.
 
Sharpening went very well. I rather quickly removed the chipping on a Gesshin 1k and then refined on a Gesshin 5k. There was very little residual burr to speak of but I gave it a couple of clean-up swipes with Dave's strop loaded with 1 micron diamond. At this point, it easily passed Salty's tomato test. The factory bevels were set at around 15-20 deg, clean and easy to follow. There was a small, insignificant overground section of the bevel at the heel which is common and expected at pretty much any price point. I'll make dinner with it tonight.
 
Just a quick update: The corrosion came off with a little BKF. You can hardly tell it was there to begin with. On the performance side, I cut several pounds of onions, potatoes and various greens, butternut squash and some cooked meats side by side with a TKC. It performed very favorably for the most part although it feel a bit short on the harder stuff. I didn't think there'd be quite as much resistance as I experienced. I varied angles of approach and my technique but the result was consistent. I then examined the edge where I observed significant microchipping. I think I didn't raise enough of a burr when I sharpened it and left a fair amount of weakened metal. This knife is going back to Korin for resharpening on Monday, per Mari's request.
 
Sharpening: I sharpened this knife twice. This steel is easy to abrade and the burr is easy to remove. The edge it takes isn’t as nice as carbon steel but as far as inexpensive stainless knives go, it’s on the nicer, keener side of the spectrum. Touch-ups on a ceramic rod, 5k stone or a loaded strop were very quick and effective.
Cutting: This knife has a fairly flat profile, tall, with a somewhat snub-nosed tip relative to most others. It is thin, in general with a dramatic taper and very thin behind the edge for a factory made knife. It cuts through objects with a small cross section (carrots, leafy greens, celery, bell peppers, etc.) very, very smoothly and easily. On larger objects I experienced more-than-typical “sticktion” and drag on both sides of the blade making tip use a bit clumsy and causing food to jam against the hand while push-cutting in a pinch grip. In side by side comparisons, unmodified TKC and Gesshin Uraku/Yoshihiro gyutos far outperformed the Togiharu in this respect. I think this knife is an ideal starter knife for a pro. In my mind, the advantage to such a thin, tall blade is that it doesn’t thicken up with sharpening as much as most other knives so it will remain useful after many, many sharpenings without the need for thinning. The sacrifice comes in the relative flatness of it that causes greater than typical amounts of drag and sticktion.
Edge retention: This knife is very average in this respect. I would probably not sharpening above 3-5k and plan for frequent touch-ups.
Fit and finish: This knife is fine in this respect. Spine and choil are sharp, typical for knives in this class. Small gap between scales and tang is also typical. It also has a typical, machine finish.
Aesthetics: This is a nice, clean-looking blade with a fairly even grind and consistent level of polish where scratches won’t scream at you but it still looks somewhat shiny. This knife is also not the most stain resistant knife around. After a week of use where I didn’t particularly try to keep it clean I had a few gray-blue blotches here and there.
Korin Sharpening Service: I sent this knife back to Korin for a professional sharpening on Mari’s request. As a sharpening knut, I was very curious about the quality of it. The turnaround was fast. The edge that was returned to me was clearly a coarse, machine-ground edge (wheel or belt). A fine stone (~5-6k) had been used to attempt to refine the edge by hand. However the angle used to refine the edge was not consistent with that of the bevel. Thus, the tip had a very refined microbevel, the middle was refined relatively well, and the last few inches leading to the heel had a polished shoulder, leaving the actual cutting edge rough with burr still intact. There was also a “hole” in the edge just in front of the heel. I opted to fix the edge rather than use it.
Conclusions: Overall, I highly recommend the knife at this price point depending on the user’s priorities/preferences. Based on the edge provided, I cannot in good conscience recommend Korin’s sharpening service.
 
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